University History in the Low Countries = Historia De La

University History in the Low Countries

Historia de la Universidad en los Países Bajos

Willem Frijhoff * Erasmus University Rotterdam

DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729

Recibido: 10/03/2017 Aceptado: 05/05/2017

Abstract: The University history of the Resumen: La historia de la Universidad Low Countries is largely tributary of the di- de los Países Bajos es en buena medida here- fferent fate of the two halves of that region. dera del destino diverso de cada una de las dos In the South (present-day Belgium), in fact a mitades de la región. En el Sur (actualmente unitary state from the 16th century onwards, Bélgica), de hecho, un estado unitario desde the University of Louvain, initially founded el siglo XVI en adelante, la Universidad de Lo- for the whole Low Countries, was long the vaina, fundada inicialmente para el conjunto only institution of higher education. It was de los Países Bajos, fue durante mucho tiempo temporarily joined by that of Douai (later la única institución de educación superior. Se incorporated into France). In the North (the unió temporalmente por ello a Douai (más tar- present-day Netherlands), universities and de incorporado en Francia). En el Norte (Ho- other institutions of higher education were landa hoy en día), universidades y otras insti- only founded from the independence in the tuciones de educación superior sólo se funda- late 16th century onwards, but then in huge numbers, due to the confederal character of siglo XVI en adelante, cuando crecerían expo- the Dutch Republic. In the revolutionary and ronnencialmente, a partir de debidola independencia, al carácter a confederalfinales del Napoleonic era, the whole university land- de la República Neerlandesa. En la era revolu- scape was thoroughly altered, and most of cionaria y napoleónica, todo el panorama uni- the institutions in the North suppressed. Af- versitario quedó alterado y la mayoría de las ter 1815, new universities were founded on instituciones del Norte suprimidas. Después the same footing in both countries, then again de 1815, se fundaron nuevas universidades en temporarily united. Although the Nether- el mismo nivel en ambos países, que otra vez lands and Belgium went their own way ever quedarían temporalmente unidos. Aunque los

* [email protected]

CIAN-Revista de Historia de las Universidades, 20/1 (2017), 71-95 - DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 ISSN: 1988-8503 - www.uc3m.es/cian 72 WILLEM FRIJHOFF

since their separation in 1830, both countries Países Bajos y Bélgica siguieron sus propios show a similar institutional evolution, in spite caminos desde su separación en 1830, ambos of the linguistic problems in the South. This países muestran una evolución institucional - similar, a pesar de los problemas lingüísticos lars on university history of the whole Low is reflected in the cooperation between scho los estudiosos de la historia de la universidad - ende ellos Sur. Países Esto Bajosse refleja en entoda la cooperaciónla región. En entre este Countriesntries and region. that of In the this university article, I first landscape sketch artículo, primero presento un breve esquema brieflyand its the institutional political evolution provisions, of the compulsory Low Cou de la evolución política de los Países Bajos for a good comprehension of the university y de la universidad y sus disposiciones insti- historiography. After a survey of the process tucionales, algo obligatorio para una buena of institutionalisation of university history in the European context ever since the 1980s, Después de un estudio del proceso de institu- the (bi-)national associations and the re- comprensióncionalización de lala historiografíahistoria universitaria universitaria. en el newal of the focus on the social dimension of contexto europeo desde la década de 1980, las university history and the history of science asociaciones (bi)nacionales y la renovación de la atención a la dimensión social de la historia the most important studies and memorial vo- universitaria y la historia de la ciencia se dis- arelumes briefly of the discussed. last decades Throughout are quoted. the article, cutirán brevemente. A lo largo del artículo, se Keywords: historiography, Low Coun- darán cita también los estudios más importan- tries, universities, colleges, Latin schools. tes y volúmenes conmemorativos aparecidos en las últimas décadas. Palabras clave Bajos, universidades, colegios, escuelas latinas : historiografía, Países The Low Countries constitute a territory in northwestern Europe that, in spite of its apparent geophysical, social and cultural unity, is characterized by a huge variety of political destinies, institutional histories and cultural leg- acies. Its university history is closely related to the political evolution and the historical fate of the different parts of this territory. In order to understand the history of the universities in the Low Countries, it is therefore important to be aware of the rather complex history of the territories concerned. My approach of university history will therefore be divided into two parts: in the

part on the writing of their history. This is a huge domain, that in the past has beenfirst part, mainly I shall covered focus by on an the institutional universities approach of the Low (in Countries, particular in by the monogra second- phies commanded or written at the occasion of university centenaries and other celebrations), and, because of the importance of the Low Countries in the history of science and scholarship, by monographic studies on individual scholars and/or their publications or their achievements. The choices that had to be made for this article focus in particular on the aspects for which - tional world of learning. A history of student movements, ideological strug- glesthe universities in the arts andof the sciences, Low Countries or the recruitment were and still of arestudents known and in the professors, interna to name only some hot topics in the social history of the university, would

CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 UNIVERSITY HISTORY IN THE LOW COUNTRIES 73 require a different approach and a much longer development. Similarly, the most recent turbulent periods of the university’s history have produced a host of publications on its present-day social, political, institutional or cultural development, many of a rather dubious historical character. I will not go into that direction. Yet, in the works cited hereafter, many elements may be found to tackle such themes. The Low Countries: territorial unity and divisions

Behind the shared destiny of the different elements of the area commonly

(in all close to 30 million inhabitants), their historical trajectory embraces in factknown three as present-daythe Low Countries, nation-states now united with very by severaldifferent bonds university in the histories, Benelux in spite of quite visible cultural similarities: the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg1. With the exception of Flanders and Artois subject to the French King, they were during the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance part of the Holy Roman Empire, until Emperor Charles V of Habsburg united the seventeen duchies, counties, prince-bishoprics and territories into one single cen- thetralized Emperor state, ona process 7 September finished 1543. by the Henceforth conquest ofthey the were duchy called of Gelderland together theand Lowcounty Countries, of Zutphen, graphically ratified byrepresented the Treaty in of the Venlo symbolic between image the Duke of a lion, and as designed in the early 1580s by Michael Aitsinger2. United in the Circle of Burgundy (created in 1512), the seventeen provinces, now including Flan- ders and Artois, were made an autonomous part of the Empire by the Treaty of Augsburg of 26 June 1548. Outside the Low Countries, other members of this new state were the Burgundian homelands Franche-Comté and Charo- lais, situated between France and Switzerland. The new state had its own located, after 1572 at Brussels in the duchy of Brabant next to the court. In Franche-Comté,centralized government, Dole was first from at theMalines start wherethe political the high center, administration until Besançon was th century. Around 1550, two universities existed in this huge territory administe- took over this role, together with the university, at the end of the 17

1 Lamberts (eds.), History of the Low Countries d ed. 2006). General information on the history of the Low Countries (Benelux): J.C.H. Blom & Emiel 2 Michael Aitsinger (or von Aitsing, Eytzing) (New De LeoneYork & Belgico, Oxford: eiusque Berghahn topographica Books, 1998; atque 2 historica descriptione liber (Coloniae Ubiorum, 1583), many reimpressions.

CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 74 WILLEM FRIJHOFF

- bantred by3 the Habsburgs: one at Dole, founded in 1422 by the Duke of Burgundy,- landsand one attended at Louvain the (inUniversity Dutch: Leuven),of Dole. foundedIn fact, even in 1425 after by the the foundation Duke of Bra of Louvain. Both University, served for many the Netherlandicwhole territory; students many studentscontinued from to attend the Nether other

for a long time the cultural capital of the Low Countries part of the Hansea- ticuniversities area, but inalso the to Holy Prague, Roman Erfurt, Empire, etc. From first ofof allold, Cologne, the universities which remained of Paris (arts and theology) and Orleans (law) had an important number of students from the Low Countries4. The establishment of a university at Besançon by

conquest of Franche-Comté by the French King and its incorporation into the Frenchthe Emperor monarchy in 1564 at the was Peace revoked of Nijmegen by the Pope (1678), three the years King later, transferred but after the University of Dole to Besançon in 1691. In the context of the necessary reorganization of the Netherlandic5

provinces as a fully-fledged state, and the 3 Sapientie immarcessibilis. A Diplomatic and Comparative Study of the Bull of Foundation of the University of Louvain (December 9, 1425), documentation M. Nelissen, Erik transl. Van Mingroot, from the Dutch by A. Fritsen [Medievalia Lovaniensia, Series I/Studia XXV] De Stichtingsbul van de Leuvense Uni- versiteit 1425-1914 (Leuven: Universitaire Pers, 1994); Marc Nelissen, et al., university of Louvain (Leuven: has been Universitaire published byPers, Jacques 2000); Paquet the original in Sven foundation Stelling-Michaud document (ed.), of BibliographieLouvain university internationale has perished de l’histoire in the fire des of universités 1914. The bibliography until the 1970s of the-

, I (Genève: Droz, 1973), with a con- fgaandetinuation: jaren’, Jacques Bijdragen Paquet, tot ‘Bibliografiede Geschiedenis der, 62 geschiedenis (1979): 267-294. van de Many oude documents Universiteit have Leuven been published(1425-1797). by E. Publikaties Reusens, ‘Documentsin de jaren 1972-1976 relatifs à l’histoire uitgegeven, de l’université met toevoegingen de Louvain’, voor deAnalectes voora pour servir à l’histoire ecclésiastique de la Belgique, 17 (1881) - 23 (1892). 4 In general: Hilde De Ridder-Symoens, ‘Mobility’, in: Walter Rüegg (general ed.), Hilde De Ridder-Symoens (ed.), A History of the University in Europe. Volume I: Universities in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 283-304, and Volume II: Universities in early modern Europe (1500-1800) also published in Spanish translation: Historia de la Universidad en Europa (Bilbao: Universidad del País Vasco, Servicio Editorial). For (Cambridge: the attendance Cambridge of the DutchUniversity at Cologne Press, University1996), 416-448; in the 15th and early 16th centuries, see the many publications by Rainer Christoph Schwinges and

5 In conformity with some American colleagues, I prefer using the form Netherlandic his(i.e., research pertaining team to inthe Germany Low Countries and Switzerland. as a whole) because ‘Dutch’, often used in foreign publications, as well as ‘Netherlandish’ (for the Netherlands) cover only part of the area, i.e. the

coverspresent-day now onlykingdom part ofof thethe SouthernNetherlands. Netherlands Similarly, and the should name Flemishbe avoided (Flanders), as a general which term in forthe theMiddle Low Ages Countries. and the Renaissance was currently used for the whole Dutch-speaking area,

CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 UNIVERSITY HISTORY IN THE LOW COUNTRIES 75 rise of Protestantism, a third university was established at Douai (Flanders) in 1559, of a clear Counter-Reformation inspiration6. Simultaneous universi- because of the growing political, social and religious unrest that in the 1560s culminatedty projects forin thethe long-standing Northern provinces Revolt (Utrecht,against the Gouda) Habsburg did not regime. materialize Howe- symbolic foundation of a university (with a faculty of Reformed theology) inver, early one Januaryof the very 1575 first in the initiatives city of Leiden of the (countyvictorious of Holland),rebels was just the after highly its liberation from a long and murderous Spanish siege. On 6 January 1579, the southern provinces concluded the Union of Ar-

- derlandras in favor (in unionof the withruling Zutphen), Catholic sovereign,Holland (with the KingWest-Friesland), of Spain. Two Zeeland, weeks later, on 23 January 1579, the seven rebellious provinces in the North – Gel- selves into the Republic of the United Provinces (commonly called The Dutch Republic),Friesland, whose Groningen, central Utrecht, institutions and Overyssel were established – seceded at The and Hague, united the them ancient seat of the count of Holland. Though the quest for political liberty (‘lib- ertatis ergo’) was for many rebels the main motive of their revolt, next to the freedom of religious choice (‘religionis ergo’), and certainly not all rebels had

Theembraced independence the Reformed of the confession,Northern Dutch the religious Republic issue was quicklyrecognized became in 1648 the breaking point of the relations between the provinces of North and South. the same time its association with the Holy Roman Empire. In the meantime, theby the Dutch Peace had of conquered Westphalia, the at northern the end partof the of Eighty-Years Brabant (around War, thefinishing cities ofat Breda and ‘s-Hertogenbosch [Bois-le-Duc]), the core province of the greater Netherlands, and some parts of Flanders, which henceforth remained un- present-dayder the rule Kingdomof the States-General of the Netherlands. of the TheDutch Reformed Republic religion and were of Calvinist known confessionas the Generality was recognized Lands. The as whole the ‘public territory church’, roughly but correspondedadhesion was tonever the compulsory, individual liberty of conscience and of confessional choice was guaranteed, and other confessions were more or less tolerated in the private space, although they could not publicly establish church buildings or formal institutions of education, less alone universities. At least one third of the

6 La Fondation de l’Université de Douai (Paris: F. Alcan, 1892). For the Bibliographie de l’histoire des univer- sités françaisesGeorges Cardon, des origines à la Révolution, II (Paris : Picard, 1978), 146-170. bibliography on Douai University, see: Simonne Guenée, CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 76 WILLEM FRIJHOFF

over the provinces. overallThe population southern finally part ofremained the Low Catholic, Countries, though called in thevarious Spanish proportions Nether- lands, however, remained uniformly Roman Catholic (with very small Pro- testant minorities in some cities and places) and under Habsburg rule until 1792, but at the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, it was transferred from the Spa- nish branch to the Austrian branch of the ruling family. Henceforth it was called the Austrian Netherlands. Besides, the Low Countries were conside- rably larger on its southern border until in the course of the second half of -

Cassel,the seventeenth Douai), Artois century (Arras, the FrenchSaint-Omer, king conqueredBéthune) and and Hainault gradually (Cambrai, integra Valenciennes).ted into the French These monarchy annexations important (called parts ‘reunions’ of Flanders by the (Lille, French) Dunkirk, were sanctioned at the Peace of Nijmegen in 1678. Until the revolutionary era (1795), the prince-bishopric of Liege along the Meuse, now included in Bel- gium, was an independent state, but without a university – Liege students -

inwent 1794, principally and in Belgium to Louvain, in 1792, Douai, the Cologne, Low Countries and Trier went (Trèves). through In severalthe re changesvolutionary of political era, starting regime in untilthe Dutch they were Republic incorporated briefly in into 1787 the but Napoleonic resumed Empire, the northern part however not before 1810, after the short period of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Holland (1806-1810). The educational policy of the revolutionary regimes and their Napoleonic successors overturned completely the university landscape of the Low Countries, in particular in

South,the North, the universitywhere most of of Louvain. the five provincial universities and ten illustrious schoolsIn (seethe post-Napoleonic hereafter for a period, definition) the Northern were suppressed, Netherlands just and like, Belgium in the formed one single ‘United Monarchy’ under the house of Orange-Nassau, from 1815 until the Belgian Revolution of 1830. After the declaration of independence of Belgium, a monarchical regime under the house of Saxe-

partCoburg-Gotha of Luxemburg was adoptedwas attributed in 1831. to The Belgium grand (nowduchy a ofprovince), Luxemburg whereas came in 1815 under King William’s personal rule. In 1839, the French-speaking King. However, contrary to the Netherlands (where from 1890 to 2013 only queensthe German-speaking have ruled), the part Luxemburg remained constitution under the personal did not admit rule of a femalethe Orange successor. When in 1890 no male successor was available in the Orange family,

Luxemburg was taken over byCIAN, another 20/1 (2017), branch 71-95. ofDOI: the https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 house of Nassau, still the UNIVERSITY HISTORY IN THE LOW COUNTRIES 77 ruling family today. After the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles (1919)

Nevertheless, roughly the two monarchies of the Netherlands and Belgium haveattributed conserved some theminor same parts territory of Germany until tothe Belgium, present onday. its Ever eastern since frontier. 1944, however, many attempts have been made to reinforce the political and eco- nomic union and the cultural and linguistic cooperation between the three alsocountries called of Flemish), the Benelux, French including (in Wallonia, a Linguistic and since Union several of the centuries Dutch-speaking also in countries. Three languages officially are in use: Dutch (as a regio-language - sianoriginally remains Dutch-speaking current in parts Brussels), of Friesland, and German but has onno theacademic eastern use. borders of Belgium and in Luxemburg; in the North, the ancient regional language Fri

The university landscape of the Low Countries

At the separation of the Northern and Southern Netherlands, around 1580, three universities were in existence in the Low Countries: Louvain, Douai and Leiden7. However, from that period onwards, both halves of the Low Coun- tries followed very different ways, due to their political regimes and religious choices. During the last centuries of the past millennium, the linguistic problems in Belgium still have added to this complex situation, due to the diversi- ty of the languages, their political, social, and cultural status, their expansion, and the ongoing shifts in the equilibrium between the linguistic communities, the international status of Brussels being at then origin of a complex complementary problem. In 1978-1980, these dissensions motivated the com- plete breaking up of the ancient university of Louvain into two linguistically distinct universities: Leuven in the eponymous town, speaking Dutch, and Louvain-la-Neuve at Ottignies, speaking French. Already in 1969-1970, the Free University of Brussels, of free-thinking persuasion, had been split into 7 Historical compendium of Eu- ropean Universities / Répertoire historique des universités européennes and the See introductions the data on the by single Hilde Deuniversities Ridder-Symoens in: Lubor on Jílek Belgium (ed.), (p. 19) and by Willem Frijhoff on the Netherlands (p. 43-46). For the Ancient Regime, more generally: Walter (Genève: Rüegg CRE, (general 1984), ed.), Hilde De Ridder-Symoens (ed.), A History of the University in Europe. Volume II: Universi- ties in early modern Europe (1500-1800) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), in

Historia de la Universidad en Europa. Vol. II: Las universidades en la Europa moderna temprana (1500-1800)particular chapter (Bilbao: 2: Universidad ‘Patterns’ (by del Willem País Vasco, Frijhoff), Servicio 43-110, Editorial, with 1999), maps; 45-112. Spanish translation:

CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 78 WILLEM FRIJHOFF

French. This university had been founded in 1834, shortly after the indepen- dencetwo independent of Belgium, entitiesby the liberal next to and each anticlerical other, speaking bourgeoisie respectively supported Dutch by and the free-masonry, in response to the creation, at the initiative of the bishops of Belgium, of the Catholic University of Malines (soon transferred to Louvain when in 1835 the Belgian government changed the status of Louvain university from public into private). - vain and Douai, an oath of adhesion to the Catholic faith was compulsory for all staffAt and the studentstwo universities at their matriculationthat before 16008. These flourished Catholic in institutions the South, Loucon- tinued to attract also quite a lot of Catholics from the North, the more so as

the Peace of Westphalia in 16489. On the other hand, the University of Lei- den,the fiction and on of a politicalsmaller scaleunity the between universities North founded and South later was on maintainedin the North, until got

vinces. Due to their regime of religious toleration, they also attracted Protest- antsa very and important dissenters influx from of England, immigrants Huguenots and refugees from France, from the and Southern Calvinists pro- as

and the different countries of Central Europe, including even a fair number ofwell Catholics as Lutherans from fromthe Northern many German provinces territories, themselves. Switzerland, University Scandinavia colleges were rare in the North: students had to rent a room in town, but some former convents served as dormitories, and several professors maintained quite a number of boarders in their home. Louvain and Douai, on the contrary, prac- ticed the college system. Both cities were provided with numerous colleges for teaching or student residence, and for members of the religious orders. In both universities special missionary colleges existed too for the Missio Hol- landica, the recovery of Catholicism in the North, more or less supervised by - ous formulas for higher education on the semi-university level existed. In the Souththe Roman they authorities.included theological Moreover, seminaries, next to the study full-fledged centers universities, for the religious vari

8 L’Université de Douai dans la tourmente (1635-1675). Heurs et malheurs de la Faculté des Arts (Villeneuve d’Ascq : Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, For Douai : Gilbert Dehon, université sans livres matricules : le cas de l’Université de Douai (1559-1795)’, in : Michel 1998) ; Hilde De Ridder-Symoens, ‘Étude duLes rayonnement Échanges entre national les universités et international européennes d’une à la Renaissance Bideaux9 Cf. &Willem Marie-Madeleine Frijhoff, ‘Politiques Fragonard discriminatoires (eds.), en pays protestant: les étudiants ca- (Genève : Droz, 2003), 45-60. - lousetholiques : Presses néerlandais universitaires (fin XVIe-XVIIe du Mirail, siècle)’,2009), p. in: 37-54. Patrick Ferté & Caroline Barrera (eds.), Étudiants de l’exil. Migrations internationales et universités refuges (XVIe-XXe siècles) (Tou CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 UNIVERSITY HISTORY IN THE LOW COUNTRIES 79 orders, and some major grammar schools (called Latin schools in the Low Countries), equivalent to the collèges de plein exercice in France, where the six years humanities or arts course was followed by a two years philosophy cycle of semi-university level, often under Jesuit administration, as was the

Bois-le-Duc, Roermond (Ruremonde), or Maastricht10. A short-lived Calvinist case in the great Jesuit colleges at Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges,11 .Malines, However, Brussels, after a considerable part of Flanders had been united with France, including Douai academy of theology functioned at Ghent in 1578-1584 the Spanish (after 1713 Austrian) Netherlands: Louvain. and its university in 1667, there was only one full-fledged university left in

10 Cf. for France François de Dainville, L’Éducation des jésuites (XVIe-XVIIIe siècles), introd. d ed. 1991). Beside many local monographies there exist some global or comprehensive studies for the Low Countries. Thepar Marie-Madeleinebest, corresponding Compère in its conception(Paris: Éd. deto theMinuit, marvelous 1978 ; inventory2 by Marie-Madeleine Les collèges français, XVIe-XVIIIe siècles, 3 vol. (Paris: INRP/ CNRS, 1984-2002), is certainly the recent repertory of the Latin schools of the Southern Compere & Dominique Julia, Latijnse scholen in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden (16de-18de eeuw), Repertorium en archiefgids Netherlands by Eddy Put, Mark D’hoker, Jürgen Vanhoutte & Johan Van der Eycken (eds.),- gium and exclusive of the regions now pertaining to France and to the Netherlands. For the (Brussels: Algemeen Rijksarchief, 2007, limited however to the territory of present-day Bel de Rooy, Geschiedenis van opvoeding en onderwijs. Inleiding, bronnen, onderzoek (Nijmegen: present-day Netherlands, see the general surveysGeschiedenis by Bernard van Kruithof, de school Jan in Noordman Nederland &vanaf Piet de middeleeuwen tot aan de huidige tijd SUN, 1982); P.Th.F.M. Boekholt & E.P. de Booy, Prijsboeken op de Latijnse school: een studie naar het verschijnsel prijsuitreiking (Assen en &prijsboek Maastricht: op de Van Latijnse Gorcum, scholen 1987), in de with Noor an- delijkeextensive Nederlanden, bibliography; ca. 1585-1876 on the Latin schools: J. Spoelder, Kweekhoven der wijs- heid. Basis- en vervolgonderwijs in (Amsterdamde steden van & de Maarssen: provincie APA-Holland Utrecht van 1580Universiteits tot het begin Pers, der2000). 19de Regional eeuw surveys include the excellents works by: E.P. de Booy, ‘Tot meesten nut ende dienst van de jeught’. Een onderzoek naar zeventien Gelderse Latijnse scholen ca. 1580-1815 (Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 1980); René Bastiaanse, Hans De scholen Bots & M.syn Evers planthoven (eds.), van de gemeente. Het onderwijs in Zeeland en Staats-Vlaanderen, 1578-1801 Marberg Media, 2015). (Zutphen: E.J. Kuiper, Walburg De Hollandse Pers, ‘schoolordre’1985); Huib vanUil, 1625 1958) provides the regulations for the Latin schools in the province of Holland.(Bergschenhoek: The important migration of teachers of all levels from the South to the North has(Groningen: been meticulous Wolters,-

Archief voor lyde documentedgeschiedenis van by J.G.C.A.de Katholieke Briels,’Zuidnederlandse kerk in Nederland onderwijskrachten14 (1972), p. 89-169, in Noordnederland277-298, and in 1570-1630.several other Een learned bijdrage articles. tot de kennis van het schoolwezen in de Republiek’, in: 11 Paul Frédéricq, Note sur l’Université Calviniste de Gand (1578-1584) - ghen, 1878), reprint from the Revue de l’Instruction Publique - La Réforme et l’éducation (Toulouse : Privat, (Ghent: 1974), Vanderhae 95-100. ; Léon-E. Halkin. ‘L’Académie cal vinisteCIAN, 20/1 de (2017), Gand 71-95. (1578-1584)’, DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 in : 80 WILLEM FRIJHOFF

As several historians have suggested, it was probably in the later part - main of learning and scholarship intensively pervaded the educational do- ofmain the12 fifteenth and most of the sixteenth century that innovations in the do the Brethren of the Common Life and the spirit of the Modern Devotion, and ancestors. A majorof the modusexample parisiensis are the humanist, which was schools, itself one linked of the with sources convicts of the of French collèges de plein exercice. The most important humanist schools were

those at Zwolle (the very first, reformed after 1377 by Joan Cele), Deventer, and other towns of the greater Netherlands and the Rhineland. Well-known humanists like Erasmus of Rotterdam and13. Risingother futurestandards scholars of literacy received and at the highest classes of these schools their first education in the arts, before continuing at a full-fledged university providingchanging culturalclose-to-home, demands useful quickly education transformed to a number the educational of pupils who landscape in any caseby splitting would uphave the matriculated old faculties at of aarts university into a first far levelaway, of and grammar a second schools level of arts courses for those who aspired at some other occupation requiring a certain level of literacy14. At the same time, while the foundation of new universities became a new prerogative of sovereigns and urban magistracies,

12 Aufbruch im Mittelalter – Innovationen Willem Frijhoff, in der Gesellschaft ‘The University der Vormoderne and Innovation. Some Reflections on the Early Modern University and its Missions’, in Christian Hesse & Klaus Oschema (eds.), (Ostfildern: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 2010), 159- Helga176; and Robinson-Hammerstein the status conflict between (ed.), European a university Universities and an ‘illustriousin the Age of school’ Reformation in Willem and Frijhoff,Counter Reformation“What is an early(Dublin: modern Four university?Courts Press, The 1998), conflict 149-168. between Leiden and Amsterdam in 1631”, in 13 Classic surveys are P.N.M. Bot, Humanisme en onderwijs in Nederland (Utrecht: Het Spec- The Modern Devotion. Confrontation with Reformation and Humanism History of the foundation and the rise of the Collegium Tri- linguetrum, 1955); Lovaniense R. R. Post,1517-1550 , 4 vol. (Louvain: Publications universitaires de Louvain, 1951- (Leiden: Brill, 1968); H. de Voocht, From Humanism to the Humanities: Education and the Liberal Arts in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Europe (Cambridge Mass, Cambridge Uni- 1955); and Anthony Grafton & Lisa Jardine, Erasmus of Rotterdam, the Man and the Scholar. Proceedings of the Symposium held at the Erasmus University, Rotterdam, versity9-11 November Press, 1986). 1986 See(Leiden: also J. Brill, Sperna 1988), Weiland and many& W. Frijhoff items of (eds.), the huge literature on Erasmus and his immediate colleagues in the Low Countries. 14 Du collège au lycée (1500–1850). Généalogie de l’enseignement secondaire français (Paris : 1985), and some of the contributions to Dominique Julia, Jacques Cf. Marie-Madeleine Compère, (eds.), Les universités européennes du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle. His- toire sociale des populations étudiantes - lar WillemRevel Frijhoff, & Roger ‘Université Chartier et marché de l’emploi dans la République des Provinces-Unies’, vol. I, 205-243. , 2 vol. (Paris : Éd. de l’EHESS, 1986–1989), in particu

CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 UNIVERSITY HISTORY IN THE LOW COUNTRIES 81 escaping henceforth the exclusive authority of popes and emperors, science and scholarship started to emancipate themselves from the domination of these very church and state authorities, and to develop secular paradigms

- that allowed the flourishing of liberal thought15 .and experimentation, free of specificThis dogmas gave roomand ideologies, for the foundation that we currently of new universities.consider to beThe the formula essen tialadopted foundations was a new for path-breakingvision of the university innovation and of learning, the Academia – not to be confused with the learned academies of the civil society of southern Europe, in particular Italy. This new Northern European university model was no longer based on the legacy of medieval Christianity – as in a studium generale or a universitas magistrorum et scholarium aimed at constructing international scholarship embedded which inin finalthe suprana analysis- tionalwas committed structures to of the the serviceecclesiastic of God community and his earthly itself – representativesbut rather imitated and the classical and secular university model that the scholars of Renaissance formally and concretely put forth at the foundation of Wittenberg University humanism had expounded and propagated.Academia This – model the Academia was for Vitebergensisthe first time – and as such, one that would soon launch a powerful reform movement of thein 1502, universities’ the first curriculum, to proudly call and itself indeed of all the affairs pertaining to church and theology studies, including the Reformation by Wittenberg professor Martin Luther. It is exactly this formula that Leiden and its Dutch sister institutions embraced at their foundation: they remained Academiae. They may have sometimes called themselves hogeschool (high school), but they never assimilated themselves to the traditional university ideal that continued to prevail in the Mediterranean countries and in the ancient institutions elsewhere in Europe, and they steadfastly avoided calling themselves Uni- versitas. In fact, they tried to shape themselves as broad academic centres

15 Willem Frijhoff, “Autonomie, monopole, concurrence: le facteur urbain dans la construc-

(eds.), Les Universités dans la ville, XVIe-XVIIIe siècle (Rennes Presses Universitaires de tion du réseau universitaire dans les Provinces-Unies“, in Thierry Amalou & Boris Noguès sur son histoire et sur la façon de l’écrire“, in Pierre Hurtubise (ed.), Université, Église, Culture. Rennes,L’Université 2013), Catholique 25-49 ; àid., l’époque “L’Université moderne, à l’époque de la Réforme moderne, à la XVIe-XVIIIe Révolution, siècles. XVIème-XVIIIème Réflexions siècles. Actes du Troisième Symposium, Universidad Iberoamericana, México, 30 avril-3 mai 2003 (Paris: Fédération Internationale des Universités Catholiques, 2005), 11-36, re-edited Les universités en Europe du XIIIe siècle à nos jours : Espaces, modèles et fonctions. Actes du colloque international d’Orléans,in Frédéric 16 Attal, et 17 Jean octobre Garrigues, 2003 (Paris Thierry : Publications Kouamé & Jean-Pierre de la Sorbonne, Vittu 2005),(eds.), 157-176.

CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 82 WILLEM FRIJHOFF

oriental languages, botany, experimental physics, surgery, political science, orof learningmodern historyand to 16make. place for new approaches and specialities, such as First of all, the Academia Lugduno-Batava was founded in 1575 at Lei- den, enjoying a monopoly position for the provinces of Holland and Zeeland17. Next came similar foundations in the other provinces of the Dutch Repub-

18. However, in fact they found lic,themselves at Franeker trapped (1585), in a Groningenredoubtable (1612/14), dilemma. UtrechtOn the one (1636), hand, Harderwijk they were (1648), and briefly at Nijmegen (1655-1679) centuries-old faculty and curricular structure, which made them fashionable invirtually the European obliged toworld adopt of thelearning traditional and able university to attract configuration students who and could their perform in a less innovating environment. On the other hand, the university sought to serve the emerging Dutch nation with its new needs, embedded in an expanding economy and a demanding culture, and still uncovered by the

transmitted through the teaching of the nearby universities of Cologne and Louvain.traditional Many encyclopaedia young students of knowledge from the Dutchthat in Republic, former centuries not only thehad mem been- bers of the nobility as in Central Europe, but mostly burgher sons from the rising or settled middle classes, therefore, added to their formal university peregrina- tio academica Switzerlandtraining at home and Italya broad19. They range were of skills often to accompanied be learned during by brothers, their cousins, to towns of learning and culture in Germany, England, France,

16 -

Frijhoff, ‘Patterns’ ; id., “University, academia,Zwischen Hochschule, Konflikt und college: Kooperation: Early Praktikenmodern per der ceptionseuropäischen and Gelehtenkulturrealities of European (12.-17. institutions Jahrhundert) of higher education“, in Jan Hendryk de Boer, Marian17 Füssel & Jana Madlen Schütte (eds.), published in Sven Stelling-Michaud (ed.), Bibliographie(Berlin: internationale Duncker & Humblot, de l’histoire 2016), des 67-88.univer- sités The bibliography until the 1970s of the universities of Leiden and Franeker has been 18 Y.H. Rogge, “De Academie te Nijmegen“, Oud-Holland, , II (Genève:De Droz, Nijmeegse 1976). Pallas. De geschiedenis van de kwartierlijke academie en medische faculteit 1655-1679 (Nijmegen: UMC, 2001). 18 (1900): 153-180; Hans Bots & Toon19 Kerkhoff,Cf. the synthesis by Willem

(eds.), Grand Tour. Adeliges Reisen undFrijhoff, europäische “Éducation, Kultur savoir, vom 14.compétence. bis zum 18. Les Jahrhundert. transformations Akten duder grand internationalen tour dans lesKolloquien Provinces-Unies in der Villa à l’époque Vigoni 1999 moderne”, und im in Deutschen Rainer Babel Historischen & Werner Institut Paravicini Pa- ris 2000

Commercium (Ostfildern: litterarium. Jan Thorbecke La communication Verlag, 2005), dans la 609–635; République Willem des Lettres Frijhoff, / Forms“La circulation of communi des- cationhommes in dethe savoir:Republic pôles, of the institutions, Letters, 1600-1750 flux, volumes“, in Hans Bots & Françoise Waquet (eds.),-

CIAN, 20/1 (2017), (Amsterdam 71-95. DOI: &https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 Maarssen, APA-Holland Univer UNIVERSITY HISTORY IN THE LOW COUNTRIES 83

nationes - orice), friends, the prevailing sent out toformal learn regimethe skills of of confessional international tolerance trade. Moreover, allowed inmany the GermanDutch students in of law, university arts, or townsmedicine like to Orleans practice (France) a universal and Paduatolerance (Ven of learning that would soon be the academic ideal of the ‘Republic of Letters’ and the international showpiece of learning in their new Republic. Reformed theological seminaries were incorporated into the universities. As the toleration towards Protestant religious minorities grew, autonomous seminaries could be established in Amsterdam for the Mennonites, the Remonstrants (Arminians, i.e. the more liberal branch of Calvinism), and the Lutherans. Besides, since the ruling political ideology proclaimed the sove- reignty of the city councils, in particular in matters of religion and culture, several cities or regional boards founded a so-called ‘illustrious school’, i.e. a semi-university with a changing, mostly limited, number of chairs or faculties, ensuring university-level teaching but destitute of graduation rights for which the students had to go to a full university or abroad. Such schools were successively founded at Middelburg, Deventer, Amsterdam (the forerunner of present-day Amsterdam University, chartered in 1877), Dordrecht, Rot- terdam, ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-Duc), Breda, Nijmegen, Maastricht and Zutphen. The institution of higher education founded in 1630 at Deventer, - sity but failed to obtain a provincial charter and remained therefore an ‘illus- and then briefly attended by René Descartes, had been set up as a full univer ‘illustrious schools’ but obtained later university status.Attempts to found a trious school’; the universities of Utrecht and Harderwijk had also started as were prevented by the pretention of Leiden University to enjoy a university monopolyuniversity forwith the private provinces funds of at Holland The Hague and Zeeland(1747) and– in atfact Zierikzee the most (1756) pros- perous provinces, totalizing about half the population of the Dutch Republic. much on the degree of religious toleration. Therefore, Dutch students initially The Grand Tour and the facility to take degrees abroad depended very- tion or even a Dutch association existed. In France this was the case, until the Revocationwent to the ofFrench the Edict and ofsome Nantes Italian at Orleansuniversities (law where only), oftenMontpellier a German (medi na- cine), Paris (arts), Bourges, Poitiers Angers, Caen and later on also in Reims,

Europe within reach: Netherlandish travellers on the Grand Tour and beyond (1585-1750) (Leiden: Brill, 2015), and more generally the articles by Hildesity Press, de Ridder-Symoens, 1994), 229-258; ‘Mobility’, Gerrit Verhoeven, in eadem, A History of the University in Europe, I, 280-304, and II, 416-448.

CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 84 WILLEM FRIJHOFF

Italy mainly at Padua in the state of Venice (where Protestant students enjo- yedand aOrange free status), (then aBologna possession and ofSiena. the Dutch Some stadtholderCatholic Dutch family students of Nassau); went toin

nearly Louvain and Cologne, or Dole in Burgundy under Spanish regime, and Pont-à-MoussonRome for taking ain degree Lorraine. in theology, Protestants but wentmost toof themHerborn continued (a Reformed to attend semi-university in Nassau territory), Basel, Heidelberg and Marburg, and later th century onwards, more and more students remained at their home university. The University of Duis- burgon to planned Göttingen. in the However, 1560s butfrom realized the later only 17 in 1654 in the tolerant duchy of Cleves, near the border of the Dutch Republic, was an exception, attracting growing numbers of students, Protestants as well as Catholics20. In the 18th century, the confessional character of all the universities was waning: the inter-confessional tensions in Dutch society were replaced by growing ideological differences within the churches (such as Jansenism in the Catholic Church), the secular character of non-religious culture increased. In the era of the Revolutions, everything changed. During the second half of the 18th century, a crisis slowly installed itself in the whole Nether- landic university system. In many European countries, absolutist govern-

happened in the Southern Netherlands, under the Austrian Emperor Jo- ments took drastic measures to amend the university system. The same cut and reorganization, the so-called Plan de ménage (1774). In France, the sephrevolutionary II. In the regime Dutch Republic,suppressed Franeker in 1793 barelyall the surviveduniversities a severe and replaced budget them by a more rational system of disciplinary schools for applied science

- and research institutes. When the French Revolutionaries took over the attemptsgovernment to reform,in the Low all Countries,Dutch universities similar actions and illustrious were taken: schools The Univerexperi- encedsity of theLouvain same wasfate insuppressed 1811. in 1797; after much dispute and several In 1815, King William Ist of Orange-Nassau, the new monarch of the greater Netherlands, founded or restored state universities in Leiden,

- tionsUtrecht, without and Groningen graduation in rights the North, (Athenaea and in) were1816-1817 established he did at the Amster same- at Louvain, Ghent, and Liège in the South. Besides, minor teaching institu

dam, Franeker, Harderwijk and Deventer, the latter more or less short-lived. 20 Zur Geschichte der Universität Duisburg 1655-1818 [Duisburger Forschungen 53] (Duisburg: Mercator Verlag, 2007). Dieter Geuenich & Irmgard Hantsche (eds.), CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 UNIVERSITY HISTORY IN THE LOW COUNTRIES 85

In 1876 the university system was thoroughly reformed in the Northern Netherlands in the spirit of Humboldt’s university model21. The reform was

22. In 1890-91 the adoption of organic laws brought a pushedsolution byto the a new long-lasting impetus debates for the scienceson the universities as the backbone in Belgium of the23. During Dutch the‘Second past Goldentwo centuries, Age’ many other institutions of higher education have been added: general universities and university colleges as well as technical universities or commercial schools. Roughly, this 19th-century system has continued until far into the 20th century. After World War II, an increasing tendency to Americanization of the Dutch University system is notable, es- pecially in recent years24. This includes the creation of Anglo-Saxon style, high level University Colleges at Middelburg, Utrecht, Amsterdam, and else-

- where. Before the present diversification of the supply of higher education, Tilburgthe Netherlands and Maastricht, counted technical thirteen universitiesfull-fledged atuniversities: Delft, Enschedé general and univer Eind- hoven,sities at a Leiden, university Amsterdam of agriculture (2), Utrecht, and life Groningen, sciences at Nijmegen, Wageningen, Rotterdam, and an Open University. Belgium counted similar institutions in Leuven/Louvain- - la-Neuve (2), and its extension at Courtrai, Brussels (2), Ghent, Liège, Ant religiouswerp, Mons, teaching Namur, institutions. Diepenbeek-Hasselt, and an agricultural university at Gembloux, not to mention the autonomous theological faculties and other

21 Het wetenschappelijk onderwijs in Nederland van 1815 tot 1980. Een onderwij- skundig overzicht - der, Universiteit M. Groen, tussen vorming en opleiding: de modernisering van de Nederlandse universiteiten in de negentiende ,eeuw 9 vol. (Eindhoven: Technische Universiteit, 1983-1987); Joseph C.M.Veranderin Wachel- gen in het hoger onderwijs in Nederland tussen 1815 en 1940 (Hilversum: Verloren, 1997). 22 (Hilversum: Verloren, 1992); Goffe Jensma & Harry de Vries,

Social See Studies in particular of Science the publications by Bastiaan Willink, “Origins of the Second Golden Age- of Dutch Science after 1860: Intended and Unintended Consequences of Educational Reform”,- Berichte, 21 zur(1991): Wissenschaftsgeschichte 503-526; ‘On the Structure of a ScientificDe GoldenTweede Age. Gouden So cialEeuw: Change, Nederland University en de NobelprijzenInvestments voorand natuurwetenschappenGermany’s Discontinuous 1870-1940 Rise to (Amsterdam:19th-Century Pro Sci- entific Hegemony’, , 19 (1996)The : Making35-49; of a Science Policy. A Historical Study of the Institutional and Conceptual Background to Dutch Science Policy in a West-Europeanmetheus, 1998). Perspective Also the older (PhD study Diss., by Vrije Frits Universiteit Henry Brookman, Amsterdam, 1979). 23 Pieter Dhondt, Un double compromis. Enjeux et débats relatifs à l’enseignement universitaire en Belgique au XIXe siècle 24 J.C.C. Rupp, Van oude en nieuwe universiteiten. De verdringing van Duitse door Ameri- kaanse invloeden op de wetenschapsbeoefening(Ghent : Academia en het Press, hoger 2006). onderwijs in Nederland, 1945‐1995 (The Hague: Sdu, 1997).

CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 86 WILLEM FRIJHOFF

Institutionalization of the history of universities in the Low Countries

In the Low Countries, in the Netherlands as well as in Belgium, the 1980s may be considered as a turning-point in the historiography of the universities. In - tries, counting several thousands of pages, only short articles were devoted to1980, the inhistory volume of the7 of universities: the new 15-volume 13 pages General (but only History 7 pages of theof text) Low for Coun the early modern universities in the North, 5 pages (but only 3 pages of text) for the university of Louvain in the South, the university of Douai, now in France, being altogether neglected25. These scanty pages were followed by 75 pages on the history of the sciences in the Low Countries – a history of performances,

publications and heroes of science and scholarship, from Gerardus Mercator- lumesand Gemma on the Frisius, modern to andSimon contemporary Stevin and Hugo history, Grotius, the universities Christian Huygens of the Low and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Herman Boerhaave and Petrus Camper. In the vo in some isolated paragraphs, without any general presentation. The dispro- portionCountries between were only the briefly social tackledand cultural in the historychapters of on the the universities history of education,in society on the one hand, and their intellectual performances on the other, is typical for the state of university history in that period: the intellectual approach and -

the scientific performances of scholars really were what mattered to the his- cialestorians (EHESS), and other Roger scholars Chartier of the and humanities. Jacques Revel, It is on reflected the history in the of universities:well-known ‘Traditionally,quotation of two the scholars history of of the the Paris European École des universities Hautes Études has massively en Sciences been So written as one of the Middle Ages, of institutions, and of scholars’26. This severe judgment applies, mutatis mutandis, also to the late medieval and early modern Low Countries, in spite of their much shorter medieval university trajectory. It holds the more for these regions, as its two major universities throughout history, Louvain and Leiden, have been and still are internationally recognized centers of learning, science and scholarship. Quite evidently this discrepancy

mutatis mutandis, with the predomi- nanthas therefore place of Louvainalso something in the cultural to do with life ofthe the glorious Southern myth Netherlands. of the Dutch Golden Age and its scientific achievements, and, 25 V.B. Voss, ‘De universiteiten in het Noorden’, in: Algemene Geschiedenis der Nederlanden,

ibid., 301-305. VII (Haarlem:26 Fibula-Van Dishoeck, 1980), 288-300; Jan Roegiers, ‘De universiteit van Leuven’,- Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine 15 (1978): 353-374. R. Chartier & J. Revel, ‘Université et société dans l’Europe moderne: position des pro blèmes’, CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 UNIVERSITY HISTORY IN THE LOW COUNTRIES 87

Yet, a new wind was already blowing. In the late 1960s and the 70s, some Anglo-Saxon historians had actively advocated a fundamental shift in the focus of university history. In the footsteps of Lawrence Stone, the godfather of the new prosopography, Richard Kagan, Fritz Ringer, Jürgen Herbst, and their colleagues, whose seminal studies remain important examples, French historians in the 1970s also started a radical innovation of what they considered the fossilized research paradigm of university history. In their opinion, historians of the university had primarily to focus on more recent periods, on the functions of higher education, on the role of the university in society, and including on the students themselves who were often, and still are many times, the neglected raison d’être of all forms of education. They found a new cultural reproduction by the system of higher education added just the social, inspiration in the cultural sociology of Pierre Bourdieu, whose work on the university history. Quite rightly, the author of the 1980 article on the Dutch political and intellectually challenging dimension that lacked in traditional call for a broad revision of university history seen from the perspective of the universities asked therefore for a new approach; he finished his paper by a with sociological models and methods, has been enriched by an anthropolo- gicalnew socialtwist thathistory. has Sinceredirected then the socialresearch history towards of the a cultural universities, history working of the university, focusing on patterns of sociability, symbolic forms of speech and behavior, emblematic rituals, cultural practices and transfers (a theme aptly put on the agenda by Michael Werner), professionalization, memorial culture, biography and prosopography, self-image, and identity formation by groups and institutions. This whole new bundle of questions, characteristic for the new humanities with their sociological, anthropological and cultural orien- tation, has become the dominant image of the new style university history. Much more than before, it turns towards the contemporary period, although established sociological methods, let alone by prosopography. For the Low Countries,the expanding many student of those numbers themes make covering it ever the more history difficult of the to Dutch master universi by the- ties after the 1876 reform can be retrieved in the annual volumes of papers in the collection Universiteit en samenleving (University and Society) published since 2006 by the university historians L.J. (Leen) Dorsman (Utrecht) and P.J. (Péjé) Knegtmans (University of Amsterdam). published his Annales-inspired PhD (Tilburg University) on the social history of the earlyIn 1981, modern the author Dutch of university this article, system, then still largely working based at on the the EHESS quantitative in Paris, processing of the graduation registers of all early modern Dutch universities,

CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 88 WILLEM FRIJHOFF

enriched with the in-depth study of a single city, but with a focus on the social roles and meanings of higher education, not on science or scholarship itself27. Elaborating on the research methods exposed in the Cahier des Annales that I published six years earlier in collaboration with Dominique Julia on the so-

soon has set a standard for a renewal of the research habitus and practices in universitycial dimension history of the in therecruitment Netherlands, of some and Frenchthe introduction grammar schools,of a social this history work perspective28. The reconstruction of individual curricula and family clusters, genealogy and prosopography, statistical elaborations, graphic presentation, and interpretations in the spirit of the new histoire sérielle (Pierre Chaunu) were the features of this upcoming sociocultural approach. However, the quantitative data still had to be processed manually, or with the simple ma- - tural history in those starting years, and the universities themselves, which wouldchines haveof the been time. able Digital to facilitate equipment this, was were not – andreally quite available often stillfor workare – barelyin cul interested in non-celebratory history. But ever since some important studies have innovated our vision of single Dutch universities, in particular Leiden29, Utrecht30 31 32, and even of the whole provinces of

, Franeker , and Groningen 27 Willem Frijhoff, La Société néerlandaise et ses gradués, 1575-1814. Une recherche sérielle sur le statut des intellectuels à partir des registres universitaires APA-Holland University Press, 1981). 28 (Amsterdam & Maarssen:

p., ill. [CahiersWillem Frijhoffdes Annales, & Dominique 35]. Julia, École et société dans la France d’Ancien Régime. Quatre29 Martine exemples: Zoeteman-van Auch, Avallon, Pelt, Condom De studentenpopulatie et Gisors (Paris: van Librairie de Leidse Armand universiteit Colin, 1575-1812. 1975) 120 ‘Een volk op zijn Siams gekleet eenige mylen van Den Haag woonende’ (Leiden: Leiden Univer- sity Press, 2011). 30 Hervé Jamin, Kennis als opdracht: de Universiteit Utrecht 1636-2001 (Utrecht: Matrijs, De Utrechtse Universiteit 1636-1936, 2 Tussen ivoren toren en grootbedrijf: de2001); Utrechtsche in replacement Universiteit of the 1936-1986 older G.W. Kernkamp, et al., - basevol. (Utrecht: on the history Oosthoek, of Utrecht 1936), University and H.W. von is available der Dunk, at: et http://bibe.library.uu.nl. al., 31 Universiteit te(Maarssen: Franeker Gary1585-1811. Schwartz, Bijdragen 1986). totA bibliographical de geschiedenis data van de Friese Hogeschool Audito- rium AcademiaeG.Th. Jensma, Franekerensis et al., 32 Pieter A.J. Caljé, (Leeuwarden: Groningse Studenten Fryske Akademy,en hun Academie. 1985); F.De Postma inbedding & J. van van de Sluis, universiteit in de samenleving in de negentiende (Leeuwarden: eeuw ( Fryske Akademy, 1995).)., published as: Student, universiteit en samenleving. De Groningse universiteit in de negentiende eeuw (Hilversum: Ver- OnderwijsPhD en Diss onderzoek Groningen, aan 2006de academie van Groningen in de 17e en 18e eeuw Universiteit van het Noorden. loren,Vier eeuwen 2009); academisch A.H. Huussen leven Jr (red.),in Groningen. 1: De oude universiteit 1614-1876 (Hilversum, Ver- (Hilversum: Verloren, 2003); Kaas van Berkel,

loren, 2014). Early histories written CIAN,by authors 20/1 (2017), with 71-95. a literary DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 touch include: W.J.A. Jonckbloet, UNIVERSITY HISTORY IN THE LOW COUNTRIES 89

North Brabant33 and Friesland34. The long range of seminal studies of Hilde de Ridder-Symoens on students of the Southern Nethelands, performed in the same years, have had a similar innovating effect on the research agenda for Belgium. Due to her efforts for the collective Fasti project she has initiated, actors and suppositi of the former universities, covering the whole of Europe, andthe first using steps matriculation were made and towards graduation the constitution registers as of well a digital as disputations, database of ora the- tions, manuscripts of courses, and other written texts35. The Dutch research authority NWO refused to finance such a broad, long-term project, but in 1999 official support was obtained for some years in Flanders. In the digital era, the Leenresearch Dorsman, field of and student by other attendance institutions, and graduation adding their rolls expertise of the Netherlands to the now has been taken up by scholars of Utrecht University, underHeloïse, the guidance European of Workshop on Historical Academic Databases (http://heloise.hypotheses.org). Startedinternational in France working with groupseveral now members united ofunder the formerthe name research community Fasti, it may be considered as its direct offspring. history in the Low Countries, together with the simultaneous renewal of the interestThe in worksthe social cited dimension above inaugurated of the evolution the take-off of the ofsciences the new and university the professionalization of the scientists themselves, promoted by historians such as 36. In that starting period, the Annales

Bastiaan Willink and Klaas van Berkel Gedenkboek der Hoogeschool te Groningen Academia Groningana 1614-1914 33 Noordbrabantse (Groningen: studenten Wolters, 1550-1750 1864); Johan (Tilburg: Huizinga,,et Stichting al, (Groningen: Noordhoff, 1914). 34 H.Samme Bots, I.Zijlstra, Matthey Het & M. geleerde Meyer, Friesland - een mythe? Universiteit en maatschappij in ZuidelijkFriesland Historischen Stad en Contact,Lande ca. 1979). 1380-1650 35 Collection de cours manuscrits de l’Université de Louvain 1425-1797. Catalogue analytique (Leeuwarden: (Louvain-la-Neuve Fryske Akademy, : Academia-Bruylant, 1996). 2003). Françoise Hiraux & Françoise Minguet, alba studiososum and promotorum or on the registers of the student societies in the Netherlands (O. Schutte) or Let me just quote the names of some authors having worked on the

(Dole,elsewhere: Bourges, Hilde Angers, De Ridder-Symoens Caen), on the actaand ofC. theRidderikhoff academic courts(Orléans), (Marc J. denWingens), Tex (Padua), or on sti J.J.- Poelhekke (Padua), Herman de Vries van Heekelingen (Genève), and the author of this article 36 Land of Stevin and Huygens: A sketch pendsof science for andstudents technology (Guillaume in the Posthumus Dutch Republic Meyjes, during Conrad the GoldenGietman). century (Dordrecht: Reidel, For Bastiaan Willink, Insee het above. voetspoor Dirk vanJan Struik,Stevin - speer (ed.), Een universiteit herleeft. Wetenschapsbeoefening aan de Leidse universiteit vanaf 1981);de tweede K. vanhelft Berkel van de (ed.), negentiende eeuw (Meppel: Boom, 1984); Willem Otter

CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729(Leiden: Brill, 1984); . G.A. van Gemert, J. Schuller tot 90 WILLEM FRIJHOFF

school (in reality much more a movement than a school) and the research groups inspired by it in France and elsewhere enjoyed still an immense prestige among the historians of the Low Countries, in spite of the slow but inexorable decline of the French language as an international language of

andscholarship Peter Denley and its had replacement chosen the in same the Dutch-speaking way for a renewal areas of byuniversity English. hisBut- intory. the Supplementary meantime English support authors, came such from as the John Standing Fletcher, Conference Lawrence of Brockliss Rectors, Presidents and Vice-Chancellors of European Universities (CRE). The per- manent committee of the CRE endorsed in 1982 the plan of a new History of the European Universities, adding explicitly ‘within Society’, stressing therefore the social and cultural component of teaching, learning, science and

Historical Compendium of European Uni- versitiesscholarship. A working group was formed that under the authority of Walter Rüegg prepared first an expurgated (and their extension overseas) purified from the rampant university beingmythology prepared and publishedunder the directionin 1984 by of LuborHilde deJílek, Ridder-Symoens then four volumes37. Simulta with- neouslythematic the chapters historians on the concerned history foundedof the European 1982 the universities, annual review the History first two of Universities (Oxford University Press), and started, under the impulse of John Fletcher to set up with a range national correspondents an annual, cumulati- ve and exhaustive bibliography of university history that ever since has been incorporated into the annual review.

Associations and the new university history

Early in 1983, inspired by these international developments, five Dutch uni anversity internationally historians fromrenowned very differentand much boards honored took historian the initiative of law toon found a pres a- Dutch Working Group for University History: Robert Feenstra (1920-2013),

Om niet aan onwetendheid en barbarij te bezwijken. Groningse geleerden 1614-1989 EenPeursum-Meijer, brandpunt van & geleerdheidA.J. Vanderjagt in de (eds.), hoofdstad 37 A History of the University, (Hilversumin Europe & Amsterdam: Verloren, 1989); J.C.H. Blom et al., (Hilversum & Amsterdam: Verloren, 1992). was Hilde De Ridder-Symoens, later a president (4 vol.; of Cambridge the Commission University internationale Press, 1992-2011); d’histoire desthe twouniversités first volumes (associated have been with translated the Comité into international German, Spanish des sciences and Portuguese. historiques/Interna Their editor- tional Committee for Historical Sciences).

CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 UNIVERSITY HISTORY IN THE LOW COUNTRIES 91 tigious chair at Leiden University, part of whose research had focused on stu- professor of intellectual history at Nijmegen, editor of learned correspond- dent attendance at law faculties in the Netherlands and abroad; Hans Bots,- ences from the Dutch Golden Age and of a series of monographs and collect ed volumes on the history of scholarship in the arts humanities; Antonie M. Luyendijk-Elshout (1921-2012), also at Leiden, professor of the history Hague,of medicine, in particular in particular involved of medicalin the publication education ofand the international Libri Procuratorum relations; of Corry Ridderikhoff, editor of text editions at the Grotius Institute in The Rotterdam), as a representative of the new socio-cultural history of the uni- the German Student Nation at Orleans; and myself (then freshly appointed at andversity. none Significantly, of them was four the of author the five of hada monograph extensively on worked a particular on the university. theme of Fromstudent the migration, start, the newand weretrend accustomed was towards to the look social over dimension the national of universiborders,- ty history and a global approach of the whole country, or the entire system - swered to a broadly felt need for cooperation, because in a short time some 125of higher members education. applied The38. foundationHowever, it of long the remainedWorking Group a truly quite Dutch clearly society, an incidentally joined by Flemish members, such as Hilde De Ridder-Symoens

Belgium, specialized in the social and cultural history of the students of the early(Ghent), modern by far Southern the most Low important Countries university39, and Jan historian Roegiers of(1944-2013), those years the in indefatigable archivist, librarian and historian of Leuven University, a true board of LIAS: Journal of Early Modern Intellectual Culture and its Sources, in pivot of the new research field, and from 1993 to 2009 chair of the40 editorial. - whichself Batavia university Academica history. Since has takenthe ancient, a diversified humanist but notion important of ‘Batavia’ part covers In an unguarded moment, the Dutch Working Group decided to call it 38 For reviews with more details on the university historiography of the Low Countries, in: Nieuwsbrief Universiteitsgeschiedenis / Lettre d’information sur l’histoire des universités, 13: see Willem Frijhoff, “Vijfentwintig jaar Werkgroep Universiteitsgeschiedenis (1983-2007)”, in: Studium. Tijdschrift voor Wetenschaps- en Univeriteitsgeschiedenis / Revue d’Histoire des 2Sciences (2007 [publishedet des Universités 2008]):, 6:3-4 57-76; (2013): id., “Honderd 197-206. jaar universiteitsgeschiedenis in Nederland”, 39 Education and learning in the Netherlands, 1400–1600. Essays in honour of Hilde de Ridder-Symoens (Leiden: Brill, 2004). 40 Cf. Koen Goudriaan, Jaap van Moolenbroek, & Ad Tervoort (eds.),The Quintessence of Lives: Intellectual Biographies in the Low Countries, presented to Jan Roegiers, (Turnhout: Brepols, 2010), Cf. including P. Delsaerdt, Jeroen H. Nilis,Schwall, ‘Bibliography D. Vanysacker, of Jan & J.-P.Roegiers’, Delville xxi-xxxvii. (eds.)

CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 92 WILLEM FRIJHOFF

only the northern part of the northern Netherlands, this hindered the formation of a Low Countries-wide society, and the more so as French, the language

Frieslandof half of Belgium,(the northernmost was rapidly region disappearing of the northern from the Netherlands), field of scholarship who have as an international working language. Other critics came from the Frisians in Batavia, i.e. the Netherlands as such, and from the historians of the contem- poraryalways period,stuck to who the foundconcept this of humanistic the Frisian conceptnation as too historically narrow for distinct a university from history covering the whole age. Yet, the Latin name has been conserved. A third group of critics emphasized the neglect of the contemporary history of

social problems or politics, and research items bound to single institutions. the universities, scattered into a myriad of small themes, often liked to broad

Yet, the society has proven its utility for the constitution of a common working offield research on university added to history, the traditional it has published focus on theuntil history 1995 ofa smalluniversity Bulletin, scholar and- shiporganized and the some undisputed annual meetings heroes of and science, conferences. proved Nevertheless, too diverse to the permit new field the constitution in the long run of a healthy society of university history alone, the more as the universities themselves, and the National Organization for

Scientific Research (ZWO, later NWO) were not really ready to invest in what they considered at best as a marginal, unpromising research field, far from the- cuttinglied itself edge with of itsmodern Flemish science, and Walloon and at worst counterpart as an insignificant Studium Generale hobby., and in In 1993, ten years after its foundation, the Dutch Working Group al

mathematics2008 all the working and physics) groups of theconcerned historians were of scienceunited inand a newscholarship, alliance sincewith the association ‘Gewina’ (an abbreviation of the Dutch names for medicine, the three regions (the Northern Netherlands, Flanders and Wallonia) and long a well-established field of research. The cooperation of all scholars from been achieved by the foundation of the Belgian-Dutch Society for the History ofthe the two Sciences main researchand the Universities fields (university / Societé history Belgo-néerlandaise and history of pour science) l’histoire has des sciences et des universités The Bulletin of Dutch Batavia Academica, transformed 1995 into the Nieuws- brief Universiteitsgeschiedenis, bettercovering known the whole under territory the ancient of thename Low Gewina. Coun- tries, is published since 2008 under the name Studium (also on-line) encompassing also the history of science and scholarship. In fact, for the moment the history of science still clearly dominates the research landscape of the university history.

CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729 UNIVERSITY HISTORY IN THE LOW COUNTRIES 93

Things are slowly changing, however, since the 2000s: most Dutch universities have by now a ‘university historian’, employed at least part-time, and a committee charged with the publication of a history of this particular institution and with the surveillance of the agenda of festivities at the occasion of university or faculty centenaries. Important recent histories, funded by single universities, but much more and better than the memorial histories of former decades, are those of Willem Otterspeer on Leiden41, and Peter Jan Knegtmans on the University of Amsterdam42. But they include also the histories of the new universities, by Arie van Deursen on the Free University of Amsterdam43 (but his critical, indeed negative assessment of recent evolution of this confessional foundation towards a more secular institution failed

44, Jan Brabers and Otto Schreuder on the toCatholic please University the university of Nijmegen board that (now had Radboud commanded University) this work!),45 Pieter Caljé and Klaas van Berkel on Groningen , Matthijs Dicke,

41 Willem Otterspeer (ed.), Een universiteit herleeft. Wetenschapsbeoefening aan de Leidse universiteit vanaf de tweede helft van de negentiende eeuw De wiek- slag van hun geest. De Leidse universiteit in de negentiende eeuw (Leiden: Brill, 1984); . (Proefschrift Leiden 1992);- Groepsportret met Dame: I. Het bolwerk van de vrijheid. De Leidse universiteit, 1575-1672; ThisII. De general vesting history van de with macht, a strong 1673-1775; literary III. touch De werkenis complementary van de wetenschap to the collection 1776-1876 of learned (Am sterdam: Prometheus, 2000-2005); the fourth and last volume has been announcedLeiden University for 2017. in the Seventeenth Century: An Exchange of Learning (Leiden: Brill, 1975). essays42 Peter by Th.H. Jan Knegtmans, Lunsingh Scheurleer Geschiedenis & G.H.M. van de Posthumus Universiteit Meyjes van Amsterdam (eds.), / A History of the University of Amsterdam Geschiedenis van het Amsterdamse studen- tenleven / A History of Student Life in Amsterdam From Illustrious School to University of Amsterdam. (Amsterdam: An Illustrated AUP, 2016); History Professoren van de stad. Het Athenaeum Illustre en de Universiteit (Amsterdam: van Amsterdam, AUP, 1632-1960 2017); (Amsterdam: Athenaeum Illustre. Elf (Amsterdam: studies over AUP, de Amsterdamse 2007); Door- luchtige School 1632-1877 Humanism in an Age ofAUP, Science: 2007); The P.J. Amsterdam Knegtmans, Athenaeum et al., in the Golden Age (Amsterdam: AUP, 1997). Also: DirkGedenkboek van Miert, van het Athenaeum en de Universiteit van Amsterdam (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2009). These works43 A.Th. replace van the Deursen, earlier Eensynthesis hoeksteen by H. in Brugmans, het verzuild et bestel.al., De Vrije Universiteit 1880-2005 (Amsterdam: Stadsdrukkerij, 1932). 44 P.A.J. Caljé, Groningse studenten en hun academie. De inbedding van de universiteit in de (Amsterdam:samenleving Bert Bakker 2005). Universiteit van het Noorden: Vier eeuwen academisch leven in Groningen, deel 1: De oude universiteit 1614-1876 (Hilversum: (PhD. Diss., Maastricht,Academische 2006); Klaasillusies. van De Berkel, Groningse universiteit in een tijd van crisis, bezetting en herstel, 1930-1950 Verloren,45 2014); K.. van Berkel, Proeven van eigen cultuur. Vijfenzeventig jaar Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen, 1923-1998 (Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2005). Jan Brabers & Otto Schreuder, CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729, 2 vol. (Nijmegen: Valkhof Pers, 1998). 94 WILLEM FRIJHOFF

Paul van de Laar and Joop Visser on the Erasmus University at Rotterdam46, 47.

Sciences,and Annemieke closely Klijnrelated quite to thatrecently of the on Dutch the new universities university48. Inat MaastrichtBelgium, the Klaasstudies van on Berkel Louvain wrote University the history and the of theillustrated Royal Dutch memorial Academy volumes of Arts on thatand institution stand quite clearly out49. They include now those on the university’s extension at Courtrai (1965)50. But new histories exist also, such as the 51 and others on the different forms of higher education at Mons (Hainaut) in history of Ghent University , not to forget the work of Marie-Thérèse Isaac - sitythe pasthistory centuries. of the other The University parts of the of LowLiège, Countries though founded52. in 1817 together with thatIn all, of theGhent, research remains on auniversity different historystory, largely in the unrelatedLow Countries to the has univer now reached an international level, although it remains largely enclosed in single institutions. The initiative of drafting a general history of higher and university education in the Netherlands, promoted in the years 2001-2003 by the Batavia Academica and meant to address the general, culti- vated, but non-specialist public has come to nothing. Although the Northern Netherlandsworking group are now a unitary nation-state, they still suffer from the con-

on the national evolution often are overloaded, if not overruled by ‘Hollan- federal reflex inherited from the time of the Dutch Republic. Global images

46 Ambitie en identiteit. Van Nederlandsche Handels-Hoogeschool tot Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, 1913-2013 drijf, 2013).Matthijs Dicke, Paul van de Laar & Joop Visser, 47 The Maastricht Experiment (Nijmegen: Vantilt, (Rotterdam: 2017). Stad & Be- 48 De stem van de wetenschap. Geschiedenis van de Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie Annemieke van Wetenschappen Klijn, 49 K. van Berkel, Leuven University, 1425-1985 ( Louvain, Univer- sity Press, 1990). , 2 vol. (Amsterdam: Bert Bakker 2008-2011). 50 Emiel Lamberts & Jan RoegiersDe stad (eds.), op de berg. Een geschiedesis van de Leuvense universiteit 1968-2005 The City on the Jo Hill, Tollebeek A History & Liesbetof Leuven Nys, University 1968-2005 Toga’s voor ‘t Hoge. Geschiedenis (Louvain: van Leuven de Leuvense University universiteit Pres, 2008); in Kortrijk also (Louvain:in English Leuven version: University Press, 2015). For the Francophone university of Louvain, (ib., 2008); the collection Saartje vanden Publications Borre, des ar- chives de l’Université catholique de Louvain (published by Academia-Bruylant) counts already more than 30 titles. 51 175 jaar Universiteit Gent Uit de ivoren toren: 200 jaar Universi- teit Gent [Elienne / From Langendries the Ivory Tower. & Anne-Marie Ghwent Unibersity Simon-Van since der 1817 Meersch], (Ghent:52 Stichting Mens & Cultuur, 1992); Gita Deneckere, Université de Liège (1817-2017): Mé- moire et prospective (Ghent : Academia Press, 2017). Philppe Raxhon, en collab. avec Veronica Granata, (Liège : PressesCIAN, universitaires 20/1 (2017), 71-95.de Liège, DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.37292017). UNIVERSITY HISTORY IN THE LOW COUNTRIES 95 docentrism’ (i.e., an excessive accent on what happened in the core province of Holland and its universities at Leiden and Amsterdam, in reality only two

Age’), or they present a narrative too general to satisfy a social historian. Besides,of twelve regional, provinces, provincial though inor many local approachesaspects leading still everlargely since determine the ‘Golden the research agenda. A similar problem plays in Belgium, where university history largely follows the prevalent linguistic divide. In fact, Flanders-Brabant linguistic evolution of Brussels. Therefore, a general history of the universi- tiesand inWallonia the Low (Liege-Hainault) Countries, encompassing are quite separate the whole entities, historical not territoryto speak of the Benelux (i.e. including the University of Douai and the regions incorporated into France in the 17th century) still is an urgent desideratum.

CIAN, 20/1 (2017), 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2017.3729