Heraldry

 

The family weapons appearing in our family tree are described in following publications:

• Oude Brabantse familiewapens – Eigen Schoon – Ao 1958 pp 378 to 393
• Het wapenboek van Brabant – p 36 – VVF no W60 – 0142
• Intermédiare or De Middelaar – Ao 1967  216 by Dr Spellekens
• Sceax Armoiriés de Belgique et des Pays Bas – JTH De Raadt book no 3

 

Here we regain the translations of a description we found in the document “Oude Brabantse Familiewapens p 378”:

“In the Middle ages our districts consisted of a big number of families, initially consisting of unfree people who had served their sovereigns as military companions and body-guards, as court functionaries or as representatives on the princely domains and who, as a reward for their services rendered, were endowed first with fiefs, after that also with seigniorial rights.  Thus they climbed higher on the social ladder and were eventually admitted to nobility.

These families, the one more powerful than the other, mostly died out through the centuries as far as they didn’t decline, by loss of goods.

The memories of these old families don’t live on among the people, unless there where their glorious deeds became legendary, but their names have been preserved, sometimes without we are aware of that, since these families were always named after their seigniorial domain or became known with the name of their possessions.  The names of that possessions or manors came to us, or passed, in many cases, passed to the communities.  From time to time the arms of the ancient families was granted to the municipality.

When we look at these blazons, we are immediately touched by the simplicity of the illustrated blazons, simplicity that shows antiquity and eminence.

The family arms as we know them now, date from the time when knights fought against each other in tournaments, to gain the favour of certain maidens.  The knights came from far and near to participate in the feast.  The day before the spectacle the arms, the shields and the helmets were examined by the heralds.  They practised an official occupation and decided which knights were allowed to participate in the fights.

Due to the multiplicity of shields, they were compelled to make drawings and take notes, which resulted in the known weapons.  To make clear for which maiden they struggled, a piece of veil tissue of the involved lady was tied to the helmet. The veil often came ripped through the battle, however it was, even with a next tournament, never removed from the helmet. The day of the inspection the helmets with veil were placed on the helmets

and portrayed with some artistic freedom. That way arose what today is called the “helmkleed”.

The Heralds placed in the pictures certain images from the shield on the helmet, what in heraldry is called the “helmteken”.

Through the ages we see appear different helmet variations; for instance the bowler helmet, the stab helmet, the bar helmet, … In the 13^th and 14^th century the escutcheon automatically descended from father to son. Later on we see the weapon being modified at certain events.

It would be a misunderstanding to think a family weapon only occurs in noble families. In the Netherlands there are about 700 noble families, even though there are approximately 45000 known civil weapons.

 

The family weapon of the “van Relegem” family

In silver a black  cross, accompanied by a little blackbird in the first quarter.

 

 

 

“Oude Brabantse Familiewapens p 393”:

 

 Relegem (van) - “In zilver een zwart kruis, in het eerste kwartier vergezeld van een zwart mereltje”

The first owners of the village Relegem or Redelgem were noblemen, who were related to the most principal families from the neighbourhood, namely those from Wemmel, Ophem and Boechout. Apart from the colours their weapon was completely equal to the one of the van Crainhem family.

Iwein van Redelghem is mentioned in 1198 as uncle of the van Ophem Lords. The Redelghem estate passed into other hands already early, due to the marriage of Joanna van Redelghem and Filips van Waver (14^th century). However we also meet different members of the Relegem family as alderman or as dignitary in Brussels.

The above described weapon occurs in 1397 on the seal of knight Jan van Redelghem and in 1409 on the one of Jan, alderman of Brussels. For others, this weapon is provided with fraction signs; five shells for Jan van Redelghem in 1358, one or two for Jan van Redelghem in 1367 and 1368.

 

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