Jan Frans Willems (11 March 1793 – 24 June 1846) was a

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

writer and ''father'' of the

Flemish movement The Flemish Movement ( nl, Vlaamse Beweging) is an umbrella term which encompasses various political groups in the Belgium, Belgian region of Flanders and, less commonly, in French Flanders. Ideologically, it encompasses groups which have sought ...

. Willems was born in the Belgian city of

Boechout Boechout () is a municipality of Belgium located in the Flemish province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the towns of Boechout proper and . In 2021, Boechout had a total population of 13,526. The total area is 20.66 km². Boechout ...

, while that was under French occupation. He started his career in the office of a notary in Antwerp. He devoted his leisure to literature, and in 1810 he gained a prize for poetry with an ode in celebration of the peace of Tilsit. He hailed with enthusiasm the foundation of the

United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands ( nl, Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden; french: Royaume uni des Pays-Bas) is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed between 1815 and 1839. The United Netherlands was cr ...

, and the revival of Flemish literature; and he published a number of spirited and eloquent writings in support of the claims of the native tongue of the Netherlands. His political sympathies were with the Orange party at the revolution of 1830, and these views led him into trouble with the

provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or ...

. Willems, however, was soon recognized as the unquestioned leader of the Flemish popular movement, the chief plank in whose platform he made the complete equality of the languages in the government and the law courts. He died in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

in 1846. Among his writings, which were quite numerous, the most important were: *''De Kunsten en Wetenschappen'' (1816) *''Aen de Belgen, Aux Belges'' (1818) *''Historisch Onderzoek naer den oorsprong en den waren naem der openbare plaetsen en andere oudheden van de stad Antwerpen'' (1828) Also, several learned critical editions of old Flemish texts.

Bibliography

* Hekeldicht op den maire en municipaliteyt van Bouchout (1807) * Hymne aan het vaderland over den veldslag van Friedland en de daeropvolgende Vrede van Tilsit (1812) * De puyn-hopen rondom Antwerpen (1814, poem) * Den ryken Antwerpenaer of de hebzugtige neéven (1815) * Quinten Matsys, of wat doet de liefde niet ! (1816) * Aen de Belgen. Aux Belges (1818, poem) * Lykrede op Johanns Abraham Terbruggen (1819, prose) * Verhandeling over de nederduytsche tael- en letterkunde opzigtelijk de Zuydelyke Provintiën der Nederlanden (1819-'24) * Antwoord van J.F. Willems aen J.B. Buelens, R.C.Pr te Mechelen (1821) * By 's Konings komst te Antwerpen (1822, poem) * Redevoering over de poëzy van den dichter en van den schilder (1823) * Keur van Nederduytsche spreekwoorden en dichterlyke zedelessen (1824) * Over de Hollandsche en Vlaemsche schryfwyzen van het Nederduitsch (1824, essay) * Redevoering over het karakter van den Nederlandschen schilder (1825) * Mengelingen van historisch-vaderlandschen inhoud (1827–1830, essays and publications) * Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis der boekdrukkunst in Antwerpen (1828, studie) * Maria van Braband (1828, poem) * De la langue Belgique. Lettre de Jean François Willems à M. Sylvain Van de Weyer (1829) * De oude bevolking der provincie Antwerpen (1829, essay) * La séparation des rats et des souris (1830, fairy tale) * Voorzeggingen van de Heylige Hildegarde omtrent de Belgische Omwenteling (1831, tekstuitgaven en polemiek) * Reinardus Vulpus - Reinaert de Vos (1833, essay) * Over eenige oude Nederlandsche vloeken, eeden en uitroepingen (1834, essay) * Reinaert de Vos, de oudste beryming (1834, restyling) * Rymkroniek van Jan van Heelu betreffende de slag van Woeringen van het jaer 1288 (1836, texts published) * Lettres de Marguerite de Parme et du sire de Montigny sur les troubles de Tournai de l'an 1564 (1836) * Elnonensia. Monuments des langues romanes et tudesque dans le IXe siecle (1837) * De Brabantsche Yeesten, of Rymkroniek van Brabant door Jan De Klerk, I and II (1839–1843, texts published) * De la population de quelques villes de la Belgique au moyen-âge (1839, studie) * Van den Derden Edewaert. Coninc van Engelant, Rymkroniek geschreven omtrent het jaer 1347 door Jan De Klerk (1840, texts published) * Brief aen Professor Bormans over de tweeklanken IJ en UU (1841) * Redevoering uitgesproken by de opening van het Vlaemsch feest (1842) * Pasquyn doctor en astrologant. Kluchtspel van 1782 (1844) * Kronyk der Kamers van Rhetorica te Lier (1844) * Notice sur un recueil d'anciennes chansons françaises (1844) * Mémoires sur les noms de communes de la Flandre Orientale (1845) * De eerste bliscap van Maria, Misteriespel van 1444 (1845) * Oude Vlaemsche liederen ten deele met de melodien (1845–1848, finished by Ferdinand Augustijn Snellaert)

Publications

Biographies of Willems have been written by Ferdinand Augustijn Snellaert (Ghent, 1847) and

Max Rooses Max Rooses (10 February 1839 – 15 July 1914) was a Belgian writer, literary critic, and curator of the Plantin-Moretus Museum at Antwerp. Rooses was born in Antwerp, and went to school there up to 1858, after which he attended the University ...

(Antwerp, 1874). ( New International Encyclopedia). Also published by Rooses, Julius Vuylsteke, and Anton Bergmann is ''Jan Frans Willems'', (

, 1893).

References

Sources

Jan Frans Willems

Jan Frans Willems
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Willems, Jan Frans 1793 births 1846 deaths Flemish writers Flemish activists People from Boechout Language reformers

Bibliography

Publications

See also

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Sources