Duke University

 
Michael Swanson
 
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Michael Swanson
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02 October 2006 23:48
 

OK, I am bit stumped on the blazon for Duke University.  The arms seem to break all the rules of good design.  Is it worth blazoning?  Or do we just walk away from it.  (I graduated from Duke, so it is hard for me to do that.)

http://www.stat.duke.edu/~xia/duke.jpg

 

 

Let’s give it the old college try.  I’ll start.

 

Azure. :rolleyes:

 

Now it is your turn.  What are those pile-like outlines? :confused:

 
DJensen
 
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DJensen
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03 October 2006 09:42
 

A couple a-very-little-knowledge-is-a-dangerous-thing guesses:

A pile azure fimbriated argent?  (The Research Triangle?  A ‘delta’ as the initial for Duke?)

Bendlets in quarters three and four, even though it’s not strictly speaking "quartered"?

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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03 October 2006 10:09
 

Somewhere, who knows where, I have an unsatisfactory Duke-sourced description of this.  I seem to recall that they call the little diagonal lines "rays."  Sooooo,

"Azure, on a Latin cross throughout between in chief the letters D and U in Old English script and in base two rays issuant from point pilewise Argent a Latin cross adumbrated Azure and over all in base three billets two and one Argent fimbriated Azure."

 

The good news for Duke is that UNC-Chapel Hill’s arms, while more easily blazonable, are not much better heraldically:  "Azure (or, for those who prefer, Blue Celeste) a bend between in chief the word LVX and in base LIBERTAS Argent."

 
Michael Swanson
 
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Michael Swanson
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03 October 2006 10:41
 

Joseph McMillan wrote:

"Azure, on a Latin cross throughout between in chief the letters D and U in Old English script and in base two rays issuant from point pilewise Argent a Latin cross adumbrated Azure and over all in base three billets two and one Argent fimbriated Azure."


Argent fimbriated Azure on Azure?  Isn’t there a way to cortise a charge?

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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03 October 2006 11:15
 

A cotise would be a diminutive flanking the main charge but separated from it.  I think these are too thin for cotises, and they don’t really flank.  Maybe the fimbriation doesn’t need to be mentioned, since the billets overlay both the cross and the field—the outlining is just a matter of artist’s discretion/necessity?  I have a hard time taking all the little thin double-outlining etc. as an integral part of the design, but then…

 
Donnchadh
 
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Donnchadh
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03 October 2006 11:50
 

kudos to everyone for trying… so step up tot he e-bar and i’ll buy y’all an e-pint to reward your old college try. wink

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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03 October 2006 16:57
 

You’re all forgetting the favorite crutch of the harried herald—"...as is more plainly shewn in the margin hereof"  which we never really like, but sometimes…

 
Daniel C. Boyer
 
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Daniel C. Boyer
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08 October 2007 12:35
 

Michael Swanson;34470 wrote:

OK, I am bit stumped on the blazon for Duke University.  The arms seem to break all the rules of good design.  Is it worth blazoning?  Or do we just walk away from it.  (I graduated from Duke, so it is hard for me to do that.)

http://www.stat.duke.edu/~xia/duke.jpg

 

 

Let’s give it the old college try.  I’ll start.

 

Azure. :rolleyes:

 

Now it is your turn.  What are those pile-like outlines? :confused:


Azure, a pile and chief Azure fimbriated surmounted by, on a Latin cross between in chief a text D and U, another Argent, fimbriated Azure, over all in base three billets Argent, fimbriated Azure.

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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10 October 2007 15:40
 

Looking at the accompanying motto, one hopes that the second word is more apt than the first…

 
Michael Swanson
 
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Michael Swanson
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10 October 2007 16:14
 

Michael F. McCartney;50536 wrote:

Looking at the accompanying motto, one hopes that the second word is more apt than the first…


The second word is "et"?  Please say more!

 

Here is an interesting quote (http://www.duke.edu/web/Archives/history/insignia.html):


Quote:

In 1993 the university telephone directory had on its cover a striking color photograph of the pediment above the entrance to Baldwin Auditorium on East Campus which depicted the seal of the university. Taken with a telephoto lens the close up image of the motto revealed the stonecutter’s misspelling of the Latin word Eruditio! Thus a permanent reminder of the difficulty with the Latin in the official seal through the years is displayed for all to see. The prominent cover touched off a flurry of correspondence in the Chronicle over the "newly discovered" seal of the university. Some writers thought it to be politically incorrect while others defended it as quite appropriate. Also many references over the decades have attributed the origin of certain university symbols to either Washington or James B. Duke. What we know of the origin of the seal, motto and aims of the university are attributable to the actions of the board of trustees in the context of the total history of the institution from its inception in 1838