Leiden doctorate

During Bilderdijk’s studies, the law faculty was dominated by Frederik Willem Pestel and Dionysius Godefridus van der Keessel. Bilderdijk attended lectures by both professors. He regarded Pestel, who also signed his diploma, as his tutor. On October 19, 1782, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., Bilderdijk defended his dissertation in the Leiden academy building; in Latin, of course. The work was dedicated to his father and consisted of 105 statements.

According to Bilderdijk, the defense was not easy, but he nevertheless had the pleasure of crossing swords with the strongest opponents. Afterwards, he gave a speech to those present, embarrassing the professors because he praised them throughout.

Bilderdijk graduated with honours. It must have been a special day. ‘See me standing here, Juris Utriusq. Doctor! See there a new career opened for me!’, he wrote triumphantly two days later. The day of the defense itself ended with a ‘quite brilliant’ dinner, with toasts from friends and paranymphs.