The Ancestors of My Grandchildren

     Jan Gotfried Spindler was born in 1632 in Bohemia.^2,3 He (1) married (Ev. Luth.) Cuniera Crull on 26 Oct 1656 at Burg Steinfurt.^4,5,3 He possibly married (2) (Ev. Luth.) Anna Maria Arnwald on 28 Sep 1664 at Burg Steinfurt.^6,3 He died on 12 May 1681 in Leiden^3,1, and was buried in the Pieterskerk Cemetery at Leiden.⁷

Other information:
     He had banns posted for a third time with Johanna Beckers on 24 Sep 1671 in Steinfurth, but that marriage did not take place (he lived in Leiden at that time.)^6,3
     He was a philosophy professor, first in Steinfurth (1655-1666) and later in Leiden, died there May 1681.
     He was first Catholic, and got an education with the Jesuits. After his conversion, he became a student in Leiden; he was 21 when he matriculated on 24 Oct 1653 for a degree in Philosophy. In 1654 he was allowed to defend his thesis. The next year he was called to Steinfurt, where he from 1655 to 1666 was Professor of Philosophy and Greek at the Gymnasium Illustre Arnoldinum. While a teacher there he oversaw 28 debates that are archived in Steinfurt; they give an overview of the themes in Philosophy, Politics, and Ethics, which Spinaeus dealt with.
In 1662/3 Godefridus Spinaeus got a call from the reformed Gymnasium Illustre in Hamm, which he didn't take. In 1664 was he on the top of the list for a post in Franeker as Philosophy professor, but that came to nothing, because of a bad review by the Groninger Professor Samuel Maresius.
When Steinfurt was occupied by the troops of the Bishop of Munster, Christoph Bernhard von Galen, Godefridus Spinaeus went in 1666 naar Leiden. On 23 Mar 1666 he becomes "Magister artium liberalium, Philos. Prof. Steinfurtensis, belli injuria hujus Acad. membrum" (Philosophy Professor from Steinfurt, because of the war).
On 27 Nov 1666 werd hij Rector of the Latin School in Kampen; and in 1668 he became Subregent of the "Nederduytsch Collegium Theologiae der H. Staten van Hollant ende Westvriesland" (1668-1670) and Special Professor in the Philosophy in Leiden. On 15 Oct 1668 he gives his inaugural lecture. On 1 Jun 1669 he becomes a regular professor, which post he occupied at least until 1670 (Text: Ingeborg Höting; Professoren der Hohen Schule Steinfurt.)^8,9
     On 15 Feb 1679 Godefridus Spinaeus, philosophy professor at the University in this town, made a contract with Willem van de Berg to rent two furnished rooms to him and his daughter Agnes Catherina Spinaeus for two years. He specifies they get room and board, including a pint good French wine per day, and his daughter's linnen should be washed, bleached, starched, and ironed properly. He is to pay ƒ650, in four payments of ƒ162, starting on 8 May 1679. If either party dies, the heirs are free of the contract.¹⁰

Name variants: D. Godefridus Spinag.⁵ Godefridus Spinaeus.³