Antwerpen, Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience, B 89420

Hendrik van Heessel, Wapenboek

Hendrik van Heessel (d. 1470), the author of this manuscript, was a herald who served under several German emperors as well as Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy and founder of the Order of the Golden Fleece. In this compilation, Hendrik made notes in Latin, German and Middle Dutch. Most interesting are the 24 portraits of the counts of Holland, from the 10th century up to and including Jacqueline of Bavaria, who abdicated in 1428. The pen drawings are the oldest known depictions of these noblemen. They were probably made in the summer of 1456 at the Binnenhof in The Hague and modeled on the now-vanished wooden grave statues that stood there at the time. [Flandrica]