On October 3, 2024, it was 450 years since the Dutch freedom fighters liberated the city of Leiden from the Spanish occupation. The fighters flew Turkish flags on their ships, wore Turkish moustaches, and carried medallions with the slogan ‘Better Turk than Pope!’ Where did these Turkish elements come from?
In the sixteenth century, there was no freedom of religion in the Dutch provinces, which had been incorporated into the Catholic Spanish Empire. Thousands of Dutch people were burned alive because they adhered to the Protestant faith. The people succumbed to terrible terror and high taxes.
The Dutch provinces united and fought for independence. The only power that supported the Netherlands in this struggle was the Ottoman Empire. The help of the Ottoman Empire offered self-confidence to the Dutch uprising and became an inspiration for William of Orange to be the first European country to establish freedom of religion for all faiths. The slogan ‘Rather Turk than Pope’ is a striking remnant of this history. The meaning of this slogan is that the Protestants, for the sake of religious freedom, would rather be subjects of the Turkish sultan than of the Pope. The success of the Dutch religious freedom became in turn an influence on movements to establish religious liberty in the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, this beautiful story is not told in our schools, with the consequence that it plays no role in our national consciousness. This website was created especially for the occasion of 450 years of Leidens Ontzet, to raise awareness of this exciting, international history of our country and our national values.
