Burgher arms

Bourgeois arms, such as those of the bourgeois of Brussels, were, and remain, common in Belgium and were granted except during the French Revolutionary period and subsequent republic.

Men admitted to the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels, many of whom were not noble, were also granted arms.

Today, the Council of Heraldry and Vexillology for the French Community and the Flemish Heraldic Council for the Flemish Community grant a helm with torse, crest, and mantling as well as a motto as external ornaments of the shield. The additaments reserved for the nobility, such as crowned helmets and rank crowns, supporters and supports, banners and battle cries, mantles and pavilions, are prohibited.[5]

Examples of Belgian bourgeois arms:

• 
  Arms of the de Keghel family, Bourgeois of Brussels until the 16th Century.
• 
  Arms of the Pipenpoy family, an old Patrician family of Brussels.
• 
  Arms of the Dewandre family, originally from Liège.
• 
  Arms of the Poelaert family, bourgeois of Brussels.
• 
  Arms of the Van der Meulen family
• 
  Roll of arms of the Drapery Court of Brussels, some of which are Bourgeois arms.

Bourgeois arms used to be common in France, but they disappeared in the French Revolution, which was hostile to heraldry. In the end of the 17th century, an attempt was made to list all arms in Armorial général as a device to increase tax revenue. When the attempt failed, in order to force people to pay tax, arms were given to many burghers who had never had them. These arms were never used by their recipients.[6] In France burgher arms are not supposed to have a helmet.

Examples of French bourgeois arms:

• 
  Arms of the Martinot family, famous clockmaker family of Paris.
• 
  Arms of the Thouéry family, an old bourgeois family from Moyrazès.

Although assumption of arms always remained free, the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire since Charles IV began to grant arms without raising people to nobiliary status. In the 15th century the authority to grant arms was delegated to “Counts Palatine of the Imperial Court” (German: Hofpfalzgrafen), who from then on also granted arms to burghers. This was regarded as luxury everyone was not able to afford.

The tilting helmet was prescribed for arms of non-nobles, while the barred helmet was restricted by the imperial chancellery to the nobility as upholders of the tradition of tourneying. This privilege was also shared by certain people who enjoyed the same standing as the nobility, e.g. those who had a doctor's title in law or theology.[7] Custom of the use of the barred helmet was also followed by city patricians.[8] Although the rule of the use of the tilting helmet by burghers was not always obeyed, it has still become the norm in many countries of the German-Nordic heraldic tradition, e.g. in Swedish heraldry.

After the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, arms were no longer granted to burghers except in the Kingdom of Saxony, where such grants continued from 1911 until 1918. Elsewhere burgher arms were assumed. Such family heraldry is still alive in Germany and burgher arms are protected by law.

Examples of German burgher arms:

• 
  Canting arms of the German painter Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)
• 
  Arms of Jakob Heller from the Heller Altarpiece by Albrecht Dürer

Burgher arms had a complicated and suppressed history in Portugal. During the reign of King Afonso V, burgher arms were restricted to the use of colours only. This restriction would become irrelevant when King Manuel I forbade the use of arms to those who were not of the Portuguese nobility.[9] This restriction against burgher arms in Portugal lasted until the establishment of the Republic in 1910.