Scholastic Heraldry

Row 1 (L-R): Chicago, Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, and UPenn
Row 2 (L-R): Wesleyan, Notre Dame, Hampden-Sydney, Kenyon, St Joseph
Row 3 (L-R): St. Albans, Roxbury Latin, Mount St. Scholastica, Rice, St. Pauls, Groton, Eton 

If I had to choose, I mean really choose, a certain branch of heraldry that I'm drawn to, it's first and foremost scholastic or academic heraldry.  A close second would be ecclesiastical heraldry.  I suppose it has something to do with how I first encountered coat armour.

In the fall of 1998, I matriculated to the pastoral campus of Hampden-Sydney College located just outside of Farmville, Virginia.  The school was founded on November 15, 1775, a day shared with the founding of the U.S. Marine Corps.  I covered the school's coat of arms in a previous post.  I distinctly recall blowing a large sum of my graduation money on items in the college's bookstore that bore those beautiful arms.  I will even admit to purchasing my class ring my freshman year, solely so that I could wear the arms of the school!  Thank goodness I graduated.  And yes, I received quite the jabbing from my friends and classmates for such a bold move.  

Ever since my undergraduate days, I've been truly enamored by heraldry, and I remain especially curious about organizations that bear arms.  What is does it mean for an academic institution to bear arms?  What messages are intrinsic to those schools' coat armour?  Aside from those larger questions, I'm interested to know the what and the why behind the design and rationale. 

So, during these past seven weeks of home confinement, I started a group on Facebook to share and discuss scholastic heraldry.  I put together the grouping of shields above for the social media site to help advertise.

Click on this link to join the discussion and share.