Johannes Rietstap
Encyclopedia
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
s of the coats of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
of more than 130,000 Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an families. It is still one of the most complete works of its kind.
Personal life
Rietstap was born in 1828 in Rotterdam to Elizabeth Hermina Remmert. His father, Willem Hendrick Rietstap, was an accountant and insurance agent. From an early age, Rietstap worked in the world of words. His first job was at a bookstore, and he was shortly thereafter assigned to a position as with the newspaperNewspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant. While working there, Rietstap began to nurture his interest in the history and theory of heraldry
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
.
Along with this growing interest in heraldry, Rietstap began to show a proficiency at for learning other languages. At age 25 he decided that he would learn Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
. When the commissioners of his newspaper told him that they wanted one of the editors to know Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, he mastered this language, as well. Rietstap did not last long in the noisy editorial offices, and soon moved on to the next step in his career. In November 1850 he accepted a position with the Stenographical Department of the Chambers of the Staten-Generaal
States-General of the Netherlands
The States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...
which had been formed the year before and this position became full time and permanent in 1852. Shortly after this, Rietstap married Johanna Maria de Haas on 16 September 1857.
Publishing career
Rietstap's first publications mainly stemmed from his multilingual abilities. He translated works of non-fiction, historical and romantic novelNovel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s, and travel journals in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. He continued to work as a translator into the early 1870s. His greatest contributions in the world of publishing related to his hobby of heraldry, though. He focused mostly on personal heraldry of families, and much less on civic heraldry. During this period he published the Handboek der Wapenkunde (Manual of Heraldry) which was an important addition to the body of work on Dutch heraldry. It has been expanded and updated and remains a standard work on the subject.
In 1861, Rietstap first published his Armorial général, contenant la description des armoiries des familles nobles et patriciennes de l'Europe, précédé d'un dictionnaire des termes du blason. This work contained the blazons of almost 50,000 noble families in Europe. They were all organized alphabetically by surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
. He made extensive use of heraldic sources in a variety of languages to compile the Armorial. As word spread of the publication, he made more heraldic contacts around Europe and was able to expand the work to two volumes in 1884 and 1887
In 1871, European interest in heraldry was growing, thanks in part to Rietstap's work. Capitalizing on this, he was able to begin publication of an heraldic magazine. Specifically, he hoped that the Heraldieke Bibliotheek (Heraldic Library) would expose Dutch readers to the wider heraldic world. In 1872, the he went to press with the subtitle "Magazine for Heraldry, Genealogy, Seals and Medals." The magazine would be published until 1882, and was mostly filled with articles written by Rietstap himself.
In the 1880s Rietstap also published two studies of the genealogy and coats of arms of the Dutch nobility, the Wapenboek der Nederlandschen Adel (Armory of the Dutch Nobility) which became available between 1880 and 1887 and De Wapens van den Tegenwoordigen en den Vroegeren Nederlandschen Adel met Genealogische en Heraldische Aanteekeningen (The Arms of Present and Past Dutch Nobility with Genealogical and Heraldic Annotations) published in 1890. In the prologue of this work, Rietstap continued his critique of the development of spelling in the Dutch language and heraldic blazon.
Legacy
Throughout his years publishing career, Rietstap had continued his in his position with the Stenographical Department. He had made quite a career for himself and from January 1887 held the position of First Stenographer. Three and a half years later he resigned from this honored post, and one year later he died on Christmas Eve of 1891.Rietstap is often considered the founder of modern heraldry in the Netherlands. He established a theoretical foundation for heraldry, especially by creating an understanding for Dutch terms. He brought the development of European heraldry within reach of the Dutch language through translations and editorials. Needless to say that his Armorial has brought his fame to all heraldic corners of the planet.