450 years after the Spanish Terror or Fury, Spanish influences still abound in the northern port city. Anyone walking through Antwerp today will come across many traces of that period of Spanish rule, though they are not always immediately obvious. They are also hidden in a nickname. This is the story of the ‘sinjoren’, the nickname that the Spanish bequeathed to the people of Antwerp, of city ramparts and a cathedral that would rather be a church.
This week, Antwerp commemorates the Spanish Terror or Fury of 4 November 1576, a dark chapter in the city’s history during which Spanish troops wreaked havoc.
But the influence of the Spaniards on the 16th-century city on the River Scheldt can still be felt to this day.
Sinjors and Pagadders
True Antwerpians call themselves ‘Sinjoren’, a corruption of the Spanish title of address ‘señor’. This dates back to the 16th-century Spanish occupation and the Eighty Years’ War, when the distinguished gentlemen of Antwerp were addressed in this way by the Spanish occupiers.
Over the centuries, the term ‘sinjoor’ has evolved into a term of endearment for anyone born in Antwerp’s historic city centre to two Antwerp-born parents. As there is no longer a hospital with a maternity ward in that area, the ‘true’ sinjoren have been dying out for some time now.
Anyone who lives in the city but does not have Antwerp-born parents is a ‘pagadder’. This is derived from the Spanish verb ‘to pay’, ‘pagar’. Various theories circulate regarding its exact origin.
One theory says that anyone coming from outside Antwerp had to pay a toll at the city gates. It may also be derived from the word ‘pagadores’, the name of the Spanish paymasters who went around the city seeking pay and food for the soldiers. The people of Antwerp did not take kindly to their arrival.
The fact that little boys are also called ‘pagadders’ even in Flanders today can also be linked to the Spanish paymasters. They were usually of smaller stature, and therefore unsuitable for bearing arms, but well-suited to support roles in the army.
Ramparts become boulevards
It was not until the late 19th century that the Spanish ramparts surrounding Antwerp were demolished. The fortification walls dating from 1542 made way for the Leien, the wide city boulevards that still mark the boundary of the historic city centre.
During the redevelopment of the Leien a few years ago, many historic sections and gates of the Spanish ramparts were also uncovered. You can now drive leisurely along the route of the 16th-century Spanish wall. Although in the past, that wall came to an abrupt end at an important Spanish fortress: Alva’s Fort.
Well into the 19th century, the city’s built-up area ended at the Duke of Alva’s fortress, also known as the Spanish Citadel or the South Castle. The present-day Kasteelpleinstraat still bears a reference to this. To keep Antwerp under control, a fortress was built on the outskirts of the city. That site is now part of the Zuid or South district, which includes, for example, the KMSKA, Antwerp’s fine arts museum.
On the map below, you can compare the present-day city with the 18th-century Ferraris map, on which you can see the Spanish stronghold.
The Spanish castle was demolished long ago, but in Antwerp’s Zuid district there is another structure that bears witness to Spanish rule. The Waterpoort or Water Gate, which now stands in the Zuidpark, was built in 1642 as a triumphal arch in honour of Spain’s King Philip IV. However, he never actually visited the city.
The attentive reader will now raise an eyebrow, realising that the Waterpoort stands in a district that did not yet exist in 1642. Originally, the structure stood on the Vlasmarkt or flax market, and in 1880 it was moved to the Sint-Jansvliet. In the 1930s, the triumphal arch had to make way there too, this time for the construction of the pedestrian tunnel and ended up in the Zuid district.
The Habsburg coat of arms of the Spanish monarchs adorns Antwerp’s Waterpoort.
The Unwanted Cathedral
It is also thanks to the Spaniards that Antwerp has a cathedral. Not the building itself, but the status. Until 1559, Antwerp was home only to the majestic Church of Our Lady. The city council and the local church prelates were not keen on it being elevated to the status of a cathedral.
They were particularly troubled by the interference of a bishop’s central authority. As a powerful trading city, Antwerp was, after all, a melting pot of Calvinist and Jewish merchants. An overly heavy Catholic hand was therefore anything but desirable.
Yet that was precisely what the Spanish monarch and iconoclast Philip II had in mind for those rebellious Antwerpians. By means of a papal bull – a formal letter issued by the Pope – he elevated the Antwerp church to the status of a cathedral. The Antwerp city council of the time viewed this with dismay and, in 1562, even sent a delegation to Madrid in a futile attempt to have the plans reconsidered.
To this day, the coat of arms of Philip II hangs in a prominent position in Antwerp City Hall. The Spanish king had it installed there in 1564 to make it clear, in the midst of the Eighty Years’ War, who was really in charge in the City on the Scheldt.