Viljoen Family Website

Viljoen & Campenaar Families Coats-of-Arms


The unofficial Viljoen Family coat-of-arms (right) is derived from that of the French family Villon de Varennes. The shield consists of a golden St Andrew's cross on a red background (Gules, saltire Or). The crest is a pair of golden folded eagle's wings. The mantling is gold and red. The original coat of arms of the Villon de Varennes family has a golden mural crown as crest, but members of the Viljoen Family Association overwhelmingly elected to have a pair of golden folded eagle's wings as its crest during the Viljoen Festival of 1976. This coat-of-arms is not registered with the Bureau for Heraldry in Pretoria as a family coat-of-arms, and can therefore not be used by the descendants of the Viljoen progenitors, Francois Villion and his wife Cornelia Campenaar. An application to have it registered in the name of the progenitor (so that all his descendants can use is) was not approved by the Bureau for Heraldry. It is not good heraldic practice to apply a scroll with the name "Viljoen" below the crest; the scroll is normally reserved for a motto, if the family wishes to have one.	Copyright: H.C. Viljoen


	The coat-of-arms of the founding mother of the Viljoen family, Cornelia Campenaar (also spelled Kempenaar and Campenaere) is shown at left. The crest consists of a rampant white (or silver) lion with a golden crown, against a green background. On both sides of the lion a sickle is mounted vertically. The mantling is green and silver. This coat-of-arms is borne by the family Campenaar/Kempenaar in the Netherlands. It is a basic rule of heraldry that coats-of-arms be inherited in the direct line from generation to generation. Only those individuals who can prove descent from a person who has legal right to bear a particular coat-of-arms, or had it registered in his name, has claim to bearing it.

Since June 1963 the Heraldry Act regulates and protects registered coats-of-arms in South Africa. Since 1980 it is a transgression of the act to "provide" a "coat-of-arms", unless the provisor has a certificate of authenticity, issued by the State Heraldist.
The Council for Heraldry decided to place the whole issue of "family coats-of-arms" on a sound basis. As policy it accepted that the unofficial coats-of-arms in circulation may not be registred in the name of any person. Only designs of coats-of-arms which differ sufficiently from the so-called "family coats-of-arms" can be registered in South Africa.
The only Viljoen family coat-of-arms which is officially registred for use by himself and his descendants, is that of prof H Christo Viljoen, author of the Viljoen Family Register (Certificate no. 3774, October 20th 2011). It is derived from both the unofficial Viljoen "family coat-of-arms" and that of the Campenaar family in the Netherlands.

The heraldic description of the coat-of-arms is as follows:
Shield: In red, a continuous saltire; on a green chief, three leaved golden acorns.
Crest: A half rampant golden lion, red tongued and nailed.
Wreath and mantle: red and gold.
The saltire (St Andrew's cross) on red is derived from the unofficial Viljoen coat-of-arms.
The green background of the chief is derived from the shield background colour of the Campenaar coat-of-arms, as well as the half rampant golden lion as crest.
The leaved golden acorns refer to Stellenbosch (known as the "oak city") where Francois Villion and Cornelia Campenaar settled at the Cape of Good Hope, as well as to the town where prof HC Viljoen spent most of his professional life. His personal coat-of-arms therefore combines the coats-of-arms of the Viljoen founding parents, with a reference to their and his place of residence.

The only officially registered
Viljoen coat-of-arms is that
of prof H Christo Viljoen

A Coat-of-arms with an interesting Viljoen connection is that of the Rev. Roy Snyman. It contains inter alia the golden St. Andrew's Cross on a red background of the Viljoen family crest, and refers to Johannes Viljoen, son of the progenitors, who married Cornelia Snyman, daughter of Marguerita-Theresa de Savoye and Christoffel Snyman. (Marguerite-Therese de Savoye married, as the widow Snyman, Henning Viljoen - the brother of Johannes.) Read more about it by clicking here.

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