Voices from the Past: Lecture Notes from the University of Leiden, 1575-1815

An Smets Elsevier Heritage Collection Fellowship LecturesAmsterdam, December 11th 2012

1) Historical context2) Leiden lecture notes 1575 – 18153) Comparison with Louvain lecture notes 1425 – 1797

Historical Context : University of Leiden

- 03.10.1574: relief of the City of Leiden- 08.02.1575: official foundation University of Leiden- 1577: first students lists- 1811-1815: rector Brugmans under French

gouvernance- 02.08.1815: Rijksuniversiteit + first law on higher

education in the Netherlands- 2011/2012: 19328 students, 7 faculties

Historical Context : students 16th – 18th c.

- boys from rich families- minimum age (1631-): 12 years- maximum age (1581-): 30 years- 2-3% inhabitants city of Leiden- 1575-1600: ca. 55 students / year 1626-1650: ca. 120 students / year 1675-1800: less than 100 students / year

Historical Context : Academic Teaching in Leiden

faculty of Artes

faculty of Law faculty of Medecinefaculty of Theology

before 1815

after1815faculty of Arts

faculty of Lawfaculty of Theology

faculty of mathematics and physics

faculty of Medecine

Historical Context : Faculty of Artes 1575-1815

combination of medieval artes liberales + humanism

teaching language: Latin

manuscripts and books

Titus Livius ed. I. GronoviusEHC 12.1678.Liv02

Historical Context : Faculty of Artes 1575-1815

subject matters:

- language: rhetorics, dialecticsLatin, Greek and Oriental languages (1613-)- philosophy: ethics, logic, metaphysics- sciences: mathematics (including astronomy) and physics- additional classes: history, economics,…

Historical Context :Lecture notes

written by- students during class (“dictation”)- students reworking their notes taken during class- “uitschrijvers van academielessen”

taken during private and public classes

BPL 467, f. 1 BPL 3539, covers v. 4 and 5

Leiden lecture notes 1575 – 1815

website UL Leiden: more 850 lecture notes (from different universities)http://www.bibliotheek.leidenuniv.nl/bijzondere-collecties/handschriftenarchievenbrieven/deelcollecties-whs-modern.html#collegedictaten

of those: probably 172 lecture notes faculty of Artes, Leiden, 1575-1815

of those: 123 texts examined on the manuscript+ 40 texts not belonging to the final list

Leiden lecture notes 1575 – 1815

probably 172 lecture notes faculty of Artes, Leiden, 1575-1815

- lecture notes or other surveys of knowledge?- (grammatical) explanations on biblical texts artes or theology?- professors teaching at different universities were the lecture notes taken at Leiden university?- no names of students or of professorswere the lecture notes taken at Leiden university?…

Leiden lecture notes 1575 – 1815

division by century

16th c.: 2 texts (bound together)17th c.: 24 texts18th c.: 70 texts19th c.: 71 textsunknown: 5 texts

BPL 2783, f. 1

Leiden lecture notes 1575 – 1815

division by subject

language: 100 textshistory: 60 texts economy / politics: 8 textsphilosophy: 6 textssciences: 4 texts

Leiden lecture notes 1575 – 1815

language: 100 texts Latin (73), Greek (16), Latin + Greek (2), Arab (5), Dutch

(4)

history: 60 texts the Netherlands (16), Greek Ant. (13), Roman Ant. (13)

economy / politics: 8 texts

philosophy: 6 textsmetaphysics (4), logic (1), history of philosophy (1)

sciences: 4 texts physics and cosmology

Leiden lecture notes 1575 – 1815

division by language

Latin: 83 textsLatin + Greek: 46 texts Latin (+ Greek) + vernacular: 27 textsLatin + Greek + Hebrew: 5 textsLatin + Dutch (equiv.): 1 textDutch: 10 texts

BPL 1630, f. 18

Leiden lecture notes 1575 – 1815

number of lecture notes by professor 21 known professors, 164 texts

1 text: 4 professors (Boxhorn, Corvinus, Gronovius jr., Mure)2 texts: 3 professors (Lipsius, Pestel, Perizonius)3 texts: 2 professors (Speyert vander Eyk, Tollius)4 texts: 2 professors (Siegenbeek, Van der Palm)5 texts: 1 professor (Schultens)6 texts: 1 professor (Ruhnkenius)9 texts: 1 professor (Oudendorp)10 texts: 1 professor (Valckenaer)12 texts: 2 professors (Burman, Hemsterhuis)13 texts: 1 professor (Luzac)14 texts: 1 professor (Kluit)21 texts: 1 professor (Gronovius sr.)38 texts: 1 professor (Wyttenbach)

Leiden lecture notes 1575 – 1815

number of lecture notes by student 26 known students, 48 texts

1 text: 18 students2 texts: 3 students4 texts: 2 students5 texts: 2 students6 texts: 1 student

BPL 1333, v. 1, f. 1

Leiden lecture notes 1575 – 1815

special case: Duytsche Mathematique= engineering school1600 – 1681 and 1701 – 1815

caracteristics- classes in Dutch- practical classes, e.g. fortification

BPL 626, f. 2

Leiden lecture notes : Duytsche Mathematique

BPL 1351, f. 68v-69

BPL 1351, f. 153 BPL 1969, f. 68

Comparison with Louvain lecture notes 1425 – 1797

cf. Ex Cathedra-project (03-09.2012)http://expo.bib.kuleuven.be/

differences- subjects: logic, physics, metaphysics- language: only Latin- (almost) always title page with name student, name

professor(s) and date- much more illustrations

Comparison with Louvain lecture notes

emblemata

Literature

Maanen, J.A. van. Facets of seventeenth century mathematics in the Netherlands, Utrecht 1987.

Otterspeer, Willem. De wiekslag van hun geest. De Leidse universiteit in de negentiende eeuw. Den Haag 1992.

Otterspeer, Willem. Groepsportret met dame I. Het bolwerk van de vrijheid, de Leidse universiteit 1575-1672. Amsterdam 2000.

Sluijter, Ronald G.H. 2004. ‘Tot ciraet, vermeerderinge ende heerlyckmaeckinge der universiteyt’. Bestuur, instellingen, personeel en financiën van de Leidse universiteit, 1575-1812. Hilversum 2004.

Vanpaemel, Geert – Smeyers, Katharina – Smets, An – Van der Meijden, Diewer. Ex cathedra. Leuvense collegedictaten van de 16e tot de 18e eeuw. Leuven 2012.