René Derolez

René Lodewijk Maurits Derolez (born September 7, 1921 in Aalst , † March 24, 2005 in Bruges ) was a Belgian, English and German mediaevalist and runologist . He was professor of English and Germanic Philology at the University of Ghent .

Life

During the time of the German occupation of Belgium in World War II, Derolez studied Germanic Philology at the University of Ghent and graduated in 1943 with the grade “summa cum laude”. A subsequent research assignment from the university library released him from the upcoming assignment in the Reich Labor Service.

The subsequent employment at the Belgian National Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek ended in autumn 1944 when he was called up for military service for the Allied forces and liberated Belgium with the aim of being trained in Ireland for the further fight against Japan.

After the war, a scholarship from the Belgian American Educational Foundation enabled him to continue studying at Harvard University from 1946 to 1948. In Ghent he was awarded a doctorate in 1947. phil. PhD and at Harvard he received the degree of Magister Artium . In Ghent, he completed his habilitation in 1954 with a thesis on the transmission of runic script in medieval manuscripts, the so-called Runica manuscripta .

First he took up a position in Ghent as an assistant at the seminar for English and Germanic philology, then became a lecturer and in 1959 professor for English and Germanic philology. From 1962 to 1964 he was dean of the philosophical faculty. In 1986 Derolez retired. Since 1971 he has been a corresponding member of the British Academy .

The main research and teaching focus for him was the Old English language, literature and culture, and he also taught other fields of English philology. His commitment was also reflected in his function as co-editor for the English journals Anglo Saxon England from 1972 and of English Studies from 1964 to 1979 (from 1970 as editor). In 1983 he was elected the first President of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists . Since 1970 he has been a member of the Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten .

In addition to his habilitation thesis Runica manuscripta , which has since been considered a standard work in runology, a broader audience is particularly aware of his work on old Germanic religion and mythology, which was published in Dutch in 1959 and in German in 1963 and 1974 as Gods and Myths of the Teutons , which was also published in science has gained use and recognition to this day. Derolez worked well into old age and published numerous specialist articles on Old English and Runic Studies. He was unable to complete a work on the epic Beowulf .

During his studies in the USA he met his future wife Gabrielle von Steiger, the daughter of the Swiss Federal Councilor Eduard von Steiger, at Harvard . The marriage remained childless. His brother Albert Derolez is also a medievalist and professor emeritus of palaeography and Latin manuscript studies of the Middle Ages at the Free University of Brussels.

literature

• Albert Derolez: René Derolez (1921-2005). In: Alfred Bammesberger, Gabriele Waxenberger (eds.): The fuþark and its individual language developments , supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde Vol. 51. De Gruyter, Berlin - New York 2006. ISBN 978-3-11-092298-1

Web links

• Literature by and about René Derolez in the catalog of the German National Library
• Publications Derolez in the OPAC of the Regesta imperii
• Obituary at Old English Newsletter (PDF; 82 kB)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed May 21, 2020 .