University of Harderwijk

The University of Harderwijk (1648–1811), also named the Guelders Academy (Latin: Academia Gelro-Zutphanica), was located in the city of Harderwijk, in the Republic of the United Provinces (now: the Netherlands). It was founded by the province of Guelders (Gelre).

Harderwijk, tower: het Linnaeustorentje

History

The university of Harderwijk was founded during the Dutch Republic by the States of Gelre at the end of the Eighty Years' War, in 1648. The universities of Leiden (1575), Franeker (1585), Groningen (1614) and Utrecht (1636) had already been founded earlier. Harderwijk was the fifth Dutch university. It was always to be small, with never more than sixty new students, and a max of 150 each year.

In the 18th century, the university of Harderwijk attracted students with its low fees. Many students went to Harderwijk to graduate. In the time of Linnaeus, the 18th century Swedish biologist, a doctorate could not be obtained in Sweden, or in many other European countries. Often, graduates went to the Dutch Republic, where the universities had a good reputation. The wealthy usually travelled to Leiden; the less fortunate could go to Harderwijk, where the doctorate was less expensive, and could be attained much faster.

One of the professors of Harderwijk was David de Gorter, who was friends with Linnaeus. He was royal physician to Empress Elizabeth of Russia.

The university was closed in 1811 during the French occupation. Later, king William I tried to re-establish the university, without success.

Modern culture

In the 1990s, the university became more known to a new audience thanks to the fictional character Prof. Fetze Alsvanouds ("Als vanouds" loosely translated as "like the good old days"), who was played by Aart Staartjes and regularly appeared in the humorous Dutch children's television program Het Klokhuis. Alsvanouds posed as a professor at the University of Harderwijk, and declaimed sundry false and often ridiculous 'scientific' explanations for common things in everyday life for children.

Notable alumni

Some well-known graduates of the University of Harderwijk are

• Hungarian encyclopedist János Apáczai Csere (1651)
• artist Romeyn de Hooghe (1689)
• explorer Jacob Roggeveen (1690)
• physician and chemist Hieronymus David Gaubius
• physician Herman Boerhaave (1693)
• Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus (1735)
• Hungarian linguist János Uri (1749)
• explorer Robert Jacob Gordon (1759)
• statesman Herman Willem Daendels (1783)
• engineer and general Cornelis Krayenhoff (1784)
• poet A.C.W. Staring (1787)

See also

• List of early modern universities in Europe

Publications

• Het Gelders Athene. Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van de Gelderse Universiteit in Harderwijk (1648-1811). Hilversum, Verloren, 2000, ISBN 90-6550-092-8
• Een onderschatte universiteit. 350 jaar Gelderse Academie in Harderwijk. Red.: Liek Mulder en Willem Frijhoff. Harderwijk, Ver. Vrienden van het Veluws Museum, 1998, ISBN 90-803020-4-X

External links

• http://www.destentor.nl/regio/veluwewest/932420/Pedel-regeert-weer-op-universiteit.ece (in Dutch)