Karel Michel Hubert (Charles) Beltjens (2 May 1832 – 20 June 1890) was a Dutch poet of the 19th century, who wrote exclusively in

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

. He was born in

Sittard Sittard (; ) is a city in the Netherlands, situated in the southernmost province of Limburg. The town is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen and has almost 37.500 inhabitants in 2016. In its east, Sittard borders the German municipali ...

on 2 May 1832. His father came from

Roermond Roermond (; li, Remunj or ) is a city, municipality, and diocese in the Limburg province of the Netherlands. Roermond is a historically important town on the lower Roer on the east bank of the river Meuse. It received town rights in 1231. Roer ...

and his mother's family came from French-speaking

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

; she was the daughter of a goldsmith from

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

. Beltjens studied at the Bisschoppelijk College Sittard (1842-1843) and then in

Rolduc Rolduc is the name of a medieval abbey located on the edge of the town of Kerkrade in the far south-east of the Netherlands. It is today a Roman Catholic seminary with an affiliated conference center. The abbey is a '' rijksmonument'' (Dutch n ...

(1845). He wrote in the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

. Beltjens also lived in France for a large part of his life. He won important literature prizes in Belgium and France, but was hardly read in the Netherlands. He had contacts with famous French writers and poets such as

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...

and

Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of ...

. Beltjens also corresponded with the prominent French writer

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

. In 1872 he returned to Sittard where he died in solitude in 1890. In 1987 the Charles Beltjens Foundation (

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

: ''Stichting Charles Beltjens'') was established in Sittard. This marked the beginning of the rehabilitation of this poet in his native city. In the Sittard district of Kollenberg there is a street named after him. There is also a French garden in the center of Sittard, "Le jardin d'Isabelle", named after Beltjen's unreachable love Isabelle de Borman. In this garden is a bronze bust of the Sittard poet.

References

External links

* ''Geheugen van Nederland'': the Sittard-Geleen City Archives - Collection
The poet Charles Beltjens
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beltjens, Charles 1832 births 1890 deaths Dutch male poets People from Sittard French-language poets