![Sylvain Van de Weyer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Sylvain_Van_de_Weyer.png)
The ''Société des douze'' (
French; ) was
scholarly
The scholarly method or scholarship is the body of principles and practices used by scholars and academics to make their claims about the subject as valid and trustworthy as possible, and to make them known to the scholarly public. It is the me ...
and
literary
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...
dining club
A dining club (UK) or eating club (US) is a social group, usually requiring membership (which may, or may not be available only to certain people), which meets for dinners and discussion on a regular basis. They may also often have guest speakers. ...
in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
.
The first society
Its precursor, the ''
Société de littérature de Bruxelles'' () founded on 10 January 1800, was deprecated by the government 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 disappeared in 1823.
Goswin de Stassart
Goswin Joseph Augustin, Baron de Stassart (2 September 1780 – 16 October 1854) was a Dutch-Belgian politician.
Stassart studied accounting and economics in Paris. In 1804 he became Auditor in the French State Council, in 1805 he became Intenda ...
,
Victor-Joseph de Jouy,
Adolphe Quetelet
Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet FRSF or FRSE (; 22 February 1796 – 17 February 1874) was a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist who founded and directed the Brussels Observatory and was influential in introduc ...
,
Frédéric de Reiffenberg
Frédéric Auguste Ferdinand Thomas de Reiffenberg (14 November 1795 — 18 April 1850) was a baron, Belgian writer, historian-medievalist, and linguist. He was also a member of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium, as w ...
,
Eugène Van Bemmel, and the poet
Philippe Lesbroussart :fr:Philippe_Lesbroussart">fr.html" ;"title=":fr:Philippe_Lesbroussart.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:fr:Philippe Lesbroussart">fr">:fr:Philippe_Lesbroussart.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:fr:Philippe Lesbroussart">frwere members of this society.
Some of its members continued to meet in the salon of Lesbroussart and founded in the same year (1823) the Société des douze.
Founding members
The founding members were:
*Auguste Baron
*Philippe Doncker
[
:fr:Philippe Doncker, fr]
* Louis de Potter
* Auguste Drapiez
*
Louis Gruyer fr.html"_;"title=":fr:Louis_Gruyer.html"_;"title="nowiki/>:fr:Louis_Gruyer">fr">:fr:Louis_Gruyer.html"_;"title="nowiki/>:fr:Louis_Gruyer">fr*
fr.html"_;"title=":fr:Louis_Gruyer.html"_;"title="nowiki/>:fr:Louis_Gruyer">fr">:fr:Louis_Gruyer.html"_;"title="nowiki/>:fr:Louis_Gruyer">fr*Lucien_Jottrand">:fr:Louis_Gruyer">fr.html"_;"title=":fr:Louis_Gruyer.html"_;"title="nowiki/>:fr:Louis_Gruyer">fr">:fr:Louis_Gruyer.html"_;"title="nowiki/>:fr:Louis_Gruyer">fr*Lucien_Jottrand
_[:fr:Lucien_Jottrand.html" ;"title="Lucien_Jottrand.html" ;"title=":fr:Louis_Gruyer">fr.html" ;"title=":fr:Louis_Gruyer.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:fr:Louis Gruyer">fr">:fr:Louis_Gruyer.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:fr:Louis Gruyer">fr*Lucien Jottrand">:fr:Louis_Gruyer">fr.html" ;"title=":fr:Louis_Gruyer.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:fr:Louis Gruyer">fr">:fr:Louis_Gruyer.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:fr:Louis Gruyer">fr*Lucien Jottrand [:fr:Lucien Jottrand">fr]
* Philippe Lesbroussart fr.html" ;"title=":fr:Philippe Lesbroussart">fr">:fr:Philippe Lesbroussart">fr* Joseph-Denis Odevaere
* Adolphe Quetelet
Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet FRSF or FRSE (; 22 February 1796 – 17 February 1874) was a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist who founded and directed the Brussels Observatory and was influential in introduc ...
* Édouard Smits :fr:Édouard_Smits">fr.html" ;"title=":fr:Édouard_Smits.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:fr:Édouard Smits">fr">:fr:Édouard_Smits.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:fr:Édouard Smits">fr* Jean-François Tielemans
* Sylvain Van de Weyer
Activities
Since its inception, important personalities were members of the society. The secrecy surrounding it attracted suspicion from the Press and William I
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...
's government.
Dissolution
This first Société des douze, founded during the reign of William I
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...
, ended around 1830, as the Belgian Revolution
The Belgian Revolution (, ) was the conflict which led to the secession of the southern provinces (mainly the former Southern Netherlands) from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium.
T ...
seemed imminent.[Eugène van Bemmel, "Louis De Potter", ''Revue trimestrielle'', volume 27, Brussels, July 1860, p. 36: "Ce cercle était bien connu alors, sous le nom de Société des douze. De Potter en était un des membres les plus assidus, et il y exerçait beaucoup d'influence. Ce cercle se dispersa, lorsque l'alliance des libéraux et des catholiques contre le gouvernement du roi Guillaume se fut un peu consolidée, et que l'on commença à prévoir la lutte."]
It was, however, revived in 1834 after Belgian independence.
The new society
This second Société des douze was founded in 1834, in the same spirit of the first one, by the new generation who would bring it back to life. While the first society was primarily composed of scholars and intellectuals that were active in the opposition to the government of William I
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...
, the members of this new society were almost exclusively from the world of the magistrate and Supreme Court of Brussels.
The founding members
* Van Damme
* P. De Cuyper
* Delporte
*Vandevelde
* François Joseph Verhaegen :fr:François_Joseph_Verhaegen">fr.html" ;"title=":fr:François_Joseph_Verhaegen.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:fr:François Joseph Verhaegen">fr">:fr:François_Joseph_Verhaegen.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:fr:François Joseph Verhaegen">fr* Jean-Baptiste Van Mons,
* Théodore Van Mons,
* Heernu. H. (or F. Heernu)
* Delporte
* Van Parys
*Louis Ranwet [:fr:Louis Ranwet, fr]
* Augustus Van Dievoet, Augustus van Dievoet
Notes and references
Further reading
** Georges Libry-Bagnano, ''Les crimes d'un honnête homme'', Imprimerie H. P. De Swart, La Haye, 1832, p. 180
** Adolphe Quetelet, ''Notice sur Philippe Lesbroussart, membre de l'Académie'', 1855, p. 14
** Lucien Jottrand, ''Louis de Potter'', Librairie polytechnique d'Auguste Decq, Bruxelles 1860.
** Eugène Van Bemmel, « Louis De Potter », in : ''Revue trimestrielle'', volume 27, Bruxelles, juillet 1860, p. 36
** Alphonse Le Roy, ''Liber memoralis : L'Université de Liège depuis sa fondation'', 1869, p. 410
** Édouard Mailly, ''Essai sur la vie et les ouvrages de Lambert-Adolphe-Jacques Quetelet'', Annuaire de l'Académie royale de Belgique, 1875, p. 290, note 15
** ''Annales gastronomiques, bachiques et littéraires'', « éditées pour le cinquantenaire de la Société des douze et imprimées par les soins du secrétaire es XII», 1884
** Édouard Mailly, ''La Société de Littérature de Bruxelles : 1800-1823'', Bruxelles, Mémoires couronnés et autres mémoires de l'Académie royale de langue et de littérature française de Belgique, XLI, 1888
** Fritz Masoin, ''Histoire de la littérature française en Belgique, de 1815 à 1830'', Bruxelles, 1902, p. 42 (liste de membres de la "Société des douze")
** Louis Verniers, ''Bruxelles esquisse historique'', Bruxelles : Maison d'Édition A. De Boeck, 1941.
** Jules Garsou, ''Jules Anspach. Bourgmestre et transformateur de Bruxelles (1829-1879)'', Bruxelles, 1942, p. 99-100
** Gustave Charlier, ''Le mouvement romantique en Belgique (1815-1830)'', tome I, ''La bataille romantique'', Mémoires de l'Académie royale de langue et de littérature française de Belgique, tome XVII, Bruxelles, 1948, p. 18-24
** Roland Mortier, ''Les sociétés littéraires'', dans: ''Histoire illustrée des lettres françaises de Belgique'', Bruxelles, La Renaissance du livre, 1948, p. 235-236
** Louis Verniers, ''Un millénaire d'histoire de Bruxelles'', Bruxelles, 1965, p. 568
** Liliane Wellens-De Donder, « Lettre de A. Quetelet à Lecocq, secrétaire perpétuel de la Société de littérature de Bruxelles. Gand, le 27 février 1819 », dans: ''Adolphe Quetelet 1796-1974'', exposition documentaire présentée à la Bibliothèque royale Albert Ier à l'occasion du centenaire de la mort d'Adolphe Quetelet, Bruxelles, Palais des Académies, 1974, p. 95
** Paul Delsemme, ''Les écrivains francs-maçons de Belgique'', Bruxelles : Bibliothèques de l' ULB, 2004.
** Marie-Rose Thielemans, ''Goswin, baron de Stassart, 1780-1854, Politique et Franc-maçonnerie'', Académie royale de Belgique, Classe des Lettres, Bruxelles, 2008, page 261.
** Nicolas de Potter et René Dalemans, ''Louis de Potter. Révolutionnaire belge de 1830'', postface de Francis Balace, Bruxelles : Couleur livres, 2011, p. 28 ().
{{authority control
Learned societies of Belgium