Abstract
Since two languages are spoken in the Netherlands, Dutch and French, it is thought fitting that the communities of both tongues should have and keep their separate Church councils, classical assemblies and particular synods, but that if the communities of either language wish to summon together all their particular synods they should be permitted to do so with this reservation, that no assembly of a single language shall alter any decision made by such a synod concerning ceremonies, Church government or other grave matters. If it is felt that an alteration is necessary, it shall be made in the national synod of both tongues. And if it should happen that the national synod must be summoned before the accustomed time, in case of need, then two classes, one of each language, shall write to two particular synods, so that they may decide when and where the general synod shall be held.
This article is a translation of ‘De Nationale Synode te Dordrecht, 1578, en de positie der Waalse Kerken’, in: D. Nauta and J.P. van Dooren, ed., De Nationale Synode te Dordrecht, 1578 (Amsterdam, 1978) 52–67.
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Notes
F.L. Rutgers, Acta van de Nederlandsche synoden der zestiende eeuw. Werken der Marnix-Ver-eeniging, Serie II, III (Utrecht, 1889) 245–246.
ibidem, 284, article 5.
As well as from Holland and Zeeland, there were representatives from Flanders, Brabant, Gelderland and a few from refugee communities in England and Germany. All but one of them spoke Dutch, that is, one of the Low German dialects spoken in the territory of the present-day Netherlands and Belgium north of the linguistic frontier, from which modern Dutch was already beginning to emerge as a standard language. Only five delegates to the Synod spoke French.
Ibidem, 310–11.
Ibidem, 312.
Ibidem, 304–5.
Ibidem, 308–9.
Gérard Moreau, Histoire du protestantisme à Tournai jusqu ‘à la veille de la révolution des Pays-Bas. Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres de l’Université de Liège, CLXVII (Paris, 1962) 156, for a note with some very interesting details.
N.C. Kist, in Nederlandsch archief voor kerkelijke geschiedenis, XX, Nieuwe Serie, IX (1849) 113–210.
Livre synod contenant les articles résolus dans les synodes des Eglises Wallones des Pays-Bas, publié par la Commission de l’Histoire des Eglises Wallonnes, I (The Hague, 1896).
Gérard Moreau, ‘Les synodes des Eglises Wallonnes des Pays-Bas en 1563’, Nederlandsch archief voor kerkgeschiedenis, XLVII (1965) 1–11.
It concerns the following articles: 2=7; 4=2; 5=12; 6=18; 7=19; 8=20; 9=21; 10=29; 24=III,21; 27=36; 28=37; 29=III,9; 30=III,10; 31=IV,22; 33=III,7 7; 35=II; Faits generaux 3; 41=III,20; 46=40. Roman numerals indicate the order of the French synods, where they are omitted, number I is understood; italicised numbers indicate that the respective formulae were not in complete agreement. The articles of the French synods are numbered as in Aymon’s edition, see note 16.
Kist, ‘De Synoden’, 144; articles 12 to 21, inclusive, are devoted to this office.
Ibidem, 163, art. 4 of the Antwerp classis, 27/12/1572.
C. de Boer, Hofpredikers van prins Willem van Oranje Jean Taffin en Pierre Loyseleur de Villiers (The Hague, 1952), 26.
Kist, ‘De Synoden’, 141; F. Méjan, Discipline de L’Eglise Réformée de France (Paris, 1947) rightly 229, claims that an analogous regulation had been included in the French Discipline Ecclésiastique since 1560, see Jean Aymon, Tous les synodes nationaux des Eglises Réformées de France (2 parts; The Hague, 1710) I, 16, 17: II Faits Généraux 7.
Boer, Hofpredikers, 90–91.
J. Reitsma and J. Lindeboom, Geschiedenis van de hervorming en de hervormde kerk der Nederlanden (5th edition; The Hague, 1949) 129.
Rutgers, Acta, 276.
Ibidem, 280–281.
Ibidem, 400, art. 68.
Ibidem, 139: 17 June, art. 4.
Ibidem, 136: 16 June, art. 12.
Ibidem, 138: 16 June, art. 24.
Ibidem, 146: 19 June, art. 62.
A.Th. van Deursen, Bavianen en slijkgeuzen. Kerk en kerkvolk ten tijde van Maurits en Olden-barnevelt (Assen, 1975) index, s.v. ‘Doopsgezinden’.
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Knetsch, F.R.J. (1981). The National Synod of Dordrecht, 1578, and the Position of the Walloon Churches. In: Emery, C.R., Swart, K.W. (eds) The Low Countries History Yearbook 1980. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8358-8_3
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