Till Eulenspiegel and Philip II of Spain in the Great War

From the 16(th) to 19(th) and again in the 20(th )century, Till Eulenspiegel weaved his way through time and history. He became a legendary character of the Dutch Revolt embodying the freedom against the persecutions of Philip II of Spain in Charles De Coster's version (1867) and the tale was given new significance during the First World War. Two Belgian artists (Paul-Auguste MasuiCastricque and Walter Vaes) referred to the legend in their engravings to deliver a message on the ongoing war. By thinking about time and cultural parallelisms, this paper seeks to understand the stakes of evoking the Legend during the war and also after as do Romain Rolland - writing the preface to a German translation of the Legend in 1926 - and two other Belgian artists illustrating Charles De Coster's text during the 1920s: Maurice Langaskens and Frans Masereel.