The Catholic University of Leuven, or Louvain, was the largest, oldest and most prominent university in Belgium. It was founded in 1425 by Pope Martin V, and refounded in 1835 after the disruptions of the French Revolutionary Wars. The university split in 1968 to form two universities:
This entry deals with the historic university, 1425-1797 and 1835-1968: for the current successor institutions and their separate development since 1968, see the i...
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The Catholic University of Leuven, or Louvain, was the largest, oldest and most prominent university in Belgium. It was founded in 1425 by Pope Martin V, and refounded in 1835 after the disruptions of the French Revolutionary Wars. The university split in 1968 to form two universities:
This entry deals with the historic university, 1425-1797 and 1835-1968: for the current successor institutions and their separate development since 1968, see the individual articles listed above.
In the 15th century the city of Leuven, with the support of John IV, Duke of Brabant, made a formal request for a university. Pope Martin V issued a papal bull dated 9 December 1425 founding the University in Leuven as a Studium Generale. As such it is the oldest Catholic university in the world still in existence today (and counting from the refoundation in 1835, the oldest with the name "Catholic University"). In its early days this university was modelled on the universities of Paris, Cologne and Vienna. The...
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