![[Namur]](../images/b/be-wna.gif)
Last modified: 2007-08-12 by ivan sache
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Flag of the Province of Namur - Image by Ivan Sache, 20 March 2006
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The County of Namur appeared in the Xth century around the early County
of Lhomme. The County was located between the County of Hainaut and the
Principality of Liège, and was submitted to several dismemberings, mostly by Liège (Couvin, Ciney, Dinant, Fosses...). The County reached its maximum area under Count Henri the Blind, in the second half of the XIIth century.
In the XIIIth century, Count of Namur Baudouin of Courtenay was the
last Latin Emperor of Constantinople (as Baudouin II, 1228-1261). From
the end of the XIIIth century to the beginning of the XVth century, the
County of Namur was dynastically united with the County of Flanders
ruled by the Dampierre family; this was a period of wealth with the
increase of the cities and industry. The County of Namur was sold in
1429 to the Duke of Burgundy.
After the French Revolution, the former County of Namur, with the
addition of some places and the excision of the Liège enclaves, formed
the department of Sambre-et-Meuse. Until 1814, the department matched
the former County, excluding Charleroi, Fosses and Fleurus, but including the eastern cantons of Marche-en-Famenne, Beauraing, Gedinne,
Saint-Hubert and Wellin. The Dutch rule transformed the department into the Province of Namur, allocated the cantons of Marche-en-Famenne and Saint-Hubert to the Province of Luxembourg and reincoporated the
cantons of Gedinne, Couvin, Philippeville and Mariembourg to the
Province of Namur.
Source: Website of the Province of Namur
Ivan Sache, 20 March 2006
The flag and arms of the province of Namur were adopted by the Provincial Council on 15 October 1953, as follows
Article First
The flag of the Province of Namur is made of black and red
colours, placed parallel to the hoist, black at hoist.
[...]
Namur, the 15th of October 1953
Ivan Sache & Geraard Van der Vaart, 3 September 2000
![[Namur banner of arms]](../images/b/be-wna1.gif)
Unofficial flag of the Province of Namur - Image by Geraard Van der Vaart, 11 October 2001
The arms of the Province of Namur are:
Or a lion sable armed and langued gules a bend of the same.
A square banner of these arms is used as the unofficial province flag.
Source: M. Lupant. Flags and coat of arms of the Kingdom of Belgium [lup98]
John I of Flanders, born from Gui of Dampierre and his second wife Isabelle of Luxembourg, was the youngest son of the House of Flanders. When he received the County of Namur in 1297, he took for banner the lion of Flanders with a red bend as the brisure, and crowned the lion with a Count's crown.
Ivan Sache, 11 October 2001
Baudouin of Courtenay (descended in female line from the Flanders-Hainaut family) already bore those arms (minus the crown) in 1254 as Marquis of Namur (to note that John I would also have been Marquis, Namur was erected a Marquisate late in the XIIth century, though both titles remained in use). The "Count" of Namur entry of the Bigot roll of arms (dated to spring 1254) is le conte de Namur, l'escu d'or au lion noir au baston de gueules en beslive, in a more modern French blazoning d'or au lion de sable au bâton de gueules. Even before that date it can be assumed that some of the Flanders-Hainaut-Namur family bore these arms. They are indeed a brisure of the arms of Flanders, but predate the Dampierre dynasty by 50-100 years. Certainly Henri of Vianden (married to Marguerite of Courtenay who held Namur from 1229-1237) and his son Philip already bore arms identical to those of Baudouin of Courtenay.
So the only innovation John I might have brought is the crown, if so it would be to denote Namur as a Marquisate, though this late addition is odd (particularly as several Marquis of Namur had also been Latin Emperors of Constantinople, Baudouin of Courtenay for one).
Caranorn Aglaredhel, 22 December 2006
![[Namur provincial colours]](../images/b/be-wna2.gif)
Unofficial colours of Namur - Image by Mark Sensen, 27 January 2001
The Province of Namur used, unofficially, colours taken from the arms. These colours were not fixed.
A chart called Vlaggen der Belgische Provincies - Drapeaux des Provinces Belges (Flags of the Belgian Provinces; not dated, but to judge from the font type used, from the 1920s-1930s), as well as some Dutch atlases and books about the provinces, published by Rudi Koot in Vexilla Nostra [vxn]#185 (1993) p. 32-33, show the colours of Namur as horizontally divided red-black-yellow.
Mark Sensen, 6 February 2001
![[Governor's honorary flag]](../images/b/be-wna-g.gif)
Honorary flag of the Governor of Namur - Image by Mark Sensen, 27 January 2001
The honorary flags of the Province Governors were adopted by Council Order on 28 October 1936. They are shown with construction details on a book (bilingual Dutch and French) containing regulations (for the Navy?). Each flag is a square version of the Belgian national flag with the respective province arms in the center of the black stripe. The flag is 150 x 150 cm, therefore each stripe is 50 cm in width. The shield is 43.5 cm in width and 50 cm in height, excluding 3.75 cm for the point of the shield.
Mark Sensen, 27 January 2001
