1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Fredericq, Paul
FREDERICQ, PAUL (1850-1920), Belgian historian, was born at Ghent, Aug. 12 1850, and was educated at the university of Liége, where he became professor of history, later (1883) occupying the same position at Ghent. His chief works were Essai sur le rôle politique et social des ducs de Bourgogne dans les Pays-Bas (1875) and Corpus documentorum Inquisitionis hereticae pravitatis Neerlandical (1889-1906, 5 vols.), and many shorter studies, principally on the religious history of the 16th century and the history of the Flemish literature. He was a strong supporter of the Flemish movement, of which he wrote a history, Schets eener Geschiedenis der Vlaamsche Bewegnig (1906-9). On the invasion of Belgium by the Germans he was active in encouraging the patriotic feelings of his countrymen and urging every sort of moral resistance to the enemy, being in consequence deported to Germany (March 16 1916), in company with Prof. H. Pirenne. He was interned successively at Gütersloh, Jena and Bürgel. He returned to Belgium after the Armistice and was appointed rector of Ghent University. His imprisonment, however, had seriously weakened his health, and he died March 23 1920. He was a member of the Academie Royale de Belgique, the Commission Royale d'Histoire and the Academie des Pays-Bas, and his influence on the teaching of history in Belgium was profound. He was converted to Protestantism in his youth, and his tendencies in religion, as in politics, were liberal.
See Ch. Nyrop, L'Arrestation des professeurs beiges et l'Université de Gand (Paris, 1917; also translated into English and Danish); V. Fris, Les deux historiens nationaux exilés pour leur patriotisme (1919).
- (H. P.)