Proudly bearing the name of a mediæval
‘knave’
by
Mike Oettle
DE KOCK is a surname well established in South Africa. Rarely seen in this country is its French form, de Cocq, or even the transitional spelling of de Cock.
Extensive research by members of the South African family has traced its origins to the Netherlands, but it seems that little effort has been made to connect the family in the Netherlands with others of the same name.
But it seems likely that the South African family does not merely bear a name that coincides with one of the better-known noble families established in the Netherlands, but that it is a branch of that family.
Certainly Cor Pama[1] illustrates the family name with a coat of arms that clearly belongs to the pattern of arms associated with that noble house.
He seems less confident of a connection, however, in his derivation of the name, which he says was “originally Coq, that is, a rooster”.
The South African family is descended from Servaas de Kock, who came from Middelburg[2] in Zeeland and arrived at the Cape in 1707. In 1713 he married Susanna van Boven, and had eight children.
Pama notes firstly that the South African family has, since the 19th century, borne arms: Gules, three pallets vair; upon a chief or a mullet of six points dexter.
According to the illustration the star or mullet is black (sable). This is borne with a crest of a black demi-lion issuant, armed and langued gules (its claws and tongue red) and crowned or (gold). The vair pallets show the “clocks” of squirrel fur alternating vertically, which is the way vair should appear.
Secondly, he mentions that the De Cocks and De Kocks were an extensive family in Noord Brabant and in Zeeland which all bore these basic arms with different charges in the chief (see below).
Ralf Hartemink, writing in International Civic Arms,[3] shows that the aristocratic family is strongly associated with the town of Châtillon-sur-Marne, in the French region known as Champagne, and the Châtillon pattern of the family arms is repeated across the Netherlands in the civic arms of the municipalities where they once were the local lords.
The lords of
Châtillon adopted their arms as far back as 1096: Gules, three pallets vair
beneath a chief or.
I use the term adopted for two reasons: firstly, in the 11th century, there was no system of heralds with the authority to grant arms; and secondly, the Kingdom of France at no stage gave its heralds such authority.
In that realm the usage of arms remained a matter of custom and precedent, and French armory retains this aspect to the present day.
(The situation was, however, different in the Low Countries, where the local dukes and counts [vassals of the Holy Roman Emperor] maintained heralds that did have the authority to grant arms. Since 1814, aristocratic and official heraldry in the Netherlands has been under the control of the Hoge Raad van Adel.)
It did not take long before other members of the family began adapting these arms, and in 1103, Jacques de Châtillon used a seal in which the basic family arms were differenced[4] by the addition of a merlette[5] in the chief.
These arms are still in use today as the device of the commune Châtillon-sur-Marne.
In 1280 Rudolf de Châtillon, a great-grandson of Yolande of Gelre and Baudouin of Hainault,[6] inherited a number of estates in the Duchy of Gelre.[7] He married three times and thereby acquired further lands to his name.
He took on the name de Cocq, apparently because the French king had called him le Cocquin (the knave), which became almost an honourable title. The various branches in Gelderland of the family surnamed De Cocq are descended from him. These branches retained the name De Cocq, adding the names of their estates, such as De Cocq van Haaften. Each branch bore a difference mark in the chief: the label of Haaften, the little bird of Hardinxveld and several others.
Outside Gelderland, these arms are
also found in Limburg[8]
(Wanssum) and Zuid Holland[9]
(Hardinxveld). Curiously, Hardinxveld has at no stage had a De Cocq for its
lord, and there is no branch of the family known as De Cocq van Hardinxveld.
However, one member of the De Cocq
family apparently had an illegitimate son by a Jewess from Cologne, whose
descendants go by the surname De Jeude, De Joede or De Jode. All the members of
this family bear differenced versions of the Châtillon arms. As far back as
1301, Willem de Jeude bore the Châtillon arms with three birds in the chief.
Today the family Van Lith de Jeude still bears the Châtillon arms with a
running red fox in the chief.
In 1451 Bruisten de Jeude purchased
the lordship of Hardinxveld from his father-in-law Arent van Gent, and De Jodes
remained lords of Hardinxveld until 1641. The arms were kept in use for their
successors in the estate.
Hartemink writes that the community
apparently either had forgotten the origin of the arms, or otherwise lacked
heraldic knowledge, with the result that when arms were granted to the
municipality in 1816, the device requested was one of 12 blue lamps[10]
on silver pallets against a red background.
Despite this description,
Hartemink’s illustration of the Hardinxveld arms shows 12 silver vair “clocks”
on blue pallets (the reverse of what was granted in 1816). This is not the normal way of rendering vair in pallet form, but it is the way most of Hartemink’s illustrations render the Châtillon arms.
A far worse example of heraldic
ignorance is shown in the arms of Wanssum, which shows a single blue pale
charged with four silver escutcheons. These arms were officially granted in
1819 (replacing a grant of 1814 which showed the parish’s patron saint, the
Archangel Michael).
The De Cocq connection for Wanssum
arose when the estate was acquired by the branch of the family based at
Haaften, and the arms used were those of De Cocq van Haaften, with a black
label in the chief. When the municipality was merged with Meerlo in 1969 as
Meerlo-Wanssum, a new coat of arms was granted in which the arms of De Cocq van
Haaften appear as an inescutcheon.
A far worse travesty appeared in the
arms of Beesd. This village does not appear to have had lords belonging to the
De Cocq family, but the local lords nonetheless displayed the Châtillon arms,
sometimes without a chief, and at other times with a gold chief bearing a blue
fleur de lis. In 1816 arms were granted without a chief, and this oddity
remained until 1978, when Beesd was merged into Geldermalsen. The arms of the
new municipality incorporated a fleur de lis to represent Beesd.
Ironically, the reverse was the fate
of Haaften: after bearing its lord’s arms officially from 1938 onwards, it was
merged into Neerijnen in 1978 and in the arms of the new municipality,
quartered per saltire, the red field and vair pallets of Châtillon remain in
the base of the shield, but without either chief or label.
Three other Châtillon-related
communes were also merged into Neerijnen at the same time.
One was the municipality of
Waardenburg, which the Hoge Raad van Adel permitted to continue using the
Châtillon pallets with a plain gold chief, as had been borne by Gerrit de Cocq
van Waardenburg (1376-1399).
Part of Ophemert was also
incorporated. From 1853 it had borne the Châtillon pallets beneath a blue chief
charged with a gold chevron. On the chevron’s point was a roebuck head
“threatened by” two human hands holding daggers (these last two charges being proper,
or in their natural colours).[11]
Last among the Châtillon-related
communes merged into Neerijnen was the municipality of Est en Opijnen, which
since 1884 had borne the Châtillon arms quartered (in the second and third
quarters) with the arms of the family Van Arkel (first and fourth quarters),
both with marks of difference. Hartemink, however, is unable to explain the
derivation of either the blue label in the Van Arkel arms or the red demi-lion
in the Châtillon quarters.
A red lion also appears in the arms
of Kerkwijk, but this time a lion passant (walking), not half a lion.
Rudolf de Châtillon acquired
Kerkwijk in 1265, and in 1294 it is noted that his grandson Gerrit de Cock held
the estates of Bruchem and Delwijnen, located nearby. In later centuries these
properties fell into other hands, but the Châtillon arms were still associated
with the area.
When Kerkwijk’s arms were devised in 1923, it was decided to retain the Châtillon pallets and to include in the chief symbols specific to each of the municipalities incorporated into Kerkwijk. These would be a black demi-lion issuant for De Cocq van Bruchem (dexter), sinister a spur-rowel for De Cocq van Delwijnen.
However, the Hoge Raad van Adel objected, saying that while the De Cocqs of Delwijnen had been influential in Delwijnen, it was not clear that they had owned the estate, since they had initially held it as sub-tenants for the lords of Vianen. It was established that Gerrit de Cocq van Bruchem had borne, in his earliest seal, dated 1391, a lion charged with a spur-rowel on its chest. But this the Hoge Raad found too detailed, and this, too, was turned down.
The community then went back to the demi-lion, but since Est en Opijnen already had one (in red), this was felt to be too similar. (This argument does not seem logical, since Nederhemert’s demi-lion had been black.) As a compromise, a red lion passant was adopted.
Kerkwijk’s Châtillon connection has now been obscured, since in 1999 it was incorporated into Zaltbommel, which has arms that incorporate no Châtillon symbols at all.
The examples of civic arms shown above show clearly that the pallets are ordinary vair, in contrast with the illustration from the Groot Afrikaanse Familienaamboek at the top of the page, where the artist has interpreted “vair” as counter-vair.
My gut feeling is that the Zeeland De Kocks – and therefore the South African family, too – are part of the Châtillon family, and that a little more effort will establish a firm link to them, and so also a right to bear the arms Pama allocates to them.
