Last modified: 2003-12-27 by ivan sache
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by Ivan Sache
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The Catholic University of Leuven is one of the oldest European universities. It is the oldest Catholic university still in existence and the oldest university in the historical Low Countries.
Upon request of Duke of Brabant John V and the city of Leuven, Pope Martin V (1417-1431) signed on 9 December 1425 the bull enacting the foundation of the University of Leuven. The University was then composed of the three faculties of Law, Medecine and Arts. The first professors came from Paris, Cologne and Vienna. The faculty of theology was created in 1432.
The University of Leuven grew into one of the largest and most
renowned European universities, and attracted scholars and scientist
from all Europe.
In 1527, the Dutch humanist Erasmus (Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus,
c. 1469-1536) founded in Leuven the Collegium Trilingue, for
the study of Hebrew, Latin and Greek, the first of its kind.
Cardinal Adriaan Floriszoon (1459-1523), from Utrecht, young Charles
V's private tutor and later Pope as Adrian VI (1522-1523), taught
theology in Leuven.
Other famous professors at the University were the Flemish physician
Andreas Vesalius (Andries van Wesel, 1514/15-1564), a pioneer of
human body dissection and reformer of the Galenic medicine, who is
considered as the father of the modern anatomy; the Flemish
geographer Gerard Mercator (Gerhahrd Kremer, 1512-1594), inventor of
a map-projection system still in use; the Flemish humanist philosoph
Justus Lipsius (Joost Lips, 1547-1606), inspired by the ancient
Stoics; and the Dutch theologian Cornelius Jansenius (Cornelius
Jansen, 1585-1638), later bishop of Ieper
and author of the Augustinus (1640), condemned by Pope Urban
VIII (1642) and cause of a big religious turmoil in Franceinvolving
the abbeys of Port-Royal.
The University was closed during the French occupation (1797) and
reopened by the bishop of Leuven in 1834, after the independence of
Belgium (1830).
During the First World War, the Germans burned down the library of
the University and destroyed 300,000 books, causing a big
international disapprobation (aired for instance by Marcel Proust in
A la recherche du temps perdu, where it is, with of course the
Dreyfus affair, one of the few historical events mentioned in the
novel). The library was rebuilt with the help of American
philanthropists. The Germans burned again the library in 1940, and
only 15,000 of its 900,000 volumes were saved.
In 1968, following the linguistical crisis between Flemish and Walloons, the University was split into two sister universities. The Dutch-speaking Katholieke Universitet Leuven (KUL) remained on the historical campus in Leuven (now in Flemish Brabant, Flanders). The French-speaking Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) moved to a newly built campus in Louvain-la-Neuve (now in the municipality of Ottigines-Louvain-la-Neuve, Wallon Brabant, Wallonia). The faculty of Medicine was moved to Woluwe-Saint-Lambert / Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe (Region of Brussels-Capital).
The Dutch-speaking KLU caters 25,000 students from 102 nations. The French-speaking UCL caters 20,000 students from 120 nations. In 1974, Pr. Christian de Duve, from UCL, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his research on the components of the living cells.
Sources:
Ivan Sache, 29 September 2003
THe KLU and the UCL use the same flag, which is the historical flag of the University of Leuven. The flag is square, vertically divided light blue-white. The light blue refers to the Blessed Virgin, who is the patron of the University.
Ivan Sache, 29 September 2003
![[ULYC burgee]](../images/b/be~ulyc.gif)
by Ivan Sache
The University of Louvain Yacht Club (ULYC) was founded in 1964 in Leuven. The ULYC is now established in Louvain-la-Neuve, in the UCL.
The burgee of the ULYC is horizontally divided light blue-white with a dark blue triangle in the middle.
Source: ULYC website
Ivan Sache, 29 September 2003