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University of Franeker

The University of Franeker (1585–1811) was a university in Franeker, Friesland, the Netherlands. It was the second oldest university of the Netherlands, founded shortly after Leiden University.

History[edit]

Also known as Academia Franekerensis or the University of Friesland, it consisted of departments of Theology, Law, Medicine, Philosophy, Mathematics and Physics. Among its well-known students was Peter Stuyvesant, last director-general of the Dutch colony of New Netherland.


Initially the university had an excellent reputation, attracting students from far and wide, but from 1700 its fortune changed. The university was disbanded by Napoleon in 1811, along with the Universities of Harderwijk and Utrecht. After the end of the French régime, the university was not restored. Instead, an Athenaeum illustre was founded, which did not have the right to issue doctoral degrees. In 1843, the Athenaeum itself was disbanded because of a lack of students.


Today, Franeker has no institute of higher education, although postgraduate students from the University of Groningen are permitted to defend their thesis in the Franeker Martinikerk, provided they are Frisian or their thesis subject has a connection to Friesland.[1]

(1713-1787), professor of philosophy (1747-1749) then professor of mathematics and philosophy, University of Leiden

Jean-Nicolas-Sébastien Allamand

historian and diplomat

Lieuwe van Aitzema

theologian

William Ames

theologian

Willem Baudartius

theologian

Balthasar Bekker

delegate of the Frisian States

Court Lambertus van Beyma

anatomist and personal physician of William III of Orange-Nassau, Dutch stadholder and king of England

Govert Bidloo

jurist and legal theorist, president of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands

Cornelius van Bynkershoek

Dutch physician and entomologist

Steven Blankaart

professor for theology, president of the Synod of Dort

Johannes Bogerman

professor of physics and mathematics 1785

Sebald Justinus Brugmans

professor of philosophy, anatomy and surgery in 1750

Petrus Camper

professor for Hebrew and theology, 1643

Johannes Cocceius

(1596-1650), student (1629-1630)[2]

René Descartes

professor of Oriental languages at Oxford in 1575 and in Franeker in 1585

Johannes van den Driesche

(1632), first professor of Harvard College in 1638 [3]

Nathaniel Eaton

Dutch statesman and diplomat

Sicco van Goslinga

poet and politician

Willem van Haren

writer and politician

Onno Zwier van Haren

student and later professor in Leiden

Daniel Heinsius

professor of Greek and history, 1720–1740

Tiberius Hemsterhuis

professor of law and a political philosopher

Ulrik Huber

professor of Latin language and history, poet and politician

Theodorus van Kooten

professor for mathematics and philosophy, 1744–1749

Johann Samuel König

physician and medical bibliographer, 1639-1651

Joannes Antonides van der Linden

professor of theology 1585-1625

Sibrandus Lubbertus

professor of theology in 1615, brother in law of Saskia van Uylenburgh

Johannes Maccovius

professor of theology 1585-1614

Henricus Antonides Nerdenus

mathematician and astronomer, professor extraordinarius in 1598

Adriaan Metius

(1769–1810) student and later professor at the University of Groningen

Johannes Mulder

poet

Mattheus Brouërius van Nidek

professor eloquence and history 1682-1693

Jacob Perizonius

physician

Murk van Phelsum

professor of theology

Herman Alexander Röell

(1612-1672), governor of New Amsterdam

Petrus Stuyvesant

professor of physics and philosophy in 1766

Jean Henri van Swinden

professor of law 1741

Christiaan Hendrik Trotz

lawyer, patriot and diplomat

Johan Valckenaer

professor of Greek 1741-1765

Lodewijk Caspar Valckenaer

professor of law 1797-1802

Johannes Henricus Voorda

(1711-1751), stadtholder of the Netherlands

William IV, Prince of Orange

(1724-1828) amateur astronomer who built the Eise Eisinga Planetarium in his house in Franeker, later became professor of astronomy

Eise Eisinga

List of early modern universities in Europe

by Peter van Rooden (in Dutch)

NRC newspaper article on the University of Franeker

maintained by the Euler-Franeker Memorial University.

History of the University of Franker

National Library of the Netherlands.

Alumni of the University of Franeker1586-1636.