The Lion of Flanders: A Historical Novel from Old Belgium

Hendrik ConscienceProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.8
Word count
744K words
Chapters
75

Tags

Foreign Language Books Historical Fiction Flemish HistoryMilitary StrategyLegendary LivesFate and FortunePower GameHeroismPatriotismEnsemble NarrativeMedieval SettingNational Independence

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Der Löwe von Flandern: ein historische Roman aus Alt-Belgien by Hendrik ConscienceAuthor: Conscience, Hendrik, 1812-1883,Language: German, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Jan 30, 2010

Editor's review

Hendrik Conscience's The Lion of Flanders is a profoundly influential historical novel in Belgian Flemish literature, set against the medieval struggle of the Flemish cities against French royal authority. This edition is a German translation released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook. The novel's value lies not only in its plot but in how it weaves urban autonomy, guild power, and local identity into the fate of its characters, allowing readers to understand how nineteenth-century Flemish national consciousness found voice through historical narrative. The German translation preserves the original's narrative rhythm, which leans toward scene description and character dialogue, making it suitable as a comparative text for the study of European historical fiction and national literature. Readers should first acquaint themselves with the general outline of the conflict between Flanders and the French crown; otherwise, names and allegiances are easily confused. The Gutenberg edition is convenient for searching place names and characters but lacks modern annotation, so readers must supply their own historical background. It is not a light popular read, yet it offers a literary entry point for understanding Belgium's linguistic and political history.

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Reading tips

  1. Consult a brief chronology of the conflict between Flanders and the French crown before starting the text
  2. List the main characters by faction and update the list as you read to reduce confusion
  3. Pay attention to depictions of cities, guilds, and local identity, not just the plot
  4. Read alongside background material on Belgian linguistic politics to understand the work's historical position

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

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FAQ

What language is this edition in? This is a German translation; the original is Hendrik Conscience's Flemish-language historical novel The Lion of Flanders. Project Gutenberg releases a public-domain ebook, so German readers can read it directly, while Chinese readers would need German or another translation and cannot use this edition as a Chinese version.
Can I read it without knowing Belgian history? You can, but understanding will suffer. The novel centers on the medieval Flemish cities' resistance to French royal authority and involves multiple relationships among cities, guilds, and local nobility. It is advisable to spend some time learning the general historical outline and main factions before starting; character motives and conflicts will then be much clearer.
Why is this novel important in literary history? It is regarded as a widely influential historical novel in Flemish literature, writing themes of local identity and urban autonomy into popular narrative and helping advance the expression of nineteenth-century Flemish national consciousness. For specific literary-historical assessments, consult relevant research materials; this ebook itself provides no critical introduction.
Does the Gutenberg edition have annotations? The Gutenberg edition generally provides only the text of the work, without modern editorial historical notes, character lists, or introductions. When encountering place names, titles, and historical events, readers must consult reference materials themselves. Its advantage is that the full text is searchable and copyable, making cross-referencing of characters and place names convenient.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Hendrik Conscience Author · Belgian · 1812–1883

Hendrik Conscience (1812–1883) was a Belgian Flemish-language novelist. Born in Antwerp, he took part in the Belgian Revolution of 1830. In 1838 his historical novel De Leeuw van Vlaanderen (The Lion of Flanders) founded the tradition of the Flemish novel, and he has been called "the man who taught his people to read." His works mostly draw on Flemish history and country life, blending historical romance with realistic sketches of ordinary existence. The library holds 21 of his works, including the German translation Der Löwe von Flandern, De Kerels van Vlaanderen, De Ziekte der Verbeelding, De baanwachter, The Amulet and The Poor Gentleman. Beyond the outline of his life, public information on his education and official career is limited, and none is supplied here.