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| Coat of arms of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Church of England Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025 |
To continue exploring the world of ecclesiastical heraldry in the Episcopal Church, I want to explore the two archiepiscopal arms in the Church of England--those of Canterbury and York. This whole post stems from running across a version of an armorial flag for Canterbury that I'd not seen previously...
It seems one cannot discuss the ancient arms of the See of Canterbury without acknowledging the arms used by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster.
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| Coat of arms of the Archdiocese of Westminster (Roman Catholic) revised in 2014 Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025 |
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| Side by Side: the arms of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster (left) and the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England (right) Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025 |
I've also learned that in 2014, the Archdiocese of Westminster, in fact, revised its coat of arms to appear as they do in the above illustration. What changed? The archiepiscopal cross found in pale behind the pallium was removed and placed as an external ornament, because the cross required two cross bars reflecting the see's metropolitical authority. Click this link to read about the change on the Archdiocese of Westminster website.
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| Two versions of the archiepiscopal staff from the arms of Canterbury and the two bar staff carried by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church Rendered by Chad Krouse |
Finally, I know now that the archiepiscopal cross in the arms of Canterbury predates the use of two bar crosses to identify metropolitans. All this from seeing a flag online!
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| Coat of arms of the Archbishop of Canterbury Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025 |
Admittedly, I've not thought a whole lot about the design for these arms, taking them for granted I suppose. Initially I thought the pall was the ordinary in the form of a pall cross rather than a charge. This fact is new and interesting to me. Especially when considering these arms as an armorial flag.
The See of Canterbury (Cantaur) is the senior archiepiscopal office in the Church of England, followed by its junior partner, the See of York (Ibor).
The blazon for the arms of the Archbishop of Canterbury: Azure, an archiepiscopal staff in pale Or surmounted of a pall Argent fringed of the second and charged with four crosses patee fitchee Sable.
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| Possible armorial flag for the Archbishop of Canterbury Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025 |
The scholarly world of the Internet showed me an image of these arms as a flag during my search and I was rather stunned. It was the image of the flag that caused me to hunt down the blazon to see what's going on. There is no pall cross ordinary.
So, I'm inclined to believe that the illustration above does in fact work when translating these arms into a flag.
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| Armorial flag of Sewanee: The University of the South Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025 |
Here's an example to clarify what I mean. The arms of the University of the South (Sewanee) in Sewanee, TN has a pall cross as the ordinary in the design and overlaid with the "Sewanee" tressure. If Canterbury's arms used the pall as the ordinary, the armorial flag would translate much like Sewanee's flag above. Make sense? All this was new to me and I simply wanted to share.
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| Armorial flag and coat of arms of the Archbishop of Canterbury Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025 |
One important point to remember when considering ecclesiastical flags in the Church of England is the Earl Marshal's Warrant of 1938, which codified the design and arrangement for flags within the provinces of Canterbury and York.
Let's say St. Swithun's by the Swamp (always a go to example in seminary) wants to fly a flag from the church tower. The parish is situated within the boundary of the Diocese of St. Albans and under its authority. Furthermore, the diocese is located within the Province of Canterbury in the Church of England.
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| Coat of arms for the Diocese of St. Albans, Church of England Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025 |
According to the Earl Marshal's Warrant of 1938, St. Swithun's flag must adhere to these guidelines: the flag will consist of a white field with the red St. George cross throughout, and in dexter canton the arms of the diocese where the parish resides. The illustration below would be the proper flag for our fictitious parish to fly.
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| Armorial flag of the Diocese of St. Albans Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025 |
As a complete aside: I assert that the Earl Marshal's Warrant of 1938 likely influenced the final design for the coat of arms of the Episcopal Church, which officially adopted its arms in 1940. To read the whole saga of how the Episcopal Church adopted arms, please click here for my article.
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| Armorial flag of the Province of Canterbury Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025 |
Yes, I suppose the arrangement also works for both Canterbury and York, but its rather drab, all things considered. I prefer the initial design with the pall and archiepiscopal staff. If I was the Rt. Hon. Rt. Rev. Archbishop of Canterbury, I'd be on the phone with Garter to plead my case!
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| Coat of arms of the Archbishop of York Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025 |
I'm fortunate to say that I've been inside York Minister in the City of York. The minister is huge! I hope one day to be equally as fortunate to make a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. The City of York itself, as I recall, is filled with heraldry.
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| Possible armorial flag for the Archbishop of York Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025 |
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| Flags of the Provinces of Canterbury & York Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025 |
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