The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven can look back upon six centuries of history. On 9th December 1425 Pope Martin V conferred upon it the bull of foundation, thereby making it the oldest university in the Low Countries and the oldest Catholic university in the world still extant. In the 16th century already Leuven was one of the capitals of Humanism. Erasmus lived here for four years, commanding intellectual Europe from his college de Lelie (The Lily). Thanks to his inspiring example, 1517 saw the foundation of the Collegium Trilingue established for the study of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and the first of its kind in Europe.
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