Abraham Heidanus

He was born in Frankenthal in the Palatinate, son of Gaspar van der Heiden the Younger, a Reformed minister and Counter-Remonstrant who moved to Amsterdam in 1608.

Abraham studied theology at the University of Leiden from 1617, travelled to Heidelberg, Geneva and Paris, and was influenced by Ramism and Jean Daillé.

Battle lines were being drawn up for an extended series of controversies, in which Gisbertus Voetius of Utrecht took the other side.

[2] The position Heidanus held for decades as leader of Leiden Cartesianism eventually led to his dismissal by the university in 1676.

This happened after he with Burchard de Volder and Christophorus Wittichius published a rebuttal of the university's condemnation of Cartesian and Cocceian views.