Reshaping arguments: How political ideas transcend borders

This thesis demonstrates how the translation of a French pamphlet could serve as the basis for a critique on Spanish government during the Dutch Revolt. The argument that the French government would deteriorate in a “Turkish tyranny” was manipulated in order to fit Dutch political circumstances. This thesis shows how this manipulation took place. In the French context the Italian influence on the French Crown was regarded as insidious, while in the Dutch pamphlet the Spaniards were considered to bring “utter destruction” to the Netherlands. The context of the Dutch Revolt and the French Wars of Religion is outlined, and the thesis contains a thorough discussion of sixteenth century political thought. Notions of 'tyranny' and the image of the Ottoman Turk in sixteenth century Europe are explicated. The thesis explains why the image of the Ottoman Turk was used to describe the behaviour of governments regarded as tyrannical. Moreover, the contemporary discussions on the power of the monarch – the so-called Monarchomach ideas – can be traced in the French and Dutch pamphlets (1575) as well.