Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck

Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck (born November 9, 1805 in Eeklo , Netherlands , † March 19, 1847 in Ghent , Belgium ) was a Flemish lawyer, politician and poet .

Career

Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck grew up in Eeklo, where his father worked as a private tutor and shop owner. The Ledeganck family was of humble origin. He mainly acquired his knowledge autodidactically . Ledeganck began to work as a worker in a linen weaving mill . With the help of Karel Vervier, he became an assistant clerk in Ghent City Hall in 1820. In 1832 he became a clerk in the city council of Oudenaarde and in 1833 was a temporary clerk in Kaprijke . From 1834 to 1836 he was the deputy magistrate in Kaprijke. During his spare time he studied at the University of Ghent , where he graduated as a doctor of law in 1835 . From 1836 to 1842 he was the magistrate in Zomergem .

Most of his formation as a writer took place in Eeklo. Ledeganck was active there in the local literary scene in the 1820s. During this time he successfully participated in several poetry competitions. There he got to know the writers Jan Frans Willems , Frans Rens and Prudens van Duyse , among others . At that time he devoted himself to romantic poetry. In 1834 the Prime Minister of Belgium Charles Rogier organized a national poetry competition, which Ledeganck won with his poem Zegeprael van's lands onafhankelijkheid . His first work was influenced by the British poet George Gordon Byron and the French writer Alphonse de Lamartine . In addition to translations of Byron's works, Ledeganck published a number of poems between 1839 and 1846. Among them was De drie zustersteden - an ode to the Flemish cities of Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp . Ledeganck also wrote for magazines and yearbooks such as Nederduitsch Letterkundig Jaarboekje, Belgisch Museum, das Kunst- en Letterblad, Taelverbond and De Eendracht.

Over time he became a strong believer in the Flemish Movement . He was a passionate advocate of Dutch as a Flemish cultural language. In this context he sat in the Spellinigcommissie, joined De Tael is Gansch het Volk and was active in literary associations. From 1837 to 1844 he sat as a liberal in the district council of East Flanders . During this time he gave his first speech in Dutch in 1840. Ledeganck advocated the recognition of Dutch as an administrative language. As a result of his participation, all public notices in all provinces were issued in two languages. At his suggestion it was decided to conduct all correspondence with the local authorities in this language as well. The first Dutch civil code was issued a year later.

His Flemish sentiments, which were shaped by Belgian nationalism in those years, cost him the sympathy of many contemporaries. At first Ledeganck was a staunch orangist . As a result of the signing of the Verdrag der XXIV artikelen between the Netherlands and the European powers in 1838, he wrote a poem on the tribute of Belgium under the title De vrede. This poem earned him a letter of appreciation from the King of Belgium Leopold I , a fair sum of money and recognition from the people. In the last years of his life Ledeganck campaigned for social connection with the French bourgeoisie and only his literary legacy guaranteed him a place in the pantheon of the Flemish movement.

In that year made a second career leap. In 1842 he resigned as a magistrate in Zomergem and became the first provincial inspector for primary education in East Flanders. Ledeganck moved to Ghent in 1842. In 1845 he became an associate professor at the then French-speaking University of Ghent.

Ledeganck fell ill with tuberculosis and died of its consequences in 1847 at the age of 41. He was buried in the Dampoort cemetery, but a year later transferred to the Campo Santo cemetery in Sint-Amandsberg (Ghent), where a mausoleum with a half-height sculpture by Arjan Van Arendonk was unveiled in August 1849. The sandstone used for the sculpture did not withstand the natural elements. All that is left today is a large memorial stone in the form of the initials KL for Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck on the side wall of the chapel in Sint-Amandsberg.

In his honor, a street at the normal school in Ghent was named after him in 1882. The architect Jacob Gustaaf Semey decorated the facade of the no longer standing Villa Ledeganck on Vlaamsekaai with the quote De drie zustersteden in 1895. A facade in Sint-Kristoffelstraat reminds us that Ledeganck wrote the poem De drie zustersteden and died a year later. A statue of him stands today in his hometown of Eeklo.

Works

• 1834: Zegeprael van's lands onafhankelijkheid
• 1836: Het klavier
• 1838: De vrede
• 1839: Bloemen mijner lente
• 1839: Het graf mijner moeder
• 1840: Het burgslot van Zomergem
• 1841: De zinnelooze
• 1842: Verspreide en nagelaten poems
• 1844: De boekweit
• 1846: De drie zustersteden
• 1889: Volledige Dichtwerke
• 1942: Keur poems

literature

• Bart D'Hondt: Van Andriesschool tot Zondernaamstraat, Gids door 150 jaar liberaal leven te Gent, Gent, Liberaal Archief / Snoeck, 2014, pp. 207f

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Zegeprael van's lands onafhankelijkheid , Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck, 1834

Web links

• Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck on the dbnl.org website
• Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck on the website of liberaalarchief.be