POTTER United Families

Joseph II of Austria had ruled for only nine years over Brussels when
the Brabant population revolted against his reforms. The family de
Potter, being Royalists, fled to Lille for one year. Louis was three. The
family was able to return a year later, and in 1792, hired a French
emigrated priest, Abbe Lucas, to teach the six-year old Louis to read.
The French armies, invading the center region in 1792, forced the
family to leave again, to Saxony, where they resided four years. This
turmoil had an effect on the young Louis. He wrote: "the long stay in
Germany helped me forge an opponent’s temper. In those anxiety days, with
troubles, agitations, no fixed residence, no certitude for the future, my parents could
barely take care of me and improve my conduct. I was abandoned to myself."
“Small Seminar of Roulers”-
The friends of this school were at the heart of Belgian Revolution’s actors, including
father de Haerne, general van der Mersch, Rodenbach, father Gezelle, count de
Muelenaere and many more… Louis de Potter’s supporters behind the scenes…
197