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Kinrooi (Municipality, Province of Limburg, Belgium)

Last modified: 2008-03-29 by ivan sache
Keywords: kinrooi | horns: 3 (red and white) | horne |
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[Flag of Kinrooi]

Municipal flag of Kinrooi - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 28 August 2005


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Presentation of Kinrooi

The municipality of Kinrooi (12,000 inhabitants; 5,546 ha) is the northeasternmost municipality of Limburg and Flanders, limited in the east by the river Maas, which forms the border with the Netherlands. The Maas and its gravel pits form popular recreation areas. The municipality of Kinrooi is made since 1971 of the former municipalities of Kinrooi, Kessenich, Molenbeersel and Ophoven-Geistingen.
Kessenich is the oldest of the villages forming Kinrooi. In the XIIth century, the lords of Kessenich built an octogonal tower, now ruined, on a 10 m high artificial hill in order to watch the valley of Maas. The Borgitter castle, built in the XVIIIth century with white stone, incorporates an angle tower from 1610.
Kinrooi is the birth town of the writer Theodoor Sevens (1848-1927).

Source: Municipal website

Kinrooi is mostly a rural municipality. It made the headlines in April 2003, when the second focus of the Dutch-Belgian outbreak of avian influenza (aka fowl plague) was found in a poultry farm in Kinrooi. According to the mandatory prevention measures, all poultry located in a 3-km radius around the disease focus were slaughtered, that is 270,000 birds from 18 poultry farms.

Ivan Sache, 28 August 2005


Municipal flag of Kinrooi

The municipal flag of Kinrooi is yellow with three red posthorns garnished in red placed 2 and 1, therefore virtually identical to the municipal flag of Perwez.
According to Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel, the flag was adopted by the Municipal Council on 6 April 1987, confirmed by the Executive of Flanders on 7 July 1987 and published in the Belgian official gazette on 3 December 1987.

The flag is a banner of the canting arms of the former County of Horne (also spelled Hoorne, Horn, Hoerne...). The family of Horne was mentioned for the first time in 1102 and originated from the town of Horn, today part of the municipality of Haelen, in Dutch Limburg. The Counts of Horne once owned big domains in Limburg, North Brabant and the north of France and their arms are still quite common in the civic heraldry of these regions. In the Netherlands, one to three horns can be seen of the (sometimes former) municipal flag and/or arms of Horn, whose flag is nearly identical to the flag of Kinrooi, Haelen, Loon op Zand, Eindhoven, Wessem, Roggel en Neer, Beegden, Hunsel, Weert, Cranendonck, Heeze-Leende, Waalre, Heythuysen.
The three horns are also shown on the arms of the Belgian town and province of Liège.

According to the International Civic Heraldry website, the Count of Horne had its own seat in the Dutch Landdag (Parliament) and was often Great Falconer (hoofd valkenier) of the Netherlands. After the beheading of Philips de Montmorency, Count of Horne, in 1568, the County was incorporated to the Principality of Liège and remained there until the French Revolution suppressed the Principality.
Originally, the arms of the lords of Horne showed three cow horns; the relationship with the name of the town might be related to the elevated location of Horn. Later changes in the arms for post or hunting horns had no historical background. The family of Horne never had anything to do with the postal service. The hunting horns were explained by the title of Higher Hunting Master (opperjachtmeester) of the German Empire, but the family of Horne never had that title. With time, the arms of Horn have been represented in several different ways but posthorns have been mostly used.

The Gelre Armorial shows:
- "Or three hunting horns gules garnished argent" for Gerard II, Count of Horne (Die Greve v. Hoerne, #1727, folio 3r), William VII, Count of Horne (Die Greve v. Hoernes, #1015, folio 83r) and Arnold, Count of Horne, Bishop of Liège (Bisscop v. Ludic : Arnould Greve v. Hoorn, #1341, folio 95v);
- "Or three hunting horns gules garnished argent a label azure" for Thierry of Horne, lord of Perwez (Die He. v. Hoerne, #812, folio 72v).
The Lalaing Armorial shows "Or three hunting horns gules garnished argent" for Horne (Horne, #21, folio 72v).

The Philagodu website shows the Belgian postage stamp depicting the coat of arms of the Principality of Hornes, with some historic background. The Principality of Hornes was made on 19 October 1677 for Eugène-Maximilian, third Count of Bassigny, Count of Bailleul etc.; it included the domains of Yssche or Isque or Over-Yssche (today, Overijse) and Evere. The Count of Horne came to Overijse after the marriage of Gérard of Horne with Honorine of Witthem; the last heir of the lineage, Marie-Thérèse of Hornes, married Philippe-Joseph, Prince of Salm-Kyrbourg. Their son Frédéric, the last lord of Yssche, was guillotinized in Paris in 1794. All the Princes of Hornes are buried in the St. Martin church of Overijse.
The Count of Horne who was beheaded together with the Count of Egmont belonged to another lineage. In Dutch, the historical sources differentiate the Counts of Horne (or, improperly, Hoorn or Hoorne) and the Princes of Hornes.

Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 20 September 2007


Zeilvereniging Noord-Limburg-Maas

Zeilvereniging Noord-Limburg-Maas (that is, Sailing Club North Limburg-Maas) is established at Ophoven on the River Maas, which serves as the border between Belgium and the Netherlands, about to flow freely into Dutch territory.

The flag of Zeilvereniging Noord-Limburg-Maas is white with a stylized rendering of the club logotype in blue, as can be seen on the club website.
The club logotype is: Within a double ring containing the words ZEILVERENIGING / NOORD-LIMBURG-MAAS is placed a curving line, no doubt evoking the Maas, and two sails. All blue on white. On the flag, the double ring has disappeared and the river and sails now appear on a blue background, but the logotype is still firmly circular.

Jan Mertens, 19 April 2007