Peter Paul Maria Alberdingk Thijm

Brother of Joseph Alberdingk Thijm, b. at Amsterdam, 21 Oct., 1827, d. at Louvain, 1 Feb., 1904. He made his studies in his home city, at first at the Gymnasium and later at the Athenaeum, from which he was graduated in letters and history in 1857. For some years he was instructor in history in Maestricht. After being called to a professorship in the University of Louvain in 1870, he succeeded in establishing a chair for the special study of the history of Holland’s literature. Although not as gifted as his elder brother, he had a great deal of the latter’s enthusiasm for literature and art and was an ever ready champion of the Christian ideal in art. This savant of artistic temperament and zeal contributed not a little to the revival of the Flemish spirit in the University of Louvain. He was President of the Association Tijd en Vlijt and of Constantius Buter. He was also a member of the Flemish Academy, and for a time, its President. From 1888 on, Paul Thijm edited the periodical “Dietsche Warande”, which was in this way transplanted into Belgium. His chief works are: De H. Willibrord, Apostel der Nederlanden” (1867); “Karel de groote en zijne eeuw” (1866); “Gestichten van liefdadigehied in België, van Karel den Groote tot aan de XVI eeuw”, awarded a prize by the Royal Academy of Brussels (1883); “Schets der Algemeene Geschiedenis” (1870); “Vroolijke historie van Ph. van Marnix” (1876); “Spiegel van Nederlandsche letteren” (1877).