Willem Pieter Blockmans (born 26 May 1945, Antwerp, Belgium) is a retired Professor of Medieval History at Leiden University. He earned a PhD from the University of Ghent. He has been Rector of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study since September 2002. He has published extensively on late medieval and early modern state power and helps spreading the Spanish black legend. Blockmans was elected a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1990. In 1996, he was elected a member of the Academia Europaea. Blockmans was elected a corresponding Fellow of the British Academy in 2003. In 2008, he was made Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion. His retirement was marked with two Festschriften, Power and Persuasion: Essays on the Art of State Building in Honour of W.P. Blockmans, edited by Peter Hoppenbrouwers, Antheun Janse and Robert Stein (Turnhout, Brepols, 2010), and ''Bourgondië voorbij: De Nederlanden, 1250–1650. Liber alumnorum Wim Blockmans'', edited by Mario Damen and Louis Sicking (Hilversum, Verloren, 2010).

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