Nicolas-Jean Rouppe (Rotterdam

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

, 17 April 1769-Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

, 3 August 1838) was a Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 liberal politician. He was the first burgomaster

Burgomaster

Burgomaster is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief magistrate or chairman of the executive council of a sub-national level of administration...

 of Brussels after the Belgian independence in 1830.

Nicolas-Jean Rouppe was sub-deacon

Deacon

Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...

 of the order of the Carmelites, but he broke radically with his faith in 1792, the day after Battle of Jemappes

Battle of Jemappes

The Battle of Jemappes took place near the town of Jemappes in Hainaut, Belgium, near Mons. General Charles François Dumouriez, in command of the French Revolutionary Army, defeated the greatly outnumbered Austrian army of Field Marshal Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen and his second-in-command...

 between the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 revolutionary

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

 and Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n armies on 6 November 1792. That year, he also provoked a riot by destroying the cross in the town hall of Leuven

Leuven

Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...

. Under the French occupation he became commissioner of the Dyle department. On 21 July 1803 he received Napoleon

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

 at the Castle of Laeken (Laeken).

After the Belgian revolution in 1830, he was a member of the national congress

National Congress of Belgium

The Belgian National Congress was a temporary legislative assembly in 1830, established shortly after the Provisional Government of Belgium had proclaimed Belgian independence on October 4 of that year...

, later he became a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives. From 1830 up to 1838 he was burgomaster of Brussels. As the burgomaster of Brussels he receives the new king Leopold I of Belgium

Leopold I of Belgium

Leopold I was from 21 July 1831 the first King of the Belgians, following Belgium's independence from the Netherlands. He was the founder of the Belgian line of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...

 also at the Castle of Laeken on 21 July 1831, the day when Leopold swore allegiance to the Belgian constitution

Constitution of Belgium

The Constitution of Belgium dates back to 1831. Since then Belgium has been a parliamentary monarchy that applies the principles of ministerial responsibility for the government policy and the Trias Politica. The Constitution established Belgium as a centralised unitary state...

. Together with Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen

Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen

Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen was a Belgian lawyer, founder of the Université libre de Bruxelles, and liberal politician...

, Nicolas-Jean Rouppe is also one of the initiators of the Université Libre de Bruxelles

Université Libre de Bruxelles

The Université libre de Bruxelles is a French-speaking university in Brussels, Belgium. It has 21,000 students, 29% of whom come from abroad, and an equally cosmopolitan staff.-Name:...

 (ULB).

Rouppe is buried in the Laeken Cemetery

Laeken Cemetery

The Laeken Cemetery , located in Laeken in the northern part of Brussels, is one of the major cemeteries in Belgium.-Description:...

. In Brussels the Place Rouppeplein is named after him.

Source

• Du Bois, A., Les bourgmestres de Bruxelles, in : Revue de Belgique, April 1896, p. 365-396.
• Spreutels, J.-P., Une bonne action de Nicolas Rouppe sous l'occupation française, in : Cahiers Bruxellois, XIX, 1974, p. 84-85.