WILLEMS, JAN FRANS A Flemish philologist, historian, and poet. He was horn at the village of Boeehout, near Antwerp, and at the age of twelve was sent to the town of Lierre, to learn singing and music. His talents attracted the notice of several influential persons there, through whose agency lie w•as sent to Ant werp, to study in the office of a notary; and in 1812 he won the prize awarded for the best poem on the battle of Friedland and the Peace of Tilsit. From this period his poetical and dramatic com positions followed each other in rapid succession.
His ode Aen de BeIgen, which appeared in ISIS, in which he exhorted his countrymen to resume the use of their native Flemish, and his treatise rcr de nrderduitsche taal en letterkunde (1519 in which he traced the history of the Flem ish and Dutch tongues from their common origin through their gradual but slight divergencies, mark an epoch in the literary history of Bel gium. The Dutch Government gave him the post of keeper of the archives at Antwerp, but the Catholic Party in Belgium. resenting the attempt made by \Villeins to attribute the decline of Belgian national renown to the aban donment of the Flemish vernacular, looked upon his writings with mistrust; and in 1830, when Belgium was definitely separated from Holland, the dominant Belgian party deprived \Villeins of his office. In 1835 he was, however, promoted to
the place of keeper of the archives at Ghent, where he continued to reside until his death. Among the numerous Flemish works published by \Villeins, spe cial notice is due to his version of the medieval poem of Rcinacrt dc Tos, while among the more important of his strictly national works were his editions of the rhymed chronicles of Jan de Klerk (1536) and Jan Van Beelu (1540), De brubantsche Yeesten (1539-43), and his Mengelingen ran Taderlandschen Inhoud, and his posthumous Ou-dc rlicnisee liederen (1845) ; Brieren ( 1874) ; and Keus ran dieht- en proza 1.en t 1575). He founded and edited the quar terly Belgisch Museuroa roar dc Nederlandsehe Mal- en letterkunde (10 vole., 1537-46). Biog raphies of \Villeins have been written by Snel laert (Ghent, 1S47) and Rooses (Antwerp. 1874). Consult also Roses, Buylsteke. and Bergmann, Jan F•'rans Willems (Ghent, 1593).