Pierre Nothomb, Baron Nothomb

Pierre, Baron Nothomb (28 March 1887 – 29 December 1966) was a Belgian writer and right-wing politician. He was well known for his varied and voluminous output of prose and poetry. His works included poetry, essays, novels, biographies marked by their passionate tone, imagination, religious sentiment and attention to the detail.

In the period between the two world wars, Nothomb also came to prominence as the co-founder of several reactionary and near-fascist nationalist movements. In the post-war era Nothomb continued to be active in politics, albeit as an advocate of an ever closer Europe.

Early life Nothomb was born in Tournai into a family of Belgian politicians and public servants. He was elevated to the Belgian nobility in 1933 at the age of 46 and was awarded the personnel title (non-hereditary) of baron in 1937 when he was 50 years old. He was a descendant of Jean-Baptiste Nothomb. Nothomb studied at the Catholic University of Leuven from which he graduated with his doctorate in politics in 1910. By the age of 20 he was a regular author for Catholic journals. These groups were associated with anti-Semitism and have been seen as early fascist movements. He expressed some enthusiasm for corporatism, although by this time he had also become a staunch monarchist alongside this. Nothomb now came to recognise Enrico Corradini as his ideological model. However, during the time of their alliance Nothomb had at his disposal the Jeunesses Nationales, a 3000 strong youth movement that took part in street fights with Belgium's socialist and communist youth groups. Such was the notoriety of this group that Nothomb was given the nickname Napoleon de la Marmaille or "Napoleon of the brats". He was also the father of writer Paul Nothomb, the grandfather of diplomat Patrick Nothomb and politician François Roelants du Vivier and the great-grandfather of novelist Amélie Nothomb.