First longue durée transnational history of a university, surveying its cross-border ties and offering a new model for writing university history. Since its foundation in 1425, Leuven University has always been a transnational institution. Decentering Leuven University explores how this transnational character has shaped the university across six centuries, with cross-border ties emerging as a recurring theme throughout its history from the Middle Ages to the present day. However, these ties are more than just a recurring theme: they provide an innovative approach to writing university history. Taking the myriad cross-border ties as a methodological starting point makes it possible to view the history of the university from a new perspective. The rich variety of these ties highlights the complexity and diversity within the university. The author discusses, among other things, Leuven’s role as a center of European humanism in the 15th century, the significance of its Irish and Dutch mission colleges during the Counter-Reformation, the university’s more recent involvement in the Belgian colonial project, and the emergence of research institutes as hubs of transnational collaboration in the 20th century. Emphasizing these transnational ties leads to two forms of decentering the university’s history: it underscores the university’s embeddedness in a variety of cross-border networks, and it highlights the role of individual scholars, students, colleges, and research institutes in creating and maintaining these ties. Since its foundation in 1425, Leuven University has always been a transnational institution. Decentering Leuven University explores how this transnational character has shaped the university across six centuries, with cross-border ties emerging as a recurring theme throughout its history from the Middle Ages to the present day. However, these ties are more than just a recurring theme: they provide an innovative approach to writing university history. Taking the myriad cross-border ties as a methodological starting point makes it possible to view the history of the university from a new perspective. The rich variety of these ties highlights the complexity and diversity within the university. The author discusses, among other things, Leuven’s role as a center of European humanism in the 15th century, the significance of its Irish and Dutch mission colleges during the Counter-Reformation, the university’s more recent involvement in the Belgian colonial project, and the emergence of research institutes as hubs of transnational collaboration in the 20th century. Emphasizing these transnational ties leads to two forms of decentering the university’s history: it underscores the university’s embeddedness in a variety of cross-border networks, and it highlights the role of individual scholars, students, colleges, and research institutes in creating and maintaining these ties. Introduction Universities, jubilees, and transnational ties Introduction The first university jubilees Writing university history Histories of Leuven University The university in a transnational landscape Leuven University from 1425 to 2025 Chapter 1 The transnational character of the early university Introduction Medieval universities before 1500 University, religion, and politics The foundation of Leuven University The recruitment of professors Determining the geographical background of the early staff The geographical background of professors in church law The geographical background of professors in civil law The geographical background of professors in medicine The geographical background of professors in theology The geographical background of professors in the arts Determining the educational background of the early staff The educational background of professors in church law The educational background of professors in civil law The educational background of professors in medicine The educational background of professors in theology The educational background of professors in the arts A life after Leuven? Conclusion: becoming self-sufficient  Chapter 2 Humanist entanglements Introduction Vives and Erasmus: Leuven’s early humanist luminaries The networks of Vives and Erasmus Humanism in Leuven before 1517 The foundation of the Collegium Trilingue The (trans)national teaching staff of the Trilingue A typical humanist: the research-minded traveler Campensis A typical humanist: the printing endeavors of Rutgerus Rescius A typical humanist: Petrus Nannius’s correspondence network European students at the Trilingue Trilingue students in Europe: the linguist Clenardus Trilingue students in Europe: the diplomat Busbequius Trilingue students in Europe: the anatomist Vesalius An example worth following Conclusion: a merging of university and humanist networks Chapter 3 On the frontlines of faith Introduction Counter-Reformation and higher education in the seventeenth century Leuven and the Irish college network Irish history from Leuven Irish Catholicism in Leuven The precarious position of Catholicism in the northern Low Countries Jesuits vs. Dutch secular clergy Jesuits and the Leuven Augustinian tradition Jesuits and Jansenists St. Anthony’s, Pulcheria, and Alticollense Toward the founding of an American College The accomplishments of the American College Leuven as an example of Catholicism and scholarship Latin America in Leuven Over four centuries of mission colleges Chapter 4 Collections as transnational spaces Leuven’s first central library Catholic patristics and ecumenical medicine? Collections, teaching, and research in the nineteenth century The university collections in the mid-nineteenth century The roots of the botanical garden The botanical garden’s transnational branches The birth of the zoological collection Van Beneden’s transnational paleontological networks The genesis of the Biblical Museum A network of scholarly clergymen The destruction of the library International collaboration toward a new library Reassembling the lost collection The construction of a brand-new library University collections and transnational networks Chapter 5 The colonial involvement of Leuven University Universities and colonialism The first colonial programs at Belgian universities A Catholic colonial student movement Collecting the colony After the First World War First steps into the colony The early expansion of FOMULAC: 1926-1931 The rapid expansion of FOMULAC: 1931-1945 Agricultural education in the Congo Toward a university: University Centre Lovanium The founding of a full university: Lovanium Kimwenza Lovanium and Leuven University after Congolese independence Leuven and Congo: a retrospective Chapter 6 Research institutes as transnational hubs The rise of research institutes The Higher Institute of Philosophy The laboratory for experimental psychology The founding of the Husserl Archives The growth of the Husserl Archives Penicillin and the prelude to the Rega Institute Polio vaccines and the founding of the Rega Institute Developing viral treatments at the Rega Institute Bananas come to Belgium Banana research, conservation, and distribution in Leuven The KU Leuven Institutes of the twenty-first century Conclusion: research institutes between 1938 and 2025 Epilogue Uniqueness and typicality Change and continuity Recent transnational developments The merits and promise of transnational university histories Notes