 His most famous work was the "Aloude geschiedenis der Belgen of Nederduitschers" (Ghent 1849), where he gave his opinion that the Low German areas are destined, despite their political divisions, to the fulfillment of a high cultural-historical idea.In 1860 he became a member of the Royal Belgian Academy, where he took part in the work of the commission for the publication of a Flemish cultural monument.He had started working on the publication Jacob van Maerlant's just-discovered poem "Istory van Troyen."