Featured Collective research: Satirical Print, anomymous, 16th century

As I am new to this forum, I am trying something new today. I like to collect and research interesting objects, mostly old books. Some of my objects need a lot of research to really understand what it is and what it is all about. I have noticed there is a lot of knowledge on this forum, so it would be fun, in my opinion, when I publish my own research in a post like this and let everybody collaborate if they want (or just read when you find this kind of subjects interesting).

Today I will post my first object, a print that i bought many years ago. It is a copper engraving, not in the best condition. I see 9 man in 16th century clothes playing games (backgammon, cards and dice) at a table surrounded by 4 cartouches with old Dutch text (that is hard for me to read and understand, even as a Dutch native speaker). The print has no makers mark that I can see. The size of the print is about 28x22 cm (11x8.5 inch).




I have found this print on the website of the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1871-1209-970

Very conveniently the British Museum has added an English translation of the poem (well it rhymes...):


1 O ghy valsche ketters dit wil ick strycken/Het spuel staet schoon het is ons ghewonnen/Ons Broeder Fransciscus vol van practyken/Die en sal niet wycken hy en heeft v verslonne[n]

Oh you false heathens whom I will destroy,/We have well and truly won the game./Our Brother Franciscus has his ways/He won't be moved and he will destroy you.

2 hola ghy roovers tspul is noch ierst beghonnen/laet staen die panden sy en roeren u niet/ick raet u voer tbeste eer ghy werf versyonden/want u valsche treken den heere siet

Hey, you robbers, the game has just begun/Leave things as they are, don't move/I recommend you do your best before you who are destroyed/Because the Lord sees your falseness.

3 O lacy ochermen wat is ons geschiet/Ons kelcken ceboerien tis al verulogen/O vader van Romen ons bystant biet/Cap en covel het wert al wt getoghen

Oh, we unfortunates, what has happened to us/Our chalice and ciborium are lost/Oh, Father in Rome, help us/Cape and cowl have already been taken

4 O almachtighen godt behoef ons doch ghenadelyck/Voert ghecroonde beest met syn geschoeren/Die ons soecken te vernielen seer ongestadelyck/En so verradelyck u woert versinoeren

Oh, Almighty God, protect us through your mercy./The crowned one [i.e., the pope] with his brutal forces/Seeks to destroy us in his wickedness./Godliness will be overwhelmed.

So the print is about the problems between Protestants an Catholics and it probably made by Protestants against the Catholics (and the pope). If it is from around 1600 this print is made in the middle of the Dutch Eighty Years' War (1566-1648) against the Spanish.


During my research so far I found an English engraving with the same subject, but with a different text called "The Revells of Christendome". The print itself also has slightly changed (watch the dog )

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Revells_of_Christendome

 

If this print is from around 1600 the pope must be Clement VIII (24 February 1536 – 5 March 1605). On the print he is wearing his papal tiara (a kind of stacked crown) and he is carrying his staff called the papal ferula.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Clement_VIII





Portrait of Clement VIII from one of my books (Triomph der pausen van Roomen, Cornelius Hazart - 1678 Antwerp)

 

I have found 3 versions of this print now. All the British Museum:

My version without title (1598-1600)
The Revelles of Christdome (~1609)
The Royal Gamesters (1626-1629)

According to the text my version is made after another print from Petrus a Merica (that sounds like a fake name...). After a bit of searching this name is a synonym for Pieter van der Heyden. I haven't found a print yet that is the predecessor of my print.

 

I have found the print with a completely different production date (1570) at the website of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The print is not exactly the same as mine. This one has a signature on the left bottom corner:



Also the cartouches are more elaborate on the van der Heyden's print so it must be a different copperplate I think.

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/my/co...-playing-games/objecten#/RP-P-1887-A-11470,64

So we have 4 versions now:
The Game against the Monks - Pieter van de Heyden(1570)
My version without title - Anonymous(1598-1600?)
The Revelles of Christdome - Thomas Cockson(~1609)
The Royal Gamesters - Anonymous(1626-1629)

 

I would agree with Flemish/Brabants, given some of the spelling, like 'ierst' instead of 'eerst'.
'Ochermen', Och ermen, is very southern Dutch, used both in our region, present day southern Netherlands, as well as in Flanders and Belgian Brabant.

I get the feeling it was made by Flemish/Brabant Catholics who had no one to turn to. Falsehood and greed on the parts of both their Protestant countrymen and foreign Catholics (Spanish Franciscus and his troops and Roman pope), who are just playing games over the fate of Low Countries Catholics.
The 'false heretics' (not heathens!) are Protestants who are Protestant in name only. The Lord sees the falseness of these robbers. The writer hopes that they will be destroyed by the Spanish.

Off for a bite to eat now, will continue later.

 

The discovery of the van de Heyden version of the print, makes it impossible that the pope on the print is Gregory VIII.

 

Thanks your your addition!

I agree, the explanation of the British museum with the link to Admiral Francisco de Mendoza cannot be true, because the print already existed in 1570. De Mendoza was a captain on a ship fighting the Rebellion of the Alpujarras back then. He became mayordomo mayor (lord high steward) in the household of Albert VII, Archduke of Austria in 1595 and was sent to the Netherlands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_de_Mendoza

 

I have made a comparison of the 1570 and 1600 version. It makes clear that it cannot be a reworked copper plate.

 

Another reason why I think this was written from a Catholic perspective, is that the Protestants were unlikely to call themselves heretics.

This is a plea by Catholics who have already lost their churches and religious symbols. The 'cape (cap?) and cowl' refer to a monk's habit, which had also been taken by the false heretics. The Protestants tortured and murdered all priests, monks and nuns they could find.

I disagree that the crowned one has to refer to the pope. The pope had no army in the Low Countries. In this case he is a symbol of Catholic power, imo.
I think the crowned one was the king of Spain. The Dutch text has the word 'verradelyck', treacherous, which wasn't translated. The king of Spain was perceived to be treacherous when he had revolt leaders Egmond and Horne executed. That triggered the Dutch 80 years war.

The 80 years war was originally a revolt against high taxes and for religious freedom, started by a group of noblemen led by Egmond and Horne, both Catholic.
The Dutch (including Belgian) Catholics were in a pickle when certain Protestant leaders decided to turn it into a religious war. Not all Protestants agreed with that, but they were often overruled by their militant allies.

The Protestant-Catholic, north-south divide still has consequences to this day. It is one of the things that ultimately led to the independence of Belgium.
In the Netherlands, before 1848, Catholics were not allowed to have churches or any other visible sign of their faith.
The offical right of authorities to ban Catholic processions was only lifted in 1983, after pressure from the EU. Catholicism was the last faith to have full religious freedom in the Netherlands.
Another result in the mainly Catholic south was a mistrust of authority. The authorities were mostly northern and Protestant.
The perception was that authorities didn't understand southern culture, had a negative attitude towards their religion, and rarely had their best interest at heart. True, given the fact that it had to take the EU to overrule Dutch authorities regarding religious freedom.

 

If the engraving was made in 1570 the pope must be Pius V. I tried to read about him to see if there is any relation to this specific print.

There are a few points that could be related that happend in or around 1570:

- He regulated inns
- He was against nepotism
- Excommunication of queen Elisabeth I of Engeland
- Standardized Roman Missales and Breviary's (no relation to my print, but it gives me the excuse to show another item of my collection...)

Roman Breviary - standardized by Pius V - Christopher Plantin, Antwerp - 1569

 

A print like this is a puzzle. You need someone, or several people, with knowledge of different types of 16th century Dutch, the history of the 80 years war from different perspectives, and enough history of religion to add to the mix.
I am by no means an expert, but I am southern Dutch with an interest in history, I can read 16th century Dutch better than most people, and I studied theology, which included history of religion in the Low Countries.

 

Evil man!

 

No excuse needed. Beautiful objects are welcome any time.

 

Thanks, a very good background story of the problems between Catholics and Protestants in the Low countries. When I look at the print could this figure be Philip II of Spain? Or maybe William the Silent?

 

Your comments are a very good addition to this research. I think we have a better understanding of the print now then the description of the British Museum shows. Still many questions to be answered though . We have a lot of knowledgeable people here on the forum. I hope they will join.

 

I think Philip, since he seems to be trying to take over Catholic supremacy from the pope.
Did you notice the coins underneath the pope's right hand? I think that is a reference to Judas' 30 pieces of silver, meaning the Dutch Catholics were sold out to Spain and couldn't count on help from the pope.
My interpretation of course.

 

Thanks, EL.
You never know, with the forum's combined knowledge we could solve more of the puzzle.

 

Maybe it's a strange idea, but what if the print has nothing to do with the Catholic/Protestant problems, but are a critique on the internal Catholic struggle between the pope and the king of Spain Philip II? Philip always had a shortage of money because all the wars he fought...

 

The reference to Saint Francis, who celibrated poverty could be a hint to money problems.

"He and his followers celebrated and even venerated poverty, which was so central to his character that in his last written work, the Testament, he said that absolute personal and corporate poverty was the essential lifestyle for the members of his order."

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi

 

Interesting take on it, not strange at all, it is good to explore every angle.
But then there is this, it is clearly a plea from someone (people) who has lost religious symbols, both material and spiritual:

I see what you mean, it could mean that genuine Catholicism will win. It fits in with the aversion to greed. Not sure how it fits in with the rest of the text though.