Page 55 - Poat_to_Poot_Engels

RELIGIOUS TURMOIL AND JAN'S MINISTRY IN THE NETHERLANDS

Reformed Church ministers were usually called dominie, although the
words pastoor, predikant, and minister were also used. The word
dominie is also spelled domine and dominee, and is pronounced dom-in-
ee. This word is from the Latin dominus, used in the middle ages to
address learned men. The Netherlands insisted on a well-educated
clergy and the term dominie was used as a title of respect. The dominie
were highly respected, but modestly paid. It helped to have family
wealth if you were a dominie, otherwise one might need to earn
supplemental income from writing or giving lectures. Since European
politics and religion were closely intertwined, it was common for
powerful families to have ministers or religious leaders in their group.
Likewise, it was common for important people to move between
positions in the church and in the government. Dutch religious politics
played an important part in the future of the Poot family, so it is
worthwhile to digress into some religious history. (Religious politics is
very complex and often obscure. I hope the following discussion is not
too confusing or flawed.)

The Reformed Church was dominant in the northern and western
Netherlands, while the Catholics were dominant in the smaller southern
region and Belgium. The Reformed Church had its origins in the work of
John Calvin in France and Switzerland during the Reformation. Calvin's
principle beliefs were similar to Martin Luther's, although some specific
differences blocked early attempts to merge their churches. Calvin was
more of a philosopher than Luther, and though he wrote extensively, he
did not develop a complete church doctrine, as did Luther. The result is
that a considerable variety of protestant faiths grew out of diverse
interpretations of Calvin's teaching. In England his followers were
principally Presbyterians and Congregationalists. On the continent, they
were mostly called Reformed Churches. There were both the French
Reformed Church and Dutch Reformed Church in the Netherlands. This
is the result of the Catholic rulers of France persecuting and murdering
the Calvinists. The French Calvinists were known as "Huguenots", and
they fled to Holland, Great Britain, and America. (Huguenot means
literally "Hugues oath comrades". Hugues was a Reformation political
leader in Geneva in the early 1500's.) Eventually the French Reformed
Church merged with the Dutch Reformed Church and they became
known as The Reformed Church. It is interesting that far away in
America, Willem Frederick Poot would marry someone who was a
descendent of the Huguenots.

In the late 1700's, the Netherlands was severely weakened by wars and
the loss of most of its foreign territories to England. This made the
Netherlands an easy target for French conquest in 1795. Over the next

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