2 Boarding School and University
11
1923) in 1910 and Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1853–1926) in 1913, all except
Johannes van der Waals, came from the HBS.
As a final step, but after Thorbecke’s death, higher education was also
reformed with the above-mentioned law of 1876, in which the number of
universities was increased to four and the curricula offered a wider range of
subjects and disciplines.
The Netherlands was divided geographically by religious conviction. At the
beginning of the nineteenth century, Catholics dominated in the south-eastern
half of the country, and in some areas in the present ‘Randstad’, the area of the
four major cities Amsterdam, Den Haag, Rotterdam and Utrecht [27]. The
border area between the predominantly reformed (the north-western part) and
the predominantly catholic part eventually became the Bible Belt or Refoband,
which was dominated by an strict and orthodox protestant population. It is
unclear, however, whether there is a causal connection and to what extent it
already existed in the middle of the nineteenth century. A place like Barneveld, which lies in the Refoband, was predominantly reformed or otherwise
protestant, but there was not (yet) a sharp separation between orthodox and
liberal. The current Refoband is characterized by a relatively large percentage
of orthodox, ‘bevindelijk’ 2 reformed protestants, but the Refoband itself could
probably not yet be recognized.
2.1 Barneveld
The city of Barneveld lies very close to the geometrical center if the Netherlands. By the middle of the nineteenth century, Barneveld had about three
thousand inhabitants. The village was then predominantly reformed protestant, but there was not (yet) a sharp separation between orthodox and liberals.
It was a center of egg production; around 1850, the ‘Barnevelder’ was bred
as a cross between laying hens and large Asiatic breeds, giving rise to birds
with an excellent production, laying of up to 180 eggs per year. Barneveld is
known from the history books as the place where Jan van Schaffelaar jumped
off the tower in 1482. This was during the ‘Hook and Cod Wars’, which
comprise a number of battles between 1350 and 1490 over who was entitled
to be the ‘Count of Holland’. These ‘Hoekse en Kabeljauwse Twisten’ were
fought between two fractions, one calling themselves the ‘Cods’, presumably a
re-appropriation related to the arms of Bavaria, that supported Margaret, wife
of the emperor of Bavaria, and the ‘Hooks’. The latter is probably related to the
2 Bevindelijk comes from ‘bevinden’, experience. The followers emphasize the importance of a personal
experience of salvation by Jesus Christ.
11
1923) in 1910 and Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1853–1926) in 1913, all except
Johannes van der Waals, came from the HBS.
As a final step, but after Thorbecke’s death, higher education was also
reformed with the above-mentioned law of 1876, in which the number of
universities was increased to four and the curricula offered a wider range of
subjects and disciplines.
The Netherlands was divided geographically by religious conviction. At the
beginning of the nineteenth century, Catholics dominated in the south-eastern
half of the country, and in some areas in the present ‘Randstad’, the area of the
four major cities Amsterdam, Den Haag, Rotterdam and Utrecht [27]. The
border area between the predominantly reformed (the north-western part) and
the predominantly catholic part eventually became the Bible Belt or Refoband,
which was dominated by an strict and orthodox protestant population. It is
unclear, however, whether there is a causal connection and to what extent it
already existed in the middle of the nineteenth century. A place like Barneveld, which lies in the Refoband, was predominantly reformed or otherwise
protestant, but there was not (yet) a sharp separation between orthodox and
liberal. The current Refoband is characterized by a relatively large percentage
of orthodox, ‘bevindelijk’ 2 reformed protestants, but the Refoband itself could
probably not yet be recognized.
2.1 Barneveld
The city of Barneveld lies very close to the geometrical center if the Netherlands. By the middle of the nineteenth century, Barneveld had about three
thousand inhabitants. The village was then predominantly reformed protestant, but there was not (yet) a sharp separation between orthodox and liberals.
It was a center of egg production; around 1850, the ‘Barnevelder’ was bred
as a cross between laying hens and large Asiatic breeds, giving rise to birds
with an excellent production, laying of up to 180 eggs per year. Barneveld is
known from the history books as the place where Jan van Schaffelaar jumped
off the tower in 1482. This was during the ‘Hook and Cod Wars’, which
comprise a number of battles between 1350 and 1490 over who was entitled
to be the ‘Count of Holland’. These ‘Hoekse en Kabeljauwse Twisten’ were
fought between two fractions, one calling themselves the ‘Cods’, presumably a
re-appropriation related to the arms of Bavaria, that supported Margaret, wife
of the emperor of Bavaria, and the ‘Hooks’. The latter is probably related to the
2 Bevindelijk comes from ‘bevinden’, experience. The followers emphasize the importance of a personal
experience of salvation by Jesus Christ.