University Library

The Old University of Leuven founded in 1425 had a collegiate structure with no central library. Students probably had access to manuscripts and printed books preserved in their colleges, in stationers’ offices, and in the homes of their professors. With the bequests to the university of the libraries of Laurentius Beyerlinck, a canon of Antwerp Cathedral, in 1627, and of Professor of Medicine Jacobus Romanus in 1637, a central library was established in the University Hall, under the management of the jurist and historian Valerius Andreas.

In 1797, the manuscripts and most valuable works were seized by the French state and transported partly to the National Library of France in Paris and partly to the Central School of Brussels. The library of the Central School of Brussels had about 80,000 volumes, which eventually passed into the possession of the City of Brussels and then the Royal Library of Belgium. Similarly, the rich archives of the Old University are now held by the National Archives of Belgium.

It is also very likely that during the troubles of the wars of the French Revolution many books and valuable documents were removed from the collection. Several libraries across Europe now have books and manuscripts that certainly came from Leuven University Library, such as the founding charter of 1425 which was located in 1909 at the seminary of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, or the courses of the law professor Henricus de Piro which were located in the late 20th century in the National Széchényi Library in Budapest.