Baudouin, un roi face aux crises de son temps

Lecture and discussion in French with guest speaker Vincent Dujardin
An interview by Catherine Lanneau

On 9 October, CegeSoma and the nonprofit organization “Les Amis du CegeSoma” will be pleased to welcome Vincent Dujardin, professor of history at UCLouvain and a specialist in Belgian political history, to mark the publication of his book *Baudouin. Un roi face aux crises de son temps.’ He will be interviewed by Catherine Lanneau, professor at Liège University.
The history of the monarchy and the personalities of successive Belgian kings are subjects that leave no one indifferent. Belgian historians have contributed significantly to writing this history, from Leopold I to Leopold III. Until now, there has been no true biography of King Baudouin, whose reign spans the turbulent context of the royal question to the federalization of the Belgian state. 
The fruit of nearly twenty years of research, this 800-page book draws on exceptional source material: King Baudouin’s personal archives, political and spiritual diaries, private correspondence, agendas, Belgian and foreign administrative archives, as well as numerous firsthand accounts, including those of Queen Fabiola and several political and diplomatic figures close to the monarch.

Through the figure of Baudouin, the political history of Belgium, Europe, and the world in the second half of the 20th century also unfolds: the war and its aftermath, the Royal Question, decolonization, the Lumumba affair, the great strike of the winter of 1960–1961, institutional reforms, European integration, relations with foreign leaders, and the crisis triggered by the king’s refusal to sign the abortion law. How does one write the history of a king? What archives are available, and how can one make use of long-unpublished private archives without succumbing to the fascination of the document itself? How can the monarch’s personal diaries be cross-referenced with diplomatic archives, oral testimonies, and administrative sources? What can the historian say about “the man behind the king”?

This exceptional event will allow us to explore some of these questions and examine the choices, limitations, and challenges of writing a historical biography.

Vincent Dujardin is a full professor at the Catholic University of Louvain. He is a visiting professor at the University of Strasbourg. He has also taught at KULeuven and Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
At UCLouvain, he served 10 years as director of the Institute of European Studies. His research focuses on Belgian political history, European integration, and international relations.

 

Catherine Lanneau is a full professor of contemporary history at Liège University and secretary of the FNRS contact group “Belgium and Contemporary Worlds.”
Her research focuses primarily on the history of Belgium, Wallonia, and Franco-Belgian relations in the 19th and 20th centuries, with a particular emphasis on media activity by pressure groups and think tanks.