Spinoza and the Collegiants

Since the publication of Meinsma’s Spinoza en zijn kring it is considered a fact that Spinoza was friends with Collegiants such as Simon Joosten de Vries, Pieter Balling and Jarig Jelles. Fokke Akkerman and Piet Steenbakkers have subsequently shown how important Balling and Jelles were as editors and translators of Spinoza’s work, and that they helped him where they could, especially after he had been expelled.