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Het maken en kraken van nationale helden in Nederland: Michiel de Ruyter als zeeheld, koopman, zeeschurk en letterheld
219-241Views:41The article seeks to encourage reflection about the creation and development of a cult
status in Dutch culture: in the Dutch past, but also in the present. It focuses on the case of
Michiel de Ruyter (1607–1676). He has long been represented as ‘zeeheld’ (naval hero),
but his status as hero is currently under scrutiny in the Netherlands. The article dissects
cultural representations of De Ruyter to explain why he turned from a typical exponent of
the seventeenth century ‘zeehelden’ into a – criticized – exponent of the Dutch merchant.
It also briefly explores the possibility of yet another turn in the way De Ruyter is memorized culturally in the Netherlands. Could the memory of De Ruyter, and more in particular
his linguistic and literary skills, serve as a shield against the growing illiteracy in the
Netherlands? -
Een dakloos gedenkteken voor Michiel de Ruyter
243-250Views:44Almost unbeknownst to virtually anyone, the fragments of a monument commemorating
the liberation of galley slaves by Michiel de Ruyter lay for years in the parking garage of
the Reformed Theological Seminary in Pápa. Originally, this memorial stood in the
courtyard of the military academy, the Zrínyi Miklós Nemzetvédelmi Egyetem (Miklós
Zrínyi Defense University) on Üllői Street in Budapest. It was erected in 2002 to commemorate the liberation of the Hungarian ministers who had been sentenced to the galleys
and were freed by Michiel de Ruyter in Naples in 1676. The monument was designed and
created by Colonel Dr. Lajos Berek, who was also the rector of that university. When this
military academy moved to the campus on the Hungária ring road in 2008, the old building
was sold. The monument was taken down. The Bolyai János Honvéd Alapítvány (János
Bolyai Defense Foundation) donated the memorial to the Protestáns Tábori Püspökség
(Protestant Military Diocese). The new owner would look for a new location for the statue.
Since there was no place to put it up again at that time, they looked for a place where it
could be stored “temporarily.” That place was the parking garage of the Reformed
Theological Seminary in Pápa. -
Admiral De Ruyter in Hungarian memory
115-130Views:220Michiel de Ruyter is a Dutch national hero. He is respected in Hungary as the liberator of
the Protestant galley slaves. Since 1895, his name can also be read on the memorial behind
the Great Church of Debrecen. De Ruyter has appeared in various forms in Hungarian
memory during the centuries: either as a fearless soldier, a faithful Christian or as a symbol
of reconciliation. His memory keeps changing but his spirit keeps living on in Hungarian
memory. -
De Hongaarse galeislaaf-predikanten en Nederland
57-90Views:46The Hungarian protestant ministers who had been baselessly charged in 1673 and 1674 by
a special court at Pressburg with rebellion, treason and defamation of the Catholic Church
were sentenced to death. Those who converted to Catholicism or promised to leave the
country could escape. Those who persisted were sold at Naples to Spanish galleys as
slaves. The ministers asked help, among others, from the Netherlands. As a result of efforts
of many persons the States General instructed in November 1675 admiral Michiel de
Ruyter to liberate the galley slaves. After their liberation in February 1676, they were in
exile in Zürich. Eight of them visited the Netherlands in the autumn of that year to try to
get diplomatic and financial support so that they could return to Hungary in order to
continue their ministry. The Netherlands helped them a lot in both areas. Lots of books
dealt with their story in the 17th and 18th centuries in the Netherlands. Later they became
more and more part of the memory place ‘Michiel de Ruyter’. -
De drie gezichten van De Ruyter*: Admiraal De Ruyter in de Hongaarse herinnering
205-221Views:736Michiel de Ruyter is a Dutch national hero. He is respected in Hungary as the liberator of the Protestant galley slaves. Since 1895, his name can also be read on the statue behind the Great Church of Debrecen. De Ruyter has appeared in various forms in Hungarian memory during the centuries: either as a fearless soldier, a faithful Christian or as a symbol of reconciliation. His memory keeps changing but his spirit keeps living on in Hungarian memory.
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Het Nederlandbeeld van de tot de galeien veroordeelde Hongaarse predikanten*
89-120Views:174From already published letters of Hungarian Protestant ministers damned to the Neapolitan galleys by a special law court at Pozsony (Bratislava) in 1675 to prominent Dutch persons, from almost the galleys turns out that they called them, consequently the Netherlands as defenders of the truth belief (fides orthodoxa) who felt solidarity with fellow-Protestants (especially the Reformed ones) abroad, were ready to support them in their struggle to preserve their religious freedom and to assist to build the Church of God everywhere. The article also analyses unpublished works of the Protestant ministers and their supporter at Venice during their slavery and after their liberation by admiral Michiel de Ruyter in 1676. In these documents the same image of the Netherlands can be found but also two more epitatheta ornantia can be observed: they called the members of the States General, respectively the country as the nourishers of the Church and the greatest defenders of the truth of the Gospel.