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Bekkevoort (Municipality, Province of Flemish Brabant, Belgium)

by Filip van Laenen

Description of the flag

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Description of the flag

Bekkevoort (5,500 inhabitants) is located in the arrondissement of Leuven.

The flag is: Azure, semy of blocks Or, a lion rampant Or, tongued and armed Gules. Proportions are 2:3, and there are nine columns of blocks, each containg five and a halve block.

The flag was adopted on 9 December 1980.

Source: Flags of the Low Countries

The municipal coat of arms is described as follows:

"The arms were granted on August 28, 1935 and are officially crowned with a crown of a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. The arms are rather complicated and reflect the local history. In 1436 Bekkevoort became a possession of Johanna van Diest and Heinsberg, and after her death the village became a possession of Johan van Loon. Later the village was acquired by the Counts of Meissen-Saarbrücken and finally in the early 17th century by the house of Nassau-Dillenburg (later Oranje-Nassau, the Dutch royal family).
The oldest known seal of Bekkevoort dates from 1694 and shows the arms of Prince Willem-Hendrik van Oranje-Nassau as Lords of Bekkevoort. These arms were granted in 1935 as arms of the municipality. The main shield shows the quartered arms of the branch of Nassau-Saarbrücken, with the lion of Nassau in the first and fourth, and the lion of Saarbrücken in the second and third quarter (the combination also appears in the Stadtverband Saarbrücken, Germany). The free quarter shows again a quartered shield, with the bars of the Counts of Loon and the lion of Heinsberg."

Jarig Bakker, 25 October 2001