Joanna Courtmans
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Joanna Courtmans, born Joanna-Desideria Berchmans (6 September 1811 – 22 September 1890), 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.


Biography

Her father was mayor of Oudegem, and she spent her first years at the local village school, later at the age of 9, she was sent to a boarding school in
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 ...
. Between 1835 and 1844, she lived 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 in ...
, initially with her aunt Colette Tanghe. In 1836, she married Jan Baptiste Courtmans, a teacher in Ghent, who was one of the co-founders of the ''Gentse Maetschappij van Vlaemsche Letteroefening''. This brought her into contact with the
Flemish movement The Flemish Movement ( nl, Vlaamse Beweging) is an umbrella term which encompasses various political groups in the Belgian region of Flanders and, less commonly, in French Flanders. Ideologically, it encompasses groups which have sought to promo ...
, and
Prudens van Duyse Prudentius van Duyse or Prudens van Duyse (Dendermonde, 17 September 1804 – Ghent, 13 November 1859) was a Flemish writer. He started his career a clerk of a notary, but afterwards studied law at the University of Ghent, where he graduated in 1 ...
,
Frans Rens Frans Rens (Geraardsbergen, 2 February 1805 – Ghent, 19 December 1874) was a Flemish writer. From 1823 up to 1843, he was an inspector of gold and silver work at Ghent, and head of lower education for the school area Lokeren. Bibliography * B ...
,
Ferdinand Snellaert Ferdinand Augustijn Snellaert (21 July 1809 in Kortrijk – 3 July 1872 in Ghent) was a Flemish writer. Life Snellaert studied medicine at the University of Utrecht (1827–1829) and became officer of health in the Dutch army (1830–1835). ...
, and
Jan Frans Willems Jan Frans Willems (11 March 1793 – 24 June 1846) was a Flemish writer and ''father'' of the Flemish movement. Willems was born in the Belgian city of Boechout, while that was under French occupation. He started his career in the office of a no ...
. It inspired her to write an historical novel ''Bertha Baldwin'' (1871), about the 14th century battle of the Flemings against France. Her husband taught her Flemish again, after which she wrote her first poem in 1839, which was published in the ''Nederduitsch letterkundig jaarboekje''. In the following years she won several prizes for her poems. In 1844 they moved to Lier. When in 1856 her husband died, and she stayed behind with eight young children. To earn a living, she opened a boarding school in
Maldegem Maldegem (; vls, Moaldegem), earlier spelled Maldeghem, is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the villages of Maldegem, Adegem and . and have always been separate hamlets of Maldegem. On ...
, but it was not a success and she had to close the school. The ''Koninklijk Atheneum Mevrouw Courtmans'' (E:Royal Athenaeum Madam Courtmans) is now located at the same location, in the ''Mevrouw Courtmanslaan''. Although she was a pious catholic, she reacted against the so-called catholic schools (Dutch: ''Kantscholen''), which she considered to be centers of underpaid child labor, and which did no pay enough attention to reading, mathematics, geography and history. Her position in the ''schoolstrijd'' (E: schoolbattle), earned her the scorn of the local clergy. As a writer, she started to write in
prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the f ...
at a later age, but her first novels, such as ''Helena van Leliëndal'' were not very successful. However, gradually she became famous both in
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
as well as in
the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, and created an extensive literary oeuvre. Probably her most famous novel, ''Het geschenk van de jager'' (Fr: Le Cadeau du chasseur, E: gift of the hunter) (1865), was rewarded with the Quinquennial Prize for Dutch Literature.


Selected works

* ''Marie-Theresia'' (poetry, 1841) * ''Pieter de Coninck'' (poetry, 1842) * ''Philippinne van Vlaanderen'' (poetry, 1842) * ''België's eerste koningin'' (poetry, 1842) * ''Lof van het pausdom'' (poetry, 1843) * ''Margaretha van Brabant'' (poetry, 1845) * ''Marnix van Ste-Aldegonde'' (poetry, 1855) * ''Helena van Leliëndal'' (prose, 1855) * ''Vlaamse poëzij'' (poetry, 1856) * ''Karel de Stoute'' (poetry, ?) * ''Jacob van Artevelde'' (poetry, ?) * ''Kindergedichten'' (poetry, ?) * ''De burgemeester van 1819'' (prose, 1861) * ''Edeldom'' (prose, 1862) * ''Anna de bloemenmaagd'' (prose, 1862) * ''Het geschenk van de jager'' (prose, 1862) * ''De gemeenteonderwijzer'' (prose, 1862) * ''De zwarte hoeve'' (prose, 1863) * ''Livina'' (prose, 1863) * ''Drie novellen'' (De bloem van Cleyt – De zoon van de molenaar – De bondgenoot) (prose, 1864) * ''Griselda'' (prose, 1864) * ''Drie testamenten'' (prose, 1865) * ''De hut van tante Klara'' (prose, 1865) * ''Genoveva van Brabant'' (prose, 1866) * ''Het plan van Heintje Barbier'' (prose, 1866) * ''De schuldbrief'' (prose, 1866) * ''De zaakwaarnemer'' (prose, 1867) * ''Nicolette'' (prose, 1868) * ''Moeder Daneel'' (prose, 1868) * ''Tijdingen uit Amerika'' (prose, 1868) * ''Eens is genoeg'' (prose, 1869) * ''De zoon van de mosselman'' (prose, 1870) * ''Christina van Oosterwei'' (prose, 1871) * ''Bertha Baldwin'' (prose, 1871) * ''Moeders spaarpot'' (prose, 1871) * ''De wees van het Rozenhof'' (prose, 1872) * ''Tegen wil en dank'' (prose, 1872) * ''Het rad der fortuin'' (prose, 1873) * ''De koewachter'' (prose, 1873) * ''Verscheurde bladen'' (prose, 1874) * ''De gezegende moeder'' (prose, 1876) * ''Karel Klepperman'' (prose, 1878) * ''Rozeken Pot'' (prose, 1879) * ''De hoogmoedige'' (prose, 1882)


See also

*
Flemish literature Flemish literature is literature from Flanders, historically a region comprising parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Until the early 19th century, this literature was regarded as an integral part of Dutch literature. After Bel ...


Sources


Joanna Desideria Courtmans-Berchmans


{{DEFAULTSORT:Courtmans, Joanna 1811 births 1890 deaths People from Auderghem Flemish poets Belgian women poets Flemish women writers 19th-century Belgian women writers 19th-century Belgian writers 19th-century Belgian poets Belgian women novelists 19th-century Belgian novelists