Biographical Dictionary of the Netherlands: 1780-1830

Once the Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland (BWN) 1880-2000 sub-project had drawn to an end, in January 2010, a start was made on a new biographical sub-project that was limited in scope and that would focus on the turbulent period from the Patriottentijd (Era of the Patriots) until the Belgian Revolution.

BWN 1780-1830 contains brief outlines of the lives of persons ‘of some significance’ that are not, or are insufficiently – in quantitative or qualitative terms – covered in the existing biographical dictionaries. For example, this means that in the present publication, one will not come across women, clergymen or Protestant theologians, as these have already been included in the Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland (Digital Lexicon of Women in the Netherlands) and the Biografisch lexicon voor de geschiedenis van het Nederlandse protestantisme (Biographical Lexicon for the History of Dutch Protestantism) respectively. Furthermore, royalty, ‘colonials’, foreigners and – for the period of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815-1830) – Belgian Dutch have not been included either.

The point of departure for the sub-project was a long list of 120 candidates who were eligible for a biographical entry. When compiling this list, the aim was to distribute the entries as evenly as possible across the various sub-periods and spheres of social activity.

Upon completion, the biographical entries of BWN 1780-1830 will immediately be published on the website. To ensure that they are recognisable as such, the biographical entries will be published in a separate section, alongside the entries of the completed BWN 1880-2000. Once this sub-project has been rounded off, the biographical entries from both BWN files will be combined and made accessible via the same search engine.