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Polder board Delfland (The Netherlands)

Hoogheemraadschap Delfland

Last modified: 2017-11-11 by andrew weeks
Keywords: delfland |
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[Polder board flag of Delfland] by Gerard van der Vaart, 11 February 1996

See also:

Hoogheemraadschap Delfland

The Delfland Polderboard manages the watercirculation in the densely populated area around Delft (Zuidholland); its borders are the North Sea in the West, the Nieuwe Waterweg to the South, and the line Berkel en Rodenrijs, Zoetermeer and Wassenaar.
Gerard van der Vaart, 11 February 1996

On the flag of the Polder Board Delfland (The Netherlands), it looks as if they quarter Bavaria (the famous blue and white lozenges), and I can't fathom the reason. Even during the 16th Century, before The Netherlands freed itself from Spanish rule being part of the Holy Roman Empire, the Bavarian Wittelsbachs did not have any holdings in The Netherlands. I assume that the arms are actually those of the city of Delft - if they were just the arms of the organization the Bavarian influence would be even stranger. Delft and Munich seem very ill-matched, even though the inhabitants of both towns love beer and gardens and both support football teams whose records in past years have been indifferent at best. Munich is of course much larger than Delft, and although Delft has a world-famous technical university, so does Munich, as well as having several other ones as well. So what's the Bavarian connection?
Ron Lahav, 21 Nov 2003

Delfland was transformed from a marshy region to an agricultural area from the 14th till the 16th century by a lot of peat-digging. In that time Holland was ruled by the "Beierse Huis" (Bavarian House). The arms of the polderboard Delfland are those of Albrecht van Beieren (1389-1404). It was granted in the 16th century. In the province of Zuid-Holland are several municipalities which use the Bavarian colors, while some place even have "beier" in it, like Beijerland, Oud- and
Nieuw-Beijerland. They form part of the Polderboard "De Grote Waard", which has also arms with the Bavarian lozenges.
Albrecht was count of Holland during the medieval feud, named "Hoekse en Kabeljauwse Twisten", and switched from the "Hoeken" (hooks, nobles) to the "Kabeljauwen" (cods, cities) in 1392 under the influence of his mistress Aleid van Poelgeest, who was murdered in The Hague by some "Hoekse" nobles. His granddaughter Jacoba van Beieren (1417-1433) chose the "Hoekse" party, but had to relinquish her claims to Holland by the shrewd operations of Philip the Good of Burgundy (1433-1467) after a very gallant fight.
Delfland probably chose the Bavarian arms as an hommage to people's heroes, although the counts of Burgundy were very important in putting Holland on the European map (and under Charles V on the world map) - but they rarely visited the region, as Jacoba did, flying from one lover to the next...
Jarig Bakker, 22 Nov 2003


Old Delfland flag

[Old Delfland flag] by Jarig Bakker, 2 Dec 2003

Dutch name: Hoogheemraadschap van Delfland; seat: Delft in the province of Zuid-Holland.
Flag: (1) two equally wide horizontal stripes of white and blue. (In use since 1893, and identical to the flags approved by the High Council of Nobility for the municipalities of Kampen and Roermond.
Text: Kl. Sierksma; image: Hans van Heijningen.
Source: Vexilla Nostra #121, Jul-Aug 1982.
Jarig Bakker, 2 Dec 2003


Oldest Delfland flag

[Oldest Delfland flag] by Jarig Bakker, 2 Dec 2003
used till 1890

Horizontal stripes of red - white - blue - white - red - white - blue, proportioned 1:1:1:3:1:1:1, with in the center of the fourth
stripe the complete arms; below it the Dutch Garden, and surrounded by laurel-branches; along all sides a red - white - blue triangled border of 1/10 flagheight, with alternating red and blue against the sides.
This flag was in use till c. 1890.
(The central image wants a nanometer retouch, I guess, but I know no image to work from...)
Text: Kl. Sierksma; image: Hans van Heijningen.
Source: Vexilla Nostra #121, Jul-Aug 1982.
Jarig Bakker, 2 Dec 2003