Viljoen’s saltire
by Mike Oettle
origin
THE Viljoen family in South Africa have a simply composed coat of arms, comprising a red shield charged with a gold saltire, or diagonal cross.
Whether these arms belonged to the ancestors of the South African family in France is unknown – it is even uncertain whether this family bore arms – since it is impossible to determine with certainty where in the Kingdom of France the original ancestor, or stamvader, François Villon, [1] originated.
Despite this uncertainty it was established, that a family known as Villon de Varennes bore these arms, with a mural crown as a crest.
The entry in Cor Pama’s Heraldry of South African Families does not illustrate a Viljoen coat of arms, but the blazon or technical description mentions the gold saltire on red and a mural crown crest.
The State Herald nonetheless agreed to register the shield of arms (gules, a saltire or) in the name of the Viljoen-Familiebond (Viljoen Family Association) – although the decision taken at the time to make an application was not in the event followed up. To date the arms are not registered.
One significant difference between the arms as approved by the Familiebond and as approved by the State Herald is that the Bureau insisted on adding a silver chief to the saltire.
The saltire, or diagonal cross, is often called the St Andrew’s cross; the Apostle Andrew was, according to tradition, crucified on such an assemblage of beams. A white saltire on blue is the national flag (actually a royal badge) of Scotland, a blue saltire on white is the naval ensign of Russia, and the ancient symbol of Burgundy, and later of Spain, was a red saltire raguly on white.
Prof H Christo Viljoen[2] writes that the South African family originally (probably from the 1940s onwards) bore arms identically to the French family, but (according to my translation) “on the grounds of heraldic advice and a vote among family members held countrywide during 1972, the South African Viljoens decided rather to adopt a pair of folded eagle’s wings as its crest”.
Despite this, it was decided not to register the crest (for reasons the professor does not give).
He also mentions (again, my translation): “Because a mural crown is used principally in the arms of cities, not families, the decision to drop it a logical one.”
Here I must differ from him, because the mural crown has two different meanings in heraldry, and the older one has nothing to do with municipal government.
In its origin, the mural crown was recognition for a brave deed in the capture of a city – in other words, a large or small town with defensive walls – and was presented by the authorities of the Roman Empire to individual soldiers in recognition of their heroism.
Much later it was taken over as a symbol of municipal authority. Various types of mural crowns are used in the heraldry of various countries, and such a crown is placed above the shield in the city arms.
For an example of a mural crown granted in recognition of an act of heroism, see the arms of Byng in this
article.
The professor is nonetheless correct in his view that a mural crown is not suitable as a crest for the Viljoen family.
The as yet unregistered arms of the family association are then:
Gules, a saltire or.
Wreath and mantling: Or and gules.
Crest: A flight or.
The artist who drew the illustrations for Pama’s Groot Afrikaanse Familienaamboek interpreted the flight as being open, and also executed it in two colours.
Since the arms are not registered, such an interpretation is permissible, and I would suggest that the family association go ahead with its application, so as to avoid such confusion.
Crests also vary from one branch of a family to another, so the flight is by no means compulsory for any individual Viljoen who wants to register his own differenced arms. Any appropriate crest may be registered with the saltire.
In fact, even the use of a crest is not compulsory; a coat of arms may be registered without one. In France, most coats of arms are borne without any crest.
In the official drawing of the arms to be found in the Viljoen-Gedenkboek, a silver ribbon or scroll appears below the shield bearing the family name.
Prof Viljoen refers to this as a “naamkrul” or name-curl, but it should be mentioned that it is not good heraldic practice to place the family name on such a scroll, which is why I have left it out of the main illustration.
The scroll’s actual heraldic purpose is to display the motto. Sometimes the motto might be a pun on the family name, but usually it is something else entirely.
A final point to be made about the arms is that, since the intention is to register them in the name of the family association, they would then not be the personal property of any member of the family.
Any member of the family may display them, but not in such a way as to indicate that they belong to that person.
Any member of the family is also free to register a variation on these arms, which would then be his personal property, and which would be heritable to his descendants.
I am not aware of any Viljoen who has registered his own arms, but it is possible that one or more has done so. A Viljoen descendant, the Rev Roy Snyman, has incorporated both the gold saltire on red and the silver chief into his own arms – which is entirely permissible.
The only restriction (within the rules of heraldry) on such variations or differenced arms is that they must be unique. For examples of how other families have differenced the basic family arms, see this article and this one.
The French pronunciation of the surname is Viyyôñ, but at the Cape it fairly quickly took on the form Fil-yun.
The origin of the Viljoens:
The very first French settler at the Cape was François Villon,[3] who landed in Table Bay in 1671 – 18 years before the first organised settlement of French refugees at the Cape.
Of his origin it is only known for certain that he came from Clermont – this placename appears next to his name in the Cape marriage register. But since there are various places in France called Clermont, it is uncertain which was his hometown.
The Viljoen-Familiebond, however, accepts the research of Jacques de Villiers,[4]
who was for a time South African information councillor in Paris.
De Villiers’s research showed that various Villons or Villions lived at Clermont[5] in the Île-de-France (the region around Paris). This by no means certain proof, since the records all referred to Roman Catholics.
In the time of King Louis XIV it was common practice to destroy any records relating to Protestant families and individuals. So it would seem that this is the nearest we can get to knowledge of François’s place of birth.
François appears on the list of free persons at the Cape dated 26 May 1671,[6] his name spelt as François Viljon. The opgaaf or census shows that he owned “4 koeien, 1 snaphaan en 1 degen” (four cows, a flintlock and an epée or fencing sword). In the roll of 1 February 1675 he appears (his name spelt the same way) as owner of “13 schapen, 1 snaphaan en drie koeien” (13 sheep, a flintlock and three cows). The list for 1676, the year he married, is missing.
On 17 May 1676 he married Cornelia Campenaar in Cape Town. It is mentioned in the NG Kerk archives in Cape Town that she was a spinster (jongedogter) from Middelburg on the island of Walcheren[7] in Zeeland.[8] No information concerning her parents or date of birth is given, and inquiries in this connection have been fruitless. The Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie in Den Haag (Central Genealogical Bureau, The Hague) reports that the Middelburg archive was totally destroyed during the Second World War.
François’s surname is spelt in the marriage register as “Signon”, and again in the baptismal register of 1677 when his son Pieter was baptised. But when his daughter Anna was baptised in 1678, the surname appears as “Vignon”.
The opgaaf of free persons for March 1677 gives François’s possessions as “1 snaphaan, 1 degen en 1 slaaf” (a flintlock, an epée and a slave).
In 1682 François was granted the farm Idas Valley,[9] at the foot of Simonsberg in the Stellenbosch valley, and was a free burgher there until his death, apparently in 1689, the year the organised group of Huguenots arrived. However, the formal written grant was only issued on 2 September 1692.
François and Cornelia had six children, of whom the two youngest were baptised at Stellenbosch. The eldest, Pieter, baptised 07-02-1677, was not married and appears not to have grown to manhood. Anna (baptised 19-05-1678), married Heinrich (Hendrik) Venter, from Hameln (Hamelin) in Germany. Heinrich and Anna are the ancestors of the South African Venter family.
In 1707 Henning[10] (baptised 08-03-1682) married Marguerite (Margarethe or Margo) de Savoye. She was the daughter of Jacques de Savoye and widow of Christoffel Snyman.
Cornelia (baptised 13-10-1686) married Hercules du Preez, and Francina (baptised 24-04-1689) married Jacob Cloete. Francina appears to have been born posthumously, as she is the only one in the family baptised with a name resembling her father’s. After the death of Hercules, Cornelia married Wemmer Pasman on 14 April 1690. They had three children. (The surname Pasman later died out in South Africa.)
In 1712 Henning acquired the farm Watergat, close to the present-day Simondium in the Berg River valley, roughly halfway between Franschhoek and Paarl where the river turns from its westward course to the north. The property bounds on what is now the agricultural research station Bien Donné. Watergat’s previous owner, Willem Hendriksz van Brantwyk, owed Henning a large sum of money, and it would appear that the farm was transferred in settlement of the debt.
Henning appears to have died before 1732, as Marguerite signed her will on 28-10-1732 as “weduwee [widow] Henning Viljoen”.
Marguerite had nine children from her first marriage. Afterwards she and Henning (b3) had four children: Cornelia (baptised 05-03-1708), Frans (baptised 26-12-1709) and two sons named Henning. The first was baptised on 12-03-1712, but does not appear to have lived long, since a second Henning[11]
was baptised on 16-08-1713. This Henning married Susanna Durand,
daughter of Jean Durand, on 06-11-1732.
François’s younger son was entered in the Stellenbosch baptismal register (on 24-09-1684) as Joannes Viljon.[12] On 14-08-1708 he married Marguerite de Savoye’s daughter Catharina Snyman (who was then 18).
They had two children, Margaretha (baptised 12-01-1709), who appears to have died young, and Johannes[13]
(baptised 19-09-1711).
The younger Johannes was a burgher in Drakenstein, and later a cattle farmer in the Land van Waveren (today the Tulbagh valley). In 1745 he acquired the loan of the farm Doornrivier, in what is now the Worcester valley, and in Paarl in 1744
he married Aletta Olivier, daughter of Hendrik Olivier and Maria Vivier.
All South Africa’s Viljoens are descended from either Henning (1713) – the Henning-stam
– or his cousin Johannes (1711) – the Johannes-stam.
My own descent is through the Henning-stam.
