Monday, February 6, 2023

Arms of the Diocese of Lincoln in King's College Chapel


In amongst all of Royal badges in stained glass windows in King's College Chapel, Cambridge, I ran across this coat of arms:


At the bottom, beneath the Royal badges of the crowned fleur-de-lys and the crowned Tudor rose, we have the arms of the Diocese of Lincoln, Province of Canterbury. These arms were first recorded at unknown date. (The Diocese itself  can trace its roots directly back to the Diocese of Leicester, founded in 679, well before heraldry and coats of arms came into being.)

The blazon is: Gules two lions passant guardant in pale Or on a chief Azure the Virgin ducally crowned sitting on a throne issuant from the chief in her dexter arm the Infant Jesus and in her sinister hand a scepter all Or. The shield is surmounted by a bishop's mitre and its lappets to both sides of the chief.

It is a wonderfully simple (meaning, "not complex") coat of arms.

I am uncertain as to how the arms of the Diocese of Lincoln came to be placed here, as Cambridge is within the bounds of the Diocese of Ely, whose cathedral (and arms) we will be visiting later. Nonetheless, they make a nice addition to this armorial stained glass window.

No comments:

Post a Comment