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arms and flag are given official approval. Until 1980 the approval took the form of a Royal Decree. Since then it is issued as a Decree of the competent
Flemish minister. Under the aegis of the Flemish Heraldic Council, Flemish municipal heraldry has gone through a complete overhaul. The task of assigning a proper coat of arms and flag to each municipality was completed by the early 1990s. In the process care was taken to rectify errors from the past, execute drawings in a clear style and standardize the blazon. While municipal coats of arms have to be in keeping with local historic and heraldic heritage, considerably more creativity is allowed in the design of flags.
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354:) used its powers to legislate in cultural affairs to vote a decree aimed at safeguarding the heraldic heritage of local authorities. The measure received the royal assent on 28 January 1977. Under the terms of the decree every municipality is obliged to have its own arms and flag. The arms have to be displayed on the municipal seal that is used to authenticate official documents. The local council has to initiate the procedure by proposing a coat of arms and a flag. Proposals have to conform to the principles of heraldry and
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entitlement to ancient arms to petition for a grant of new arms. In either case recognitions and grants of arms to municipalities were made by Royal Decree. The procedure depended on the initiative of local councils and was administered by the
Ministry of the Interior in close consultation with the
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of 11 April 1984. The task of the
Council in matters of local heraldry has always been advisory. It considers the symbolism and design of the arms and flags, bearing in mind historical precedents. In many cases it makes suggestions for improvement. Upon recommendation by the Council, the municipal
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Before 1977 the heraldry of
Belgian municipalities was regulated by two Royal Decrees. The Royal Decree of 6 February 1837 provided for the recognition of arms used by local governments during the Ancien Régime. The Royal Decree of 14 February 1913 allowed municipalities that could not prove their
350:. Municipalities that were affected by a merger could no longer use their preexisting arms. As a result, a mere 66 (21%) of Flemish municipalities could continue to bear a coat of arms. On the eve of the mergers the Cultural Council of the Dutch Speaking Cultural Community (the precursor of the
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On 21 December 1978 a Royal Decree instituted the
Subcommittee of Heraldry within the Royal Commission for Monuments and Sites with instructions to report on the municipalities' proposals. Following the revision of the Belgian constitution of 1980, the Subcommittee was upgraded to become the
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arms and flags in 1994. Since 2000, the
Council has likewise advised the Flemish Government on grants of arms to Flemish individuals and corporations. In the meantime, more than 200 such grants have received official sanction. Grants of arms by the Flemish Government are published in the
422:, motivated the Flemish Parliament to approve the decree of 21 December 1994, extending the existing legislation on municipal arms and flags to include the five Flemish provinces. The decree furthermore stated that provincial arms would be augmented with supporters and surmounted by a
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Following a major overhaul of local government, the number of
Belgian municipalities was reduced from 2359 to 596 on 1 January 1977. Six years later, one more merger brought the number down to 589. In the Flemish Region the number of municipalities fell from 906 to
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454:. Supporters and the accompanying compartments were based on historical, heraldic and geographical considerations. Thus the deer and the swan of Limburg were based on the arms of
322:(75%). Broadly speaking these figures reflected the relative degree of urbanization and the long and strong tradition of local self-government in the erstwhile feudal entities of
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Before 1994, the arms of the
Belgian provinces were never the subject of a separate legal disposition. They were merely described as banners surmounting the royal mantle in the
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A decree of 3 February 1998 providing for the means of granting arms to private individuals and institutions was put into effect in 2000.
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or bonnet corresponding to the historic titles to which their names referred. Thus the provinces of
Flemish Brabant and
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enjoyed the same. The majority of armigerous municipalities was even more pronounced in the provinces of
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242:. The Council was created on 11 April 1984, as the successor to the Subcommittee for Heraldry or
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997:"Héraldique en Belgique | Association Royale Office Généalogique et Héraldique de Belgique"
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with online register of all arms granted to private persons and corporations.
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of the kingdom. The decision to divide the original province of
Brabant into
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Heraldic Consultant of the Episcopal Conference of Slovakia (Slovakia)
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Council of Heraldry and Vexillology of the French Community of Belgium
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Coat of arms of the Caluwaerts family, granted on 2 September 2003.
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Coat of arms of the du Quesne family, granted on 2 September 2003.
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Coat of arms of the De Laet family, granted on 30 November 2004.
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Coat of arms of the De Keyser family, granted on 18 April 2018.
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Coat of arms of the Haelterman family, granted on 1 March 2019.
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Driemaandelijks tijdschrift van het Gemeentekrediet van België
685:(1979). "De gemeentewapens na de samenvoeging van gemeenten".
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Driemaandelijks tijdschrift van het Gemeentekrediet van België
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Heraldic Council of the President of the Russian Federation
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independent Flemish Heraldic Council by the decree of the
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Lieve Viaene-Awouters and Ernest Warlop (2002) pp. 71-85.
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Lieve Viaene-Awouters and Ernest Warlop (2002) pp. 47-48.
661:(1977). "Samenvoeging van gemeenten en gemeentewapens".
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Lieve Viaene-Awouters and Ernest Warlop (2002) passim.
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Lieve Viaene-Awouters and Ernest Warlop (2002) p. 40.
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had the right to bear arms, only 25% of those in the
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Lieve Viaene-Awouters and Ernest Warlop (2002) p.33.
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46:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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715:Gemeentewapens in België: Vlaanderen en Brussel
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593:Current members of the Flemish Heraldic Council
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140:Genealogical and Heraldic Office of Belgium
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574:Presidents of the Flemish Heraldic Council
157:Supervising the granting and recording of
825:Lieve Viaene-Awouters (1977) pp. 291-294.
509:Examples of grants to people and families
106:Learn how and when to remove this message
1148:United States Army Institute of Heraldry
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285:Heraldry of provinces and municipalities
1234:Government agencies established in 1984
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834:Scufflaire Andrée (1979) pp. 177-179.
626:Other Heraldic authorities in Belgium
466:Heraldry of families and corporations
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44:adding citations to reliable sources
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632:Council of Heraldry and Vexillology
276:Council of Heraldry and Vexillology
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446:coronet and the province of
171:Flemish Community of Belgium
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1142:Canadian Heraldic Authority
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450:the coronet of a sovereign
238:on all matters relating to
130:Coat of arms of the Council
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231:Conseil héraldique flamand
55:"Flemish Heraldic Council"
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386:Arms of the province of
269:Belgian official journal
221:Vlaamse Heraldische Raad
212:Flemish Heraldic Council
119:Vlaamse Heraldische Raad
621:Steven Thiry, secretary
304:Council of the Nobility
194:Luc Duerloo (President)
1130:Court of the Lord Lyon
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659:Viaene-Awouters, Lieve
615:Anne-Laure Van Bruaene
598:Luc Duerloo, president
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1118:Cronista Rey de Armas
976:www.sarovlaanderen.be
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1192:Ulster King of Arms
1106:Genealogical Office
1082:Council of Nobility
717:. Gemeentekrediet.
648:in all of Belgium.
641:Council of Nobility
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485:. You can help by
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29:This article
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1004:. Retrieved
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897:"Haelterman"
891:
880:. Retrieved
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872:"Caluwaerts"
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789:Burgher arms
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487:adding to it
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33:verification
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1219:Flemish art
972:"du Quesne"
922:"de Keyser"
604:Jozef Dauwe
434:, those of
356:vexillology
136:Predecessor
1208:Categories
1182:(Carolina)
1176:(Burgundy)
1167:Historical
1132:(Scotland)
1024:(in Dutch)
1006:2019-12-13
982:2020-08-23
978:(in Dutch)
957:2020-08-23
953:(in Dutch)
932:2020-08-23
928:(in Dutch)
907:2020-08-22
903:(in Dutch)
882:2020-08-22
878:(in Dutch)
795:References
318:(73%) and
264:provincial
190:Key people
66:newspapers
1126:(England)
1108:(Ireland)
1102:(Georgia)
1096:(Belgium)
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947:"de Laet"
699:0773-9273
675:0773-9273
146:Formation
1144:(Canada)
1114:(Russia)
784:Heraldry
733:See also
713:(2002).
646:nobility
638:and the
460:Tongeren
452:margrave
420:Brussels
367:Borsbeek
365:Flag of
324:Flanders
293:Arms of
240:heraldry
159:heraldry
1188:(Italy)
1120:(Spain)
1075:Current
1001:oghb.be
652:Sources
456:Hasselt
448:Antwerp
444:count's
428:Limburg
424:coronet
400:Antwerp
388:Limburg
328:Brabant
320:Antwerp
258:of the
254:to all
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154:Purpose
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