Coat of Arms Nigtevecht

The Blue-white with Keys upwards is the Coat of Arms Nigtevecht, in Dutch "Wapen van Nigtevecht."  The sample seen here is the original Coat of Arms which was for centuries in use as an added family weapon, to denote "lord of", within the coat of Arms of a nobility family. This was used for the Town Nigtevecht. It's use ended after local regions merged into a larger council area.

Based on what I found, in a still ongoing search, it seems that at first the Coat of Arms was given by the Bishops of Utrecht to the person who as Mayoral paid the taxes to the Bishops of Utrecht for the selling of peat to most likely Amsterdam. Most likely there was an early nobility family involved. I have not yet found a confirmed history of this, though I'm told there was one before certain power over the area was acquired by the Huydecoper family somewhere between 1200 and 1400.

"From the middle of the 12th century onwards the descendants of the mayors provided themselves with a second name, mostly referring to a location (Van Abcoude, Van Amstel, Van Loenersloot, Van Maarssen) "www.cambridge.org page 9 so this must have included "Van Nigtevecht" but is not recorded. Maybe the use of coloured flags was already in use as identifiers, then used as their banner when they claimed more authority.

At around 1500 it must have been a knighthood. It was the time of the Ministeriales which were originally unfree servicemen (dienstmannen) of the diocese of the Bishops of Utrecht, they acted as estate supervisors, military horsemen, and local entrepreneurs. The where serfs, had no freedom at all. Overtime they managed to tear down the chains gaining more freedom, and yet then lost it to greater powers.

Since there was no surname for non-nobility, it was a person with a first name who was then known with a functional name like "Cornelius the tax payer of Nigtevecht" as mayoral and later became a lower knighthood. The use became similar to within the nobility denoting names. Overtime it must have become a custom to use a name like "Cornelius of Nigtevecht", while the mayoral tasks disappeared. The name stuck, not "job title". There was also a bailiff controlling the area and someone who observed the work serfs had to complete. This must have merged somehow in a position of greater powers over the population. The mayoral function, bailiff an knighthood, passed on to the nobility somewhere between 1400 and 1600. It was by this time most likely a different nobility family after which it was acquired by the Huydecoper family.

After Spain lost control over the Dutch areas in the 1500's, the Bishops of Utrecht, subjected to the Spanish power and Rome, lost the rights to raise taxes in the northern areas. The powers over the areas above the river Rhine and to the West, became Princely and later the Royal powers (known as the 7 Provinces). Searches on the web gave confusing results, Even AI gave some mixed up results due to the name similarities and marriages within the same family having the same first-last names and titles. It took a bit of retrying and then a more likely result could be deducted based on articles found.

The origin of the Coat of Arms Nigtevecht goes back to the time of the "Bischops of Utrecht" which explains the position of the upwards keys. I saw in the 90's a document showing downward keys as an older format, but that document is lost and recent search showed nothing. It may have been an unreliable source. The origin of the coat of arms colours are not well documented. The may have existed as old flags, used by local powers, which then became the shields. 

I made an overview of what overtime happened with the Coat of Arms Nigtevecht in connection with the Huydecoper famliy history. But I omit the detailed ancestry line as this is less relevant to tracing Coat of Arms. The overview, the whole article, is based on what I was able to find, and surely this is not complete or without error. If anyone know sources with information to improve this, then let me know.

The symbols of Coat of Arms

Left blue means "science and truth"

According vandereem.org the name can also have originated from "Niftar", which became "Niftarlaka", meaning  "along a lake or water-run", which was replaced with "Niftarvechta", said to mean "along the Vecht". The word "Laka" is interesting as it sound familiar to English and is not far from the English use. We find a similar sound when using "Nigh to the Vecht", near to a water-run". The district of Nigtevecht was as far back as before 1027 occupied by the Frisians. "The name Nigtevecht first appears in history in an official document by Bishop Jan of Utrecht, dated October 7, 1327" mentioned on the website.

The actual date when the Town was founded is unknown. Based on archaeological findings and Roman records, de area was occupied in Roman times by the Frisians, a Scandinavian group. Based on archaeological findings a church existed before 1200.

In old Dutch there were three variations of the name Nigtevecht, which was Niftervecht and Nichtevecht and Nigtevegt. They all mean  "aan de Vecht" or "at the Vecht".  It is a very old name of the river "Fecht". Nifter and Nigt has a broader meaning, like "near" or "bend" (Dutch "bocht"). Old Dutch and English share similarities; you can hear it in "Nigh" and "to the River Vecht", hence "nigh to the Vecht".  

There was a Roman fort called Castellum Fectio at Vechten near Utrecht, built by Drusus between 12 BC and AD 39. At that time, the river branch with the Rhine ran through the centre of Utrecht. Dutch Archaeological  PDFhas more details about Castella Fectio, later also called Feht or Fehtna.  The website at cambridge.orggives more insight about the period between the Romans and the year 1200.

There is an unsolved matter if the Romans gave the river the name "Fechtio", later known as "Fecht" and then "Vecht", or they named the Roman Fort after the river already known among the Friesian locals as "the Fecht".  This was a shallow river from the Rijn to the then occupied area by northern Friesians which around 1200 became "Zuiderzee", during a disastrous flood, which submerged most of Holland. Many people must have perished all the way from the areas above the Rhine to west and north Friesland. North Holland was once called west Friesland. The inner sea became a inner Lake, renamed Ijselmeer. In the image you see the meandering river Vecht from the Rhine to the northern area of Holland, the inner sea. The lake on the east side is the result of centuries of peat extractions.

This was a Frisian area long before the Romans, until around 600. After the great flood disaster of 1200 the river was recorded as the "Vecht".  The language shares a commonality with Old English or Anglo-Frisian. The Frisii, as they were called, declined dramatically in the 4th century, but it was only until 1600 they completely disappeared in the west of Holland.

There is a possible wider and older link between the old Gaelic and Frisian. There are hills made in Gaelic times in the middle of Holland, around Hilversum, and in the north east megalith long graves which I think are wrongly called "hunnebeds".  There are possibly linguistic links. The Frisians were hired by the Romans to fight along Hadrian Wall indicating that some Frisian words are "borrowed" from this time noticeable into the North East and Scotland. In Frisian the children are "de Bens", thought it is generally accepted that the word "the Bens"  -- a Frisian word for children -- is from the Viking era, it can be a mix of continental Gaelics and Frisians, part of pre-Scandinavian cultures.

Before the Romans there n extensive trading activity existed during the times of the Gaelic or "Celtic" cultures, and the "Hallstadt" (which was at a high conjuncture at the time of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel and Ezekiel found in the Bible, at the time Rome was founded). It is only thanks to the Romans and Greek that we know something about the ancient times of the Netherlands via their written records. It was a boggy, woody area, mainly good for fishing. The Frisians used oral traditions which cannot be trusted but may contain echo's of distant times, we can only rely on archaeological findings. Early church fathers described them as pagans worshipping many god having horrifying religious traditions. This cannot be relied on as they used hyperbolic language to defend their own beliefs against the others..

The name "Nigtevecht" originates at least from the time of the ministeriales"Reclamation of the peat lands" who as "mayorals" were part of the knighthood, a lower nobility between the 12th and 15th century, during which they served to manage the area on behalf of the Bishops of Utrecht, a Catholic power. It is assumed ot was first a Bailiff district, then it became Mayorals. "Mayorals" is not the same as "Mayor" being used today. The title, a lower nobility knighthood title, was linked to land management for marketing purposes, selling peat, paying taxes. The mayoral knighthood "van Nigtevecht" overtime became a Lordship, part of the higher nobility.

Many of the church records in the wider district were destroyed by invading armies or lost in fires. It did not help that Catholics from the south plundered the area and towns extensively. From the 1500's, especially the 1600's, the power to accept people into the nobility ended up with the Royals able to consolidate control over the area.

The town Nigtevecht is small. The French wrecked the village in Napoleonic wars. It regained its position in the wider area owned by nobility and royals, known as “the royal land jewel”. Peter the Great visited here. There were large houses and land owned by the nobility. According to the kerknigtevecht.nl website, there was a place called “Petersburg”, a princely “landjuweel” (Land Jewel) on the Vecht. The name was taken from Tsar Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia, who visited this area several times during his stay in 1717. The Lordship of Nigtevecht was a significant title being responsible as caretaker of this area, and represented one of the few very powerful families in Holland.

"Mayorals" took names like "van Breukelen", "van Maarsen" etc as mentioned in the article, and their descendants were part of the knighthood. They all had their own variation using flags and coat of arms. This is where the names and it's many variations, started. 
My name comes from this place.

Post stamps with the coat of arms Nigtevecht
Yes they exist also, it was used by the post office of the village Nigtevecht, ( source heraldry-wiki )

A ship named the Nigtevecht was a Dutch East India Company (VOC). Sadly, no old painting of this merchant vessel survives; it must have been very impressive.

They found an ancient log-boat from 700–600 BCE in Nigtevecht. A pre-Roman era shipwreck (log-boat) near the modern village has been catalogued under the name Nigtevecht. The merchants of the VOC had large houses and much land in the area of Nigtevecht, they represented the great wealth in Holland under control of a Republic, before the United Kingdom raised in power.  Nevertheless, the House of Orange fully controlled the VOC. The VOC period was the era where also Prince William III became King of England.

This is another curious history related to de "Huydecoper van Nigtevecht " family about a forgotten war, a page on ( vlagblog.nl -Scilly Isles )mentions the following.

In 1986, a symbolic peace treaty between the Isles of Scilly and the Netherlands was signed by Dutch ambassador Jonkheer Rein Huydecoper van Nigtevecht (signed without the old title). This event ended a 335-year conflict, formally declaring peace centuries after the last Anglo-Dutch War had concluded, though a formal peace had apparently been overlooked. There are many interesting articles about this was on britishonlinearchives.com about the "350 years treaty of westminster signed ending the third anglo dutch war" (1672–1674), and www.historic-uk.com.

"...While their hereditary title of Jonkheer (equivalent to Lord/Esquire) remains active within the official Dutch nobility, modern family members (such as the diplomat Jhr. Jan Louis Reinier Huydecoper van Nigtevecht in the late 20th century) deliberately chose not to use their titles in public or official diplomatic capacities..." (Google AI). They are still "Huydecoper van Nigtevecht"  but no longer use this as such.

The war on Scilly Islands which started a bit later, was only signed as a peace treaty in 1986!

There is an explanation on the ( vlagblog.nl -Scilly Isles )website how they discovered the forgotten war in 1986 "Roy Duncan, historian and chairman of the Isles of Scilly Council, wrote to the Dutch embassy in London to dispel the myth that the archipelago was still at war with the Netherlands. The embassy investigated and concluded that the myth was indeed based on truth (Whitelocke's letter)."

The 335-year war ended with zero casualties, a unique achievement. The absence of any deaths may also explain why it was forgotten in a corner of Britain. There was no formal declaration of war, and the peace went unnoticed. England was in turmoil during the Cromwell period and had other priorities. I think "The Long Boring Forgotten Anglo-Dutch War" would be a more appropriate title!

In the year 2000 I read a lot about the history of the "van Nigtevecht" family maintained by someone in Weesp with the same family name. The information on this personal website seems lost. I read a lot of details here with reference to archives no longer available on the web. It may be available within in old historical paper archives held by Dutch authorities and organisations. We have to remember that what's available on the web is only a small portion of all the historical documents. Much of the material can only be traced via extensive research visiting places and requesting copies, if allowed.

We think the internet can give us correct information, but this depends on what has been transferred from old paper archives, if not lost during conflicts. I discovered that even AI gives often the wrong information "reading" wrong, speculative or unverified documents. Converting all paper history is sheer impossible due to the enormous effort and excessive cost involved, but a lot has become available thanks to scanning and people's interest in genealogy.