Jan Arthur van Houtte


Jan Arthur van Houtte was a Belgian academic historian, professor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, specialised in the economic and social history of the Low Countries in the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period.

Life

Van Houtte was born in Bruges on 10 March 1913 and was educated at the Sint-Lodewijkscollege in that city. Among his teachers there was Antoon Viaene, who became his mentor and later a friend.
Van Houtte matriculated at the Catholic University of Leuven in 1930. He obtained his doctorate there in 1936 with a dissertation on commercial brokers in medieval Bruges, and was appointed to the academic staff. He was an editor of the reference series Algemene Geschiedenis der Nederlanden and in 1961 became editor of the journal Bijdragen voor de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden. At his retirement a collection of his articles was published under the title Essays on Medieval and Early Modern Economy and Society. In retirement he served some years as director of the Academia Belgica.
He died in Heverlee on 20 December 2002.

Publications

Economische geschiedenis: De historische wording van de hedendaagsche wereldeconomie Esquisse d'une histoire économique de la Belgique Du troc au commerce mondial: histoire économique générale Economische en sociale geschiedenis van de Lage Landen Essays on Medieval and Early Modern Economy and Society An Economic History of the Low Countries, 800-1800
  • ''Europäische Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte im Mittelalter''

Honours and awards