Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer

Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer (August 21, 1801 - May 19, 1876), Dutch politician and historian, was born at Voorburg, near the Hague.

Overview

He is a Dutch historical icon who received from the country's King of his day, the title "van Prinsterer" - or "of the King." Groen was an educated and devout man of the Dutch middle ranks, who became a confessing Christian and a person of concern for the Hervormde Church, that national state church of the Netherlands and of its Royal Family. The gentleman moved in aristocratic circles, while also coming under the influence and then leading the evangelical renewal movement thriving at the time, and known as the Réveil.

Related Topics:
Dutch - King - Christian

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He studied at Leiden University, and graduated in 1823 both as doctor of literature and LLD. From 1829 to 1833 he acted as secretary to William I of the Netherlands, afterwards took a prominent part in Dutch home politics, and gradually became the leader of the so-called anti-revolutionary party, both in the Second Chamber, of which he was for many years a member, and outside.

Related Topics:
Leiden University - 1823 - LLD - William I of the Netherlands

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In Groen the doctrines of Guizot and Stahl found an eloquent exponent. They permeate his controversial and political writings and historical studies, of which his Handbook of Dutch History (in Dutch) and Maurice et Barnevelt (in French, 1875, a criticism of Motley's Life of Van Olden-Barnevelt) are the principal. Groen was violently opposed to Thorbecke, whose principles he denounced as ungodly and revolutionary. Although he lived to see these principles triumph, he never ceased to oppose them until his death, which occurred at the Hague.

Related Topics:
Guizot - Stahl - Dutch - Motley - Thorbecke

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