Philip Melanchthon
He was born Philipp Schwartzerdt on 16 February 1497, at Bretten where his father Georg Schwarzerdt was armorer to Philip, Count Palatine of the Rhine. His birthplace, along with almost the whole city of Bretten, was burned in 1689 by French troops during the War of the Palatinate Succession. The town's Melanchthonhaus was built on its site in 1897.
Peter Frans Van Kerckhoven
Pieter Frans van Kerckhoven (Antwerp, 10 November 1818 – Antwerp, 1 August 1857) was a Flemish writer and one of the leaders of the early Flemish movement. He was the son of a broker, and his well-off birth allowed him a decent education. After he had first been instructed in a private school, he passed through the Antwerp athenaeum together with his contemporary and friend Domien Sleeckx. Van Kerckhoven was in that period a tireless reader and spent almost his entire pocket money to buy books of the French traditional authors. During his youth, Van Kerckhoven was, just like the rest of its family, very religious. After Van Kerckhoven in 1836, graduated from the Antwerp athenaeum, he studied medicine in Italy, at the University of Bologna. In Italy, Van Kerckhoven witnessed the restless and rebellious Risorgimento. The confrontation with the liberal and anticlerical Risorgimento movement would determine his later progressive-liberal conviction. Van Kerckhoven evolved from a pious catholic to an enthusiastic and persuaded liberal. In spite of the personal change which Van Kerckhoven underwent in Italy, he remained, however, religious.