Jacob Van Lennep

Personal

Passions

Vocation

Notable

Dutch lawyer, writer, poet and novelist. He was born in Amsterdam, where his father, David Jacob van Lennep (1774–1853), a scholar and poet, was professor of eloquence and the classical languages in the Atheneum. He spent his summers at Huis te Manpad, where his family had a summer home, and where his father convinced the Heemstede city council to place a monument to Witte van Haemstede. This colorful monument influenced him to later write a song about it. Lennep took the degree of doctor of laws at Leiden, and then settled as an advocate in Amsterdam. Initially he translated the work of Lord Byron and Walter Scott. Van Lennep made his debut in 1826, with the collection of poems Academische Idyllen, which he dedicated to Willem Bilderdijk . He then became famous with historical novels, which he wrote in imitation of Walter Scott. He first attained genuine popularity by the Nederlandsche Legenden [The Legends of the Netherlands] (2 vols., 1828) which reproduced, after the manner of Sir Walter Scott, some of the more stirring incidents in the early history of his fatherland. His fame was further raised by his patriotic songs at the time of the Belgian revolution, and by his comedies Het Dorp aan de Grenzen [The Village at the Borders] (1830) and Het Dorp over de Grenzen [The Village Over the Borders] (1831), which also had reference to the political events of 1830. In 1832 he became member of the Royal Institute, which later became the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1833 he broke new ground with the publication of De Pleegzoon [The Adopted Son], the first of a series of historical romances in prose, which acquired for him in the Netherlands a position somewhat analogous to that of Sir Walter Scott in Great Britain. The series included De Roos van Dekama [The Rose of Dekama] (2 vols., 1836), Onze Voorouders [Our Ancestors] (5 vols., 1838). De Lotgevallen van Ferdinand Huyck [The Adventures of Ferdinand Huyck] (2 vols, 1840), Elizabeth Musch (3 vols., 1850), and De Lotgevallen van Klaasje Zevenster [The Adventures of Klaasje Zevenster] (5 vols., 1865), several of which have been translated into German and French, and two - The Rose of Dekama (1847) and The Adopted Son (New York, 1847) into English. Van Lennep provided the publication of the poems by De Schoolmeester (1858), a twelve-part edition of the works by Joost van den Vondel (1850-1868), and Max Havelaar by Multatuli (1860). While Multatuli had intended the book as an indictment for the masses, Van Lennep made an expensive edition of it, in which he also weakened the political message by replacing place names and dates with dots; to anger of the writer who, however, lost a trial against this mutilation of his book in 1861. They knew each other from the Masonic lodge Willem Frederik in Amsterdam. Van Lennep was a prominent freemason and deputy grandmaster-national Order of Freemasons. His Dutch history for young people (De voornaamste geschiedenissen van Noord-Nederland, aan zijne kinderen verhaald [The Chief Events of the North Netherlands, narrated to His Children], 4 vols, 1845) is attractively written. Apart from the two comedies already mentioned, van Lennep was an indefatigable journalist and literary critic, the author of numerous dramatic pieces, and of an excellent edition of Vondel's works. For some years, van Lennep held a judicial appointment, and from 1853 to 1856 he was a member of the second chamber, in which he voted with the conservative party. He died at Oosterbeek near Arnhem in 1868. There is a collective edition of his Poetische Werken [Poetic Works] (13 vols., 1859–1872), and also of his Romantische Werken [Romantic Works] (23 vols., 1855 r872). See also a bibliography by P. Knoll (1869); and Jan ten Brink, Geschiedenis der Noord-Nederlandsche Letteren in de XIX Eeuw [History of the Literature of the Northern Netherlands in the XIXth Century], No. iii.). Personal Van Lennep, member of the Van Lennep family, was a son of the classicist and poet David Jacob van Lennep (15 July 1774, Amsterdam - 10 February 1853, Amsterdam) and Cornelia Christina van Orsoy (29 March 1778, Amsterdam - 22 October 1816, Heemstede). His sister was Anna Louise van Lennep (1807-1880). On 28 April 1819, his father remarried Anna Catharina van de Poll(7 March 1791, Amsterdam - 14 December 1860 in Amsterdam) in Amsterdam. He got six stepsibling: Cornelia Henriëtte (1821-19020, Cornelis (1823-1874), Johan Hendrik (1825-1897), Arnoud (1827-1891), Herman Joshua (1830-1888) and Cornelia Sylvia Sara van Lennep (1837-1896). He studied law at the University of Leiden and begot at the age of 20 with a noble friend a child, Geertrui Elisabeth Tulle (22 January 1822, Amsterdam - 4 February 1882, Den Haag), who was then raised by a wet nurse. In 1823 he and his fellow student Dirk van Hogendorp made a walking tour through the Northern Protestant Netherlands. In 1824 he graduated and married that same year, against the wishes of his father, with lady Henriëtte Röell (21 February 1792, Amsterdam - 8 January 1870, Amsterdam), daughter of the Minister of State Baron Willem Frederik Röell (1767-1835), after which they both settled in Amsterdam. They had one daughter and five sons together, Sara Cornelia Wilhelmina of Lennep (1825-1899, Dame du Palais of Queen Emma), David Jacob Cornelis van Lennep (1827-1905), Jhr. Christiaan van Lennep (1828-1908), Maurits Jacob van Lennep (1830-1913), Willem Anne van Lennep (1831-1833) and Willem van Lennep (1834-1897). Through the marriage of his daughter Sara he was the father-in-law of jkh. Cornelis Hartsen and the grandfather of jkvr Henriëtte Sarah Hartsen. He also had an extra-marital relationship with Swane Cornelia van Ockenburg (21 June 1830, Den Haag - 27 Feb 1865, Den Haag) and from this relationship one son, Jacob Cornelis van Ockenburg (25 Nov 1857, Den Haag - 15 March 1906, Den Haag) and one daughter, Louise Cornelia van Ockenburg (9 Jan 1865, Den Haag - 30 Jan 1869, Den Haag), originated. Louise's mother died 48 days after her birth. Link to Wikipedia