Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Netherlands

Bernard Sutholt

If there are any Dutch readers who could help translate the historical entries here for this obscure jurist, I would be grateful. AleatoryPonderings (talk) 14:28, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

@AleatoryPonderings: The Dutch language in the texts is pretty ancient, and it was not easy to translate it into English. I asked an AI program to make fluent English of it, and then I checked it for correctness. I hope everything (text below) is correct. Erik Wannee (talk) 18:41, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

by van Kuyk in Nieuw Nederlands Biografisch Woordenboek (NNBW)

SUTHOLT (Bernhard), or Southoult, was born at Hamm in Westphalia. He enrolled as a student at the University of Groningen on 13 March 1615, being the first student entered in the Album Academicum. After attending lectures there for some time, he visited several German universities to complete his studies and matriculated at the University of Heidelberg on 28 July 1619. There he met the States General's envoy, Van Brederode, who recommended him to the curators of the University of Leiden.

Sutholt subsequently moved to Leiden, where he found devoted patrons in Petrus Cunaeus and Everard Bronchorst. At his own request, he was granted permission in August 1620 to deliver a series of public lectures on jurisprudence during the university vacation. In consultation with the professors, he chose as his subject the pandects title 'De origine juris'. With the approval of the senate, he continued these lectures after the vacation had ended.

In June 1621 the university senate refused his request to preside over academic disputations, although a German student wished to defend a dissertation under his supervision. Although Bronchorst was favourably disposed towards him and recommended him to the curators, Sutholt failed to obtain the professorship at Leiden that he so greatly desired.

He enjoyed greater success, through the support of Cunaeus, at the University of Harderwijk. Appointed professor there in 1622, he assumed office on 6 June of that year with the inaugural oration 'De Ratione Interpretandi Juris, et Philosophiae Activae cum Juris Studio Conjunctione' (Harderwijk, 1622). This address was followed by lectures in which he established his reputation as a legal philosopher. The dissertations defended under his supervision on the Institutes, published under the title 'Dissertationes XXI, quibus universum jus Institutionum ex principiis explicatur, ea brevitate, ut instar compendii, ea item perspicuitate, ut in locis obscurioribus vice commentarii esse possint' (Harderwijk, 1623), were reprinted several times.

Although he had been brought up in the reformed faith, Sutholt converted to Roman Catholicism in 1625. His conversion caused considerable controversy and led to his resignation from his professorship. The many uncertainties surrounding this change of faith were addressed by Sutholt himself in his 'Caussae conjectio, cur ejurata haeresi Calviniani fidem Romano-Catholicam nuper sit amplexus' (Cologne, 1625).

He subsequently entered the service of Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm of Neuburg and became a member of the government council (Regierungsrat) at Düsseldorf. He declined a request from the Archbishop of Salzburg to become Professor of the Pandects. Shortly thereafter he died.

The preserved correspondence between him and Cunaeus shows us that the latter one appreciated his capabilities highly. A dissertation of his hand de Jurisdictione was published in 1624.

See: P. Cunaei Epistolae, ed. Burman, (1725) no. 137-141; Bouman, Geldersche Hoogesch. I, 51-55 (who mentions the soon reversed permission to teach in Leiden); Diarium Ev. Bronchorstii 157, 160, 161, 168; Toepke, Matrikel der Univ. Heidelberg II, 296.

in Van der Aa e.a., Biographisch Woordenboek der Nederlanden (Van der Aa)

SUTHOLT (Bernard) was born at Hamm in Westphalia and was brought up in the Reformed faith. He studied first at the University of Groningen, then at Helmstedt, and finally at Heidelberg. Through the influence of Lord Van Brederode, who, as envoy of the Dutch Republic to various German courts, frequently resided in that university town, Sutholt was recommended to the curators of the University of Leiden. They granted him permission to deliver public lectures on jurisprudence, and for that purpose he arrived at the renowned university in the middle of the summer of 1620. This permission, however, was soon revoked, although the reason is unknown.

Meanwhile, he had gained a new and devoted patron in Petrus Cunaeus, who made several attempts to secure for him a chair in law at the University of Leiden. His efforts met with greater success at the University of Harderwijk. There, after Sutholt had spent almost two years in Leiden, he was appointed, through Cunaeus's recommendation, Professor of Civil Law and Practical Philosophy early in 1622. He took up his office on 6 June of that year with the inaugural oration 'De Ratione Interpretandi Juris, et Philosophiae Activae cum Juris Studio Conjunctione' (Harderwijk, 1622, octavo).

In the following year he published 'Dissertationes Undeviginti, quibus universum jus Institutionum ex principiis explicatur, ea brevitate, ut instar compendii, ea item perspicuitate, ut in locis obscurioribus vice commentarii esse possent' (Harderwijk, 1623).

After being suspended in 1623 because of his growing inclination towards the Roman Catholic Church, Sutholt resigned his professorship in April 1625 and was formally received into the Roman Catholic Church at Cologne. Through the mediation of the clergy of Cologne, the Archbishop of Salzburg offered him a lucrative professorship as a reward for his conversion. He declined the appointment, however, and instead entered the service of Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm of Neuburg, who, like Sutholt himself, had renounced the Protestant faith. Wolfgang Wilhelm appointed him Regierungsrat (government councillor) at Düsseldorf, where, according to contemporary accounts, he experienced a premature repentance and died in the prime of his life.

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