Helmond (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦɛlmɔnt] ⓘ; called Héllemond in the local dialect) is a city and municipality in the Metropoolregio Eindhoven of the province of North Brabant in the Southern Netherlands.

The oak sprigs symbolize freedom, while the bird perched on them is thought to be purely decorative.During the Merovingian period, the site of what is now Helmond was an only partially habitable convergence of streams.

Following his death in 1235, it was passed down to his daughter, Maria of Brabant, Holy Roman Empress, who spent much time at t' Oude Huys and whose founding of Binderen Abbey benefited the growth of the city.

In 1325, Jan II Berthout van Berlaer started the construction of a stone keep on the site of the current Helmond Castle, supplanting t' Oude Huys.

Having gained market rights in 1376, Helmond's textile industry began to develop, and in 1389, seven guilds were authorized to operate in the town.

Following several skirmishes and political maneuvers in the city, the Patriots were crushed through the intervention of Prussia in 1787, but only five years later in 1793, the French Republic invaded.

The liberal French administration allowed the Patriots to re-assert themselves in the city, and in 1795, universal male suffrage came to Helmond.

By the late 18th and early 19th century, local entrepreneurs also started to grow the textile business unassisted by the Haarlem merchants, facilitating industrial production.

In addition to the weaving mills and the associated yarn dyeing and bleaching plants, other branches of the textile industry also developed, such as cotton printing.