During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, politiques (French pronunciation: [pɔlitik]) were Western European statesmen who prioritized the strength of the state above all other organs of society, including religion.
Many moderate politique Catholics defended the idea of Gallicanism, of making a distinction between the State and Religion, of a unitary and undivided royal sovereignty (against exterior influence or internal divisions), and of privileging national security and peace.
Specifically, he notes as the most important of them William the Silent, who moved from the Catholic Church to the Calvinist one - the opposite direction to that taken by his contemporary Henry IV of France, but taken out of similar motives.
In Jonathan Israel's view, the long-term influence of such Dutch Politiques was positive, helping to mitigate the more intransigent forms of Calvinism and to create in the Netherlands a climate of (relative) religious toleration, greater than in other European countries at the time.
[1] Likewise, Blair Worden makes the point that during the Commonwealth of England, while the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell was broadly Calvinist, his circle contained non-sectarian ‘merciful men’ or politiques who were more tolerant of other doctrines.