According to the 16th-century scholar Suffridus Petrus, the seven red pumpkins or water lily leaves refer to the Seven Frisian Sea countries, which were separated from each other by three streams of water. These were more or less independent regions along the coast from Alkmaar to the Weser, which according to tradition had fought together against the Normans. However, there have probably never been exactly seven of these administrative units; the number seven probably has the connotation 'much'. The motif of the water flows in a blue field (tres aquas candidas in campo cœlestini) is also associated with the Swedish royal coat of arms by the Danish author Olaus Magnus.
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