1. Extract from the family register
The oldest coat of arms found in our family is probably the one displayed on house no. 38 on Bäckerstrasse in Minden; almost the same age are the coat of arms of Anton Borries on the gravestone in St. Mary’s Church, that of Anna von Halle, née Borries, in the church in Lübbecke, and the coat of arms on the gravestone at the Market Church in Hanover. The latter three date from the period between 1580 and 1598.
All four show the dog heads, positioned 2:1, facing left on the Lübbecke gravestone, probably because of their position in relation to the three other coats of arms, which otherwise face right. It is not clear whether the coat of arms in Hanover already shows the dogs wearing collars; the others do not have them.
The helmet decoration shows only the coat of arms at house no. 38 on Bäckerstraße, namely a deciduous tree on a bulged helmet. It may be noted that this is an alliance coat of arms; the second coat of arms shows the five roses of the Garssen family, arranged from top left to bottom right.
The feudal records in the Münster archives contain several seal impressions of our coat of arms. The only differences are in the helmet decorations. Christian Ludwig Borries (H 4) has a bulged helmet in his coat of arms. The coat of arms of Heinrich Borries (F 1) from 1660 shows a bracken head between two peacock feathers on a bulged helmet. An impression from 1725 shows only the bracken head rising from the bulged helmet. Anton Borries (G 11) bears the same coat of arms in 1714, but in the same year he uses a seal showing the bracken head between two clubs on the helmet. In 1695, Johann Borries (G 19) issued a feudal reversal, which he sealed with a coat of arms showing the bracken head on a bulging helmet between two open buffalo horns divided red over white. The same coat of arms was previously displayed in color in St. Martin’s Church in Minden. In 1723, Christian Ludwig Borries (H 4) used a crowned helmet above which appeared a bracken head without decoration.
Johann Diedrich Borries (H 23) and Christoph Samuel Borries (K 48) have a bracken head between buffalo horns on their helmets.
The diplomas of nobility renewal granted to the individual branches of the family are now decisive for the family coat of arms.
According to the diploma dated August 20, 1733, the coat of arms for the descendants of Johann Friedrich von Borries is established as follows:
In the red field, three dog heads arranged 2:1, complete with necks and red tongues protruding from open mouths, the necks adorned with golden collars. On the open crowned helmet, red and silver helmet covers hang down, above the crown two dog heads facing outwards like a shield, between which a green cedar tree stands upright.
The diplomas dated September 1, 1777, and January 17, 1816, differ from the coat of arms described above in that
- the dog heads are referred to as bracken heads,
- the collars are gold with red edging and gold rings attached to them.
- the cedar tree is referred to as a palm tree.
According to the diploma dated June 5, 1860, the Gräflich Borries coat of arms shows three silver bracken heads facing right, with golden tongues and golden collars, arranged 2:1 on a red shield. The shield is topped by a nine-pearl count’s crown, above which is a crowned noble tournament helmet with a red shaft and three peacock feathers, accompanied by two outward-facing silver bracken heads with red tongues and golden collars. The helmet covers are red on the inside and silver on the outside. The shield is held by two silver bracken with red tongues and golden collars, standing on a golden arabesque, around which a banner with the words “treu und vest” (loyal and steadfast) is entwined.
Apart from the motto on the count’s coat of arms, two mottos are commonly used in the family, although these are not mentioned in the diploma of nobility renewal. They are:
“Gaudet patientia duris,” the motto of the descendants of Johann Diedrich Borries (H 23), and “Et aspera gaudent,” the motto of the descendants of Johann Friedrich von Borries (H 8).
2. Extract from the family register
The coat of arms, which the Borries family has borne since time immemorial and which is recognized in the letters of nobility, consists of:
1.In a triangular shield of brick or vermilion red. – The oldest genuine German form of shield is the triangular one, and families bearing a triangular shield can be counted among the oldest. The position of the bracken heads in relation to each other definitely dictates this shape and proves more clearly than any other arrangement of heraldic images that the bracken heads were fitted to a triangular shield, meaning that the shield existed before the image chosen or bestowed as the emblem itself. These images—bracken heads—are purely German in nature. Despite extensive research, we have not been able to find a “bracken head” in any other coat of arms. Only the Hohenzollerns used one as a helmet crest—the Borries used two. Whether the coat of arms image of a dog’s head as a symbol of vigilance allows conclusions to be drawn about the governorship (burgraves, castle lords) in the service of the Hohenstaufen emperors is open to question.
The red tongues of the snow-white (silver) heads protrude far from their open mouths; the neck consists of a large golden hoop with a ring at the back (not mentioned in the confirmation document from 1733).
1.The heads look to the left from the viewer’s perspective.
2. In an open, free, and crowned tournament helmet resting on the shield and pointing to the left. The shape of the helmet is described in detail in both of the most recent confirmation documents, as is its color.
3. In the helmet ornament:
a. Two outward-facing, top-described bracken heads.
b.A cedar or palm tree between them. The significance of this cedar or palm tree as a helmet decoration has not yet been sufficiently explained. It is a very rare decoration. Such a tree would indicate the knightly participation of a Borries in the Crusades or, although highly unlikely, ancestry from southern France, where the Borries still live with our coat of arms. According to Zedlitz, it is a linden tree; the source for this remains unknown to us.
4. In the helmets, which are red and silver.
5.In the coat of arms motto. This varies between the individual lines. The most common is “Gaudet patientia duris,” but the motto “et aspera gaudent,” which means the same thing, also occurs. The count’s line bears the motto “Fortiter et constanter.” Since such mottos were often chosen very arbitrarily and no reference to them can be found in either the old or the confirmation documents, we will simply note that the coat of arms of the old Borries family rightly bears these proud mottos. They did not enjoy glorious days like other noble families; the Thirty Years’ War robbed them of their entire, not overly large fortune through expenditure for the common good, and in this unfortunate situation, they almost lost the high inheritance of their fathers, the nobility with its social position.
Even now, the motto on our coat of arms can still be applied to our family, because although it is not generally blessed with great wealth, it is all the richer in services to the fatherland, richer than many wealthy noble families.
We have so far learned the following about the placement of coats of arms on old gravestones, pictures, etc.:
1. On the north side of the Marktkirche in Hanover, there is a man-sized gravestone depicting a knight kneeling before a cross, with an illegible inscription and the date January 21, 1598. Three connected coats of arms without decoration are located above it. Left coat of arms: star with crown, middle coat of arms: lion, right coat of arms: three bracken heads. Unfortunately, the church records only go back to 1611 and all other inquiries have been unsuccessful.
In Hamelin, our coat of arms (without crest) is located on the doorway of a house as the left side of an alliance coat of arms. The right side shows a horizontally divided shield, with the sun and moon above and a spiritually crowned head below.
3.At least in the bay window of the Berliner Hof, our full coat of arms is displayed as the right-hand coat of arms of the alliance. The left-hand coat of arms shows a bar running from the top right to the bottom left, with five roses lined up on it.
4.In St. Mary’s Church in Minden, there is a monument in the choir where, on the left, a knight kneels at the coffin of three children next to a crucifix, and to the left of him, a woman kneels in the same position with a teenage daughter. Above the knight is our coat of arms without decoration, and above the woman is a coat of arms showing two arrows on the shield.
In addition to several Bible verses, the following inscription is found there:
IN THE YEAR 1580, MARCY IS THE MERCIFUL AND DISTINGUISHED THONIES BORIES CHRISTIAN FROM THIS IMMERTHAL… NOT.SCHE DE.
5.In St. Martin’s Church in Minden, there are oil paintings of dubious artistic value on the pews, depicting the appearance of God in the burning bush and Moses with the two tablets of the law, donated by H. Albert Borries and H. Johann Borries J.E.L.
Borries’ coat of arms is located below the last image. It differs from that of the family in that the uncrowned helmet bears a white Bracken head between two open buffalo horns divided into white and red. (Probably an arbitrary deviation by the painter).
6. In Eibeck, the Münsterkirche church houses an epitaph of the local canon, von Borries, who died in 1748, bearing his coat of arms.
End of the excerpt from the family register.