Frans Van Cauwelaert, Louis Franck and Camille Huysmans: the three crowing cocks in a painting of 1910 | Antwerp, Collectie Stad Antwerpen. Letterenhuis, SC 28 C 1
Three Crowing Cocks
The Flemish Movement and the Language Struggle
On 18 December 1910 a meeting in Antwerp caused quite a stir. To a boisterous audience three members of parliament solemnly promised like three cocks to wake the country with their crowing. Their aim: to convince everyone that Flanders had a right to a Dutch-language university.
The three ‘crowing cocks’ were the Catholic Frans van Cauwelaert, the liberal Louis Franck and the Socialist Camille Huysmans. They were as good as their word. In the months after their tempestuous appearance in Antwerp they held over three hundred meetings, from Limburg to the coast, to raise support for their idea. In addition, they collected over 100,000 signatures for a petition, in which they demanded a Dutch makeover for the State University of Ghent.
Dutch-language higher education did not arrive before the First World War, but the impact of the crowing cocks was great. Never before had the Flemish movement reached such a wide public. And the call for a Dutch-language university was not going to be silenced.
Ghent, Liberas, 22-9-03-4-01-01
The first three language laws introduced a modest Dutchification of the administration of justice in criminal cases (1873), the central government (1878) and public secondary education (1883). On this poster of 1883 the liberal Willemsfonds demands for these language laws to be observed.
The Flemish Movement and the Language Struggle
After the revolution of 1830 the French language dominated the administration, the judiciary and education in Belgium. The Flemish movement soon resisted this. It upheld the rights of Belgians who knew no French.
With a great petition in 1840 so-called flamingants began the struggle for the recognition of Dutch. But it was not until 1873 that a first language law gave rights to those ignorant of French in judicial proceedings in criminal cases. Other language laws followed without affecting the position of French. The opposition between Catholics and Liberals in Belgian politics divided the Flemish movement, but in that way both Catholics and Liberals could link Flemish demands with their vision of society.
Thanks to the introduction of universal male suffrage with plural voting rights, after 1893 many monolingual Flemings could take part in elections for the first time. The Flemish movement widened its aims and now strove for the social and cultural enhancement of the Flemings as a people. That increased its appeal.
In 1898 the Equality Law determined that all future legislation should also be published in Dutch. This was of great symbolic importance. French speakers in Flanders felt threatened. What’s more, in Wallonia there was a fear that rights for Dutch-speakers would be introduced.
From French-speaking resistance to language legislation there emerged a Walloon movement. It even talked of dividing the administration of the country between Dutch and French speakers. Among the pro-Flemish group too disillusion grew. They found the existing language laws insufficient. Some even turned their backs on Belgium completely.
Focal points
Ghent University, University Library
Moritz von Bissing (centre), the German administrator of occupied Belgium, together with German officers and professors of the German-sponsored Flemish University in Ghent on 21 October 1916.
Ghent University becomes Dutch-Speaking
The campaign of the crowing cocks for the conversion of Ghent into a Dutch-speaking university did not immediately bear fruit. But in the summer of 1914 the First World War broke out. The German occupier pursued a so-called Flamenpolitik (Flemish Policy). By supporting radical elements in the Flemish movement, the so-called ‘activists’, Germany hoped to foster an anti-Belgian, pro-German attitude in Flanders.
In 1916 the German occupying administration decided to set up a Flemish university in Ghent. Although this constituted the meeting of a Flemish demand, many pro-Flemish citizens were indignant at the measure. The crowing cocks Van Cauwelaert, Franck and Huysmans also felt that collaboration with the occupying power damaged their project. Only a small, radical group of professors and students supported the Flemish institution.
After the German defeat in 1918 the Belgian government overturned the decisions of the occupying administration. The State University of Ghent reopened in French. Afterwards the Flemish movement resumed the struggle for a Dutch-speaking university. After many protest campaigns, parliamentary debates and a bilingual institution as a compromise which satisfied no one, in 1930 the Belgian parliament finally approved a law making Ghent a Dutch-speaking university.
Cami Stone, in Vermeylen, Verzameld werk, consulted via DBNL
August Vermeylen (third from left) at the beginning of his vice-chancellorship, opening session of 21 October 1930.
August Vermeylen: Fleming and Citizen of the World
When Ghent university went Dutch in 1930, it had to look for a new Vice-Chancellor. August Vermeylen was the perfect candidate. He had studied in Brussels but since 1923 had lectured in art history and literary history in Ghent. Outside academia too he had a considerable reputation as an author and founder of the pioneering magazine Van Nu en Straks (Of Now and Tomorrow).
Vermeylen had a distinct vision of the direction the Flemish movement must take. Intolerance and anti-Belgian sentiments were to be condemned. The Romantic ideas and stories of authors like Hendrik Conscience had gradually been overtaken by time, he felt.
Securing language rights was not enough for Vermeylen. Living and learning in one’s own language was only a first step towards economic, social and cultural progress. Only in that way could the Fleming participate fully in European civilisation. ‘Om iets te zijn, moeten we Vlamingen zijn,’ (To be anything, we must be Flemings), he had already written on the subject in 1900 in Van Nu en Straks. ‘Wij willen Vlamingen zijn, om Europeeërs te worden.’ (We want to be Flemings in order to become Europeans). Proper education in Dutch from primary school to university, was essential to make Flemings such true Europeans.
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