Coat of arms and house mark
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of the Herstatt family is slightly old (around 1700) and can be seen on gravestones in Eschweiler, Stolberg, as well as on more recent gravestones in Cologne at the old cemetery in Weyertal and at Melaten. The coat of arms shows a three-towered city gate in silver on a blue background in the shield. The helmet has a blue-silver cover and a bulge of the same colour.
House mark
The Herstatt family also used a so-called house mark. House marks are usually older than civic coats of arms and were used by landowners, farmers, manufacturers and traders to mark their property (e.g. boundary stones, branding for livestock, documents, products and merchandise). The design of the house mark often corresponds to simple geometric shapes that can be easily traced or chiselled into stone.
The city archives of Düren keep document (30) R 1,1. with the house mark of the Herstatt family. It is on the cover page, the first page and the last page of the church account of the Reformed congregation of Düren for the years 1642 to 1644, which was drawn up by the elder of the congregation, Johann Hersta(tt).
The house mark consists of a four-headed shaft with a central cross rung (letter H) on both sides and a rafter base.
Origin of the name Herstatt
The origin of the name Herstatt is uncertain. Since the family comes from France, an interpretation in the direction of lord and town is not very credible. There is also no town or municipality of the same name. It is more likely that the name comes from the Belgian municipality of Herstal in the Liège area, which is not too far (about 170 km) from the French town of Valenciennes, where the ancestor Hubert Herstatt lived. In the past, names were usually written as they were spoken and the “tt” at the end of the name Herstatt was usually swallowed in French and graphically, t and l are not far apart. Does anyone have any other guesses?