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 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
Dutch statesman and diplomat
Sicco van Goslinga
poet and politician
Willem van Haren
writer and politician
Onno Zwier van Haren
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 1585-1614
Henricus Antonides Nerdenus
mathematician and astronomer, professor extraordinarius in 1598
Adriaan Metius
poet
Mattheus Brouërius van Nidek
professor eloquence and history 1682-1693
Jacob Perizonius
physician
Murk van Phelsum
professor of theology
Herman Alexander Röell
professor of physics and philosophy in 1766
Jean Henri van Swinden
professor of law 1741
Christiaan Hendrik Trotz
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.