Van censuur en pragmatiek. Reinaert tussen Willems en Van Hemel

Samenvatting

During his years of exile Jan Frans Willems, the 'father of the Flemish movement', not only continued his philological investigations, he also translated the medieval Reinaert into modern Dutch. After his rehabilitation he put most of his energy into achieving one uniform spelling of Dutch in Belgium. This article focuses on a crucial moment in this campaign. A limited body of letters throws light on Willems' cleansing of his Reinaert translation and on how the Flemish Movement and the church needed and used each other to reach their goals.