One Man’s Quest – Josef Ryzec’s Search for his identity

The story of Czech artist Josef Ryzec’s struggle to prove a four hundred year tradition passed down through his family

This is the story of Czech artist Josef Ryzec who has dedicated his life to proving a family tradition which had been passed down through many generations of his family. It is a fascinating story in which many people play a role, including Queen Elizabeth II of England and the president of Ireland. Supporting his research Josef has amassed a wealth of historical documentation. In the course of his research he took a DNA test with the US company Family Tree and found that his family tradition is correct and that the link he claims is proven.

His family tradition was to the effect that the Ryzecs were descended from a Norman-Irish soldier (Walter Devereux) who was involved in the Thirty Years war. Devereux could be said to have changed the course of the history of the Czech lands by assassinating the general of Emperor Ferdinand II’s mighty army in the border town of Eger (Cheb) in the year 1634 on the orders of the emperor. Devereux was rewarded by the emperor and settled in Bohemia (the Ireland of that time was not the place for an ambitious catholic to return to). Being redheaded and perhaps not too popular with the Czechs he changed his name to Ryzec, which is a type of wild red Czech mushroom.

But while set against an interesting and relevant historical background, the real story is about Josef’s driving obsession to establish his family’s tradition and the many obstacles he had to face and overcome. The human interest element gives his story a real focus and meaning. It is around his ‘quest’ that this project is based.

Josef is a Czech artist whose link with his ancestor drove him to explore his Celtic and Irish roots. He has organised a number of annual arts festivals, several in Ireland but most in the Czech lands celebrating Lughnasa (pronounced Loonasa), in honour of the Celtic god of the arts, Lugh (Loo). Czech and Irish artists (including Olbram Zoubek) have participated in these festivals. Bohemia was originally a main centre for the Celts and while archaeological investigations today discover many Celtic settlements DNA studies have shown that Celtic genes are mixed with Slavic ones to make the Czechs what they are today.

The project is proceeding along the following lines:

  1. An exploration of the Czech sense of identity, geographical, historical, linguistical and political.
  2. Josef Ryzec’s own sense of identity
    1. His first knowledge of his family tradition
    2. Who told him
    3. How was he told
    4. What was his reaction
    5. What was the reaction of the rest of his family
  1. A general background of the Devereux’s
    1. Their arrival in Ireland as part of the Norman invasion
    2. Their intermarriage with Irish royal families
    3. Their continued connection with the English branch of the Devereux family, including the Earl of Essex (who was beheaded by Queen Elizabeth I)
    4. Their joining with the Irish side after the Protestant Reformation
    5. Their continued fight for an Irish Republic, free of English rule.
  1. The Celtic Arts festival of Lughnasa, an obvious connection between Josef’s growing sense of ‘Irishness’ and his own background in the arts.
    1. How did his involvement begin?
    2. What venues were involved?
    3. Who were the patrons?
    4. Who were the many artists who participated?
  1. Josef’s research to trace his identity
    1. His communications with a wide range of distinguished people and experts, including Queen Elizabeth II and the President of Ireland
    2. His researches in the Irish archives
    3. His research in the Czech archives
    4. His attempts to trace his ancestor’s sojourn in the Czech lands
    5. The changing of the surname from the ‘dangerous’ one of Devereux to that of a Czech (red) mushroom – ryzec!
  1. Josef’s DNA results
    1. The results proved conclusively that Josef is linked with the Irish branch of the Devereux family based in Balmagyr castle, County Wexford
    2. He is also linked (more distantly) to the English branch of the family, including the Earls of Essex
    3. He is now working on proving his ancestral link to Dermot McMurrough who was king of Leinster at the time of the Norman invasion, into whose family the Devereux’s married.
  1. Appendix: copies of all relevant historical and other documents dating mainly from the 1630’s and which prove, among other things that Walter Devereux did not die in 1640 as reported but was still alive in the mid 1670s and settled on his Bohemian estate.

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