BALBIN (Balbinus), Bohuslav. - Bohemian Jesuit scholar, born into a noble family at Hradec Králové on 3 Nov. 1621, entered the Society in 1636, died at Prague on 29 Nov. 1688. He was assigned to rural missions and later to teaching rhetoric, but was removed from this post because of overly biting satirical poems; thereafter he devoted himself to the study of Bohemian national antiquities.
He had already published three monographs on major Marian shrines: *Diva Wartensis* (Prague 1655), *Diva Turzanensis* (Olomouc 1658), *Diva Montis Sancti* (Prague 1665). Besides various historical monographs, his principal works are the *Epitome historica rerum Bohemicarum* (2 vols., ibid. 1673–77) and the *Miscellanea Historica regni Bohemiae* (10 vols., ibid. 1678–79, left incomplete).
This vast compilation ranges from natural history and ethnography (for which B. earned the title of “Pliny of Bohemia,” though this section is now the most outdated part of his work) to hagiography (IV, *Hagiographicus seu Bohemia sancta*), genealogy, etc. Several volumes (V, *Parrochialis et curialis*; VI, *Archiepiscopalis*; VIII, *Epistolaris*...) are editions of ancient documents, valuable yet not always critically executed. One of the unpublished portions of the *Miscellanea* was published by the Premonstratensian R. Ungar under the title *Bohemia docta* (3 vols., Prague 1776–80).
B. was also a fervent Czech patriot, a stance that brought him no small difficulty. His *Dissertatio apologetica pro lingua slavonica, praecipue bohemica*, published only in 1775, placed him among the “exciters” of national consciousness. His historical works and unpublished writings have been the subject of many recent studies, yet a good comprehensive work on him is still lacking.