Joseph-Marie-Bruno-Constantin, Baron Kervyn de Lettenhove (17 August 1817 – 3 April 1891) was a Belgian historian and politician. He was a member of the Catholic Constitutional party and sat in the

Belgian Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Representatives (; ; ) is one of the two chambers in the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Senate. It is considered to be the "lower house" of the Federal Parliament. Members and elections Article 62 of ...

as member for

Eeklo Eeklo () is a Belgium, Belgian Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises only the city of Eeklo proper. The name ''Eeklo'' comes from the cont ...

. In 1870 he was appointed a member of the cabinet of

Jules Joseph d'Anethan Jules Joseph, Baron d'Anethan (; 23 April 1803 – 8 October 1888) was a Belgian Catholic Party politician. After serving as minister for Justice and Religion, D'Anethan was named the prime minister of Belgium and minister of Foreign Affairs by ...

as minister of the interior. However his official career was short. The cabinet appointed as governor of

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

one Decker, who had been entangled in the financial speculations of Langand-Dumonceau by which the whole clerical party had been discredited, and which provoked riots. The cabinet was forced to resign, and thereafter Kervyn de Lettenhove devoted himself entirely to literature and history. He had already become known as the author of a book on

Jean Froissart Jean Froissart ( Old and Middle French: ''Jehan''; sometimes known as John Froissart in English; – ) was a French-speaking medieval author and court historian from the Low Countries who wrote several works, including ''Chronicles'' and ''Meli ...

(

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, 1855), which was crowned by the French Academy. He was also a correspondent of foreign

scientific Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

societies, and preëminent in his own country as an investigator of the national antiquities. He made translations of some of Milton's shorter poems (1839) and edited the ''Lettres et négociations de

Philippe de Commines Philippe de Commines (or de Commynes or "Philippe de Comines"; Latin: ''Philippus Cominaeus''; 1447 – 18 October 1511) was a writer and diplomat in the courts of Burgundy and France. He has been called "the first truly modern writer" (Charles ...

'' (1867). He edited a series of chronicles: ''Chroniques relatives à l'histoire de la Belgique sous la domination des ducs de Bourgogne'' (Brussels, 1870–1873), ''Rélations politiques des Pays Bas et de l'Angleterre sous le regne de Philippe II'' (Brussels, 1882–1892), and ''L'Oeuvre de

Georges Chastellain Georges Chastellain (c. 1405 or c. 1415 – 20 March 1475), Burgundian chronicler and poet, was a native of Aalst in Flanders. Chastellain's historical works are valuable for the accurate information they contain. As a poet he was famous am ...

'' (Brussels, 1863–1866). He wrote a history of ''Les Huguenots et les Gueux'' (Bruges, 1883–1885) in the spirit of a violent

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

partisan, but with much industry and learning. Other works include: *''Histoire de la Flandre'' (1847–50) *'' Jacques de Artevelde'' (1863) *''Histoire et croniques de Flandre'' (1879–80) *''Marie Stuart'' (1889) He died at Sint-Michiels near

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

in 1891, the community in which he was born in 1817. One of his children was art historian Henri Kervyn de Lettenhove.

References

External links

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Joseph Kervyn de Lettenhove
i
ODIS – Online Database for Intermediary Structures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kervyn De Lettenhove, Joseph Marie Belgian writers in French Belgian barons 1817 births 1891 deaths 19th-century Belgian historians 19th-century Belgian male writers 19th-century Belgian politicians Members of the Chamber of Representatives (Belgium)