Excerpt from the book HERALDRY OF THE WORLD Written and illustrated by Carl Alexander von Volborth , K.St.J., A.I.H. Copenhagen 1973 Internet version edited by Andrew Andersen, Ph.D.
	The Netherlands (pp. 76-79 and 195-196) Those areas which today make up the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Holland) and Belgium have had a far more complicated history than the British Isles. At various periods in time these countries have, either wholly or in part, belonged to the Holy Roman Empire, Burgundy, Austria, Spain and France. In 1581 the seven northern provinces declared themselves an independent republic. In 1815 the republic united with the southern Netherlands to form the United Netherlands under William I of Orange-Nassau but fifteen years later, in 1830, the South broke away and became the independent kingdom of Belgium under Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. Thus it cannot be expected that heraldry should have developed in these two countries along such methodical and controlled lines as in Great Britain. The armorial bearings of the nobility, in all about 400 at the present time, are in the Netherlands protected by law (against plagiarism and misuse). They are registered by the Council for Patents of Nobility, Hoge Raad van Adel, which also keeps a register of civic arms and suchlike. The arms of commoners are not registered and are not protected by law. All the same there is hardly any other country, perhaps with the exception of Switzerland, where the use of coats of arms by bourgeois families is so widespread. The majority of such arms originate from the republican period (1581-1815); according to Netherlands law everybody had a right to assume arms, and there were a tremendous number of families who did so. There is a great interest in heraldry, and its study is well organised, the centre for it being the Koninklijk Nederlandsch Genootschap voor Geslacht- en Wapenkunde, Bleijenburg 5, The Hague. There are no specific rules, as there are in Great Britain, about which rank may bear which helmets and in which position. In the Netherlands any coat of arms, whether it belongs to a commoner or to a nobleman, can be used with barrel helm, tournament helmet, barred or visored helmet, in profile or affronty; and if anyone wishes to use more than one helmet there is nothing to stop him. Something of the same holds good for supporters. They were no doubt originally a privilege of the aristocracy, but that has long been forgotten, and some bourgeois families have supporters, while many noble families do not. Mottoes are not common, except in the arms of noble families, when they are as a rule in French or Latin. But here again everybody has a right to do as he pleases. Coronets of nobility (p. 76) are placed above the shield, and formerly helmet and crest were set above this, or the coronet was set on the helmet. Nowadays this is not generally considered good heraldry. Today the general practice is to use either a coronet alone or a helmet and crest. A crowned helmet, purely ornamental and not indicative of rank (pp. 36 and 40) is quite another thing and is used by both aristocracy and commoners (see also Fig. 412). There is only one type of royal crown, and princes and princesses use the same crown as Queen Juliana (Figs 387 and 412). The arms of Prince Claus, the consort of Princess Beatrix, quarter the lion of the royal house (Nassau) with his father’s coat, a castle (von Amsberg). In the crests however the lion stands for Amsberg and the wings for Nassau, both rising out of ordinary crowned helmets. The title of burggraaf (Fig. 391) is no longer borne by any living Dutchman: the coronet is therefore used today only in Belgium. Something of the same is true of the coronets of princes, other than royal, and of dukes (Figs 410 and 411); they date from the years 1815-30, when the Netherlands and Belgium were united, and today are used only in Belgium. But these coronets are at times used in civic arms. It is a general practice in the Netherlands to include a coronet in the arms of boroughs and the like. Some important cities such as Amsterdam and Nijmegen have variations of the Imperial Austrian crown (see Figs 398 and 567), and certain provinces, e.g. Gelderland, Drenthe and North Brabant, a princely crown (Fig. 406). Lesser towns use the coronets of marquises or counts - nowadays mostly the latter (Figs 394-7). Supporters are much in use (Figs 398 and 406), and the imperial eagle occurs frequently (Fig. 404). Other charges which are common and characteristic of Netherlands heraldry in general are a little bird without beak or feet (a sort of martlet, see Figs 119, 407 and 408) and small ‘couped’ St Andrew’s crosses (Figs 398, 399 and 400). This latter is regarded in the Netherlands as a symbol of justice.