[1] His masterpiece, the 16th-century romance The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak (1867), was barely read in Belgium because it did not meet up to the conventional standard of Belgian nationalism, but became popular in the rest of the world.

His exploits and his friend's form the thread of a semihistorical narrative, full of racy humour, in spite of the barbarities that find a place in it.

[1] In 1876 De Coster introduced Xavier Mellery to the island of Marken, asking him to deliver drawings for the Tour du Monde magazine.

[citation needed] In 1870 De Coster became professor of general history and of French literature at the Belgian Royal Military Academy.

[1] The expensive form in which Uylenspiegel was produced made it open only to a limited class of readers, and when a new and cheap edition in modern French appeared in 1893 it was received practically as a new book in France and in Belgium.