Skip to content
Call Us Today! 212-533-4646 | MON-FRI 12PM - 4PM (EST)
DONATE
SUBSCRIBE
Search for:
About Us
UNWLA 100
Publications
FAQ
Annual Report 2023
Annual Report 2022
Annual Report 2021
Initiatives
Advocate
Educate
Cultivate
Care
News
Newsletters
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Join UNWLA
Become a Member
Volunteer With Us
Donate to UNWLA
Members Portal
Calendar
Shop to Support Ukraine
Search for:
Print
Print Page
Download
Download Page
Download Right Page
Open
1
2-3
4-5
6-7
8-9
10-11
12-13
14-15
16-17
18-19
20-21
22-23
24-25
26-27
28-29
30-31
32-33
34-35
36-37
38-39
40
During the Seventeenth Century, trade in tulips with Turkey was as important as trade in raw silk, woven silks, velvet and carpets. Austria, France and the Netherlands entertained a close relationship with Turkey by road and by sea (the Mediterranean Sea as well as the Black Sea). The position of the Netherlands on the North Sea, and at the mouths of several rivers, made this country a center of trade. Cities such as Amsterdam rose to power and wealth. Through marriages, inheritance and wars, the French dukes of Burgundy and the Hapsburgs came to rule in Holland. Yet in spite of the wars, the 1600s mark the golden age of the Netherlands, and in the 400 years since, the country has become synonymous with tulips. In the Netherlands of the 1600s, Dutch trade expanded and the country became the commercial center of Europe. In 1601, the Dutch East India Company was founded, and in 1621, the Dutch West India Company. It was during that period that colonists from the Netherlands settled in New Amsterdam which is today New York City. Tulip bulbs were traded at a high price. Flowers were priced according to their sudden changes in color and in pattern, a process technically known as breaking". Some made fortunes with these "breaking" tulips; according to Diderot's Encyclopedic (article Tulipe), a tulip called "Viceroy" could be bought provided one had two wagonloads of wheat, four wagonloads of rye, four fat oxen, eight fat pigs, twelve fat sheep, two barrels of wine, four barrels of beer, two barrels of butter, one thousand pounds of cheese, one complete bed, one suit of clothes, and one silver beaker, a total of goods worth 2,500 florins! This was nearly enough to keep the crew of a ship fed for a whole year. So what do tulips have in common with Cossacks and Musketeers? Musketeers were military men used by the French royal family to carry out delicate and difficult missions. The animated film How the Kozaks Helped the Musketeers (Kozak Kartoons [sic], Part III) accurately portrays these Musketeers and illustrates what was and still is historically called in Europe "Tulipmania" (love of tulip bulbs) and which lasted from 1634 to 1637. The film suggests that the tulip is an exotic flower which is closely connected to passionate love, match making, weddings, Turkey and the Ottoman Empire. It tells the story of how a young prince in Amsterdam fell in love with a Turkish princess whom he knew only through her portrait. In order to ask for her hand, the prince turned to his aunt, Marie de Medicis (1573-1642, the Queen of France and mother of the ruling king Louis XIII (1601-1643). Although Louis XIII was king, the real man in power, especially after 1624, was Cardinal Armand Jean Du Plessis, Due de Richelieu (1585-1642). He had a hand in all the royal affairs. So when the Queen dispatched her private guard of Musketeers to help her nephew, Richelieu, a very ambitious statesman who supposedly wanted to marry his niece to the prince in question, sent the royal navy in pursuit of the Musketeers, wanting to destroy them and put an end to their mission. (In the animated film, Richelieu led the royal navy in person!) As the story unfolds, the Musketeers reached their destination, delivered the Dutch prince's present, secured the princess' hand in marriage, and managed to leave the palace with the princess' gift which symbolized her agreement to marry the prince from Holland. The gift was a box filled with highly priced tulip bulbs which would bloom when the Musketeers reached Amsterdam. In the film, the Musketeers’ return trip was by way of a Magic Flying Carpet, reminiscent of the Ukrainian folk tale of The Flying Ship. And what about the Cossacks? As the animated film recounts the story, as Richelieu's militaiy vessel pursued the Musketeers, a canon ball hit the flying carpet and set it on fire. At this moment,
Page load link
Go to Top
1 
2-3 
4-5 
6-7 
8-9 
10-11 
12-13 
14-15 
16-17 
18-19 
20-21 
22-23 
24-25 
26-27 
28-29 
30-31 
32-33 
34-35 
36-37 
38-39 
40 
