When classes in practical, “Dutch” mathematics were introduced at Leiden university in 1600, the new teaching program formed a break with established traditions at early modern universities. Not only was Dutch as official language of instruction violating the long-held patterns, the intended audience of craftsmen aspiring to become surveyors and engineers did not correspond at all with the social patterns within the academic world. Historians of science as well as historians of universities have consequently treated the teaching of Dutch mathematics, which subsequently was also adopted by the four other universities in the Northern Netherlands, as an exception, if not an aberration. According to this narrative, the teaching program had only come into existence through the influence of Simon Stevin as political advisor to the Dutch Stadholder, it remained outside the university proper and – while relevant to the development of mathematical sciences – did not change the fabric of early modern academia.

In this presentation I will argue that at least for the case of Leiden, Dutch mathematics needs to be interpreted differently. Within the first quarter of the 17th century it became more and more integrated into the university structure, and played a vital role in relating the new university to the city surrounding it. Untypically for the early modern era, the foundation of Leiden University had happened within a sizeable city. Nourished by a strong influx of migrants from the Southern Netherlands and the German lands, the city quickly grew to the second largest one in the Dutch Republic and the dynamics of city politics were an important factor in the early development of the university. By relating their sciences to the city industry as well as to the humanist ideals of the university founders, mathematicians managed to acquire a significant status within the university. The institutional arrangements that were a consequence of this development had a formative role for 17th century Dutch natural philosophy.