Léon Vanderkindere (22 February 1842 – 9 November 1906) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

historian, academic and politician.

Family

Vanderkindere was born in

Sint-Jans-Molenbeek ( French, ) or (Dutch, ), often simply called Molenbeek, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, from which it is separated ...

into a wealthy middle-class family. His father, Albert Vanderkindere, was a politician in the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

. Albert had been a member of the provincial assembly of the

province of Brabant The Province of Brabant (, , ) was a province in Belgium from 1830 to 1995. It was created in 1815 as South Brabant, part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. In 1995, it was split into the Dutch-speaking Flemish Brabant, the French-speak ...

from 1844 to 1850 and from 1854 to his death in 1859, and was mayor of Molenbeek from 1842 to 1848, and then of

Uccle Uccle () or Ukkel () is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. In common with all of Brussels' municipalities, it is legally bilingual (French–Dutch). It is generally considered an affluent area of the city a ...

, where the family moved, from 1854.

Career

Léon Vanderkindere studied at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, where he later became a professor. His doctoral thesis argued that race was the primary basis of culture. He followed this up with a study of the combination of Celtic and Germanic "traits" that he regarded as identifiable in Belgian culture. His later work was primarily made up of more conventional documentary study of medieval institutions and culture. He was a member of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts. Like his father he was active in Liberal politics and served as mayor of Uccle from 1900 until his death in 1906. A square and a street in Uccle are named for him.

Works

The works of Vanderkindere included the following.Bibliothèque nationale de France .
Léon Vanderkindere (1842-1906)
. * ''Notice sur l'origine des magistrats communaux et sur l'organisation de la marke dans nos contrées au moyen âge (Bulletin de l'Académie)'' Bruxelles (1874) * ''Le siècle des Artevelde: études sur le civilisation morale & politique de la Flandre & du Brabant.'' Bruxelles (1879) * ''Introduction à l'histoire des institutions de la Belgique au moyen âge. I (périodes celtique, romaine et franque)''; Bruxelles (1890) * ''Les tributaires ou serfs d'église en Belgique au moyen âge.'' Bruxelles (1897) * ''La formation territoriale des principautés belges au Moyen Age,'' Tome 1, Bruxelles, H. Lamertin (1902) * ''La formation territoriale des principautés belges au Moyen Age'', Tome 2, Bruxelles, H. Lamertin (1902) * ''Notice historique''. L'université de Bruxelles 1834-1884. Bruxelles (P. Weissenbruch) (1884) * ''La première phase de l'évolution constitutionnelle des communes flamandes''. In ''Annales de l'Est et du Nord,''Université de Nancy. Faculté des lettres., Fédération historique lorraine., Université de Nancy II
Annales de l'Est
Nancy, France. Series 2, Volume I (1905), pp. 321–367. * ''La politique communale de Philippe d'Alsace et ses conséquences''. In: ''Bulletin de l'Académie'' (1905).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanderkindere, Leon 1842 births 1906 deaths People from Molenbeek-Saint-Jean 19th-century Belgian historians Mayors of places in Belgium 20th-century Belgian historians