The official arms of the Flemish Community

Flemish Community

The term Flemish Community has two distinct, though related, meanings:...

are: Or, a lion rampant sable, armed and langued gules. Although the lion has been in use for about a century as symbol of the Flemish movement

Flemish movement

The Flemish Movement is a popular term used to describe the political movement for emancipation and greater autonomy of the Belgian region of Flanders, for protection of the Dutch language, and for the over-all protection of Flemish culture and history....

, it only became the official symbol of the Flemish Community in 1973. At present its form and use is subject to the Decree of 7 November 1990.

Origin of the arms

The Flemish lion derives from the arms of the Counts of Flanders. Their first appearance is on a seal of Count Philip of Alsace

Philip, Count of Flanders

Philip of Alsace was count of Flanders from 1168 to 1191. He succeeded his father Thierry of Alsace.-Count of Flanders:...

, dating from 1163. As such they constitute the oldest of the many territorial arms bearing a lion in the Low Countries. Still, Count Philip was not the first of his line to bear a lion, for his cousin, William of Ypres

Ypres

Ypres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote...

, already used a seal with a lion passant in 1158.

When the county of Flanders was inherited by the Dukes of Burgundy

Duke of Burgundy

Duke of Burgundy was a title borne by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, a small portion of traditional lands of Burgundians west of river Saône which in 843 was allotted to Charles the Bald's kingdom of West Franks...

 in 1405, the Flemish lion was placed on an escutcheon in their dynastic arms. It passed with the rest of the Burgundian inheritance to the House of Habsburg in 1482. The Habsburgs would bear the title and arms of the county of Flanders until 1795. As part of the claims and counterclaims resulting from War of the Spanish Succession

War of the Spanish Succession

The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...

, the Flemish lion likewise featured in the arms of Kings of Spain

Coat of arms of Spain

The current coat of arms of Spain, although it has its roots centuries ago, was approved by law in 1981, when the present established replaced the interim version which, in turn, replaced the official arms of Francoist Spain...

 until 1931 and in the arms of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies until 1860.

In 1816 the Flemish lion became part of the coats of arms of the provinces of East Flanders

East Flanders

East Flanders is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on the Netherlands and in Belgium on the provinces of Antwerp, Flemish Brabant , of Hainaut and of West Flanders...

 and West Flanders that administer most of the territory of the former county.

It is the inverse of the arms of Brabant

Duchy of Brabant

The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...

, which are a gold lion on a black field.

Symbol of the Flemish Movement

Like many other nationalist movements, the Flemish movement sought and appropriated historical symbols as an instrument for rallying support. The choice of the Flemish lion was primarily based on the popular historical novel De leeuw van Vlaanderen (1838) of Hendrik Conscience

Hendrik Conscience

Henri "Hendrik" Conscience was a Belgian writer. He was a pioneer in writing in Dutch after the secession from the Netherlands in 1830 left Belgium a mostly French speaking country....

, that forged the Battle of the Golden Spurs

Battle of the Golden Spurs

The Battle of the Golden Spurs, known also as the Battle of Courtrai was fought on July 11, 1302, near Kortrijk in Flanders...

 of 11 July 1302 into an icon of Flemish resistance against foreign oppression. It was enhanced even further when Hippoliet van Peene

Hippoliet van Peene

Hippoliet Jan van Peene was a Flemish physician and playwright.He studied Medicine at the State university of Louvain and became a physician in Kaprijke and later in Ghent....

 wrote the anthem De Vlaamse Leeuw

De Vlaamse Leeuw

De Vlaamse Leeuw is the official anthem of Flanders, a region in the federal kingdom of Belgium.-Composition:...

 in 1847. By the late nineteenth century it was customary for supporters of the Flemish movement to fly the Flemish lion on 11 July.

Symbol of the Flemish Community

After gaining cultural autonomy in 1972, the then Cultuurraad van de Nederlandse Cultuurgemeenschap (Cultural Council of the Dutch Cultural Community) voted the decree of 22 May 1973 adopting the Flemish lion as its official flag. Shortly afterwards, the Cultuurraad also adopted a coat of arms: Or, a lion rampant sable, armed and langued gules, five mullets sabel in orle. The five stars surrounding the lion were meant to denote the five Flemish provinces. The inclusion of black stars caused a small controversy. Some objected to their colour, others regarded them as a needless Americanism. It was therefore suggested to replace them with a sheaf of arrows, an idea taken from the arms of the Netherlands

Coat of arms of the Netherlands

The Greater Coat of Arms of the Realm, , is the personal coat of arms of the monarch of the Netherlands . The government of the Netherlands uses a smaller version without the mantle or the pavilion or sometimes even only uses the shield and crown...

. Notwithstanding the criticism, these arms were adopted by the Flemish Community (Decree of 30 March 1988) when it took over the attributions of the Cultuurraad. Shortly afterwards however it was decided to return to the original arms of Flanders (Decree of 7 November 1990), thereby making the arms identical to the flag.

Controversy over the claws

There is discussion within the Flemish movement whether the tongue and claws of the Flemish lion should be red or black. This controversy originated when part of the Flemish movement started to take an increasingly anti-Belgian stand after the First World War. The radicalized resented that the colours of the Flemish lion echoed those of the Belgian flag and therefore propagated a black lion with black tongue and claws. The divide has remained ever since. Officially and historically the Flemish lion should have a red tongue and claws, and while both flags used to be more or less interchangeable until 1973 the entirely black lion has come to stand for the separatist or otherwise radical sections of Flemish nationalism in the eyes of many.