Leon van der Essen (1883–1963) was a Belgian historian, professor at the Catholic University of Leuven. In 1946 he testified about the German occupation of Belgium at the

Nuremberg trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded m ...

, the only Belgian witness called.

Life

Van der Essen was born in Antwerp on 12 December 1883, the son of a painter-decorator. After graduating from a Jesuit secondary school in Antwerp he studied in Leuven under Alfred Cauchie, obtaining his doctorate in 1907 with a thesis on the lives of Merovingian saints. He became Cauchie's teaching assistant. In 1910 he married Gabrielle Callebert. Together they were to have three sons. During the First World War he spent time at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King G ...

, and the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

in 1914–1916, lecturing on Belgian history with a propaganda brief from the Belgian government in exile in

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

. He enlisted in 1916, but was seconded to the foreign ministry's propaganda service. After the war he was an adviser to the Belgian delegation at the

Paris Peace Conference, 1919 Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, and he was appointed a full professor at the university. Although his early work as a historian focused on early-medieval hagiography, his main mature work was a 5-volume biography of Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma (1545–1592), published 1933–1937. After the Second World War he published a series of short studies of aspects of the organisation and activities of the sixteenth-century

Army of Flanders The Army of Flanders ( es, Ejército de Flandes nl, Leger van Vlaanderen) was a multinational army in the service of the Habsburg Spain, kings of Spain that was based in the Spanish Netherlands during the 16th to 18th centuries. It was notable for ...

. He fled Belgium in 1940, but returned to his post at the university after the French surrender. In November 1944 he was appointed to the Belgian Committee on War Crimes, and on 4 February 1946 he testified as the only Belgian witness at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg concerning German war crimes in Belgium, emphasizing the subversion of the Belgian constitution by the replacement of elected mayors in the major cities by ideologically sympathetic appointees. A

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

was published in his honour in 1947: ''Miscellanea historica in honorem Leonis van der Essen''. In 1954 he retired as professor and was ennobled by

King Baudouin Baudouin (;, ; nl, Boudewijn Albert Karel Leopold Axel Maria Gustaaf, ; german: Balduin Albrecht Karl Leopold Axel Maria Gustav. 7 September 1930 – 31 July 1993), Dutch name Boudewijn, was King of the Belgians from 17 July 1951 until his dea ...

. He died in Leuven on 10 February 1963.Reginald De Schryver, "Leo van der Essen 1883-1963", ''Historica Lovaniensia'' 183 (1985), pp. 81-89.

Work

*''Petite histoire de l'invasion et de l'occupation allemande en Belgique'' (1917) *''Alexandre Farnese, prince de Parme, gouverneur general des Pays-Bas, 1545-1592'', 5 vols. (Brussels, 1933-1937) *''Le siècle des saints (625-739): étude sur les origines de la Belgique chrétienne'' (Brussels, 1942) *''L'Université de Louvain: son origine, son histoire, son organisation, 1425-1953'' (Brussels, 1953)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Essen, Leon van der 1883 births 1963 deaths Writers from Antwerp 20th-century Belgian historians Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni Academic staff of the Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) Historians of Belgium Contributors to the Catholic Encyclopedia