Alfons Thijs
Alfons K. L. Thijs | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 22 March 1944 Antwerp |
| Died | 14 January 2014 (aged 69) Borgerhout |
| Spouse | Ilse Eggers |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Antwerp, Ghent University |
| Thesis | Van Werkwinkel tot Fabriek: De textielnijverheid te Antwerpen van het einde der vijftiende eeuw tot het begin der negentiende eeuw (1978) |
| Doctoral advisor | Wilfrid Brulez |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | History |
| Sub-discipline | Business history; history of religion |
| Institutions | University of Antwerp |
| Main interests | textile industry; devotional ephemera |
Alfons K. L. Thijs (1944–2014) was a Belgian historian of the early-modern Low Countries. His earlier work focused on social and economic history, his later work on cultural and religious history, particularly popular devotional ephemera such as prayer cards.
Career
[edit]Thijs was born in Antwerp on 22 March 1944. After studying in Antwerp as an undergraduate he went to Ghent University as a graduate student, obtaining his licentiate degree and doctorate there under the supervision of Wilfrid Brulez.[1] His licentiate thesis studied silk production in Antwerp in the 17th century, his doctoral thesis the textile industry more broadly.[1] From 1971 to 2004 he was a member of the academic staff of the University of Antwerp, initially as an assistant (1971-1978), then lecturer (1978-1988), and finally professor (1988 onwards).[2] From 1982 to 1991 he served as director of the Centrum voor Bedrijfsgeschiedenis (Centre for Business History).[1] A Festschrift was published for his retirement in 2004.[3] He died on 14 January 2014, in the Borgerhout district of Antwerp.[1]
Thijs Collection
[edit]A large selection from his personal collection of devotional prints was acquired by the University of Antwerp in 2014 and entrusted to the Ruusbroec Institute as the Thijs Collection.[2] Several of these pieces have been digitised and are available on Wikimedia.
Works
[edit]- De zijdenijverheid te Antwerpen in de 17de eeuw (Brussels, 1969)[4]
- Van werkwinkel tot fabriek: De textielnijverheid te Antwerpen (Brussels, 1987)
- Van Geuzenstad tot katholiek bolwerk: Maatschappelijke betekenis van de Kerk in contrareformatorisch Antwerpen (Turnhout, 1990)[5][6]
- Antwerpen, internationaal uitgeverscentrum van devotieprenten, 17de-18de eeuw (Leuven, 1993)[7][8]
- with Hugo Soly (eds), Minorities in Western European Cities (Sixteenth-Twentieth Centuries) (Brussels, 1995)
- with Prosper Arents and Frans Susanna Emanuel Baudouin, De bibliotheek van Pieter Pauwel Rubens: Een reconstructie (Antwerp, 2001)
- with Karen Lee Bowen, Marian Pilgrimage Sites in Brabant: A Bibliography (Leuven, 2008)
- Komt pelgrims, komt hier: Devotioneel drukwerk voor bedevaartsplaatsen in Vlaanderen en Brabant (1500-1850) (Leuven, 2020), edited by Jonas Van Mulder, with the assistance of Ilse Eggers, Daniël Ermens, and Erna Van Looveren.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Helma De Smedt (2014). "In memoriam Alfons K.L. Thijs (1944-2014)" (PDF). University of Antwerp.
- ^ a b "Alfons K.L. Thijs". Actoren Letterenhuis. University of Antwerp.
- ^ Doodgewoon: mensen en hun dagelijks leven in de geschiedenis: Liber Amicorum Alfons K. L. Thijs, edited by Bruno Blondé, Bert De Munck, and Filip Vermeylen (Antwerp, 2004)
- ^ Reviewed by Hilda Coppejans-Desmedt in Revue belge de Philologie et d'Histoire, 51:3 (1973), pp. 746-747.
- ^ Reviewed by Marc Therry in Revue du Nord, 294 (1992), pp. 188-191.
- ^ Reviewed by Eddy Put in Revue belge de Philologie et d'Histoire, 70:4 (1992), pp. 1065-1067.
- ^ Reviewed by R. Po-chia Hsia in The Catholic Historical Review, 81:2 (1995), pp. 281-282.
- ^ Reviewed by Gilles Deregnaucourt in Revue du Nord, 309 (1995), pp. 161-162.
Further reading
[edit]- Hugo Soly, "Het wetenschappelijk oeuvre van Alfons K.L. Thijs: een voorlopige balans", Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis, 87 (2004), pp. 13-23.