The coat of arms of

Hoorn Hoorn () is a city and municipality in the northwest of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the largest town and the traditional capital of the region of West Friesland. Hoorn is located on the Markermeer, 20 kilometers ( ...

is a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

that has been in use since the

middle ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. Although over time it underwent some changes, there has been no change to the coat of arms since it was acknowledged in use by the High Council of Nobility in 1816. At present, in the original form, it is the coat of arms of the municipality of Hoorn. The current municipality was formed in 1979 by merging the city of Hoorn with the villages

Zwaag Zwaag (; West Frisian (dialect), West Frisian: ''Swaegh'') is a village in the Netherlands. It is located in the municipality of Hoorn, the province of North Holland and the region of West Friesland (region), West Friesland. History Zwaag was fou ...

and Westerblokker; it was decided to use the old coat of arms as coat of arms of the new municipality.

Origin

The actual coat of arms, the shield, shows a

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

held by a blue ribbon. According to a myth this is a horn of a

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

, which fled from

Monnickendam Monnickendam () is a city in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Waterland, and lies on the coast of the Markermeer, about southeast of Purmerend. It received city rights in 1355 and was damaged by the fires ...

and lost its horn while pounding the

city gate A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. It is a type of fortified gateway. Uses City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods ...

of Hoorn. Upon seeing the horn the sheriff decided that the horn would become part of the coat of arms of the city, as the city didn’t have a coat of arms yet.

Development

The horn has always been part of the coat of arms, but during times there have been several

supporter In heraldry, supporters, sometimes referred to as ''attendants'', are figures or objects usually placed on either side of the shield and depicted holding it up. Early forms of supporters are found in medieval seals. However, unlike the coro ...

s, during the 15th century both Mary, with baby Jesus, and

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

(

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of the city), have been supporters of several official coats of arms. More normal pieces had Mary seated on a Gothic throne on top of the coat of arms. The seal of secrets of the city showed John the Baptist with the coat of arms at his feet Heraldry Hoorn
/ref> In 1538 the coat of arms of the city was shown for the first time with two unicorns instead of Mary. This was the actual coat of arms of the bishop Jan van Egmond, bishop of the Archdiocese of Utrecht. Following the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

Mary was also replaced in the city seals by a unicorn, this time a single unicorn. Because of the Christian symbolism this was seen as an appropriate substitute. During the French domination the coat of arms was changed to the French standard. An eagle replaced the unicorn. As soon as the

Batavian Republic The Batavian Republic ( nl, Bataafse Republiek; french: République Batave) was the successor state to the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 and ended on 5 June 1806, with the accession of Louis Bona ...

was there the coat of arms from before French rule was reinstalled; this time it was also requested at the High Council of Nobility (Dutch: Hoge Raad van Adel), so it became official. The coat of arms was acknowledged at June 26, 1816

Blazon

The description or the

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vis ...

of the coat of arms of Hoorn is as follows: In English: "Of silver, charged with a horn gules (red), ringed with gold, banded with azure (blue), with gold tassels, the shield held from behind by a sitting Unicorn gules (red), horned, maned, bearded, and flaked tailed of gold." This blazon makes this coat of arms an example of

canting arms Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name (or, less often, some attribute or function) in a visual pun or rebus. French heralds used the term (), as they would sound out the name of the armiger. Many armorial allus ...

Other usage

The unicorn with shield and horn are not only to be seen in the city and municipality of Hoorn. In the region

West-Friesland West Frisia ( la, Frisia Occidentalis) is a term that, when used in an international context, refers to the traditionally Frisian areas that are located west of the Dollart (i.e. in the present-day Netherlands). Along with East Frisia and North ...

are several banishing poles (a pole telling a banned person not to pass it, or this person will enter the judicial area and can be judged) with this unicorn on top of it. The horn points towards the city of Hoorn. One of these poles still stands in the village of

Schardam Schardam is a small village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Edam-Volendam, and lies about southwest of Hoorn. The village was first mentioned in 1319 as "den Scaderdam". The etymology is unclear. Schard ...

, this pole dates from 1761. In 2007 big unicorns were painted by several artists to celebrate 650 years of

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

. These unicorns later went on to auction.

Other versions

File:Hoorn wapen.svg, Coat of arms as can be seen on the

Weigh house A weighhouse or weighing house is a public building at or within which goods are weighed. Most of these buildings were built before 1800, prior to the establishment of international standards for weights, and were often a large and representative ...

File:Stadswapen op Waag, Hoorn.JPG, Coat of arms at the Weigh house File:Hoorn wapen HRvA.svg

References