Schoondijke is a former municipality in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen; in 1970 it merged
with Oostburg; since 1 Jan 2003 part of Sluis
municipality in Zeeland.
Schoondijke was nearly completely demolished during the WWII, was rebuilt
and remained an agricultural area. In the Middle Ages it was part of the
"Vrije van Sluis", (free land of Sluis), western Zeeuws-Vlaanderen,
which was the "Oost-Vrije" the eastern part of the "Vrije van
Brugge". In 1583 it was conquered by the Duke of Parma, but in 1604
it was reconquered by Prince Maurits and added to the Dutch Republic.
Many municipalities in western Zeeuws-Vlaanderen had a blue diagonal
bar on a white field as a symbol for the "Vrije van Sluis", in which
the diagonal bar may possibly represent the Schelde or the Zwin.
The flag of Schoondijke was: diagonally divided blue over white with
in the center of the blue field the municipal arms.
This flag was not official, but was used as such. The colors are derived
from the municipal arms.
Sources: Sierksma's Nederlands Vlaggenboek, 1962 [sie62],
Ralf
Hartemink's website - and a bit of ferreting.
Jarig Bakker, 11 Aug 2003
In "De gemeentewapens van Nederland", 1962, Sierksma counts four municipalities
which have such arms related to "Het Vrije van Sluis": - Cadzand, Groede,
Schoondijke, and Zuidzande.
Of these, the Cadzand uses the shield augmented with a K sabel in the
sinister chief, Schoondijke uses the shield augmented with an S sabel in
the sinister chief, and Zuidzande uses the shield augmented with a Z azure
on each side of the bar. Groede uses the original Coat of Arms of "Het
Vrije van Sluis".
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 1 Jan 1978
Granted 8 Dec 1819. Similar coats of arms were in use by the former municipalities
of Cadzand, Groede and Zuidzande,
which also belonged to the "Vrije van Sluis".
![[Schoondijke flag]](../images/n/nl-ze_sd.gif)
image
by Jarig Bakker, 11 Aug 2003
![[Schoondijke Coat of Arms]](../images/n/nl-ze)sd.gif)
from Ralf Hartemink's website.
