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Belgische Gemeentewapens - Armories communales de Belgique Belgian Civic Heraldry

BEKKEVOORT

Province : Vlaams-Brabant
Additions : 1976 Assent, Molenbeek-Wersbeek

Origin/meaning :

The arms were granted on August 28, 1935 and are officially crowned with a crown of a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire.
The arms are rather complicated and reflect the local history. In 1436 Bekkevoort became a possession of Johanna van Diest and Heinsberg, and after her death the village became a possession of Johan van Loon. Later the village was acquired by the Counts of Meissen-Saarbrücken and finally in the early 17^th century to the house of Nassau-Dillenburg (later Oranje-Nassau, the Dutch royal family).

The oldest known seal of Bekkevoort dates from 1694 and shows the arms of Prince Willem-Hendrik van Oranje-Nassau as Lords of Bekkevoort. These arms were granted in 1935 as arms of the municipality.
The main shield shows the quartered arms of the branch of Nassau-Saarbrücken, with the lion of Nassau in the first and fourth, and the lion of Saarbrücken in the second and third quarter (the combination also appears in the Stadtverband Saarbrücken, Germany). The free quarter shows again a quartered shield, with the bars of the Counts of Loon and the lion of Heinsberg.

Literature : Servais, 1955

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