Herentals

HERENTALS

Province : Antwerpen
Additions : 1977 Morkhoven, Noorderwijk

Official blazon

(1819) Van rood, beladen met een gouden boom.
(1841) Een rood veld met eenen zilveren boom met dry wortels en takken zonder getal, afhangende, ook van zilver.
(1989) In keel een uitgerukte boom van zilver.

Origin/meaning

The arms were granted on October 6, 1819. The colour of the tree was changed on January 9, 1841 and the arms were confirmed on May 9, 1989.

Herentals' coat of arms has always featured a tree. Historians are not in agreement about the origin of the tree, which took various shapes throughout the centuries. A picture of the arms with the historically correct colours (red and white) first appears about 1536. Why in 1819 the arms were granted with a golden tree is not known. This was corrected in 1841.

The seal from 1262
The arms in a 17th century manuscript
The arms from 1818
The arms in the Koffie Hag/Café Hag albums +/- 1930
The arms on a police badge (source)
The arms of Genk (?) on a Herentals police badge (source)

Literature: Anonymous : Van evers en heiligen - wapens en vlaggen van de gemeenten in de provincie Antwerpen. Antwerpen, 1998. Information provided by the municipality of Herentals.