UNIT 8: Jan de Pottre, Dagboek (1595)

 

 

 

 

Introduction to the Text

 

In Unit 8 you will be reading a modernised and adapted fragment from Dagboek van Jan de Pottre 1549-1602 (Diary of Jan de Pottre). In the Introduction to Unit 2 where you have read another fragment from this author, the historical value of diaries is discussed.

In this fragment de Pottre describes events that occupy a place of major importance in the religious and political history of the Low Countries. He relates how the Protestants began to preach openly in Catholic Flanders in 1566. Under influence of these so-called hedge-preachers, many of them stormed the local churches to destroy the statues and images of Catholic saints (Beeldenstorm), which they felt were sacrilegious. The cause of this iconoclasm, considered by many as the start of the Eighty Years War or Dutch Revolt, lies in the bad economic situation of the ordinary people and the oppression of the new Protestant (Calvinist) religion. This oppression was policy of King Philip II of Spain who also ruled the Low Countries. Spain initially managed to suppress the rebellion. In 1572 however the rebels conquered den Briel (Brielle) in South Holland, and the uprising resurged. After a long and bitter struggle, the northern provinces officially became independent in 1648 as the United Provinces of the Netherlands or Dutch Republic. The Southern Netherlands, however, remained under Spanish rule. Because of the incessant repression by the Spanish in the southern provinces, many of its financial, intellectual and cultural elite fled north, thus contributing to the success of the Republic.

Several interesting websites are dedicated to the Eighty Years War or specific events that took place during the Revolt. Here follows a short overview of the most important ones:

1. dutchrevolt.leidenuniv.nl: Webpage of Leiden University dedicated to the Eighty Years War that can be browsed in several languages. Major source of information on a wide spectrum of topics related to the Revolt. Besides the standard story of the Revolt, it offers original documents from the time, maps, reading lists etc. A must for anyone doing research on the history of the period.

2. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighty_Years_War: English webpage of Wikipedia Encyclopedia offering a very detailed description of the different stages and events that make up the story of the Dutch Revolt.

3. http://www.dutch.ac.uk/: Webpage of UCL’s Virtual Dutch Department which offers four interactive study packs (two in English and two in Dutch) on one of the milestones of the Revolt, the Plakkaat van Verlatinge (Act of Abjuration), the document by which the United Provinces of the Netherlands repudiated Philip II and his heirs in perpetuity. In Unit 10 of the History Module you can read a fragment from this document.  

 

Illustration of the Iconoclasm (Beeldenstorm).

From: Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeldenstorm.

 

 

 

Text Fragment

 

In het jaar 1566 begon deze nieuwe sekte in Antwerpen buiten de poorten te preken. Veel volk ging ernaar luisteren, ook rijke kooplieden met hun vrouw. Men zei dat er wel 4000 tot 5000 mensen alle zondagen en heilige dagen daarheen gingen. Noch de Heren van de stad, noch het hof durfden hen te beletten. Het was daar niet alleen dat die dingen gebeurden, maar overal in Vlaanderen. Ook in Holland werd er voor grote menigten gepreekt. Niemand wist hoe de zaken zouden evolueren.

 

 

The original text can be found in:

Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren at http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/pott013dagb01_01/.

 

 

Task 1: Vocabulary

 

Print this page or write down the seven sentences below. Read the sentences, underline the words you do not understand and write down the meaning of the words you already know. 

   

  1. In het jaar 1566 begon deze nieuwe sekte in Antwerpen buiten de poorten te preken.
  2. Veel volk ging ernaar luisteren, ook rijke kooplieden met hun vrouw.
  3. Men zei dat er wel 4000 tot 5000 mensen alle zondagen en heilige dagen daarheen gingen.
  4. Noch de Heren van de stad, noch het hof durfden hen te beletten.
  5. Het was daar niet alleen dat die dingen gebeurden, maar overal in Vlaanderen.
  6. Ook in Holland werd er voor grote menigten gepreekt.
  7. Niemand wist hoe de zaken zouden evolueren.

 

Click here to compare your answers and to find out the meaning of the words or phrases you do not understand.

 

 

Task 2: Grammar and Syntax

 

Now answer the following grammatical and syntactical questions. Note that this task contains a question on pronominal adverbs.

 

Sentence 1:

  1. Find the subject.

 

Sentence 2:

  1. To which word/words used in sentence 1 does ernaar ( = pronominal adverb) refer? You may answer this question in English.

 

Sentence 3:

  1. Identify the indirect speech.

 

Sentence 4:

  1. Identify the subject.
  2. Identify the finite verb. What tense is it?
  3. Who are hen? You may answer this question in English.
  4. Identify all negatives.

 

Sentence 5

  1. To which word/words used earlier in the text does daar refer?

 

Sentence 6

  1. Identify the passive voice. What tense is it?
  2. What type of er is used here?

 

Sentence 7:

  1. Identify the indirect speech.

  

After finishing the exercise you can check your answers on the Feedback Page.

 

 

Task 3: Word Forms and Classes

 

3a. You will now have to identify the head-words or stems of a series of words from the text.

 

  1. begon (sentence 1)
  2. rijke (sentence 3)
  3. zondagen (sentence 3)
  4. gebeurden (sentence 5)
  5. menigten (sentence 6)
  6. wist (sentence 7)

 

After you have finished, go to the Feedback Page, where you will also find some annotations to this exercise. 

 

3b. Next, please click here to test your knowledge of word classes in Dutch. If you do not remember what word classes are exactly , click here.  

 

 

Task 4: Text Comprehension

 

Now that you have worked your way through the first three Tasks of this Unit, you should be able to answer the following questions on the content of the text. Try to answer in Dutch using a sentence, a part of the sentence or a word from the text.

 

  1. Did the new sect preach in the centre of Antwerp? In which part of the sentence do you find the answer to this question (see sentence 1)?
  2. Did only poor people listen to the preachers? In which part of the sentence do you find the answer to this question (see sentence 2)?
  3. Did someone stop the people from listening to the new sect (see sentence 4)?
  4. Did this sect preach only in Antwerp?
  5. Who were these preachers (Introduction)? Please answer in English.

 

After finishing, look at the Feedback Page to check your answers.

 

 

Task 5: Translation

 

Try to make a clear, comprehensive and fluent English translation of the text. After finishing, click here to compare your translation.

 

 

Task 6: Glossary

 

Finally, you should try to memorise the following words from the text.

 

1.      beginnen: van start gaan [to begin; verb]

2.      nieuw: <=> oud [new; adj]

3.      buiten: [outside; prep]

4.      het volk: (here) een grote groep mensen [people, crowd; noun]

5.      gaan: [to go; verb]

6.      luisteren: [to listen; verb]

7.      rijk: met veel geld [rich; adj]

8.      de vrouw: (here) de persoon die getrouwd is met een man [wife; noun]

9.      zeggen: vertellen [to say; verb]

10.  de zondag: de laatste dag van de week [Sunday; noun]

11.  de dag: de periode dat het licht is; <=> nacht [day; noun]

12.  de stad: een plaats waar veel mensen samen wonen [city, town; noun]

13.  durven: de moed hebben [to dare; verb]

14.  alleen: slechts [only; adv]

15.  gebeuren: [to happen; verb]

16.  weten: kennis hebben van iets [to know; verb]

17.  hoe: [how; adv]

 

Once you have studied these new words, click here for a short self-test on Dutch verbs.

 

Click here to go to Unit 9. Click here for the home page.