Léon Vanderkindere

Léon Vanderkindere (22 February 1842–9 November 1906) was a Belgian historian, academic and politician.

Family

Vanderkindere was born in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek into a wealthy middle-class family. His father, Albert Vanderkindere, was a Liberal politician. Albert had been a member of the provincial assembly of the province of Brabant from 1844 to 1850 and from 1854 to his death in 1859, and was mayor of Molenbeek from 1842 to 1848, and then of Ukkel, where the family moved, from 1854.

Career

Léon Vanderkindere studied at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, where he later became a professor. His doctoral thesis argued that race was the primary basis of culture.[1] He followed this up with a study of the combination of Celtic and Germanic "traits" that he regarded as identifiable in Belgian culture.[2] His later work was primarily made up of more conventional documentary study of medieval institutions and culture.

He was a member of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts.[3] Like his father he was active in Liberal politics and served as mayor of Ukkel from 1900 until his death in 1906. A square and a street in Ukkel are named for him.

References
  1. De la race et de sa part d'influence dans les diverses manifestations de l'activité des peuples. Brussels and Paris: Ferd. Claassen and L. Hachette. 1868.
  2. Recherches sur l'ethnologie de la Belgique. Brussels and Leipzig: C. Muquardt and H. Merzbach. 1872.
  3. Pirenne, Henri (1908), "Notice sur Léon Vanderkindere, membre de l'academie: sa vie et ses travaux", Annuaire de l'Académie royale de Belgique, Brussels, 74
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