Hendrik Conscience (born December 3, 1812 in Antwerp Рdied September 10, 1883 in Antwerp) was a Flemish writer. He was a pioneer in writing in Dutch after the secession from the Netherlands in 1830 left Belgium a mostly French speaking country. Image File history File links Hendrik_Conscience. ... December 3 is the 337th (in leap years the 338th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1812 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... The Cathedral of our Lady (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal, Antwerp) in the Handschoenmarkt, in the old quarter of Antwerp is the largest cathedral in the Low Countries and home to a number of triptychs by Belgian Baroque painter Rubens. ... September 10 is the 253rd day of the year (254th in leap years). ... 1883 (MDCCCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Flemings (Dutch: Vlamingen) are inhabitants of Flanders in the widest sense of the term, i. ... Liberty Leading the People by Eug̬ne Delacroix commemorates the July Revolution 1830 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Although he invariably signed his name Hendrik, his baptismal name was Henri. He was the son of a Frenchman, Pierre Conscience, from Besançon, who had been chef de timonerie in the navy of Napoleon Bonaparte, and who was appointed under-harbourmaster at Antwerp in 1811, when that city formed part of France. Hendriks mother was a Fleming, Cornelia Balieu. When, in 1815, the French abandoned Antwerp after the Congress of Vienna, they left Pierre Conscience behind them. He was a very eccentric person, and he took up the business of buying and breaking-up worn-out vessels, of which the port of Antwerp was full after the peace. Location within France Besançon is a French city in the département of Doubs, of which it is the préfecture. ... Bonaparte as general Napoleon Bonaparte ( 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a general of the French Revolution and was the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from November 11, 1799 to May 18, 1804, then as Emperor of the French (Empereur des Français... Joyce Rollins is a lesbian. ... The Battle of New Orleans 1815 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The Congress of Vienna by Jean-Baptiste Isabey, 1819. ...

The child grew up in an old shop stocked with marine stores, to which the father afterwards added a collection of unsaleable books; among them were old romances which inflamed the fancy of the child.

His mother died in 1820, and the boy and his younger brother had no other companion than their grim and somewhat sinister father. In 1826 Pierre Conscience married again, this time a widow much younger than himself, Anna Catherina Bogaerts. 1820 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The oldest surviving photograph, Nicéphore Niépce, circa 1826 1826 (MDCCCXXVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

Hendrik had long before this developed an insatiable passion for reading, and revelled all day long among the ancient, torn and dusty tomes which passed through the garret of The Green Corner on their way to destruction. Soon after his second marriage Pierre took a violent dislike to the town, sold the shop, and retired to the Kempen region which Hendrik Conscience so often describes in his books, the desolate flat land that stretches between Antwerp and Venlo. Here Pierre bought a little farm, with a great garden round it, and here, while their father was buying ships in distant havens, the boys would spend weeks, and even months, with no companion but their stepmother. Campine (Dutch and Flemish Kempen) is a moor of swamp and sandy peat to the east of Antwerp, a coal-producing region with Turnhout as its main town. ... Venlo is a municipality and a city in the southeastern Netherlands. ...

At the age of seventeen Hendrik left the paternal house in the Kempen region to become a tutor in Antwerp, and to prosecute his studies, which were soon broken in upon by the Revolution of 1830. He volunteered as a private in the new Belgian army, and served in barracks at Venlo, and afterwards at Dendermonde, until 1837, when he retired with the grade of sergeant-major. Thrown in this way with Flemings of every class, and made a close observer of their mental habits, the young man formed the idea of writing in the despised idiom of the country, an idiom which was then considered too vulgar to be spoken, and much less written in, by educated, Francophone Belgians. Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix commemorates the July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution, was a revolt by the middle class against Bourbon King Charles X which forced him out of office and replaced him with the Orleanist King Louis-Philippe. ... Dendermonde (French: Termonde) is a city and municipality located in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of East Flanders. ... | Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Although, close by, across the Scheldt, the Dutch possessed a rich and honored literature, many centuries old, written in a language scarcely to be distinguished from Flemish, a foolish prejudice denied recognition to the language of the Flemish provinces of Belgium. As a matter of fact, nothing had been written in it for many years, when the separation in 1831 served to make the chasm between the nations and the languages one which could never be bridged over. It was therefore with the foresight of a prophet that Conscience wrote, in 1830: "I do not know how it is, but I confess I find in the real Flemish something indescribably romantic, mysterious, profound, energetic, even savage. If I ever gain the power to write, I shall throw myself head over ears into Flemish composition." The Scheldt (Dutch: Schelde, French Escaut) is a 350 km[1] long river that finds its origin in the north of France, enters Belgium and near Antwerp flows west into the Netherlands towards the North Sea. ... Leopold I 1831 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix commemorates the July Revolution 1830 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

His poems, however, written while he was a soldier, were all in French. He received no pension when he was discharged, and going back idle to his fathers house, he determined to do the impossible, and write a Flemish book for sale. A passage in Guicciardini fired his fancy, and straightaway he wrote off that series of scenes in the Dutch War of Independence, which lives in Belgian literature under the title of In 't Wonderjaar 1566; this was published in Ghent in 1837. Guicciardini Francesco Guicciardini (March 6, 1483 - May 22, 1540), Italian historian and statesman. ... The Eighty Years War, or Dutch Revolt, was the war of secession between the Netherlands and the Spanish king, that lasted from 1568 to 1648. ... Gent at Night Ghent (Gent in Dutch, Gand in French, formerly Gaunt in English) is a city located in Flanders, Belgium. ... | Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

His father thought it so vulgar of his son to write a book in Flemish that he turned him out of doors, and the celebrated novelist of the future started for Antwerp, with a fortune which was strictly confined to two francs and a bundle of clothes. An old schoolfellow found him in the street and took him to his home; and soon various people of position, amongst them the eminent painter Wappers, interested themselves in the brilliant and unfortunate young man. Wappers even gave him a suit of clothes, and presented him to the king, who expressed a wish, which was not immediately carried out in consequence of some red tape, that the Wonderjaar should be added to the library of every Belgian school. But it was under the patronage of Léopold I that Conscience published his second work, Fantasy, in the same year, 1837. A small appointment in the provincial archives relieved him from the actual pressure of want, and in 1838 he made his first great success with the historical romance called The Lion of Flanders, which still holds its place as one of his masterpieces. To this followed How to become a Painter (1843), What a Mother can Suffer (1843), Siska van Roosemaei (1844), Lambrecht Hensmans (1847), Jacob van Artevelde (1849), and The Conscript (1850). During these years he lived a variegated existence, for some thirteen months actually as an undergardener in a country house, but finally as secretary to the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. It was long before the sale of his books--greatly praised but seldom bought--made him in any degree independent. His ideas, however, began to be generally accepted. At a Flemish congress which met at Ghent so early as 1841, the writings of Conscience were mentioned as the seed which was most likely to yield a crop of national literature. Accordingly the patriotic party undertook to encourage their circulation, and each fresh contribution from the pen of Conscience was welcomed as an honor to Belgium. Léopold I, first King of the Belgians, (December 16, 1790 - December 10, 1865), was born in Ehrenburg Castle in the Bavarian town of Coburg, and named Leopold Georg Christian Friedrich (Léopold Georges Chrétien Frédéric in French, Leopold Georg Christiaan Frederik in Dutch). ... // For other meanings see Fantasy (disambiguation) Fantasy is a genre of art that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. ... | Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... | Jöns Jakob Berzelius, discoverer of protein 1838 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1843 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1843 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1844 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1847 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Jacob van Artevelde (± 1295 - 1345), known as the Wise Man, Flemish statesman and political leader, was born in Ghent of a wealthy commercial family. ... 1849 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1850 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1845 Conscience was made a knight of the Order of Leopold. To write in Flemish had now ceased to be regarded as a proof of vulgarity; on the contrary, the tongue of the common people became almost fashionable, and Flemish literature began to live. 1845 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Order of Leopold The Order of Leopold is the highest military order of Belgium and is named in honor of King Leopold I. The decoration was established in 1832 and is awarded for extreme bravery in combat or for meritorious service of immense benefit to the Belgian nation. ...

In 1845 Conscience published a History of Belgium, but he was well advised to return to those exquisite pictures of Flemish home-life which must always form the most valuable portion of his repertory. He was now at the height of his genius, and Blind Rosa (1850), Rikketikketak (1851), The Decayed Gentleman (1851), and The Miser (1853) rank among the most important of the long list of his novels. These had an instant effect upon more recent fiction, and Conscience had many imitators. 1845 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1850 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1851 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1851 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... LAvare is a five-act satirical comedy by French playwright Molière. ... 1853 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1855 the earliest translations of his tales began to appear in English, French, German and Italian, and his fame became universal. In 1867 the post of keeper of the Royal Belgian museums was created, and this important sinecure was given to Conscience. He continued to produce novels with great regularity, and his separate publications amounted at last to nearly eighty in number. He was now the most eminent of the citizens of Antwerp, and his seventieth birthday was celebrated by public festivities. After a long illness he died, in his house in Antwerp; he was awarded a public funeral and interred in the Antwerpen Schoonselhof. 1855 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1867 (MDCCCLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... War memorial at Schoonselhof Cemetery Schoonselhof Cemetery (Antwerpen Schoonselhof) is located in Wilrijk, a suburb of Antwerp, Belgium. ...

The portraits of Conscience present to us long smooth hair, contemplative dark eyes under heavy brows, a pointed nose, and a humorous broad mouth; in late life he wore the ornament of a long white beard. Whether the historical romances of Conscience will retain the enormous popularity which they have enjoyed is much less than certain, but far more likely to live are the novels in which he undertook to be the genre-painter of the life of his own day. In spite of too rhetorical a use of soliloquizing, and of a key of sentiment often pitched too high for modern taste, the stories of Conscience are animated by a real spirit of genius, mildly lustrous, perhaps, rather than startlingly brilliant. Whatever glories may be in store for the literature of Flanders, Conscience is always sure of a distinguished place as its forerunner and its earliest classic.

References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

External links

• Works by Hendrik Conscience at Project Gutenberg

• Find-A-Grave profile for Hendrik Conscience