English Students at Leiden University, 1575-1650

'Advancing your abilities in learning and bettering your understanding of the world and state affairs'

Daniela Prögler

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781409437123
• eBook ISBN: 9781317142928
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Early Modern History
• Index: History

The oldest and most renowned Dutch university, Leiden was an attractive proposition for travelling foreign students in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Alongside offering an excellent academic program and outstanding facilities, Leiden was also able to cater to the desires of noble students providing various extra-curricular activities. Leiden was the most popular continental university among English students, and this book investigates the 831 English students who studied there between 1575 and 1650. The preference of English students for Leiden was, on the one hand, related to close Anglo-Dutch relations of the period, and these are investigated with respect to politics, economy, religion, culture, as well as to the large 'stranger' communities residing in the respective countries. On the other hand, Leiden's attraction resulted from its academic achievements, which are traced back to the conditions in the United Provinces, the limited influence of the Calvinist Church, Leiden's professors, as well as the university's facilities. The core of this study is an exhaustive quantitative study of the composition of the Leiden student population in general, and that of its English segment in particular. Information is provided on the duration of the studies of English students at Leiden, their age, social background and fields of study. We learn about the careers of English students both prior to and after their time at Leiden, and of the motivation that led the English to choose Leiden over other continental universities. More than a study of one group of students at one university, this book is a valuable contribution to the history of early modern universities and will appeal to a wide international readership interested in cultural and intellectual history as well as in Anglo-Dutch relations.

Chapter 1
Universities

Universities developed as particular European institutions of higher education at the end of the twelfth century. They were generally founded or confirmed by the pope or, more rarely, the Emperor. Therefore, their members possessed universal privileges independent of the local or regional order and also obtained some form of self-government as a universitas, whence the name university. Furthermore, universities were entitled to confer degrees that were generally accepted all over Europe. In particular because of these degree privileges, universities soon eclipsed all other types of schools or academies in international prestige and attraction.¹

The subjects taught (always in Latin) were generally grouped into the four faculties of divinity, law, medicine, and the liberal arts, the latter comprising mainly propaedeutic subjects. The precise range of the liberal arts taught differed from region to region and also changed over the centuries. Thus, this faculty offered the possibility of adding further subjects when first humanism and later the natural sciences entered the stage.

Motivations for attending university have always covered money and ambition as well as the love of learning, the amor sciendi.² This fact means that universities, on the one hand, furthered learning, while, on the other hand, university education comprised both the teaching of a code of social, moral, as well as religious norms and/or the teaching of the qualifications needed by clergymen, physicians, and for posts at Court.³ The weighting of these different aspects of the purpose of a university changed with the Reformation, the coming of humanism, and the increased need for university-trained personnel for posts in administration and government. Consequently, student numbers grew, the educational possibilities broadened, new subjects were introduced, and degrees became more important.

Matriculation numbers at all northern-European universities increased strongly in the sixteenth century, reaching a climax in the first half of the seventeenth century, only to decrease continuously from then onwards – Germany counted the largest matriculation numbers around 1610, England in 1630–40, Poland around 1640, the United Provinces in 1640–50, and the southern Netherlands around 1660.⁴ Conclusions about student numbers, however, are difficult to draw because there were hardly any restrictions on access. Travellers, for example, often formed a substantial part of the student population. Furthermore, at some universities such as Leiden, even advanced pupils of the Latin schools were customarily matriculated.⁵ A good command of Latin could not always be taken for granted. In these cases, the universities took over the function of a Latin school, and their student numbers in the arts faculties were artificially high such as at Paris until the late sixteenth century.⁶

A number of newly founded institutions of higher education widened the educational possibilities. Often not acknowledged as universities but nevertheless frequently in competition with the old institutions, these gymnasia illustria and academies benefited from a more flexible organization, which enabled them to adjust more quickly to new demands. This development was also reflected in the emergence of special schools such as those for surgery in sixteenth-century Italy and later at The Hague (1637), and the engineering school at Leiden (1600), all of which focused on teaching certain practical skills to non-academics.⁷ Correspondingly, academies founded for the education of the nobility focused less on academic education and more on riding, fencing, dancing, and modern languages, that is, skills relevant to success in the political and social life of the time.⁸ Thus, sixteenth- and seventeenth-century universities experienced considerable competition from other institutions of higher education, which seemed to adjust themselves better to the needs of society.

By the mid seventeenth century, the majority of university students still left university without taking a degree because a testimonial confirming their studies was usually sufficient. However, for the liberal professions, that is, physicians and lawyers, a degree was the recognized entry qualification to their professional associations and thus generally needed.⁹ For a career as physician in London, for example, a degree less than a doctor of medicine was seldom sufficient because, officially, only doctors of medicine could become fellows of the College of Physicians.¹⁰ Also, a university degree became the norm for the English parish clergy, who increasingly had not only attended university but had also graduated B.A. or M.A.¹¹ Thus, graduation quotas varied widely but increased overall in the course of the seventeenth century. Degree percentages ranged from about a quarter to half of all students in England (1580–1649),¹² to a good quarter in the United Provinces (1650),¹³ to a quarter to one third in Castile (late sixteenth to mid seventeenth century),¹⁴ to one eighth at Wittenberg (1547–1602).¹⁵ Detailed comparisons are difficult because the types of degrees customarily taken in certain regions ranged from the doctorate in Germany and the Netherlands, to the B.A. in England, to the master of philosophy (magister philosophiae) in northern Europe.¹⁶ In general, the reasons for low graduation quotas were threefold: First, university degrees were expensive because the graduate had to provide a substantial graduation feast for the professors and had to offer presents to many office holders – at Padua, for example, graduation costs could amount to the equivalent of one year’s board and lodging.¹⁷ Second, a number of institutions such as the Dutch Reformed Church mistrusted the quality of university degrees and preferred to hold their own entry examinations.¹⁸ Third, noblemen traditionally saw no need for a university degree as their social status and their abilities were the overriding factor for their future careers. However, as the percentage of noblemen attending university increased in the course of the seventeenth century, degrees also became more popular with the nobility. Some universities quickly adjusted to this new demand and sold their degrees, in particular because this was their most valuable asset compared with the newly founded academies, which could not confer academic degrees.¹⁹

Reliable conclusions about the influence of attending university on the students’ later lives are also difficult to reach because a substantial percentage of students’ careers remains unknown. There are studies on students from Overijssel who studied at Leiden in 1617–59, from Leeuwarden who studied at Franeker in 1626–63, from Breslau who studied at Frankfurt/Oder in 1506–1648, on students who studied at Basel in 1601–03, at Geneva in 1559–1620, as well as a detailed study on Swedish students who studied on the continent in 1590–1699. For between ten and nearly sixty per cent of all students investigated, no further information about their later careers could be found. Of those students who studied in 1575–1650 and whose later careers are known, the two largest groups, with nearly forty per cent each, later worked for the Church or as teachers, or pursued an administrative or legal career. About ten per cent took up their places in the nobility, and about six per cent each entered the military or became physicians. Less than two per cent (re)turned to trade or agriculture.²⁰ Moreover, investigating the education of office holders provides evidence that attending university was certainly helpful for enhancing one’s career prospects. Across (northern) Europe, the percentage of members of parliament, town magistrates, or occupants of other administrative posts who had attended university increased sharply in the late sixteenth century and during the seventeenth century.²¹

By the end of the sixteenth century, there were 129 universities, and by 1650, this number had risen to 151. Furthermore, numerous other towns were home to institutions of higher education that competed with the universities proper. The large majority of these universities, around 1650 about eighty per cent, were on the Iberian peninsula, in the German Empire, in France, and in Italy. Other countries only possessed less than a handful of universities each.²²

Differences between universities were considerable. There were Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, or Calvinist universities, only admitting students of the corresponding faiths, and only a handful of universities can be termed tolerant, such as Leiden and Padua.²³ Few were very large with a thousand or more students, many had several hundred students in residence, but quite a number were small, accommodating only a few dozen students.²⁴ In addition, only a small number of universities were internationally renowned, such as the Italian universities (in particular Padua), Heidelberg, and Leiden; most institutions had merely a regional attraction.

The Spanish Empire possessed not only the highest number of universities but also the biggest ones. Matriculation numbers increased enormously during the last quarter of the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth century, bringing about total student numbers between one and seven thousand at Salamanca, Alcalá de Henares, and Valladolid, the three largest universities.²⁵ The m...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Colour Plates
• List of Tables
• List of Abbreviations
• Note on Dates and Names
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Universities
• 2 English students at home
• 3 English students abroad
• 4 England and the Netherlands
• 5 Fame and success of Leiden University
• 6 English students at Leiden
• Conclusions
• Appendix: English students at Leiden, 1575–1650
• Bibliography
• Index