University of Douai

History

Douai, scholar pole from the late Middle Ages to the Renaissance

Before the formal establishment of the university, Douai had a rich scholarly tradition dating back to the late Middle Ages. Nearby, Anchin Abbey served as a significant cultural center from the 11th to the 13th century, producing numerous manuscripts and charters. It was rivaled by the scriptoria of Marchiennes Abbey and Flines Abbey. Alongside these abbeys, other monastic houses in Douai contributed to the city's intellectual activity. By the 16th century, these institutions ensured that "close to the city, several very rich abbeys could provide space and resources to the new university."

The bonds of vassalage tying the County of Flanders to the Kingdom of France were abolished in 1526, with Flanders becoming an imperial province under the Treaty of Madrid (1526), signed by King Francis I of France and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. This arrangement was later confirmed by the Treaty of Cambrai (1529). Consequently, it was to the emperor that the magistrates of Douai submitted a request in 1531 to establish a university in the town. However, formal approval for the university was only granted during the reign of Philip II of Spain.

Old university of Douai (1559–1795)

As part of a larger program to consolidate the Spanish Low Countries, a university was established in Douai by Philip II between 1559 and 1562. The university was a counterpart to Leuven University, founded in 1426. The foundation was confirmed by a papal bull issued by Pope Paul IV on 31 July 1559 and reaffirmed by Pope Pius IV on 6 January 1560. Philip II's letters patent, dated 19 January 1561, authorized the creation of five faculties: Theology, Canon Law, Civil Law, Medicine, and Arts.

The university's formal inauguration took place on 5 October 1562, marked by a public procession of the Blessed Sacrament and a sermon delivered in the marketplace by François Richardot, the Bishop of Arras. The institution's first chancellor was Richard Smith, an Englishman.

The first university college established in Douai was the "Collège du Roi" (King's College), which opened in 1562. A second college was founded in 1564 but was later replaced by the Collège d'Anchin in 1568. Another college, supported by the Abbey of Marchiennes, opened in 1570. These colleges served not only as accommodation for students but also as venues for lectures.

Royal-appointed lecturers accounted for only a tenth of the 300 teachers in the faculty. The faculty of the Jesuit College, which included up to 145 teachers, was regarded as the most influential center of power within the university.

Although the University of Douai was founded on the model of Louvain, from which it drew most of its initial professors, it was also influenced by the English during its early years. Several key positions were held by Englishmen, many of whom were former scholars from Oxford.

The university's first chancellor was Richard Smyth, a former Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, and Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford. Owen Lewis, a former Fellow of New College, Oxford, who had also held the corresponding position at Oxford, served for many years as the Regius Professor of Canon Law at Douai.

The first principal of Marchiennes College was Richard White (also known as Richard Gwyn), another former Fellow of New College. Additionally, William Allen, after earning his licentiate at Douai in 1560, became the university's Regius Professor of Divinity.

Modern university of Douai (1808–1887)

The Faculties of Letters and Sciences in Douai were re-established in 1808. Douai regained a Faculty of Law in 1854, but in 1887, this faculty was transferred to Lille. Currently, the University of Lille and Artois University, which are part of the Community of Universities and Institutions Lille Nord de France, consider themselves successors to Philip II's University of Douai.

Transformation as University of Lille (1896)

In 1887, all faculties in Douai were relocated to the neighbouring city of Lille. The University of Lille was officially established in 1896, encompassing all faculties, including Sciences, Law, Medicine and Pharmacy, and Literature and Humanities.

Faculties

Faculties of the old University of Douai

The Faculty of Arts in Douai was highly active and conferred Master of Arts degrees, which were a prerequisite for studying theology and law. Just as at the universities of Louvain and Paris, obtaining this MA degree from the Faculty of Arts was the first and mandatory step before pursuing studies in other faculties.

The University of Douai had an established reputation in philosophy and mathematics, particularly through (or in competition with) the Jesuit college. "The Faculty of Arts had three chairs (History, Hebrew, Greek) until 1704, when a chair in mathematics was created (...). A chair in hydrography has been in place since 1704."

Among the faculties, it was Mathematics in the sixteenth century, and the reshaping of the Mathematics chair by the Marquis de Pommereuil in 1705, that brought new prominence to optics, geometry, astronomy, architecture, the military use of alloy chemistry, and trigonometry, ensuring the training of skilled army officers. Mathematics and science in Douai were made illustrious in the early seventeenth century by the mathematician Charles Malapert, who discovered sunspots—probably before Kircher, whom he met in Ingolstadt. In the second half of the century, by Anthony Thomas, a Jesuit who succeeded Verbiest in China and chaired the tribunal of Mathematics in Beijing. This correspondent of the Academy of Sciences left behind a major work.

In 1679, the first school for artillery officers in France was established in Douai by King Louis XIV.

In the eighteenth century, the Douai faculty focused on mathematical logic in philosophy. This focus led to the growth of knowledge in areas such as physics—mechanics, mathematics, optics, perspective, astronomy, cosmography, and elements of natural history (chemistry, history, geography, philology). This emphasis on mathematics assisted in the training of military and naval officers. Douai also had a large library, a museum of ethnology and archaeology, and a museum of natural sciences. Despite the Church's distrust of the sciences, Douai closely followed scientific developments, which stimulated further discoveries.

It was not until 1750 that the French language supplanted Latin, though this process was not completed until the French Revolution.

Faculties of the modern University of Douai

A Faculty of Sciences was re-established in Douai in 1808. However, higher education in the sciences later shifted to Lille, where a Faculty of Sciences was inaugurated by Louis Pasteur.

The Faculty of Law in Douai was moved to Lille in 1887.

A Faculty of Literature was re-established in 1808 and transferred to Lille in 1887.

Influence of the University of Douai

Dissemination of printed knowledge

Douai was a prominent center of neo-Latin literature.

It was known not only for its intellectual activity but also for its many master printers, who was involved in the dissemination of knowledge, primarily in Latin but also in French, across the Southern Netherlands.

Douay–Rheims Bible and Catholic studies

Douai was an important center for Catholic studies. When the Holy See authorized the translation of the Bible into vernacular languages, the Douay–Rheims Bible became the first authorized Catholic Bible translated from Latin into English in 1609. Subsequent revisions of this translation were references for the Catholic Bible in English. It was also the Douay–Rheims Bible on which John Fitzgerald Kennedy took the oath of office as President of the United States in 1961.

The seminars in Douai trained much of the English Catholic clergy during the Counter-Reformation. The clergy trained in Douai also spread to various colonies, including Pierre-Philippe Potier in New France, Charles Carroll in the Maryland Colony, and Nicolas Trigault in China.

Religious and political influence

The University of Douai was a center of religious debate with significant political implications. Created to counter the Protestant Reformation, it also challenged royal authority, particularly in its opposition to Bossuet and Gallicanism. Its independence from temporal power was rooted in its history as a border institution between the Spanish Netherlands and the Kingdom of France. The chancellors and officials of the university served as advisers to the Catholic kings of Spain and France. The board of the University of Douai maintained relations with the courts of Louis XIV and Louis XV through figures like Philip Cospéan and Bossuet, and also had connections with Popes who initially contributed financially to the university's endeavors. During the French Revolution in 1791, the clergy at Douai began university Douaisian conditions before considering whether to swear an oath to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, following the papal briefs Quod Aliquantum (March 10, 1791) and Caritas (April 13, 1791). These conditions were seen as a rejection of loyalty to Republican power.

Humanities and modernity

Even though many works of the 18th-century encyclopedists, such as The Encyclopedia by Diderot and d'Alembert, and later works like the Grand Dictionnaire Universel of the 19th century, were blacklisted, the university was gradually influenced by the ideas of modernity, the scientific revolution, and major discoveries. This is evident in the early work on mathematics and anatomy, which challenged the Galenic system, as well as in the changes in botanical and zoological classifications. These subjects were studied at Douai by Richard Gibbons, Charles Malapert, Amé Bourdon, and Jean-Baptiste Lestiboudois.