GREBBER, Pieter de
(b. ca. 1600, Haarlem, d. 1652/53, Haarlem)

The Conferring of the Sword on the Coat-of-Arms of Haarlem

1630
Oil on canvas, 168 x 198 cm
Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem

According to historical sources, in 1182 on the third crusade during the siege of the heavily fortified city of Damiate in Egypt, the attackers were reinforced by a fleet supplied by William I of Holland, who came to the aid of his father with the help Haarlemmers. The father built a ship which broke through the iron chain that the defenders had stretched across the Nile. For their assistance, the German king Frederick I Barbarossa conferred a silver sword on the Haarlemmers for their existing coat-of-arms, which consisted of four stars on a red field. In addition, the patriarch of Jerusalem gave the Haarlemmers the right to adopt the Holy Cross.

In De Grebber's painting, the German king gives the sword to a kneeling soldier whose shield carries the old coat-of-arms. The patriarch is seated on the left, holding the silver cross, and solemnly awaiting his turn in the ceremony.




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