Victor Amédée Jacques Marie Coremans (5 October 1802 – 23 October 1872) was a Belgian

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to Document, records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist c ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

, and

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some t ...

. He supported 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 ...

, advocating nationhood for

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

Life and career

Victor was born 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 ...

on 5 October 1802, the son of Jacques-Jean Coremans, a judge, and Anne-Marie Vandersande. In 1821 he was banished from Vienna for sedition. In 1824 he edited the ''Erlanger Zeitung''. From 1831 to 1832, while living in Munich, he published and edited the

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

radical newspaper ''Die Freie Presse'' (The Free Press). The Bavarian authorities responded by laying political charges on him, for which he was imprisoned. While in prison he wrote three German-language books that were well-received in Germany: ''Die Stimme aus dem Kerker'' (The Voice from the Dungeon), ''Kerkerblumen'' (Dungeon Flowers), and ''Die göttlichen Befreier'' (The Divine Liberator). After his release he spent some time in Switzerland before returning to his native Belgium. On 13 April 1836, he was appointed as a collaborator to the newly created ''

Commission royale d'Histoire The Commission royale d'Histoire (in French) or Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis (in Dutch) is the Belgian Royal Historical Commission. It was founded by royal decree on 22 July 1834. They initially published their proceedings under the title ...

'' in Brussels. His task was to make the German collection in the

National Archives of Belgium The National Archives of Belgium (french: Archives générales du Royaume, nl, Algemeen Rijksarchief, both ) is the main depository of the State Archives of Belgium (''Archives de l'État''; ''Rijksarchief'') and is located on /, next to the Mon ...

available for research. He published some of his own findings from the archives in several publications. His scholarly writing addressed various topics in the history, culture, and politics of

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 ...

, Germany, and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. He published scholarly pieces in the ''Bulletin de la Commission royale d'histoire'' (1844–1847) and in the ''Revue d'histoire et d'archéologie'' (1860–1863). One article examined the origins and permutations of the legendary monarch

Gambrinus Gambrinus ( ) is a legendary European culture hero celebrated as an icon of beer, brewing, joviality, and ''joie de vivre''. Typical representations in the visual arts depict him as a rotund, bearded duke or king, holding a tankard or mug, ...

. Throughout his later career he continued to promote

liberal nationalism Civic nationalism, also known as liberal nationalism, is a form of nationalism identified by political philosophers who believe in an inclusive form of nationalism that adheres to traditional liberal values of freedom, tolerance, equality, in ...

, and especially Flemish nationhood, through his writing in such journals as ''Vlaamsch België'', ''De Noordstar'', and ''De Zweep''. On 7 August 1872, he retired from the National Archives. He died in

Ixelles ( French, ) or (Dutch, ), is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Brussels' city centre, it is geographically bisected by the City of Brussels. It is also bordered by the muni ...

on 23 October 1872.

Life and career

See also

References

Further reading