Jenneval

Vocation

French actor, regarded as the author of the lyrics of the Brabançonne, the Belgian national anthem. His pseudonym Jenneval was possibly based on the drama "Jenneval, ou le Barnevelt français" (1769) by Louis Sébastien Mercier. Dechet worked in Ajaccio, Marseille and in 1826 at the Paris Odéon. Via Lille he finally came to Brussels, where he played at La Monnaie. In 1828, he returned to Paris in order to work at the Comédie Française, but returned to Brussels immediately after the July Revolution in 1830. He there served with the city guard which was responsible for maintaining law and order. Dechet is said to have written the text of the Brabançonne during the first revolutionary gatherings at the café "L'Aigle d'Or" in the Brussels Greepstraat in August 1830, shortly after the performance of the opera La Muette de Portici, which triggered the Belgian revolution. During the Belgian Revolution Dechet became a volunteer in the revolutionary army and joined the corps of Frenchman Charles Niellon. He died during a combat against the Dutch near Lier on 18 October 1830. Link to Wikipedia biography