First Dutch Academy

The academy was inaugurated on 23 September 1617 with 'Apollo' by Suffridus Sixtinus, and the tragedy "Vande moordt begaen aen Wilhelm van Orangien" (the murder of William of Orange) by Gijsbert van Hoghendorp.

The coat-of-arms of the academy consisted of a beehive under an eglantine with the word "IJver" ("zeal") as a motto.

The theatre did not give in, particularly since its first two professors were Mennonites (Sibrant Hanses Cardinael in Arithmetic and Jan Thonis in Hebrew).

In 1631, Vondel wrote his "Vraghe van d'Amsterdamsche Academi aan alle poëten en dichters" (Questions of the Amsterdam Academics to all poets), provoking further vehement Calvinist reactions.

The Athenaeum Illustre was later set up in the city, but here no teaching was presented in the native language.