Proof of nobility for the de Vaddere family with coats of arms and tomb monuments or stained glass windows records.

Vellum, 77 x 71 cm at sight, in French and Dutch, aut. s. "P.A. Delaunay/ Brabant", "P. Ulens", "G. a Kempis", etc., coats of arms enhanced with watercolour, tomb monuments and stained glass mostly drawn in grisaille, seal under paper (some soiling, traces of cracking).

Mod. frame with glass (n.s.o.f.). Good condition.

Richly illustrated document reproducing 20 figures: 10 coats of arms (incl. arms of alliance), 10 tomb monuments and stained glass with coats of arms, with captions in Dutch identifying and locating each of them: Brussels (St. Gudula a.o.), Leuven, Boetendael. The certificate in French is signed by the famous P.-A. de Launay, king of arms of Brabant, who stated to have realised the said document at the request of Adrianus de Vaddere (Leuven 1659-1711), canon and prior (1692) of the former Park Abbey near Leuven, and his brother Petrus, bachelor of medicine. A second attestation in the same hand, in Dutch, is signed by Brussels notary Petrus Ulens, Guillaume a Kempis, organist of the collegiale church St. Gudula, a.o.
Pierre-Albert and his brother Jean de Launay were two prolific 17th-c. genealogists settled in the Spanish Low Countries. They are known to have forged false genealogical trees and falsified official documents, certificates, patents, genealogies… Their career ended in judicial troubles, the outcome of which was tragic for Jean, executed in 1687. Many of their works, conserved in public and private collections, continue to be problematic to this day.
Ref. Delgrange, D., "A culture of forgery. The de Launay Brothers and heraldic fraud in the 17th century", in Dix-septième siècle, Vol. 291/2, April 2021, pp. 119-139. - Goovaerts, L. - Écrivains, artistes et savants de l'ordre de Prémontré. Brussels, 1907, III:40.