Album containing a collection of 390 coats-of-arms, almost all executed by hand and mostly contemporary hand-coloured, of many important West-European noble families in Flanders, the Netherlands and France, but also some important members of European royal courts. The coat of arms are sometimes depicted on their own, but sometimes they are part of the 6 genealogical trees, showing the descendants of some noble families. Many of them concern 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century people, although only a few are or can be dated, apart from a few noble persons in this album living in the 14th- and 15th-century. Although the coat of arms are mostly from different families, the album also contains two small collections of families. The album opens with one of these small sub-collections, starting with 4 heraldic documents concerning the Flemish Van der Haeghen family and related families, among others the Van Eesbeke family as well as Van Winterbeke and Van Compostelle, all represented on a genealogical tree. Also added is a formal tract by the herald of arms Jan Boukelier, herald of arms of Namur (Belgium), with two wax seals covered with paper at the bottom of this tract, on the nobility of the Van der Haeghen family. Another family of which the album contains more than one heraldic document is the Dutch family Van der Does, particularly living in Holland, and other families they are related to, for example the De Laignier family, but also Aeyta, Denain and Van der Laen. The album contains 3 family descendants of the Van der Does family and their related families, providing a lot of information on them, including detailed captions on the family members.The album also contains some highlights. One of them is the luxurious executed coat of arms of the Spanish catholic royal couple Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452-1516) and Isabella I of Castile, beautifully painted and heightened with gold on vellum, then living in the Habsburg Netherlands. Another highlight is a large descendant of the 14th- and 15th-century Burgundian family, bound at the end of the album. Interesting is that this genealogical tree particularly covers the illegitimate children of the Burgundian court. The descendant starts with John I, duke of Burgundy, also known as John the Fearless (1371-1419). In this descendant the mother of his child, John of Burgundy and bishop of Cambria (1404-1479), is mistakenly identified as his mistress Marguerite de Borsele instead of his other mistress Agnes de Croy. Although he was bishop, his son John of Burgundy had numerous illegitimate children, including Arnold of Burgundy whose mother was Jeanne de Beaufort-Spontin. In this descendant the Burgundian family finally married in to the De Schoore family, and in the end to the famous Spanish-Bruges merchant family Pardo. Other interesting families occuring in the album are the Normandian family Remond, the Flemish Van Winghe family, the Wielant family (Dutch Flanders), the Limburgian Van Eynatten family of which a member was married to the D'Eve family and many more interesting families, including the coat of arms of Samuel Thiens, then mayor of the Dutch city of Amersfoort. Altogether a very rich album on heraldry, containing many coat of arms of some of the most important noble families of the Low Countries and France from the 16th to the 18th century.
Loosely added to the album and stored in a modern small white portfolio is a little booklet on the Van der Haeghen family, titled Notice généalogique sur la famille Van der Haeghen (Flandre et Brabant) published in Florence (Antonio Cecchi) and Paris (A. Derenne) in 1883.
Binding a little worn, especially around the edges and spine. Some very slight browning and a few spots on the later paper leaves. The quires and loose leaves which are mounted on them are sometimes somewhat stained, browned, foxed, frayed or slightly dust-soiled, sometimes the folded leaves have small tears on the folds, but overall the album is in good condition, containing a highly interesting and varying collection of rare heraldic survivals, including some very luxurious examples on vellum.