University of Franeker

Engraving De Academia van Vrieslant from Winsemius, Chronique van Frieslant , Frjentsjer 1622

The University of Franeker ( Dutch Universiteit van Franeker , Latin Academia Franekerensis ) was a Dutch university in Franeker ( West Frisian Frjentsjer ) in the province of Friesland , which existed from 1585 to 1811. It was the second oldest university in the Netherlands after the University of Leiden .

history

The University of Franeker was founded on July 15, 1585 by the Frisian provincial government, the provincial states, to train Reformed preachers and officials for the new state. Franeker was chosen because there were former monastery buildings available there and the city was safer than the Frisian capital Leeuwarden during the war against Spain .

The university was financed from confiscated church property and was supervised by four curators who were appointed by the provincial states. The Reformed Church had no direct influence.

The university flourished during the Golden Age in the seventeenth century. It was attended by numerous foreign students, who at times made up half of the students. They came mainly from reformed areas in Germany and Hungary. In the eighteenth century the importance of the university decreased and it was only of regional importance. After the French Empire annexed the Kingdom of Holland in 1810 , only three universities remained: Leiden, Utrecht and Groningen . The University of Franeker was closed the following year.

From 1813 to 1843 it still existed as the Athenaeum (academy without university status).

In Germany there was a comparable Calvinist educational institution with the High School Herborn , with which there was also lively contact.

Well-known professors and students

• Foppe van Aitzema (1580–1637), student, later became a lawyer and diplomat
• Balthasar Bekker (1634–1698), student, later became a theologian
• Pieter Burman the Younger (1713–1778), worked as a professor of oratory and history
• Johannes Coccejus (1603–1669), worked as professor for Hebrew language, from 1643 for theology
• René Descartes (1596–1650), student in 1629
• Paul Glandorp (1626–1696), medic, student from 1647 to 1650
• Nicolaus Gürtler (1654–1711), professor of theology
• Willem van Haren (1710–1768), writer and politician
• Onno Zwier van Haren (1713–1779), politician and poet
• Johann Gottlieb Heineccius (1681–1741), Professor of Law
• Daniel Heinsius (1580–1655), humanist
• Tiberius Hemsterhuis (1685–1766), professor of Greek and philosopher
• Johann Holwarda (1618–1651), astronomer and doctor, worked as a professor of philosophy
• Ulrich Huber (1636–1694), student, later worked as a professor of eloquence and history
• Albertus Arnoldus van Hutten (1587 / 88–1663), preacher and scholar
• Marcus Lycklama à Nijeholt (1573–1625), student, professor of law, rector and curator of the university, diplomat
• Johann Samuel König (1712–1757), mathematician, worked as a professor of philosophy
• Martin Lydius (1539 / 1540–1601), reformed theologian, professor primarus of theology and rector of the university
• Balthasar Lydius (1576–1629), student from 1569 to 1599, Reformed theologian and clergyman
• Johannes Maccovius (1588–1644), worked as a professor of theology from Poland
• Henricus Antonides Nerdenus , professor of theology 1585–1614
• Murk van Phelsum (1730–1779), doctor and pharmacologist
• Anna Maria von Schürmann (1607–1678), born in Cologne, in 1639 one of the first female students in Europe
• Garlieb Sillem (1676–1732), licentiate in law and mayor of Hamburg
• Petrus Stuyvesant (1612–1672), governor of New Amsterdam

literature

• Jacob van Sluis: University of Franeker. In: Wiep van Bunge (Ed.): The dictionary of seventeenth and eighteenth-century Dutch philosophers. Vol. 1: A-J, Thoemmes Press, Bristol 2003, pp. 314-317.
• Willem Roelf Henderikus Koops: Academic onderwijs in Franeker en Groningen, 1585–1843, ijver en wedijver. University Museum, Groningen 1985.
• G. Th. Jensma and FRH Smit (eds.): Universiteit te Franeker, 1585–1811. Bijdraagen tot de divorced van de Friese Hogeschool. Fryske Akademy, Leeuwarden 1985, ISBN 90-6171-648-9 .
• Johannes van den Berg: Theologiebeoefening te Franeker en te Leiden in de achttiende eeuw. In: It Beaken. Meidielingen fan de Fryske Akademy , ISSN  0005-738X Vol. 47 (1985), No. 4, pp. 181-194.

Web links

• Review of G. Th. Jensmas Universiteit te Franeker by Peter van Rooden ( Memento from September 18, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) (Dutch)
• Digital historical library Friesland . There also literature on the history of the university.