Many genealogists start their research by diligently looking for their family coat of arms. Some of them go about this in the wrong way: it is possible to pick up a book of family arms and actually find arms with the same family name as your own. Yet the question remains whether or not this is really your family.
Only after a thorough research will you be sure of whether or not the family you are investigating carried a coat of arms. You can find the coat of arms on tombstones, wax seals, paintings, stained glass windows, ex libris (bookplate), kitchen utensils, furniture, silver items from the homeguard, etc.. That only leaves the question of whether or not you really are a member of the family that bore this coat of arms. You should also verify that this family wore the coat of arms legitimately. It is possible that the family simply adopted it from another family with the same name. Once all of these requirements have been met, you can bear this coat of arms as your own with certainty.
Of course you shouldn't get your hopes up with this 'arms race'. Many families didn't even have a coat of arms, simply because they never felt the need for one. Even within families that bore a coat of arms, it was certainly not used by every family member. In most cases, it was only employed by family members that needed their official capacity in order to seal official documents (notaries, pastors, aldermen) or for decorative purposes. This can mean that the arms were faithfully passed down in one branch of the family, but was forgotten in another branch.
Limburg, along with the Southern Netherlands and Switzerland for example, belongs to the central European area where the family heraldry has always been free and able to develop without constraint. There was always the freedom to choose or develop a family coat of arms and to carry it. In countries like England and France, the government maintained control (tot zich getrokken) of family coats of arms and kept it as a source of income. The family heraldry in these countries was robbed of its freedom at an early stage and was not able to develop. So the chance that you arrive at a family with a coat of arms is much greater in Limburg than in Northern Netherlands.
your very own coat of arms
If you should arrive at the conclusion in your research that your family has no coat of arms, then there is always the option to have one designed; or even design one yourself. This must be done according to the rules of heraldry. In the Netherlands, only the government and royal heraldry is protected by law. This refers to the arms from families of royalty and from public bodies such as provinces, districts, and districts of the water board. These are granted by Royal appointment and registered with the High Council of Nobility in the Hague. Family heraldry on the other hand is not regulated by law: everyone is free to take on a coat of arms. Etiquette stipulates that you do not adopt a coat of arms that already belongs to another family. Although this is not punishable, we strongly advise against such actions.
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