Flemish literature
Encyclopedia
Flemish literature is literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...

 from Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

, 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 Belgium became independent from the Netherlands in 1830, the term Flemish literature acquired a narrower meaning and refers to the Dutch-language literature produced in Belgium. It remains a part of Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

-language literature.

Medieval Flemish literature

In the earliest stages of the Dutch language, a considerable degree of mutual intelligibility with some (what we now call) German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 dialects was present, and some fragments and authors are claimed for both realms. Examples include the 12th-century poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 Henric van Veldeke, who is claimed by both Dutch and German literature
German literature
German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German part of Switzerland, and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there...

.

In the first stages of Flemish literature, poetry was the predominant form of literary expression. In the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....

 as in the rest of Europe, courtly romance and poetry
Courtly love
Courtly love was a medieval European conception of nobly and chivalrously expressing love and admiration. Generally, courtly love was secret and between members of the nobility. It was also generally not practiced between husband and wife....

 were popular genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...

s during the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

. One such Minnesang
Minnesang
Minnesang was the tradition of lyric and song writing in Germany which flourished in the 12th century and continued into the 14th century. People who wrote and performed Minnesang are known as Minnesingers . The name derives from the word minne, Middle High German for love which was their main...

er
was the aforementioned Van Veldeke. The chivalric
Chivalry
Chivalry is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood which has an aristocratic military origin of individual training and service to others. Chivalry was also the term used to refer to a group of mounted men-at-arms as well as to martial valour...

 epic
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...

 was a popular genre as well, often featuring King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

 or Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...

 (Karel) as protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

 (with notable example of Karel ende Elegast
Elegast
Elegast is the hero and noble robber in the poem Karel ende Elegast, a Medieval Dutch epic poem that has been translated into English as Charlemagne and Elbegast. In the poem, he possibly represents the King of the Elves. He appears as a knight on a black horse, an outcast vassal of Charlemagne...

, Dutch for "Charlemagne and the elf-spirit/elf-guest").

The first Dutch language writer known by name is the 12th-century County of Loon
County of Loon
The County of Loon was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, lying west of the Meuse river in present-day Flemish-speaking Belgium, and east of the old Duchy of Brabant. The most important cities of the county were Beringen, Bilzen, Borgloon, Bree, Hamont, Hasselt, Herk-de-Stad, Maaseik, Peer and...

 poet Henric van Veldeke, an early contemporary of Walther von der Vogelweide
Walther von der Vogelweide
Walther von der Vogelweide is the most celebrated of the Middle High German lyric poets.-Life history:For all his fame, Walther's name is not found in contemporary records, with the exception of a solitary mention in the travelling accounts of Bishop Wolfger of Erla of the Passau diocese:...

. Van Veldeke wrote courtly love poetry, a hagiography
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...

 of Saint Servatius
Saint Servatius
Saint Servatius was bishop of Tongeren—Roman Atuatuca Tungrorum the capital of the Tungri—one of the earliest dioceses in the Low Countries. Later in his life he fled to Maastricht, Roman Mosae Trajectum, where he became the first bishop of this city...

 and an epic retelling of the Aeneid
Aeneid
The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...

in a Limburgish dialect that straddles the Dutch-German language boundary.

A number of the surviving epic
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...

 works, especially the courtly romances, were copies from or expansions of earlier German or French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 efforts, but there are examples of truly original works (such as the anonymously written Karel ende Elegast
Elegast
Elegast is the hero and noble robber in the poem Karel ende Elegast, a Medieval Dutch epic poem that has been translated into English as Charlemagne and Elbegast. In the poem, he possibly represents the King of the Elves. He appears as a knight on a black horse, an outcast vassal of Charlemagne...

) and original Dutch-language works that were translated into other languages (notable Dutch morality play Elckerlijc
Elckerlijc
Elckerlijc is a Dutch morality play which was written somewhere around the year 1470 and was originally printed in 1495. It was extremely successful and may have been the original source for the English play Everyman, as well as many other translations for other countries...

formed the basis for the English play Everyman
Everyman (play)
The Somonyng of Everyman , usually referred to simply as Everyman, is a late 15th-century English morality play. Like John Bunyan's novel Pilgrim's Progress, Everyman examines the question of Christian salvation by use of allegorical characters, and what Man must do to attain it...

).

Apart from ancient tales embedded in Dutch folk songs, virtually no genuine folk-tales of Dutch antiquity have come down to us, and scarcely any echoes of Germanic myth
Germanic mythology
Germanic mythology is a comprehensive term for myths associated with historical Germanic paganism, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, Continental Germanic mythology, and other versions of the mythologies of the Germanic peoples...

. On the other hand, the sagas of Charlemagne and Arthur appear immediately in Middle Dutch
Middle Dutch
Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects which were spoken and written between 1150 and 1500...

 forms. These were evidently introduced by wandering minstrel
Minstrel
A minstrel was a medieval European bard who performed songs whose lyrics told stories of distant places or of existing or imaginary historical events. Although minstrels created their own tales, often they would memorize and embellish the works of others. Frequently they were retained by royalty...

s and translated to gratify the curiosity of the noble women. It is rarely that the name of such a translator has reached us. The Chanson de Roland was translated somewhere in the twelfth century, and the Flemish
County of Flanders
The County of Flanders was one of the territories constituting the Low Countries. The county existed from 862 to 1795. It was one of the original secular fiefs of France and for centuries was one of the most affluent regions in Europe....

 minstrel Diederic van Assenede completed his version of Floris and Blancheflour
Floris and Blancheflour
Floris and Blancheflour is the name of a popular romantic story that was told in the Middle Ages in many different vernacular languages and versions. It first appears in Europe around 1160 in "aristocratic" French...

as Floris ende Blancefloer around 1260.

The Arthurian legends appear to have been brought to Flanders by some Flemish colonists in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, on their return to their mother country. Around 1250 a Brabantine
Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...

 minstrel translated the Prose Lancelot at the command of his liege
Allegiance
An allegiance is a duty of fidelity said to be owed by a subject or a citizen to his/her state or sovereign.-Etymology:From Middle English ligeaunce . The al- prefix was probably added through confusion with another legal term, allegeance, an "allegation"...

, Lodewijk van Velthem. This adaptation, known as the Lancelot-Compilatie, contains many differences from the French original, and includes a number of episodes that were probably originally separate romances. Some of these are themselves translations of French originals, but others, such as the Morien
Morien
Morien or Moriaen is a 13th-century Arthurian romance in Middle Dutch. A 4,720-line version is preserved in the vast Lancelot-Compilatie, and a short fragment exists at the Royal Library at Brussels...

, seem to be originals. The Gauvain was translated by Penninc and Vostaert as Roman van Walewijn before 1260, while the first wholly original Dutch epic writer, Jacob van Maerlant
Jacob van Maerlant
Jacob van Maerlant was the greatest Flemish poet of the thirteenth century and one of the most important Middle Dutch authors during the Middle Ages.-Biography:...

, occupied himself around 1260 with several romances dealing with Merlin and the Holy Grail
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...

.

The earliest existing fragments of the epic of Reynard the Fox were written in Latin by Flemish priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

s, and about 1250 the first part of a very important version in Dutch, Vanden vos Reynaerde ("Of Reynard") was made by Willem. In his existing work the author follows Pierre de Saint-Cloud, but not slavishly; and he is the first really admirable writer that we meet with in Dutch literature. The second part was added by another poet, Aernout, of whom we know little else either.

The first lyrical writer of the Low Countries was John I, Duke of Brabant
John I, Duke of Brabant
John I of Brabant, also called John the Victorious was Duke of Brabant , Lothier and Limburg .-Life:...

, who practised the minnelied with success. In 1544 the earliest collection of Dutch folk-songs saw the light, and in this volume one or two romances of the fourteenth century are preserved, of which "Het Daghet in den Oosten" is the best known.

Up until now, the Middle Dutch language output mainly serviced the aristocratic and monastic orders, recording the traditions of chivalry and of religion, but scarcely addressed the bulk of the population. With the close of the thirteenth century a change came over the face of Dutch literature.

The founder and creator of this original Dutch literature was Jacob van Maerlant
Jacob van Maerlant
Jacob van Maerlant was the greatest Flemish poet of the thirteenth century and one of the most important Middle Dutch authors during the Middle Ages.-Biography:...

. His Der Naturen Bloeme ("The Flower of Nature"), written about 1263, takes an important place in early Dutch literature. It is a collection of moral
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...

 and satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

 addresses to all classes of society. With his Rijmbijbel ("Verse Bible") he foreshadowed the courage and free-thought of the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

. It was not until 1284 that he began his masterpiece
Masterpiece
Masterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....

, De Spieghel Historiael ("The Mirror of History") at the command of Count Floris V.

From the very first the literary spirit in the Low Countries began to assert itself in a homely and utilitarian spirit. Thoroughly aristocratic in feeling was Hem van Aken, a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

 of Louvain
Leuven
Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...

, who lived about 1255–1330, and who combined to a very curious extent the romantic and didactic elements prevailing at the time. As early as 1280 he had completed his translation of the Roman de la Rose
Roman de la Rose
The Roman de la rose, , is a medieval French poem styled as an allegorical dream vision. It is a notable instance of courtly literature. The work's stated purpose is to both entertain and to teach others about the Art of Love. At various times in the poem, the "Rose" of the title is seen as the...

, which he must have commenced in the lifetime of its author Jean de Meung.

As for prose
Prose
Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...

, the oldest pieces of Dutch prose now in existence are charters of towns in Flanders and Zeeland
Zeeland
Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...

, dated 1249, 1251 and 1254. Beatrice of Nazareth
Beatrice of Nazareth
Blessed Beatrice of Nazareth or in Dutch Beatrijs van Nazareth was a Flemish Cistercian nun. She was the very first prose writer using the Dutch language, a mystic, and the author of the notable Dutch prose dissertation known as the Seven Ways of Holy Love...

 (1200–1268) was the first known prose writer in the Dutch language, the author of the notable dissertation known as the Seven Ways of Holy Love. From the other Dutch mystics
Christian mysticism
Christian mysticism refers to the development of mystical practices and theory within Christianity. It has often been connected to mystical theology, especially in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions...

 whose writings have reached us, the Brussels friar
Friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders.-Friars and monks:...

 Jan van Ruusbroec (better known in English as the Blessed
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...

 John of Ruysbroeck, 1293/4–1381), the "father of Dutch prose" stands out. A prose translation
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...

 of the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

 was made about 1300, and there exists a Life of Jesus of around the same date.

The poets of the Low Countries had already discovered in late medieval times the value of guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...

s in promoting the arts
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....

 and industrial handicraft
Handicraft
Handicraft, more precisely expressed as artisanic handicraft, sometimes also called artisanry, is a type of work where useful and decorative devices are made completely by hand or by using only simple tools. It is a traditional main sector of craft. Usually the term is applied to traditional means...

s. The term "Collèges de Rhétorique" ("Chambers of Rhetoric
Chamber of rhetoric
Chambers of rhetoric were dramatic societies in the Low Countries. Their members are called Rederijkers , from the french word 'rhétoricien', and during the 15th and 16th centuries were mainly interested in dramas and lyrics...

") is supposed to have been introduced around 1440 to the courtier
Courtier
A courtier is a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...

s of the Burgundian
Duchy of Burgundy
The Duchy of Burgundy , was heir to an ancient and prestigious reputation and a large division of the lands of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy and in its own right was one of the geographically larger ducal territories in the emergence of Early Modern Europe from Medieval Europe.Even in that...

 dynasty, but the institutions themselves existed long before. These literary guilds, whose members called themselves "Rederijkers" or "Rhetoricians", lasted until the end of the sixteenth century and during the greater part of that time preserved a completely medieval character, even when the influences of the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 and the Reformation obliged them to modify in some degree their outward forms. They were in almost all cases absolutely middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....

 in tone, and opposed to aristocratic
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...

 ideas and tendencies in thought.

Of these chambers, the earliest were almost entirely engaged in preparing mysteries
Mystery play
Mystery plays and miracle plays are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches as tableaux with accompanying antiphonal song...

 and miracle plays for the people. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, the Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...

 chamber began to exercise a sovereign power over the other Flemish chambers, which was emulated later on in Holland
Count of Holland
The Counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century.-House of Holland:The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf, Count in Frisia...

 by the Eglantine at Amsterdam. But this official recognition proved of no consequence in literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...

 and it was not in Ghent but in Antwerp that intellectual life first began to stir. In Holland the burghers
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...

 only formed the chambers, while in Flanders the representatives of the noble
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...

 families were honorary members, and assisted with their money at the arrangement of ecclesiastical or political
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

 pageants. Their Landjuwelen, or Tournaments of Rhetoric, at which rich prizes were awarded, were the occasions upon which the members of the chambers distinguished themselves.

Between 1426 and 1620, at least 66 of these festivals were held. The grandest of all was the festival celebrated at Antwerp on August 3, 1561. The Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

 chamber sent 340 members, all on horseback and clad in crimson
Crimson
Crimson is a strong, bright, deep red color. It is originally the color of the dye produced from a scale insect, Kermes vermilio, but the name is now also used as a generic term for those slightly bluish-red colors that are between red and rose; besides crimson itself, these colors include...

 mantles. The town of Antwerp gave a ton of gold to be given in prizes, which were shared among 1,893 rhetoricians. This was the zenith of the splendour of the chambers, and after this time they soon fell into disfavour.

Their dramatic pieces
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

 produced by the chambers were of a didactic cast, with a strong farcical flavour, and continued the tradition of Maerlant and his school. They very rarely dealt with historical
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 or even Biblical personages, but entirely with allegorical and moral abstractions. The most notable examples of Rederijker theatre include Mariken van Nieumeghen ("Mary of Nijmegen") and Elckerlijc
Elckerlijc
Elckerlijc is a Dutch morality play which was written somewhere around the year 1470 and was originally printed in 1495. It was extremely successful and may have been the original source for the English play Everyman, as well as many other translations for other countries...

(which was translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 as Everyman).

Of the pure farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...

s of the rhetorical chambers we can speak with still more confidence, for some of them have come down to us, and among the authors famed for their skill in this sort of writing are named Cornelis Everaert of Bruges
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....

 and Laurens Janssen of Haarlem
Haarlem
Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...

. The material of these farces is extremely raw, consisting of rough jests at the expense of priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

s and foolish husbands, silly old men and their light wives.

The chambers also encouraged the composition of songs, but with very little success; they produced no lyrical genius more considerable than Matthijs de Casteleyn (1488–1550) of Oudenaarde
Oudenaarde
Oudenaarde is a Belgian municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Oudenaarde proper and the towns of Bevere, Edelare, Eine, Ename, Heurne, Leupegem, Mater, Melden, Mullem, Nederename, Welden, Volkegem and a part of Ooike.From the 15th to the 18th...

, author of De Conste van Rhetorijcken ("The Art of Rhetoric").

The first writer who used the Dutch tongue with grace and precision of style was a woman and a professed opponent of Lutheranism
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...

 and reformed thought
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

. Modern Dutch literature practically begins with Anna Bijns
Anna Bijns
Anna Bijns was a writer, schoolteacher and nun who taught until she was 80 years old.-Biography:The elder daughter of a tailor and rederijker, she opened a school in Antwerp with her brother Martin, following the death of her father and marriage of her sister. Anna Bijns was one of the rare women...

 (c. 1494–1575). Bijns, who is believed to have been born at Antwerp in 1494, was a schoolmistress
Schoolmaster
A schoolmaster, or simply master, once referred to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British public schools, but is generally obsolete elsewhere.The teacher in charge of a school is the headmaster...

 at that city in her middle life
Middle age
Middle age is the period of age beyond young adulthood but before the onset of old age. Various attempts have been made to define this age, which is around the third quarter of the average life span of human beings....

, and in old age
Old age
Old age consists of ages nearing or surpassing the average life span of human beings, and thus the end of the human life cycle...

 she still instructed youth in the Catholic religion. She died on April 10, 1575. From her work we know that she was a lay nun and that she occupied a position of honour and influence in Antwerp. Bijns' main subjects were faith
Faith
Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief that is not based on proof. In religion, faith is a belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. Generally speaking, it is offered as a means by which the truth of the proposition,...

 and the character of Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...

. In her first volume of poetry (1528) the Lutherans are scarcely mentioned and the focus is on her personal experience of faith. In the volume of poetry of 1538 every page is occupied with invective
Invective
Invective , from Middle English "invectif", or Old French and Late Latin "invectus", is an abusive, reproachful or venomous language used to express blame or censure; also, a rude expression or discourse intended to offend or hurt. Vituperation, or deeply-seated ill will, vitriol...

 against the Lutherans. All the poems of Anna Bijns still extant are of the form called refereinen (refrains). Her mastery over verse form is considered to be remarkable. With the writings of Anna Bijns, the period of Middle Dutch closes and modern Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

 begins.

Split between North and South

Flanders formed a political and cultural whole with the Netherlands until 1579, when as a result of the Reformation
Reformation
- Movements :* Protestant Reformation, an attempt by Martin Luther to reform the Roman Catholic Church that resulted in a schism, and grew into a wider movement...

 the Protestant northern provinces (today's Holland) split off from the Roman-Catholic south which remained under Spanish rule. [1] While the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands witnessed its Golden Age
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology and legend and refers to the first in a sequence of four or five Ages of Man, in which the Golden Age is first, followed in sequence, by the Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages, and then the present, a period of decline...

, the Southern Netherlands
Southern Netherlands
Southern Netherlands were a part of the Low Countries controlled by Spain , Austria and annexed by France...

 suffered war and misery under Spanish occupation
Southern Netherlands
Southern Netherlands were a part of the Low Countries controlled by Spain , Austria and annexed by France...

. As the Protestants fled from the Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 Southern Netherlands
Southern Netherlands
Southern Netherlands were a part of the Low Countries controlled by Spain , Austria and annexed by France...

, the once prospering port town of Antwerp started to decline as a metropolis and this to the benefit of towns and cities in Holland, like Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, 's-Gravenhage, Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

 and Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...

.

As a result of these political developments, the literature in the South, Flanders and Brabant
Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...

 changed its character. The flowering of medieval literature came to an abrupt end while in the 17th century the North knew a 'Golden Age' in the arts including literature. With the mass exodus of Flemish intellectuals to the Dutch Republic, literary activity in Flanders virtually came to a halt. In the French occupied part of Flanders a few major figures were active including Dominic De Jonghe (1654–1717) who translated Le Cid by Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine...

 into Dutch, the poet Michiel de Swaen
Michiel de Swaen
Michiel de Swaen was a surgeon and a rederijker from the Southern Netherlands.-Childhood, schooling and professional life:Michiel de Swaen studied at the college of the Jesuits in his native town, where he probably got a humanist education, acquired chiefly through theatre, as in those days...

 (1654–1707) who wrote the epic Het Leven en Dood van Jezus Christus (The Life and Death of Jesus Christ) ( 1694) and the comedy The gecroonde leerse (The Crowned Boot) and Willem Ogier who is known for the comedy Droncken Heyn (Drunk Heyn) (1639) and a drama series entitled De seven hooft-sonden (The Seven Capital Sins)(1682). [2]

During the 18th century, Flemish literary production was at a low tide. In 1761 Jan Des Roches who was born in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

 [2] published the Nieuwe Nederduytsche spraek-konst, a Dutch grammar that attempted to challenge the use of Latin as a culture language and French as the language of prestige by elaborating a standardized southern Dutch (Flemish) language [3]. The Brussels lawyer Jan-Baptist Verlooy
Jan-Baptist Verlooy
Jan-Baptist Chrysostomus Verlooy was a jurist and politician from the Southern Netherlands.-Childhood and descent:...

 (1746–1797) wrote the Verhandeling op d'onacht der moederlyke tael in de Nederlanden (Treatise on the negligence of the mother tongue in the Netherlands) (1788), a report on the status of the Dutch language and the contempt with which it was treated in the past. [2] Other important authors include Willem Verhoeven (1738–1809), Charles Broeckaert (1767–1826) (author of the Flemish popular novel Jelle en Mietje), and Jan-Baptist Hofman (1758–1835), author of middle class tragedies.

Reunification and new split

After the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

, Belgium and the Netherlands were reunited in 1815 under Dutch rule as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands
United Kingdom of the Netherlands
United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name used to refer to Kingdom of the Netherlands during the period after it was first created from part of the First French Empire and before the new kingdom of Belgium split out in 1830...

. The reunification lead to a wider recognition of the Dutch language in Belgium. Resentment of Dutch rule by the French-speaking elites and the Catholic Church created a climate in which the Belgians revolted against Dutch rule in 1830, an event which is known as the Belgian Revolution
Belgian Revolution
The Belgian Revolution was the conflict which led to the secession of the Southern provinces from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and established an independent Kingdom of Belgium....

.

The immediate result of the Belgian Revolution was a reaction against everything associated with the Dutch, and a disposition to regard the French language as the speech of liberty and independence. The provisional government of 1830 suppressed the official use of the Dutch language
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

, which was relegated to the rank of a patois
Patois
Patois is any language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. It can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects, and other forms of native or local speech, but not commonly to jargon or slang, which are vocabulary-based forms of cant...

.

For some years before 1830 Jan Frans Willems
Jan Frans Willems
Jan Frans Willems , 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 notary in Antwerp....

(1793-1846) had been advocating the use of the Dutch language. He had done his best to allay the frictions between the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 and Belgium and to prevent a separation. As archivist of Antwerp he had access to direct sources that allowed him to write a history of Flemish literature. After the revolution his Dutch sympathies made it necessary for him to keep a low profile for a while, but in 1835 he settled in Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...

, and devoted himself to the cultivation of the Flemish language. He edited old Flemish classics, such as Reinaert de Vos (1836), the rhyming Chronicles of Jan van Heelu
Jan van Heelu
Jan van Heelu was a Flemish writer. Between 1288–1294, he wrote a chronicle of the Battle of Woeringen of 1288, between Reinoud I of Guelders, and John I, Duke of Brabant.-Biography:...

and Jean Leclerc
Jean Leclerc (theologian)
Jean Le Clerc, also Johannes Clericus was a Swiss theologian and biblical scholar. He was famous for promoting exegesis, or critical interpretation of the Bible, and was a radical of his age...

, etc. He gathered around him a group of people such as the chevalier Philip Blommaert
Philip Blommaert
Philip Blommaert was a Flemish writer.He earned his living as a private scholar and was as a friend and comrade of Hendrik Conscience with whom he promoted the use of Dutch in Belgium....

 (1809–1871), Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck
Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck
Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck was a Flemish writer. He was of humble origin, but became extraordinary Professor at the University of Ghent...

 (1805–1847), Frans Rens
Frans Rens
Frans Rens 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.-Source:...

 (1805–1874), Ferdinand Augustijn Snellaert
Ferdinand Augustijn Snellaert
Ferdinand Augustijn Snellaert was a Flemish writer. He studied medicine at the University of Utrecht and became officer of health in the Dutch army . After his dismissal, he graduated in medicine at the University of Ghent , and became a general practitioner in Ghent...

 (1809–1872), Prudens van Duyse
Prudens van Duyse
Prudentius van Duyse or Prudens van Duyse 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 1832. In 1836, he became the archivist of the city of Ghent...

 (1804–1859), and others who wanted to support the use of the Flemish language.

Philipp Blommaert, who was born in Ghent on 27 August 1809, founded in 1834 in his native town the Nederduitsche letteroefeningen, a review for new writers. This magazine was speedily followed by other Flemish organs, and by literary societies for the promotion of Dutch in Flanders. In 1851 a central organization for the Flemish propaganda was provided by a society, named after the father of the movement, the Willemsfonds
Willemsfonds
The Willemsfonds, named after Jan Frans Willems, is a non-profit cultural organization founded in the 19th century to promote Flemish culture and language in Belgium. In order to achieve this goal, the organization encouraged Flemish folk song, organized linguistic games and published inexpensive...

. The Roman Catholic Flemings founded in 1874 a rival Davidsfonds
Davidsfonds
The Davidsfonds is a Catholic organisation in Flanders, Belgium with the purpose of promoting the Flemish culture in the areas of literature, history and art....

, called after the energetic Jean-Baptist David
Jean-Baptist David
Jean-Baptist David was a canon and professor Dutch and history at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.Jean-Baptist David was born in the Belgian city of Lier...

 (1801–1866), professor at the Universite Catholique de Louvain
Université catholique de Louvain
The Université catholique de Louvain, sometimes known, especially in Belgium, as UCL, is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It is located in Louvain-la-Neuve and in Brussels...

 (Leuven
Leuven
Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...

), and the author of a Dutch history book on Belgium (Vaderlandsche historie, Louvain, 1842–1866). As a result of this propaganda the Dutch language was placed on an equality with French in law, and in administration, in 1873 and 1878, and in the schools in 1883. Finally in 1886 a Flemish Academy was established by royal authority at Ghent, where a course in Flemish literature had been established as early as 1854.

The claims put forward by the Flemish school were justified by the appearance (1837) of In 't Wonderjaer 1566 (In the Wonderful year) of Hendrik Conscience
Hendrik Conscience
Henri "Hendrik" Conscience was a Belgian writer. He was a pioneer in writing in Dutch after the secession from the Netherlands in 1830 left Belgium a mostly French speaking country....

, who roused national enthusiasm by describing the heroic struggles of the Flemings against the Spaniards. Conscience was eventually to make his greatest successes in the description of contemporary Flemish life, but his historical romances and his popular history of Flanders helped to give a popular basis to a movement which had been started by professors and scholars.

The first poet of the new school was Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck
Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck
Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck was a Flemish writer. He was of humble origin, but became extraordinary Professor at the University of Ghent...

, the best known of whose poems are those on the three sister cities of Bruges
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....

, Ghent and Antwerp (De drie zustersteden, vaderlandsche trilogie, Ghent, 1846), in which he makes an impassioned protest against the adoption of French ideas, manners and language, and the neglect of Flemish tradition. The book speedily took its place as a Flemish classic. Ledeganck, who was a magistrate, also translated the French code into Flemish. Jan Theodoor van Rijswijck
Jan Theodoor van Rijswijck
Jan Theodoor van Rijswijck was a Flemish writer. He was an uncle of the politician Jan Van Rijswijck....

 (1811–1849), after serving as a volunteer in the campaign of 1830, settled down as a clerk in Antwerp, and became one of the hottest champions of the Flemish movement. He wrote a series of political and satirical songs, admirably suited to his public. The romantic and sentimental poet, Jan van Beers
Jan van Beers
Jan van Beers was Flemish poet born in Antwerp. He is usually referred to as "van Beers the elder" to distinguish him from his son, Jan van Beers, the painter....

, was typically Flemish in his sincere and moral outlook on life. Prudens van Duyse
Prudens van Duyse
Prudentius van Duyse or Prudens van Duyse 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 1832. In 1836, he became the archivist of the city of Ghent...

, whose most ambitious work was the epic Artevelde (1859), is perhaps best remembered by a collection (1844) of poems for children. Peter Frans Van Kerckhoven
Peter Frans Van Kerckhoven
Pieter Frans van Kerckhoven was a Flemish writer and one of the leaders of the early Flemish movement. He was the son of a broker, and his well-off birth allowed him a decent education...

 (1818–1857), a native of Antwerp, wrote novels, poems, dramas, and a work on the Flemish revival (De Vlaemsche Beweging, 1847).

Antwerp produced a realistic novelist in Jan Lambrecht Domien Sleeckx
Jan Lambrecht Domien Sleeckx
Jan Lambrecht Domien Sleeckx or Dominicus Jan Lambrecht , was a Flemish writer. He started his career as a notary clerk and a journalist, in 1861 he became a teacher of Dutch in Lier and later head school inspector of primary schools.He started his literary career with the romantic Kronyken der...

 (1818–1901). An inspector of schools by profession, he was an indefatigable journalist and literary critic. He was one of the founders in 1844 of the Vlaemsch Belgie, the first daily paper in the Flemish interest. His works include a long list of plays, among them Jan Steen (1852), a comedy; Gretry, which gained a national prize in 1861; Vissers van Blankenberge (1863); and the patriotic drama of Zannekin (1865). His talent as a novelist was diametrically opposed to the idealism of Conscience. He was precise, sober and concrete in his methods, relying for his effect on the accumulation of carefully observed detail. He was particularly successful in describing the life of the shipping quarter of his native town. Among his novels are: In't Schipperskwartier(1856), Dirk Meyer (1860), Tybaerts en Cie (1867), Kunst en Liefde (Art and Love, 1870), and Vesalius in Spanje (1895). His complete works were collected in 17 volumes (1877–1884).

Jan Renier Snieders
Jan Renier Snieders
Jan Renier Snieders , a brother of August Snieders, was a Flemish writer. He studied medicine in Leuven, and in 1838 he settled as a physician in Turnhout, where he did much to promote literature and for which reason he founded the society De Dageraad...

 (1812–1888) wrote novels dealing with North Brabant; his brother, August Snieders
August Snieders
August Snieders was a Flemish journalist and writer. He started his career in's-Hertogenbosch, but later moved to Antwerp. In 1845, he became editor of the newspaper Het Handelsblad, of which he was head editor from 1849 until 1899...

 (1825–1904), began by writing historical novels in the manner of Conscience, but his later novels are satires of contemporary society. A more original talent was displayed by Anton Bergmann
Anton Bergmann
Anton Bergmann was a Belgian writer and a liberal Flemish activist. Already during his youth he was fond of Dutch literature, and together with Julius Vuylsteke, he was a member of 't zal wel gaan, a Flemish cultural and liberal organization...

 (1835–1874), who, under the pseudonym of Tony, wrote Ernest Staas, Advocaat, which gained the quennial prize of literature in 1874. In the same year appeared the Novellen of the sisters Rosalie
Rosalie Loveling
Rosalie Loveling was a Flemish author of poetry, novels and essays.-Biography:Rosalie Loveling was born in Nevele, Belgium, and was the older sister of Virginie Loveling, also an author, with whom she co-wrote part of her oeuvre...

 (1834–1875) and Virginie Loveling
Virginie Loveling
Virginie Loveling was a Flemish author of poetry, novels, essays and children's stories. She also wrote under the pseudonym W.E.C Walter.- Biography :...

 (1836–1923). These simple and touching stories were followed by a second collection in 1876. The sisters had published a volume of poems in 1870. Virginie Lovelings gifts of fine and exact observation soon placed her in the front rank of Flemish novelists. Her political sketches, In onze Vlaamsche gewesten (1877), were published under the name of W. G. E. Walter. Sophie (1885), Een dure Eed (1892), and Het Land der Verbeelding (1896) are among the more famous of her later works. Reimond Stijns
Reimond Stijns
Reimond Stijns was a Belgian writer.He started his professional career as a teacher in 1870, first in Bevere , and afterwards back in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek. In 1883, he became study master, later teacher Dutch at the Koninklijk athenaeum in Brussels...

 (1850–1905) and Isidoor Teirlinck
Isidoor Teirlinck
Isidoor Teirlinck was a Belgian writer. He is best known for his work on folklore.Isidoor Teirlinck went to school in Lier. He married with Oda van Nieuwenhove and he was the father of the writer Herman Teirlinck...

 (1851–1934) produced in collaboration one very popular novel, Arm Vlaanderen (1884), and some others, and have since written separately. Cyriel Buysse
Cyriel Buysse
Cyrillus Gustave Emile "Cyriel", Baron Buysse was a Flemish naturalist author and playwright. He also wrote under following pseudonyms: Louis Bonheyden, Prosper Van Hove and Robert Palmer.-Biography:...

, a nephew of Virginie Loveling, is a disciple of Émile Zola
Émile Zola
Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...

. Het Recht van den Sterkste ( The Right of the Strongest, 1893) is a picture of vagabond life in Flanders; Schoppenboer (The Knave of Spades, 1898) deals with brutalized peasant life; and Sursum corda (1895) describes the narrowness and religiosity of village life.

In poetry Julius de Geyter
Julius de Geyter
Julius De Geyter was a Flemish writer. He started his career as a teacher and journalist. In 1874, he became director of the Bank van Lening in Antwerp. Together with J.F.J. Heremans and E. Zetternam he founded the literary illustrated magazine "De Vlaamsche School" , which existed from 1855 until...

 (1830–1905), author of a rhymed translation of Reinaert (1874), an epic poem on Charles V. (1888), etc. produced a social epic in three parts, Drie menschen van in de wieg tot in het graf (Three Men from the Cradle to the Grave, 1861), in which he propounded radical and humanitarian views. The songs of Julius Vuylsteke
Julius Vuylsteke
Julius Vuylsteke was a Belgian liberal politician and writer. He started his career as a lawyer, but later opened a bookshop. As a liberal Flemish politician, he founded the liberal association 't zal wel gaan, and he played an important role in the Flemish movement...

 (1836–1903) are full of liberal and patriotic ardour; but his later life was devoted to politics rather than literature. He had been the leading spirit of a students association at Ghent for the propagation of Flemish views, and the Willemsfonds owed much of its success to his energetic co-operation. His Uit het studentenleven appeared in 1868, and his poems were collected in 1881. The poems of Mme van Ackere (1803–1884), née Maria Doolaeghe
Maria Doolaeghe
Maria Doolaeghe was a Flemish writer.-Bibliography:* Nederduitsche letteroefeningen * Madelieven * De avondlamp...

, were modelled on Dutch originals. Joanna Courtmans
Joanna Courtmans
Joanna Courtmans, born Joanna-Desideria Berchmans was a Flemish writer.Her father was mayor of Oudegem, and she spent her first years at the local village school, after which she, at the age of nine, was sent to a boarding school in Wallonia...

 (1811–1890), née Berchmans, owed her fame rather to her tales than her poems; she was above all a moralist and her fifty tales are sermons on economy and the practical virtues. Other poets were Emmanuel Hiel
Emmanuel Hiel
Emmanuel Hiel , was a Flemish-Dutch poet and prose writer.Hiel was born at Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde. During his life he held various jobs, from teacher and government official to journalist and bookseller, busily writing all the time both for the theatre and the magazines of North and South...

, author of comedies, opera libretti and some admirable songs; the abbé Guido Gezelle
Guido Gezelle
Guido Pieter Theodorus Josephus Gezelle was an influential Flemish language writer and poet and a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium.- Life :...

, who wrote religious and patriotic poems in the dialect of West Flanders; Lodewijk de Koninck
Lodewijk de Koninck
Lodewijk De Koninck was a Flemish writer.He studied at the school for teachers Lier and became a teacher in Antwerp. Later he became an inspector of the Catholic primary schools and a teacher at the school for teachers in Mechelen.As a writer he wrote poems which reflected his strict catholic belief...

 (1838–1924), who attempted a great epic subject in Menschdom Verlost (1872); Johan Michiel Dautzenberg
Johan Michiel Dautzenberg
Johan Michiel Dautzenberg was a Belgian writer. Professionally he was successively secretary, clerk, teacher, private teacher, and bookkeeper....

 (1808–1869) from Heerlen
Heerlen
Heerlen is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. The municipality is the second largest in the province of Limburg. It forms part of Parkstad Limburg, , an agglomeration of about 220,000 inhabitants.After its early Roman beginnings and a rather modest medieval period, Heerlen...

, author of a volume of charming Volksliederen. The best of Dautzenberg's work is contained in the posthumous volume of 1869, published by his son-in-law, Frans de Cort
Frans de Cort
Frans Jozef de Cort was a Flemish writer. Professionally he was, first a clerk, editor, bookkeeper for a shipping company, and in 1861 a secretary at the military court....

 (1834–1878), who was himself a song-writer, and translated songs from Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...

, from Jacques Jasmin
Jacques Jasmin
Jansemin was an Occitan poet.He was born at Agen, his family name being Boé...

 and from German. The Makamen en Ghazelen (1866), adapted from Rückert
Friedrich Rückert
Friedrich Rückert was a German poet, translator, and professor of Oriental languages.-Biography:Rückert was born at Schweinfurt and was the eldest son of a lawyer. He was educated at the local Gymnasium and at the universities of Würzburg and Heidelberg. From 1816-1817, he worked on the editorial...

's version of Hariri, and other volumes by Jan Ferguut
Jan Ferguut
Jan Amandus Van Droogenbroeck , pseudonym Jan Ferguut, was a Flemish poet and writer. He was a teacher and a civil servant....

 (J. A. van Droogenbroeck, 1835–1902) show a growing preoccupation with form, and with the work of Gentil Theodoor Antheunis
Gentil Theodoor Antheunis
Gentil Theodoor Antheunis was a Flemish poet. He was the son-in-law of Hendrik Conscience, whose only daughter Maria he married in 1870. He was born in Oudenaarde....

 (1840–1907), they prepare the way for the ingenious and careful workmanship of the younger school of poets, of whom Charles Polydore de Mont
Charles Polydore de Mont
Charles Polydore de Mont or Pol de Mont was a Belgian writer and poet.After his secondary education, in French, at Ninove, he went to the Klein seminarie in Mechelen. Here he wrote his first poems, which he published in one volume as Klimoprankske...

 was the leader. He was born at Wambeke in Brabant in 1857, and became professor in the academy of the fine arts at Antwerp. He introduced something of the ideas and methods of contemporary French writers into Flemish verse; and explained his theories in 1898 in an Inleiding tot de Poezie. Among Pol de Mont's numerous volumes of verse dating from 1877 onwards are Claribella (1893), and Iris (1894), which contains amongst other things a curious Uit de Legende van Jeschoea-ben-Josief, a version of the gospel story from a Jewish peasant.

Mention should also be made of the history of Ghent (Gent van den vroegsten Tijd tot heden, 1882-1889) by Frans de Potter
Frans de Potter
Frans de Potter was a Belgian writer.He was Chief Clerk of the Fondsenblad of Ghent, and from 1886 onwards secretary of the Flemish Academy...

 (1834–1904), and of the art criticisms of Max Rooses
Max Rooses
Max Rooses was a Belgian writer, literature critic, and curator of the Plantin-Moretus Museum at Antwerp.Rooses was born in Antwerp, and went to school there up to 1858, after which he attended the University of Liège to study philosophy and literature...

 (1839–1914), curator of the Plantin-Moretus Museum
Plantin-Moretus Museum
The Plantin-Moretus Museum is a museum in Antwerp, Belgium honouring the famous printers Christoffel Plantijn and Jan Moretus. It is located in their former residence and printing establishment, Plantin Press, at the Friday Market.- History :...

 in Antwerp, and of Julius Sabbe
Julius Sabbe
Julius Ludovicus Maria Sabbe was a Flemish publisher and an active member of the Flemish movement...

 (1846–1910).

20th century

In the twentieth Century Flemish literature evolved further and was influenced by the international literary evolution. Cyriel Buysse
Cyriel Buysse
Cyrillus Gustave Emile "Cyriel", Baron Buysse was a Flemish naturalist author and playwright. He also wrote under following pseudonyms: Louis Bonheyden, Prosper Van Hove and Robert Palmer.-Biography:...

 and Stijn Streuvels
Stijn Streuvels
Stijn Streuvels, born Franciscus Petrus Maria Lateur, is a Flemish writer. He was born on 3 October 1871 in Heule, Kortrijk, and died in Ingooigem, Anzegem on 15 August 1969 at the age of 98. In 1905 he married Alida Staelens. They had 4 children: Paula , Paul , Dina and Isa...

 were influenced by the naturalist
Naturalism (art)
Naturalism in art refers to the depiction of realistic objects in a natural setting. The Realism movement of the 19th century advocated naturalism in reaction to the stylized and idealized depictions of subjects in Romanticism, but many painters have adopted a similar approach over the centuries...

 literary fashion, while Felix Timmermans
Felix Timmermans
Leopold Maximiliaan Felix Timmermans is a much translated author of Flanders.Timmermans was born in the Belgian city of Lier, as the thirteenth of fourteen children in the family. He died in Lier, aged 60. He was an autodidact, and wrote plays, historical novels, religious works, and poems. His...

 was a neo-romanticist
Neo-romanticism
The term neo-romanticism is used to cover a variety of movements in music, painting and architecture. It has been used with reference to very late 19th century and early 20th century composers such as Gustav Mahler particularly by Carl Dahlhaus who uses it as synonymous with late Romanticism...

.

After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 the poet Paul van Ostaijen
Paul van Ostaijen
Paul van Ostaijen was a Flemish poet and writer.Van Ostaijen was born in Antwerp. His nickname was Mister 1830, because of his habit of walking along the streets of Antwerp clothed as a dandy from that year....

 was an important representative of expressionism
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...

 in his poems. In between World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Gerard Walschap
Gerard Walschap
Jacob Lodewijk Gerard, Baron Walschap , was a Belgian writer.-Early life:He went to highschool at the Klein seminarie in Hoogstraten, and later in Asse. His Flemish awareness was in these days encouraged by the priest and poet Jan Hammenecker...

, Willem Elsschot
Willem Elsschot
Willem Elsschot , was a Flemish writer and poet . A few of his works have been translated into English.-Life:...

 and Marnix Gijsen
Marnix Gijsen
Marnix Gijsen 20 October 1899 - 29 September 1984) was a Flemish writer. His real name was Joannes Alphonsius Albertus Goris, his pseudonym relates to Marnix van Sint Aldegonde and the surname of his mother .-Early years:...

 were prominent Flemish writers. After World War II the first avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....

 magazine Tijd en Mens (E: Time and People) was published from 1949 up to 1955. In 1955 it was succeeded by Gard Sivik (E: Civil Guard) (up to 1964), with Hugues C. Pernath
Hugues C. Pernath
Hugues C. Pernath was a Belgian writer. Together with Paul Snoek, he founded the avant garde magazine Gard Sivik, and he was a member of the Pink Poets.-Bibliography:* Het uur Marat...

 and Paul Snoek
Paul Snoek
Edmond André Coralie Schietekat pseudonym Paul Snoek, was a Belgian poet. He was a son of Omer William Schietekat, a textile manufacturer, and Paula Sylvia Snoeck. In 1961, he married Maria Magdalena Vereecke , and together they had three children, a twin Jan and Paul in 1963 and in 1966 Sophie...

. The most prominent Flemish Vijftiger (E: Generation fifties) was Hugo Claus
Hugo Claus
Hugo Maurice Julien Claus was a leading Belgian author who published under his own name as well as various pseudonyms. Claus' literary contributions spanned the genres of drama, the novel, and poetry; he also left a legacy as a painter and film director...

, who plays an important role in Flemish literature since then. Other postwar poets were Anton van Wilderode
Anton van Wilderode
Cyriel Paul Coupé , pseudonym Anton van Wilderode was a Belgian writer and poet.Coupé was born in Moerbeke-Waas. He was ordained as a priest on 21 May 1944, and graduated in Classical philology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven...

 and Christine D'Haen
Christine D'Haen
Christine D'haen was a Flemish author and poet. She was born in Sint-Amandsberg and died at Bruges....

. Some of the writers who made their debut after 1960 are Eddy Van Vliet
Eddy Van Vliet
Eduard Léon Juliaan van Vliet was a Belgian writer and lawyer. He graduated in law at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. The fact that his father left his family, played an important role in his poetry....

, Herman de Coninck
Herman de Coninck
Herman de Coninck was a Flemish poet, essayist, journalist and publisher.-Life:Herman de Coninck was born in Mechelen, Belgium, where his parents ran a Catholic bookshop. He attended the Sint-Rombouts College in Mechelen where he contributed to the school newspaper...

, Roland Jooris
Roland Jooris
Roland Jooris is a Belgian poet and writer on contemporary art. He was born at Wetteren. Jooris graduated as a teacher for secondary education in Germanic languages and worked as a teacher at the State Technical Institute in Lokeren.-Bibliography:* Gitaar * Bluebird * Een konsumptief landschap *...

 Patrick Conrad and Luuk Gruwez
Luuk Gruwez
Luuk Gruwez is a Flemish poet. Since 1976, he lives in Hasselt where he worked until 1995 as a teacher.Gruwez was born at Kortrijk. He attended high school there at the Damiaancollege and graduated in Germanic philology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. In 1976 he moved from Kortrijk to Hasselt...

.

The renewal of the Flemish prose immediately after World War II was the work of Hugo Claus and Louis Paul Boon
Louis Paul Boon
Louis Paul Boon was a Flemish journalist and novelist who is considered one of the major 20th century writers in the Dutch language...

. Johan Daisne
Johan Daisne
Johan Daisne was the pseudonym of Flemish author Herman Thiery . Born in Ghent, Belgium, he attended the Koninklijk Atheneum before studying Economics and Slavic languages at Ghent University, receiving his doctorate in 1936...

 and Hubert Lampo
Hubert Lampo
Hubert Leon Lampo was a Flemish writer, one of the founders of magic realism in Flanders. His most famous book is...

 introduced magic realism
Magic realism
Magic realism or magical realism is an aesthetic style or genre of fiction in which magical elements blend with the real world. The story explains these magical elements as real occurrences, presented in a straightforward manner that places the "real" and the "fantastic" in the same stream of...

 in Flemish literature. Ivo Michiels
Ivo Michiels
Henri Ceuppens , pseudonym Ivo Michiels is a Belgian writer. In 1965, he married Christiane Faes. In 1979, he established himself he as full-time writer in the Vaucluse ....

 and Paul De Wispelaere
Paul De Wispelaere
Paul de Wispelaere is a Flemish writer.Born in Bruges, he attended high school at the Sint-Lodewijkscollege in Brussels, where he graduated in Greek-Latin. He studied Germanic philology at the University of Ghent and obtained a PhD in 1974...

 represented the new novel. In the eighties Walter van den Broeck
Walter van den Broeck
Walter Stefaan Karel van den Broeck is a Belgian writer and playwright. He graduated as a teacher in Dutch and History , and he started his career as a teacher....

 and Monika van Paemel
Monika van Paemel
Baroness Monika van Paemel is a Belgian writer. Born in Poesele, aged 14 she attended the Heilig Graf boarding school in Turnhout, where she graduated in commercial sciences. In 1963 she married Theo Butsen, whome she divorced some years later...

 continued to write in the style of Louis Paul Boon.

Other contemporary authors are Ward Ruyslinck
Ward Ruyslinck
Raymond De Belser , pseudonym Ward Ruyslinck, is a Flemish writer. He is the son of Leo De Belser and Germaine Nauwelaers. His father was librarian at an oil company, and Ward Ruyslinck grew up in a Roman Catholic family. During the war the family moved to Mortsel.-Early life:At age 12, he had...

 and Jef Geeraerts
Jef Geeraerts
Jef Geeraerts is a Flemish writer. He was a colonial administrator in Belgian Congo. On the independence of the Congo he sent his wife and children back to Belgium and in August 1960 he himself returned to Belgium. During the next six years he was paid by the government . After that time he needed...

,Patrick Conrad Kristien Hemmerechts
Kristien Hemmerechts
Kristien Hemmerechts is a Belgian writer.-Life:Kristien Hemmerechts studied Germanic philology at the Katholieke Universiteit Brussel and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven . Afterwards, she studied literary science in Amsterdam for a year. In Amsterdam she met her first husband—who was...

, Eric de Kuyper
Eric de Kuyper
Eric de Kuyper is a Flemish-Belgian and Dutch writer, semiotician, art critic, and experimental film director. Fictionalized autobiographical novels, written in the 3rd-person, account for most of his creative work. His academic writing encompasses reviews, essays, articles, and books on...

, Stefan Hertmans
Stefan Hertmans
Stefan Hertmans is a Flemish Belgian writer. He is head of a study centre at University College Ghent and affiliated researcher of the Ghent University...

, Pol Hoste
Pol Hoste
Paul Gustaaf Julia Hoste , pseudonym Pol Hoste is a Belgian writer. He graduated in Germanic philology at the University of Ghent. He started his career as a teacher of the English and Dutch languages...

, Paul Claes
Paul Claes
Paul Claes is a Flemish writer, poet and translator.Born in Leuven, Claes graduated in classical literature and Germanic philology . He obtained a PhD in 1981, with a disseration De mot zit in de mythe on references to classical texts in the works of Hugo Claus...

, Jan Lauwereyns
Jan Lauwereyns
Jan Lauwereyns , full name Johan Marc José Lauwereyns, is a poet, essayist, and scientist. As a cognitive neuroscientist, he specializes in the voluntary control of attention and decision making. He has published articles in journals such as Nature, Neuron, and Trends in Cognitive Sciences, and the...

, Anne Provoost
Anne Provoost
Anne Provoost Anne Provoost Anne Provoost (born 26 July 1964 in the Belgian town of Poperinge, is a Flemish author who now lives in Antwerp with her husband and three children.-Career:...

 and Jos Vandeloo
Jos Vandeloo
Josephus Albertus "Jos" Vandeloo is a Belgian writer and poet. He grew up in a mining family and graduated as a chemist for the mining industry....

. In the nineties the Generation X
Generation X
Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the Western post–World War II baby boom ended. While there is no universally agreed upon time frame, the term generally includes people born from the early 1960's through the early 1980's, usually no later than 1981 or...

, with Herman Brusselmans
Herman Brusselmans
Herman Frans Martha Brusselmans is a Flemish novelist, poet, playwright and columnist. He lives in Ghent.Herman Brusselmans studied Dutch and English at the University of Ghent. In his early twenties he was a successful football player. He played for Vigor Hamme and SK Lokeren. He now has his own...

 and Tom Lanoye
Tom Lanoye
Tom Lanoye [lan-WA] is a Belgian novelist and poet who works in Antwerp and Cape Town . He gained widespread popularity in the early 1980s as part of the new generation of young Flemish novelists that included Herman Brusselmans and Kristien Hemmerechts...

 made their debut on the Flemish literary scene.

Overview

  • Johan Anthierens
    Johan Anthierens
    Johan Anthierens was a Flemish journalist, publicist, critic and writer.-Early life:Anthierens was born at Machelen in 1937.-Bibliography:**Works ...

  • Pieter Aspe
    Pieter Aspe
    Pieter Aspe is a Belgian/Flemish writer of a series of detective stories starring inspector Van In.-Novels:-See also:* Flemish literature...

  • Aster Berkhof
  • Louis Paul Boon
    Louis Paul Boon
    Louis Paul Boon was a Flemish journalist and novelist who is considered one of the major 20th century writers in the Dutch language...

  • Herman Brusselmans
    Herman Brusselmans
    Herman Frans Martha Brusselmans is a Flemish novelist, poet, playwright and columnist. He lives in Ghent.Herman Brusselmans studied Dutch and English at the University of Ghent. In his early twenties he was a successful football player. He played for Vigor Hamme and SK Lokeren. He now has his own...

  • Libera Carlier
    Libera Carlier
    Libera Carlier was a Belgian seaman and writer. He attended the Hogere Zeevaartschool and was a member of the resistance during World War II...

  • Ernest Claes
    Ernest Claes
    Andreas Ernestus Josephus Claes was a Flemish author.Some of his works are written under the pseudonym G...

  • Hugo Claus
    Hugo Claus
    Hugo Maurice Julien Claus was a leading Belgian author who published under his own name as well as various pseudonyms. Claus' literary contributions spanned the genres of drama, the novel, and poetry; he also left a legacy as a painter and film director...

  • Patrick Conrad
    Patrick Conrad
    Patrick Conrad is a Flemish poet, screenwriter and novelist, and one of the founders of The Pink Poets. He also directed about twenty movies for cinema and television, including – selected for the Cannes Festival – Mascara with Charlotte Rampling and Michael Sarazin...

  • Johan Daisne
    Johan Daisne
    Johan Daisne was the pseudonym of Flemish author Herman Thiery . Born in Ghent, Belgium, he attended the Koninklijk Atheneum before studying Economics and Slavic languages at Ghent University, receiving his doctorate in 1936...

  • Herman De Coninck
    Herman de Coninck
    Herman de Coninck was a Flemish poet, essayist, journalist and publisher.-Life:Herman de Coninck was born in Mechelen, Belgium, where his parents ran a Catholic bookshop. He attended the Sint-Rombouts College in Mechelen where he contributed to the school newspaper...

  • Saskia de Coster
    Saskia de Coster
    Saskia de Coster is a Belgian writer. Her work has been published in literary magazines and she also writes screenplays and novels. De Coster has also been cited as an up-and-coming author....

  • Filip De Pillecyn
    Filip De Pillecyn
    Filip De Pillecyn was a Belgian writer, and a member of the right-wing Flemish movement. He was born at Hamme, and died in Ghent.-Biography:* Pastor Denys * Monseigneur Bermijn de Paulus van Ortosland...

     (1891–1962)
  • Rita Demeester
    Rita Demeester
    Rita Bertha Maria Demeester was a Belgian poet and writer. She was born at Roeselare.-Education:She obtained a degree in social pedagogy from the Catholic University of Leuven.-Career:...

     (1946–1993)
  • Willem Elsschot
    Willem Elsschot
    Willem Elsschot , was a Flemish writer and poet . A few of his works have been translated into English.-Life:...

  • Marnix Gijsen
    Marnix Gijsen
    Marnix Gijsen 20 October 1899 - 29 September 1984) was a Flemish writer. His real name was Joannes Alphonsius Albertus Goris, his pseudonym relates to Marnix van Sint Aldegonde and the surname of his mother .-Early years:...

  • Maurice Gilliams
    Maurice Gilliams
    Maurice, Baron Gilliams was a Flemish writer and poet. He was the son of printer Frans Gilliams, and he learned to be a typographer. On 27 August 1935, he married Gabriëlle Baelemans, but they separated soon thereafter, although a divorce would not take place until 1976 due to the resistance of...

  • Kristien Hemmerechts
    Kristien Hemmerechts
    Kristien Hemmerechts is a Belgian writer.-Life:Kristien Hemmerechts studied Germanic philology at the Katholieke Universiteit Brussel and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven . Afterwards, she studied literary science in Amsterdam for a year. In Amsterdam she met her first husband—who was...

  • Stefan Hertmans
    Stefan Hertmans
    Stefan Hertmans is a Flemish Belgian writer. He is head of a study centre at University College Ghent and affiliated researcher of the Ghent University...

  • Karel Jonckheere
    Karel Jonckheere
    Karel Jonckheere was a Flemish writer. Karel Jonckheere was also a world traveler, he visited Cuba, Mexico, the United States, Congo, South Africa, India, Romania, the Balkans and many West-European countries...

     (1906–1993)
  • Paul Kenis
    Paul Kenis
    Paul Kenis was a Flemish writer.-Education:He attended high school in Turnhout and in Ghent and studied Germanic languages at the University of Ghent.-Career:...

     (1885–1934)
  • Eric de Kuyper
    Eric de Kuyper
    Eric de Kuyper is a Flemish-Belgian and Dutch writer, semiotician, art critic, and experimental film director. Fictionalized autobiographical novels, written in the 3rd-person, account for most of his creative work. His academic writing encompasses reviews, essays, articles, and books on...

     (*1942)
  • Hubert Lampo
    Hubert Lampo
    Hubert Leon Lampo was a Flemish writer, one of the founders of magic realism in Flanders. His most famous book is...

  • Tom Lanoye
    Tom Lanoye
    Tom Lanoye [lan-WA] is a Belgian novelist and poet who works in Antwerp and Cape Town . He gained widespread popularity in the early 1980s as part of the new generation of young Flemish novelists that included Herman Brusselmans and Kristien Hemmerechts...

  • Jan Lauwereyns
    Jan Lauwereyns
    Jan Lauwereyns , full name Johan Marc José Lauwereyns, is a poet, essayist, and scientist. As a cognitive neuroscientist, he specializes in the voluntary control of attention and decision making. He has published articles in journals such as Nature, Neuron, and Trends in Cognitive Sciences, and the...

  • Maurice Maeterlinck
    Maurice Maeterlinck
    Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also called Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life...

  • Tom Naegels
    Tom Naegels
    Tom Naegels is a Belgian author and journalist.Naegels' first significant publication was a collection of short stories titled Into the Universe. His book Los was published in 2005 and won the Gerard Walschap prize, and is being adapted for a film...

  • Alice Nahon
    Alice Nahon
    Alice Nahon was a Flemish poet from Antwerp.-Biography:She was the third child in a family of eleven children. Her father was born in the Netherlands but of French descent, and her mother, Julia Gijsemans, was born in Putte, nearby Mechelen, where Alice spent much time during her childhood...

     (1896–1933)
  • Leo Pleysier
    Leo Pleysier
    -Bibliography:* Mirliton, een proeve van homofonie * Niets dan schreeuw * Negenenvijftig * Bladschaduwen * En wat zullen we over het sterven zeggen? * Het jaar van het dorp, of De razernij der winderige dagen...

  • Anne Provoost
    Anne Provoost
    Anne Provoost Anne Provoost Anne Provoost (born 26 July 1964 in the Belgian town of Poperinge, is a Flemish author who now lives in Antwerp with her husband and three children.-Career:...

  • Johan de Boose
  • Jean Ray (John Flanders) (1887–1964)
  • Willem Roggeman
    Willem Roggeman
    -Honors:The international prize for poetry Premio Tratti 2007 is awarded to Willem Roggeman for his poems Blue Notebook, .-Bibliography:* Een hinderwoning * Rhapsody in blue...

  • Maria Rosseels
    Maria Rosseels
    Maria, Baroness Rosseels , also known with her pen name E. M. Vervliet, was a Belgian Catholic writer. The first years of her life, she lived in the Goedendagstraat in Borgerhout. When Maria was 7 years old, the family moved to Oostmalle, where she already started to write...

  • Maurits Sabbe
    Maurits Sabbe
    Maurits Karel Maria Willem Sabbe was a Flemish writer. He was a son of Julius Sabbe and the eldest of seven children. He married Gabriëlla De Smet.-Career:...

     (1873–1938)
  • Paul Snoek
    Paul Snoek
    Edmond André Coralie Schietekat pseudonym Paul Snoek, was a Belgian poet. He was a son of Omer William Schietekat, a textile manufacturer, and Paula Sylvia Snoeck. In 1961, he married Maria Magdalena Vereecke , and together they had three children, a twin Jan and Paul in 1963 and in 1966 Sophie...

     (1933–1981)
  • Stijn Streuvels
    Stijn Streuvels
    Stijn Streuvels, born Franciscus Petrus Maria Lateur, is a Flemish writer. He was born on 3 October 1871 in Heule, Kortrijk, and died in Ingooigem, Anzegem on 15 August 1969 at the age of 98. In 1905 he married Alida Staelens. They had 4 children: Paula , Paul , Dina and Isa...

  • Herman Teirlinck
    Herman Teirlinck
    Herman Louis Cesar Teirlinck Herman Louis Cesar Teirlinck Herman Louis Cesar Teirlinck (Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, 24 February 1879- Beersel-Lot, 4 February 1967, was a Belgian writer. He was the fifth child and only son of Isidoor Teirlinck and Oda van Nieuwenhove, who were both teachers in Brussels...

     (1879–1967)
  • Jotie T'Hooft
    Jotie T'Hooft
    Johan Geeraard Adriaan T'Hooft was a Flemish Belgian neo-romantic poet.His life and death by overdose were made into a movie, the English title Junkie's Sorrow.-Life:Jotie T'Hooft was born in Oudenaarde, Belgium...

  • Felix Timmermans
    Felix Timmermans
    Leopold Maximiliaan Felix Timmermans is a much translated author of Flanders.Timmermans was born in the Belgian city of Lier, as the thirteenth of fourteen children in the family. He died in Lier, aged 60. He was an autodidact, and wrote plays, historical novels, religious works, and poems. His...

  • Marcel van Maele
    Marcel van Maele
    Marcel van Maele was a Belgian playwright and sculptor. He was one of the leading figures of the magazine Labris , in which an experimental style was prominent. He was a member of the Zestigers . Van Maele was completely blind for the last 20 years of his life...

  • Paul van Ostaijen
    Paul van Ostaijen
    Paul van Ostaijen was a Flemish poet and writer.Van Ostaijen was born in Antwerp. His nickname was Mister 1830, because of his habit of walking along the streets of Antwerp clothed as a dandy from that year....

  • Paul Verhaeghen
    Paul Verhaeghen
    Paul Verhaeghen is a Belgian novelist, writing in his native Dutch.His novels include Lichtenberg and Omega Minor . Omega Minor has been translated into German , English and French...

  • Peter Verhelst
    Peter Verhelst
    Peter Verhelst is a Belgian Flemish novelist, poet, and dramatist. He won the Ferdinand Bordewijk Prijs for Tongkat. His latest novel is a political thriller, Zwerm.- Life :...

  • Gerard Walschap
    Gerard Walschap
    Jacob Lodewijk Gerard, Baron Walschap , was a Belgian writer.-Early life:He went to highschool at the Klein seminarie in Hoogstraten, and later in Asse. His Flemish awareness was in these days encouraged by the priest and poet Jan Hammenecker...

  • Lode Zielens
    Lode Zielens
    Ludovicus Carolus Zielens was a Flemish novelist and journalist.Born in Antwerp to a poor family, Lode Zielens worked in the docks. His first work, Schoolkolonie, was published in Elsevier’s Monthly Magazine. This brought him into contact with literary circles, including writers Herman Robbers and...

     (1901–1944)

See also

  • Antwerp Book Fair
    Antwerp Book Fair
    The Antwerp Book Fair Boekenbeurs) is a large trade fair for books, held annually at the beginning of November in Antwerp Expo, Antwerp, Belgium. It is organized by . All Flemish and Dutch publishers, and several foreign language distributors present their newest books at the fair.-External...

  • Archive and Museum for the Flemish Culture
    AMVC
    The Letterenhuis is a Belgian non-profit organization located in Antwerp. The Letterenhuis collects and archives information of Flemish writers and artists, and portraits concerning Flemish culture as from 1750...

  • Belgian literature
    Belgian literature
    Because Belgium is a multilingual country,French, Dutch and German are legally the three official languages in Belgium see: EU-Belgium Belgian literature is divided into two main linguistic branches following the two most prominently spoken languages in the country - Dutch and French...

  • Chamber of rhetoric
    Chamber of rhetoric
    Chambers of rhetoric were dramatic societies in the Low Countries. Their members are called Rederijkers , from the french word 'rhétoricien', and during the 15th and 16th centuries were mainly interested in dramas and lyrics...

  • Dutch literature
    Dutch literature
    Dutch literature comprises all writings of literary merit written through the ages in the Dutch language, a language which currently has around 23 million native speakers...

  • List of Dutch writers
  • Medieval Dutch literature
    Medieval Dutch literature
    Medieval Dutch literature is the Dutch literature produced in the Low Countries from the earliest stages of the language up to the sixteenth century.-Early stages:...

  • Nineteenth-century Dutch literature
    Nineteenth-century Dutch literature
    This article deals with literature written in Dutch during the nineteenth century in the Dutch-speaking regions ....

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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