Article from p. 2 of Het Parool (Amsterdam), Friday, 26 Jan. 2001
Translated by Jeremy Bangs, with his comments in [ ] brackets
[preliminary note (more at end): Dutch reporters often invent "quotations"; in this article I never said any of the things quoted, all of which are more or less imprecise or incorrect. Generally the article is positive, but it is annoying to read invented quotes, because it implies that one cannot be sure of quotes attributed to other people in Dutch newspaper articles. Because of this journalistic sin, frequently politicians get away with claiming not to have said something that is attributed to them in the paper, even though witnesses heard them say it.]
Every Footstep of the Pilgrims Sacred for the U.S. George W. Bush is one of their decendants; Franklin D. Roosevelt, too. They stayed in Leiden in the beginning of the 17th century. The Municipal Archives there is getting a Pilgrim Information Center. But the ruin of "their church" can, as far as the Council of State is concerned, be demolished. [by] Hanneke de Wit [2 ills.: Memorial for John Robinson inside the Pieterskerk [and] U.S. Ambassador Cynthia Schneider is shown around Leiden in late 1999, at the Pilgrim Fathers ruin.]
The Pilgrim Fathers. Suddenly they're in the news twice in a couple of days. Leiden decided this week to set up a Pilgrim Information Center in its Municipal Archives. And the Council of State let it be known that it has no objection against demolition of the ruin of the church, that recalls the stay of the Pilgrim Fathers in Leiden.
Leiden would really love to tear down the ruin, to make a great square. A crying shame [literally: a mortal sin], thinks art historian Dr. Jeremy Bangs, who has researched the Pilgrims now for around twenty years. The ruin itself, two brick walls, doesn't have much to it, - O.K. "But what's important is that the Pilgrim Fathers, who played a major role in the history of the U.S., went to church here."
The Pilgrims were Protestants who lived in Nottinghamshire in Britain and wanted nothing to do with the Anglican state church, - the loathing was mutual. They thought they'd be better off in Calvinist Holland, where, moreover, there was freedom of religion. Their flight in 1608 wasn't free of problems, but a group of Pilgrims succeeded finally in reaching Leiden, which was the most important city after Amsterdam. In 1609 Leiden gave a hundred Pilgrims written permission to settle in the city, on condition that they behave honestly and obey the rules and laws. Nowadays, we'd say they got the A-status.
That text became the foundation of the friendship between The Netherlands and the U.S., says Jeremy Bangs. It was not particularly unusual that the Pilgrims were allowed to stay. Of the 35-40,000 residents in Leiden, about a third were refugees.
The thick book containing the text that welcomed the Pilgrims lies in the Municipal Archives. The Pilgrim Information Center will be set up in two canal-side houses next door. There will be exhibit cases, but 17th-cent. books will not be permanently on display. "That would not be good for them," says Ariela Netiv, the archivist. But important texts like the one just mentioned are on the Internet. With translation into English, because even though the Pilgrim Information Center isn't there yet, the Municipal Archives attracts many Americans who are looking for their Pilgrim past. Further, there'll be computers that make it easy for visitors to find the answers to their own questions. "They went to the hospital here, they married here, naturally there is lots of information that can be found here," says Netiv.
The Municipal Archives has a splendid location on the Vliet. "It's beautiful," says Netiv, pointing out the window, "that there, by the bridge, the Pilgrims had their last glimpse of Leiden, when they went by boats to Delft, to go to Plymouth in England to make the trip across to America."
But we aren't that far yet; it's 1609, and they have just arrived. They find work at the looms easily, but hatmakers, shoemakers, gardeners, and brewery employees are also noted.
The Pilgrims may have profitted from Dutch toleration themselves, but they were unenthusiastic that people with other ideas also enjoyed religious freedom. They would have preferred it if everyone had respected Sunday quiet as much as they did, but they did not succeed in imposing their will on others.
In religion they could only agree with the members of the Walloon Church, The Walloons, Protestant refugees from Belgium, had the use of the Vrouwekerk, and that is now the church that is considered the church of the Pilgrims, the church of which now a ruin remains.
Netiv recounts that in the Vrouwekerk two Pilgrims married with Walloons and that one, Philip de la Noye, was baptised there in 1603, She considers it a rather mediocre harvest to be the basis for fighting for preservation of the ruin. According to her, most Pilgrims held their prayer services at home.
That De la Noye was an ancestor of the later president Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The former and present president Bush also are descendants of a Pilgrim Father. Bush, Sr., visited here. "No, not the young Bush," says Netiv, "I believe he's only been in foreign countries twice."
That both the Democrat Roosevelt and the the Republican Bush could count Pilgrims among their ancestors is, according to Jeremy Bangs, even more reason for cleaning up the church ruin. He points out the importance of the Pilgrims for all Americans. "Thanksgiving Day, which is celebrated everywhere in the U.S., also comes from the Pilgrims. It was the celebration they held when they were well supplied with food not long after their arrival in the U.S."
Why did they leave again around 1620? "they considered the Dutch too lax in the upbringin of their children and were afraid that their own children would get out of control," says Netiv. They were afraid the war with the Spanish would flare up again, and that then their religious freedom would be gone in the foreseeable future. (History proved them right in all those things.) These were sufficient reasons for the decision to try again in the New World. In the meantime, their number had grown enormously through the arrival of more refugees from England. Rev. Robinson succeeded in lining up 400 to go with him to Plymouth in England, where they embarked on the Mayflower. Some stayed here, or went to the U.S. later
Weaver's House
"They founded a new England there," says Jeremy Bangs. He has set up a 14th cent. weaver's house in the Beschuitsteeg as American Pilgrim Museum. Around one in the afternoon he lights the candles in the chandelier and various candlesticks; then he hangs the "open" sign on the door.
It's a museum with a story. Depending on what the visitor wants, Bangs tells about early life in Leiden or about the Pilgrim Fathers. "For Americans, that's very familiar," he says, " a small museum where the story that's told is important."
Bangs lived between 1985 and 1996 in the U.S., where he was curator of a museum about the Pilgrims in Massachusetts (six hundred thousand visitors a year). Presently he carries out research on the Pilgrims for the New England Historical and Genealogical Society.
The little house is full of 17th-cent. Dutch things, but he also has objects from the American Plymouth. He brings out a stone adze from a drawer in one of the cabinets. "Look at the splendid tools the Indians in Plymouth made," he says.
Yes, Indians lived in Plymouth, as the Pilgrims called the palce where they settled, - and which has a Leyden Street. Rumor has it that the Pilgrims emigrated to America partly with the object of converting the Indians. Because converting the Dutch, - they'd tried that, but without much success.
[It is very good that such a long and fairly accurate article was placed prominently in an Amsterdam-produced national paper. It gets the issue beyond the town walls of Leiden, where the local politicians have tried hard to contain it. They didn't know about the A.P. article until the story had appeared in Los Angeles, New York, Washington, etc. Nice.]
[Alderman for Culture Alexander Pechtold is fully aware of the desire shared by hundreds of Americans for the preservation of the Vrouwekerk. Another city spokesman, the archivist Ariela Netiv, states here that she thinks that the marriages and baptisms of Huguenots who became Pilgrims is a matter too trivial and insignificant to justify saving the Vrouwekerk, which is a national monument. No other town officials have spoken out, so these opinions must represent the town's attitude. Essentially it expresses disdain of Americans. I will recommend to the American Chamber of Commerce in The Hague that American companies should be informed of this attitude, which doubtless needs to be taken into consideration by any company considering operating an office in Leiden. This double expression of derision for American cultural concerns is a very strong reason for refusing to accept the vague "maybe" and "the town will be looking into it" as statements with any meaning.]
- Jeremy Bangs