The coat of my wife’s alma mater – Washington & Lee University (Lexington, VA)

http://www.wlu.edu/Images/publications_images/graphic_identity/web_crest.png

Designed circa 1890 by Chemistry Professor W. G. Brown, Class of 1887

Quarter I

an open book with an injunction from I Thessalonians to “test all things”

Quarter II

three red mullets and two red bars on a silver field come directly from the Washington arms

Quarter III

from the arms of Reginald de Le, a XIIIth century English sheriff, Robert E. Lee’s ancestor

Quarter IV

cinquefoil and wavy-edged ermine border were added to the Lee arms after a marriage with the Astley family of Nordley, England

Crest

a raven rising out of a golden ducal coronet, comes from the Washington crest

Motto – “Non Incautus Futuri”

a phrase from Horace translated “not unmindful of the future,” also came from the Lee family arms

the original phrase (haud ignara ac non incauta future), refers to the ant as ‘neither unaware nor heedless of what will be’.  Therein the ant (Latin: formica) is feminine, hence the ‘a’ ending on incauta, which would not have done for a motto in the 30’s for an all-male W&L, so the ending was changed to the masculine ‘us’.

Steven,

Thanks for posting.

It’s an attractive coat of arms not to mention an excellent university.  Professor W.G. Brown clearly had a better than average grasp of heraldry.  Interestingly, many academics seemed to have a better than average grasp of heraldry at the turn of the 19th and 20th century when it seems many attractive coats of arms were devised mostly by professors for various universities and colleges.