16
2 Boarding School and University
year. He spent his time reading books from his father’s library, such as Goethe,
Rousseau and others. Throughout his life the play Nathan the Wise by Gotthold
Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), a plea for religious tolerance that was forbidden
by the church, remained one of his favorites. He also read the work of the
poet and Anabaptist Robert Hamerling (1830–1889) and of the leader of
the Munster Anabaptists, 4 Bernhard Knipperdolling (1495–1536). But he
also read textbooks, so that when he actually went to Utrecht a year later,
he had already mastered a large part of the material for first-year students.
He used the math book that his older brothers also had used, Cours d‘analyse
de l‘École Polytechnique by Charles-François Sturm (1803–1855). He actually
developed his own way of solving mathematical problems, which later caused
him problems with his mathematics professor in Utrecht, Grinwis, who insisted
on using the standard methods.
Kapteyn’s decision to distance himself from the faith and the church later
brought him into great conflict with his parents, especially his father, when
he decided not to marry in the church (I will go into more detail on this
in Sect. 4.4). His parents refused to give their permission, which raises the
question of how orthodox in their faith they actually were. It is unlikely that
they belonged to the most orthodox movement within the church. Kapteyn
Sr. is listed in Barneveld Archives as belonging to the Reformed Church. But
how orthodox a church this was at that time depended to a large extent on
the minister who preached there. The question of whether a church was just
reformed or orthodox will provide less of a definite answer than one would now
suspect. If father Kapteyn had been extremely orthodox, many parents would
not have sent their sons to his boarding school, because they would then not
have been educated there in the atmosphere of the State Church. Moreover,
an orthodox man would not easily include the books of liberal writers such
as Rousseau or Lessing in his library. Nevertheless, Kapteyn’s parents were
certainly very strict in their teaching and had great difficulty with the fact that
their son turned his back on the church.
2.2 Utrecht
The Netherlands was relatively late in setting up universities. The southern
Netherlands already had a university in Leuven in 1425, but in the northern
provinces that of Leiden was, as mentioned above, the first in 1575. Not long
afterwards more universities followed, Franeker in 1585, Groningen in 1614,
Utrecht in 1632 and Harderwijk in 1648. In Amsterdam there had been an
4 Anabaptists oppose the taking of oaths and ecclesiastical practices such as the baptism of children.
2 Boarding School and University
year. He spent his time reading books from his father’s library, such as Goethe,
Rousseau and others. Throughout his life the play Nathan the Wise by Gotthold
Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), a plea for religious tolerance that was forbidden
by the church, remained one of his favorites. He also read the work of the
poet and Anabaptist Robert Hamerling (1830–1889) and of the leader of
the Munster Anabaptists, 4 Bernhard Knipperdolling (1495–1536). But he
also read textbooks, so that when he actually went to Utrecht a year later,
he had already mastered a large part of the material for first-year students.
He used the math book that his older brothers also had used, Cours d‘analyse
de l‘École Polytechnique by Charles-François Sturm (1803–1855). He actually
developed his own way of solving mathematical problems, which later caused
him problems with his mathematics professor in Utrecht, Grinwis, who insisted
on using the standard methods.
Kapteyn’s decision to distance himself from the faith and the church later
brought him into great conflict with his parents, especially his father, when
he decided not to marry in the church (I will go into more detail on this
in Sect. 4.4). His parents refused to give their permission, which raises the
question of how orthodox in their faith they actually were. It is unlikely that
they belonged to the most orthodox movement within the church. Kapteyn
Sr. is listed in Barneveld Archives as belonging to the Reformed Church. But
how orthodox a church this was at that time depended to a large extent on
the minister who preached there. The question of whether a church was just
reformed or orthodox will provide less of a definite answer than one would now
suspect. If father Kapteyn had been extremely orthodox, many parents would
not have sent their sons to his boarding school, because they would then not
have been educated there in the atmosphere of the State Church. Moreover,
an orthodox man would not easily include the books of liberal writers such
as Rousseau or Lessing in his library. Nevertheless, Kapteyn’s parents were
certainly very strict in their teaching and had great difficulty with the fact that
their son turned his back on the church.
2.2 Utrecht
The Netherlands was relatively late in setting up universities. The southern
Netherlands already had a university in Leuven in 1425, but in the northern
provinces that of Leiden was, as mentioned above, the first in 1575. Not long
afterwards more universities followed, Franeker in 1585, Groningen in 1614,
Utrecht in 1632 and Harderwijk in 1648. In Amsterdam there had been an
4 Anabaptists oppose the taking of oaths and ecclesiastical practices such as the baptism of children.