''Liever Turks dan Paaps'' ("Rather Turkish than

Papist The words Popery (adjective Popish) and Papism (adjective Papist, also used to refer to an individual) are mainly historical pejorative words in the English language for Roman Catholicism, once frequently used by Protestants and Eastern Orthodo ...

"), also ''Liever Turksch dan Paus'' ("Rather Turkish than Pope"), was a Dutch Christian slogan during the Dutch Revolt of the end of the 16th century. The slogan was used by the Dutch mercenary naval forces (the "

Sea Beggars Geuzen (; ; french: Les Gueux) was a name assumed by the confederacy of Calvinist Dutch nobles, who from 1566 opposed Spanish rule in the Netherlands. The most successful group of them operated at sea, and so were called Watergeuzen (; ; frenc ...

") in their fight against Catholic Spain.

Origins

During the Dutch Revolt, the Dutch were under such a desperate situation that they looked for help from many places no matter their religion, and "indeed even a Turk", as wrote the secretary of Jan van Nassau.Schmidt, p.103
/ref> In 1566, diplomat

Joseph Nasi Joseph Nasi (1524, Portugal – 1579, Konstantiniyye), known in Portuguese as João Miques, was a Portuguese Sephardi diplomat and administrator, member of the House of Mendes/Benveniste, nephew of Dona Gracia Mendes Nasi, and an influential fi ...

contacted Protestants in Antwerp to discuss an Ottoman offer of assistance against the Spaniards. In 1569, William of Orange sent a secret envoy to Nasi asking the Ottomans to support the Dutch Revolt against their common Spanish enemies. Orange had already sent ambassadors to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

for help in 1566, and it is speculated that it was in response to William's request that Selim II sent his fleet to attack the Spanish at

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

in 1574. The Dutch viewed Ottoman successes against the Habsburgs with great interest, and saw Ottoman campaigns in the Mediterranean as an indicator of relief on the Dutch front. William wrote around 1565: The English Catholic author

William Rainolds William Reynolds (also Rainolds, Raynolds, Latin Reginaldus) (c.1544 at Pinhorn near Exeter – 24 August 1594 at Antwerp) was an English Roman Catholic theologian and Biblical scholar. Life Educated at Winchester School, he became fellow of ...

(1544–1594) wrote a pamphlet entitled "Calvino-Turcismus" in criticism of these tendencies. The phrase "Liever Turks dan Paaps" was coined as a way to express that life under the Muslim Ottoman Sultan would have been more desirable than life under the Catholic King of Spain.Schmidt, p.104 The Flemish noble D'Esquerdes wrote to this effect that he:

Meaning

While the Turks had a reputation for cruelty, they were also perceived as having

religious tolerance Religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, mistaken, or harmful". ...

within their dominions, whereas king Philip II of Spain did not tolerate Protestant faiths. According to a 1570 letter of encouragement to the "Lutheran group" (''Luteran taifesi'') in "Flanders and other Spanish provinces", which has been preserved in the archives of Feridun Ahmed Bey, the Ottoman sultan (at this point Selim II) promised the rebels in the Netherlands that he would send them troops whenever they were ready to rise up against Philip II. The sultan claimed that he felt close to them, "since they did not worship idols, believed in one God and fought against the Pope and Emperor". Furthermore, various religious refugees, such as the

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

, some

Anglicans Anglicanism is a Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia ...

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

Anabaptists Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...

and even

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

and

Capuchins Capuchin can refer to: *Order of Friars Minor Capuchin The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. O.F.M. Cap.) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of Three " First Orders" that reformed from t ...

were able to find refuge at

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

and elsewhere in the Ottoman Empire, where they were given rights of residence and worship. Further, the Ottomans supported the

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

s, not only in their territories of

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

and

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, but also in France. The slogan ''Liever Turks dan Paaps'' did not mean the Dutch seriously contemplated coming under Ottoman suzerainty, as they were far away from that empire's sphere of influence; rather, it was an expression of their antipathy to the Catholic regime they had been subjected to.

Similar uses

A similar statement, "It would be better to see the turban of the Turks reigning in the center of the City (i.e.,

) than the Latin

mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...

" ( gr, κρειττότερόν ἐστιν εἰδέναι ἐν μέσῃ τῇ Πόλει φακιόλιον βασιλεῦον Τούρκων, ἢ καλύπτραν λατινικήν) is ascribed by the historian

Doukas The House of Doukas, Latinized as Ducas ( el, Δούκας; feminine: Doukaina/Ducaena, Δούκαινα; plural: Doukai/Ducae, Δοῦκαι), from the Latin title '' dux'' ("leader", "general", Hellenized as 'ðouks'', is the name of a Byzan ...

to the last '' megas doux'' of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Loukas Notaras Loukas Notaras ( el, Λουκᾶς Νοταρᾶς; 5 April 1402 – 3 June 1453) was a Byzantine statesman who served as the last '' megas doux'' or grand Duke (commander-in-chief of the Byzantine navy) and the last '' mesazon'' (chief minister) ...

, as an expression of

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

hostility to the

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...

and the attempts at a union of the Churches. The veracity of the attribution of the quote to Notaras is unlikely, but it does reflect the views of some members of the anti-Unionist party in Constantinople, even at the eve of the Fall of Constantinople.

Notes

References

* Charles Ralph Boxer ''The Dutch seaborne empire, 1600-1800'' Taylor & Francis, 1977 * * Benjamin Schmidt ''Innocence abroad: the Dutch imagination and the New World, 1570-1670'' Cambridge University Press, 2001 * Daniel Goffman ''The Ottoman Empire and early modern Europe'' Cambridge University Press, 2002 {{DEFAULTSORT:Liever Turks Dan Paaps Political catchphrases Dutch words and phrases 16th-century neologisms Foreign relations of the Ottoman Empire Eighty Years' War (1566–1609) Anti-Catholicism in the Netherlands Anti-Catholic slurs

Origins

Meaning

Similar uses

See also

Notes

References