Hampden-Sydney College

 
Marcus K
 
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Marcus K
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14 November 2008 17:01
 

The Arms of the Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney, VA.

http://www.hsc.edu/hschistory/images/coat_of_arms.jpg

The Arms was devised by the College of Arms as part of the Bicentennial celebration of the College on 4 July 1976, the acctual presentation was made on October 19 the same year. The Eagles are from the Sydney Arms and the Pheons from the Hampden Arms. The Red Saltire denotes the Church of Scotland (the College was established by Scottish-Irish Presbyterians). In the middle and open Bible bearing the words of Joh 8:32 - "Ye shall know the truth".

 

Picture and explanation from the College’s site http://www.hsc.edu/hschistory/arms.html

 
Michael Y. Medvedev
 
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Michael Y. Medvedev
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15 November 2008 02:32
 

Quote:

The Eagles are from the Sydney Arms and the Pheons from the Hampden Arms.

Not vice versa?

 
Marcus K
 
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Marcus K
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15 November 2008 06:52
 

Yes you are right, I mixed the two up.

 
Michael Y. Medvedev
 
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Michael Y. Medvedev
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15 November 2008 08:09
 

Oh thank you, and please excuse my tactlessness.

 
Marcus K
 
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Marcus K
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15 November 2008 13:46
 

It’s allright Michael, no hard feelings.

 
snelson
 
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snelson
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11 January 2014 13:29
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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15 January 2014 15:41
 

Nice design, well executed!

As an aside - Marcus wrote," the College was established by Scottish-Irish Presbyterians"—the term is Scotch-Irish, referring to Presbyterians of mostly Scottish extraction who had been settle in Ireland (mainly Ulster), sometimes for several generations, before emigrating to the American colonies in the 17th & 18th centuries.  Some academic pedants have tried to substitute "Scots-Irish" beginning AFAIK in the mid-20th century, but there is no evidence I’ve seen that either the Scotch-Irish themselves or others in the States used this aberation historically.  (End of rant)

 
Marcus K
 
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Marcus K
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24 January 2014 10:42
 

Michael F. McCartney;101292 wrote:

Nice design, well executed!

As an aside - Marcus wrote," the College was established by Scottish-Irish Presbyterians"—the term is Scotch-Irish, referring to Presbyterians of mostly Scottish extraction who had been settle in Ireland (mainly Ulster), sometimes for several generations, before emigrating to the American colonies in the 17th & 18th centuries.  Some academic pedants have tried to substitute "Scots-Irish" beginning AFAIK in the mid-20th century, but there is no evidence I’ve seen that either the Scotch-Irish themselves or others in the States used this aberation historically.  (End of rant)


OK I stand corrected, thanks for this bit of information.

 
cmkrouse
 
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cmkrouse
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22 July 2014 13:00
 

I fell in love with these arms in the Fall of 1998 when I matriculated as a freshman at Hampden-Sydney.  What is interesting to note, here, is that once the arms were in the hands of the College, a banner was added by my friend and former colleague Dr. Richard McClintock.  He also admitted to me that he redrew the pheons and falcons to better fit the proportions surrounding the cross saltire.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yQhYC_z7R4I/U86NBitiUII/AAAAAAAAD08/KouLAMmYaR4/s1600/hsc+coa+banner.jpg

 

Photo of a plaque made by a London-based firm displaying the arms as drawn on the letters patent for the honorary grant of arms, July 4, 1976.

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aQC2Ehj7RPk/U86Oo_2wwEI/AAAAAAAAD1M/PMOAzVWtMRU/s1600/hsc+plaque.jpg

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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22 July 2014 13:04
 

For those coming to the AHS annual meeting on September 26-27, the original College of Arms letters patent devising the Hampden-Sydney arms are on display as part of the Folger Shakespeare Library’s "Symbols of Honor" exhibit, which we will be visiting.

 
JamesD
 
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JamesD
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23 July 2014 10:48
 

cmkrouse;102270 wrote:

I fell in love with these arms in the Fall of 1998 when I matriculated as a freshman at Hampden-Sydney.

I can quite understand why, Chad - they are very attractive arms!


cmkrouse;102270 wrote:

a banner was added by my friend and former colleague Dr. Richard McClintock.  He also admitted to me that he redrew the pheons and falcons to better fit the proportions surrounding the cross saltire.

Thank you for this additional background information. However, it seems to me that Dr McClintock sensibly copied the emblazonment in the first post, which originated from the College of Arms, rather than redrawing them (which I understand to mean creating his own version of the arms). In any event, I agree that the arms on the banner are better proportioned than those on the Letters Patent, if that is what the plaque (the third image) is based on.

I have attached a comparison of the three versions for reference.

 

http://www.americanheraldry.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=105&pictureid=2137

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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23 July 2014 12:17
 

James,

The first image of the three is nearly identical to the emblazonment on the LP, but I think is actually taken from the separate exemplification by the College, shown on the first page of the thread.

 
JamesD
 
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JamesD
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23 July 2014 12:34
 

Joseph McMillan;102284 wrote:

James,

The first image of the three is nearly identical to the emblazonment on the LP, but I think is actually taken from the separate exemplification by the College, shown on the first page of the thread.

Thanks for the clarification, Joseph, and you are correct about the first image in my comparison - I should have made it clear that I had taken it from the CoA’s exemplification.

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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23 July 2014 16:21
 

Should the eagles & pheons be Azure or Sable?  Both look nice but can’t both be correct!

Also in the exemplification posted in msg #6 above, the arms have a field per saltire Argent & Or (as do all the examples posted here), which I assume is correct, but the arms in the hoist of the standard appears to have the field entirely Argent.  Again, either way looks nice but can’t both be right.

(Apologies if asked/answered by others earlier)

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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23 July 2014 17:15
 

Michael F. McCartney;102289 wrote:

Should the eagles & pheons be Azure or Sable? Both look nice but can’t both be correct!

Also in the exemplification posted in msg #6 above, the arms have a field per saltire Argent & Or (as do all the examples posted here), which I assume is correct, but the arms in the hoist of the standard appears to have the field entirely Argent. Again, either way looks nice but can’t both be right.

(Apologies if asked/answered by others earlier)


Per saltire Argent and Or a saltire Gules between two eagles displayed and as many pheons Azure, overall an open book proper leathered Sable and garnished gold and inscribed “καὶ γνώσεσθε τὴν ἀλήθειαν (Ye shall know the truth)."

 

The supporters are a man in armor representing John Hampden and a man dressed in brown suit with green cape representing Algernon Sydney.

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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25 July 2014 01:59
 

Thanks!