The Arms of Trinity College, et alia

The gates of the various colleges at Cambridge are sufficiently diverse that a study of them would be worthwhile all on its own.

Alas, in this little blog I lack the time to devote to such a study, which in any case would necessitate a return to Cambridge for a more thorough and comprehensive set of photographs, plus.

So for today, we're just going to visit an armorial gate into Trinity College to see what we can learn about it, containing as it does not only the arms of the College, but several other coats of arms as well.

At the top of the gate, in prime position, we find this coat of arms:

While Trinity College was founded by King Henry VIII by uniting two earlier foundations -- Michaelhouse and King's Hall -- the arms here are plainly those of the Stuart Kings of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

The other arms are as follows:

On the left-hand side of the gate, we have, first, the arms of Trinity College (Argent a chevron between three roses gules barbed and seeded proper on a chief gules a lion passant guardant between two closed books or) impaling Neville (Gules on a saltire argent a rose proper); and second, Neville.

On the right-hand side of the gate, we have, first, Noel, formerly Neville (Or fretty gules a canton ermine), and second, Magdalen College (Quarterly per pale indented or and azure on a bend azure between between two eagles displayed or, a fret between two martlets or) [these are the arms of the founder, Thomas, Lord Audley of Walden], impaling Neville (Gules on a saltire argent a rose proper).

Latimer Neville, 6th Baron Braybrooke, was Master of Magdalene College for over 50 years, from 1853–1904 (a record unlikely ever to be surpassed). He was described as "a good but dull man lacking intellectual powers", according to Alex Samuels, Magdalene Association Essay Prize 2005-2006. Latimer, Baron Braybrooke also served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge from 1859–61.

The Baron Braybrooke currently bears quartered arms: in the first and fourth quarters, Neville, as above; in the second and third quarters, Noel/Neville as above but instead of an ermine canton, a golden canton charged with a black lymphad (a type of single-masted ship).

That's a lot of history to be seen on this one, comparatively little, gate. Yet it seems to be bearing up well under the weight of it all.