{{Short description|Flemish poet (1856–1880)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox writer | name = Albrecht Rodenbach | image = Rodenbach2.gif | alt = Albrecht Rodenbach | caption = | birth_name = Albertus Petrus Josephus Mansuetus Ferdinandus Rodenbach | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1856|10|27}} | birth_place = Roeselare, Belgium | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1880|6|23|1856|10|27}} | death_place = Roeselare, Belgium | occupation = Poet | nationality = Flemish | movement = Flemish movement | relatives = Georges Rodenbach (cousin) }}
'''Albertus Petrus Josephus Mansuetus Ferdinandus''' "'''Albrecht'''" '''Rodenbach''' ({{IPA|nl|ˈɑlbrɛxt ˈroːdə(m)bɑx|lang}}; 27 October 1856 – 23 June 1880) was a Flemish poet, and a leader in the revival of Flemish literature, or "Flemish movement", that occurred in the late 19th century. He is more noteworthy as a symbol of the Flemish movement than for his actual activities, since he died at the age of 23. Hugo Verriest called Rodenbach "the poet, the soul, the heart, the mind, the word of Reborn Flanders".<ref name="Antcliffe">Antcliffe, Herbert (October 1946) "Music and the Flemish Movement" ''The Musical Times'' 87(1244): pp. 299–301, 300.</ref>
==Early life== Rodenbach was born in Roeselare into a bourgeois family, the eldest of 10 children and cousin to the novelist Georges Rodenbach. Albrecht Rodenbach's father was Julius Rodenbach (1824–1915) from the Rhineland, brother to Felix Rodenbach, the Flemish political propagandist.<ref name="Antcliffe"/> Albrecht Rodenbach's mother was Silvia de la Houttre (1834–1899). Although his mother was a Walloon from Tournai, she had adopted the Dutch spoken in Roeselare. From an early age, Rodenbach was exposed to Flemish nationalistic feeling by his father and his uncle.
Rodenbach attended the Minor Seminary, Roeselare, where he was exposed to the ideas of the Flemish literature movement by Hugo Verriest and others. Rodenbach was also influenced at this time by Guido Gezelle. In the 1874–1875 school year, this led to a conflict between the Flemish students and the school's francophile director. At the annual songfest the students traditionally sang French songs, Rodenbach led the protest and the predominantly Dutch-speaking students sang a protest song in Dutch. This protest led to similar protests all over Belgium. Despite this and other activism, Rodenbach graduated with a first in rhetoric in 1876.
==Flemish movement== [[File:Rodenbachsblad.jpg|thumb|Excerpt from ''The Rodenbachsblad'' in 1909. A newspaper dedicated to Albrecht Rodenbach. Preserved in the Ghent University Library.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rodenbachsblad.|url=https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:9A79955A-FF86-11E2-92A2-71E897481370#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-2837,-1,8911,4976|access-date=2020-09-28|website=lib.ugent.be}}</ref>]] At the University of Leuven he met the poet Pol De Mont who was a year older. Together they sought to promote a Flemish artistic revival and equal rights for Flemish students as a student movement, creating the "Algemene Vlaamse Studentenbond" (All Flemish Student Association) in 1876. Among their objectives were to have classes in Dutch and to have classes include Flemish culture. The association's illustrated magazine ''Het Pennoen'' (''The Pennant'') published Rodenbach's essays anonymously. Rodenbach maintained his contacts in Roeselare through a committee of correspondence.<ref>Compare with U.S. Committee of correspondence.</ref> Their ideology was a mixture of the philosophy Guido Gezelle, with the romantic nationalism of Hendrik Conscience, and the righteousness of true belief. Robenbach and de Mont called their student movement ''Blauwvoeterie'' after the ''blauwvoet'' (blue-footed booby) whose flight announces the coming storm. The rallying cry of the ''Blauwvoeterie'' was ''Vliegt de blauwvoet, storm op zee!'' (''When the bluefoot flies, there is a storm at sea!'') Rodenbach compared it to the German ''Burschenschaften'' movement.<ref name="Kohn">Kohn, Hans (April 1957) "Nationalism in the Low Countries" ''The Review of Politics'' 19(2): pp. 155–185, 172.</ref>
[[Image:Rodenbach-Albrecht.jpg|250px|thumb|right|{{center|Albrecht Rodenbach statue in Roeselare, Belgium; sculptor Jules Lagae}}]]
Additionally, Rodenbach made contacts with the Flemish liberals, such as poet Jan van Beers and author Max Rooses, which served to publicize the movement and to expose its members to more political aims.<ref name="Heijdendal">Heijdendal, Felix (1937) ''Het Leven von Albrecht Rodenbach aan de jeugd verteid'';</ref><ref>van Puyvelde, Leo (1908) ''Albrecht Rodenbach. Zijn leven en zijn werk'';</ref>
Rodenbach died in Roeselare of tuberculosis before his 24th birthday, and almost immediately became the pre-eminent symbol of the Flemish student movement.<ref name="Heijdendal"/> On Rodenbach's death, Pol de Mont took over the leadership of the "Algemene Vlaamse Studentenbond".
==Literature== In 1876 Rodenbach published some essays under the pseudonym "Harold". His book ''Eerste Gedichten'' (''First Poems'') was published in 1878.<ref>Verschaeve, Cyriel (1941) ''De dichter Albrecht Rodenbach'' Uitg. Zeemeeuw, Brugge;</ref> The rest of his work, including his verse play ''Gudrun'', a dramatized epic of the Vikings, was not published until after his death.<ref>Jonckheere, Karel & Bodard, Roger (1958) ''Belgian Literature'' Ontwikkeling, Antwerp, p. 43</ref>
Rodenbach was known at the time of his death for his songs, poems and tonal works which have remained inspiring symbols for the Flemish movement. He was the inspiration for Hendrik Conscience's novel ''Kerels van Vlaanderen''. Flandria Film made a film about him in 1930 entitled ''Albrecht Rodenbach'' and directed by Clemens De Landtsheer. The cultural organization Rodenbachfonds was named after him.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://users.pandora.be/louis.jacobs/Rodenbach.htm ''Albrecht Rodenbach''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501154016/http://users.pandora.be/louis.jacobs/Rodenbach.htm |date=1 May 2008 }} brief biography in Dutch; * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070311203435/http://users.pandora.be/VNJ-Mere/albrecht_rodenbach.htm ''Albrecht Rodenbach''] brief biography in Dutch; * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Albrecht Rodenbach}} * {{Librivox author |id=8500}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodenbach, Albrecht}} Category:1856 births Category:1880 deaths Category:People from Roeselare Category:Flemish activists Category:Flemish poets Category:Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni Category:19th-century Belgian poets Category:19th-century Belgian dramatists and playwrights Category:19th-century Belgian male writers Category:Belgian male dramatists and playwrights