Jan Frans Willems (March 11, 1793 - June 24, 1846), Flemish writer. 11 March is the 70th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (71st in Leap year). ... 1793 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... June 24 is the 175th day of the year (176th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 190 days remaining. ... 1846 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about the Belgian region Flanders and the eponymous historical region of the Low Countries. ...

Willems was born in the Belgian city of Boechout, while that was still part of France. He began life in the office of a notary in Antwerp. Boechout is a municipality located in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of Antwerp. ... 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 Renaissance Belgian painter Rubens. ...

He devoted his leisure to literature, and in 1810 he gained a prize for poetry with an ode in celebration of the peace of Tilsit. He hailed with enthusiasm the constitution of the kingdom of the Netherlands, and the revival of Flemish literature; and he published a number of spirited and eloquent writings in support of the claims of the native tongue of the Netherlands. The Treaties of Tilsit were two agreements signed by Napoleon I of France in the town of Tilsit in July, 1807. ...

His political sympathies were with the Orange party at the revolution of 1830, and these views led him into trouble with the provisional government. Willems, however, was soon recognized as the unquestioned leader of the Flemish popular movement, the chief plank in whose platform he made the complete equality of the languages in the government and the law courts. He died at Ghent in 1846. 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. ... Ghent (once Gaunt in English, Gent in Dutch, Gand in French) is a municipality located in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of East Flanders, of which it is the capital. ...

Among his writings, which were very numerous, the most important were:

• De Kunsten en Wetenschappen (1816)
• Aen de Belgen, Aux Belges (1818)
• Historisch Onderzoek naer den oorsprong en den waren naem der openbare plaetsen en andere oudheden van de stad Antwerpen (1828)

Also, several learned critical editions of old Flemish texts.

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, a publication in the public domain. Supporters contend that the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1910-1911) represents the sum of human knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century; indeed, it was advertised as such. ... 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. ...