The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak

The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak (French: La Légende et les Aventures héroïques, joyeuses et glorieuses d'Ulenspiegel et de Lamme Goedzak au pays de Flandres et ailleurs) is a 1867 novel by Belgian author Charles De Coster. Based on the 14th-century Low German figure Till Eulenspiegel, Coster's novel recounts the allegorical adventures as those of a Flemish prankster, Thyl Ulenspiegel, during the Reformation wars in the Netherlands.

De Coster was one of many 19th-century nationalist writers who made use of – and considerably adapted and changed – pre-existing folk tales. In this case, Thyl Ulenspiegel is made into a Protestant hero of the time of the Dutch War of Independence.

De Coster incorporated in his book many of the original amusing Ulenspiegel tales, side by side with far from funny material - for example, graphic depictions of tortures by the inquisition and auto de fe. As depicted by De Coster, Ulenspiegel carries in a locket around his neck the ashes of his father, burned at the stake outside of the walls of the city on charges of heresy – a feature never hinted at in any of the original folk tales. This experience begins Ulenspiegel's transformation from idle prankster to hero of the Dutch Revolt.

The novel was later illustrated with a series of linocuts by Frans Masereel, the foremost Belgian modernist painter and engraver.

Thyl Uilenspiegel is born in Damme, Flanders as son of Claes and Soetkin. He is brought into this world on the same birthday as Philip II of Spain. As a child Thyl already exhibits the naughty behaviour he will become infamous for as an adult. After many stories where Thyl fools other people and especially corrupt Catholic priests the Spaniards arrest his father because of his lutheran sympathies and burn him at the stake. This causes a mental breakdown for Thyl's mother, Soetkin, who turns mad. Thyl collects his father's ashes and puts them in a bag he wears on his chest. From that moment on he is destined to fight back against the Spanish oppression.

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