Rijswijck, Theodoor van |
| POET (BELGIUM) |
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BORN 7 Jul 1811, Antwerpen - DIED 7 May 1849, Antwerpen: Rochusstraat BIRTH NAME Rijswijck, Jan Theodoor van GRAVE LOCATION Antwerpen: Schoonselhof, Sint-Bernardsesteenweg, Hoboken (Perk Z1, graf 03 (erekerkhof)) |
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Theodoor van Rijswijck hardly had any formal education, but his father read the works of Cats, Vondel and other poets to his children. He became a teacher (like his father had been), but looking for adventure, he took service as a volunteer in the war against Holland in 1830. Apparantely military life didn't fit him well, because soon he obtained permission to leave the army and return to Antwerp. There he found work as a clerk at a bank. Meanwhile, he became a champion of the Flemish movement. He urged Hendrik Conscience to write in Flemish and wrote political and satirical songs, making himself a name as a people's poet and living the live of a bohemian. Suffering from the stress of political repressions he became mentally disturbed and died in an asylum in Antwerp 1849. He was buried at the Stuyvenberg churchyard in Antwerp and moved to the Kiel churchyard in 1893 and, as the Kiel churchyard was cleared, to the Schoonselhof, also in Antwerp. In 1864 a status was erected for him in Antwerp. |
| Images | |
 The grave of Theodoor van Rijswijck at the Schoonselhof, Antwerp. Picture by Androom (27 Jul 2002) |
 The grave of Theodoor van Rijswijck at the Schoonselhof, Antwerpen. Picture by Androom (30 apr 2012) |
Sources • Heessen, Hans, Harry Jansen & Ed Schilders, Waar ligt Poot?, De Prom, Baarn, 1997 • [Jan Cornelis van Rijswijck], Biographisch woordenboek der Noord- en Zuidnederlandsche letterkunde, F. Jos. van den Branden, J.G. Frederiks - DBNL |
