| THE SHIELD OF
ARMS
 A.
Blazon or technical description:
Azure, on a mullet of eight points Argent, a roundel of the
First charged with a sun-in-splendour Or, the whole within a Bordure
of Notre Dame, viz. Argent, charged at the corners with three
open books of the Last, bound and edged of the First, bearing
respectively the words VITA, DULCEDO, and SPES in letters Sable,
and between the books three mullet of six points of the First.
B. Non-technical description:
On a shield with a plain blue background, a straight-edged star
with eight rays, silver or white in colour, bearing at its centre
a blue disc, itself bearing across its whole surface a stylized
image of the sun with circling flames, depicted in gold or yellow.
Around the whole edge of the shield is set a narrow border of
silver or white, on which are placed first, at the corners, three
white books with blue covers and edging, and having the texts
VITA, DULCEDO, and SPES respectively; and second, set equidistant
between the books, three blue straight-sided stars with six rays.
C. Explanation:
The arms of the Medieval Institute allude primarily to the patroness
of the University and Institute, and to Christ and the Christian
nature of both, but they also include an allusion to its academic
nature and fields, and a formal symbol of its status as an Institute
headed by a director and dependent directly on the University
of Notre Dame as such. The colours, blue,
silver or white,
and gold or yellow,
are the colours of the Blessed Virgin; blue
and gold alone are
the standard colours of the Virgin and of the University as a
whole, while blue
and silver are the
colours of the Virgin as 'Star of the Sea' (the symbolism of all
of the stars in the arms, taken directly from the arms of the
University). In the bordure - whose presence and form is standard
for Institutes of the University - these colours have another
set of meanings, for blue
is also the standard colour in the U.S. academic code for degrees
in the national Faculty of Philosophy (M. Phil., Ph.D.), and white
of degrees in that of Arts and Letters (B.A., M.A., D.A.), and
these are the Faculties (in the traditional sense of major divisions
of learning) in which the Institute grants degrees. The actual
elements of the standard bordure - called the 'Bordure of Notre
Dame' - are drawn from the University arms: the six-pointed star
of the Virgin, and the book (a symbol of higher learning) bearing
the words from the Marian hymn Salve Regina, in which
she is described as 'Life, Sweetness, Hope'.
To accommodate so many words on the small scale of the bordure,
each of the three books is made to bear only one of the three
words.
 The
particular form of the Star of the Sea used as the principal charge
of the arms here, with the sun set at its centre, is a symbol
of the Virgin as the Theotokos or 'God-bearer', for the
sun is a symbol of God and of Christ, born from the Virgin. In
precisely this form (with eight points rather than six) the star-and-sun
device was used by the first of the royal orders of knighthood
founded by a king of France, the Company of Our Lady of the Noble
House (of which the designer of the arms was the most recent historian),
and as this provided a happy link both to the French founders
of the University and to the period and region with which the
Institute is professionallv concerned, as well as a pleasing allusion
to a noble society under the patronage of the Virgin, it seemed
a triply suitable symbol for the fellowship of medievalists the
Institute embodies. Finally, the placement of the sun-symbol at
precisely the middle of the design allowed a four-fold
play of words and ideas on the name of the period studied and
of the Institute itself: a play that is most clearly suggested
in the Institute motto (which see below).
|
|
II. THE HELM, LAMBREQUIN, TORSE, AND CREST:
A. Blazon:
On a HELM suitable to a non-commercial private corporation
in the United States of America, over a LAMBREQUIN of the livery
colours Azure doubled party of Or and Argent, and issuant of a
TORSE of the academic colours Argent and Azure, a mullet of eight
points as in the arms, set between a pair of arms embowed proper,
the dexter male and the sinister female, both habited Azure, doubled
Argent, together holding an open book of the Last, bound and edged
Or, bearing the words VITA DULCEDO SPES in letters Sable.
B. Description:
 The
HELM should be of a form symbolic of private
corporate bodies, in colours symbolic of non-commercial status,
and bearing at the base a circle of white five-pointed stars symbolic
of legal residence in the USA. (This is part of a proposed code
of symbolism for helms in this country, to be presented for adoption
by the Committee on Heraldry of the New England Historic Genealogical
Society, the principal registry body in the country, of which
the designer is a member.)
|
 The
LAMBREQUIN is in the three colours of the shield,
the official colours of the Institute: blue on the outside, and
divided into panels of yellow and white on the inside.
|
 The
TORSE is in the academic colours of Arts and
Philosophy, white and blue.
|
 The
CREST is composed of the silver star-with-gold-sun
of the arms, set between a pair of arms, the right (as seen from
behind, the position of the bearer of the shield) male, the left
female, both wearing a loose-sleeved garment of blue lined in
white, and holding between them a book, white with gold cover
and edging, and VITA DULCEDO SPES in black letters.
|
C. Explanation (of the Crest):
The crest combines the principal device of the arms (bearing
all of its symbolic values) with the book from the University
arms (bearing the whole text explained above), and the male and
female hands-and-arms that are used as the standard supporters
or 'flankers' of in the achievements of the Colleges and Schools
of the University. These hands generally represent human agency
in its sexual and gendered duality, and are here clad in a primitive
form of academic gown in the academic colours of Philosophy and
the Liberal Arts.
|
III. THE BADGE AND BONNET:
A. Blazon:
On a sun-in-splendour Or a roundel Azure, charged with the
letters m:i of the First, ensigned by the BONNET
of the Director of an Institute granting degrees in Arts and Philosophy,
viz. a doctoral bonnet Sable, its brim edged with a narrow band
of gold lace, curled on the upper edge, encircled by a torse in
the academic colours Argent and Azure, and charged with a shield
of the arms of the University, Proper.
 B.
Description:
The badge consists of the sun from the centre of the arms, itself
bearing at its centre (like the star of the arms) a blue disc,
in this case bearing the letters m and i, in gothic script. The
sun is shown surmounted by the black bonnet of a director of an
Institute.
C. Explanation:
The sun represents the idea of Christ and of the centrality of
the Christian tradition to the interests of the Institute, and
also the general idea of centrality or middleness so important
to the symbolism of the arms, emphasized by the placement of the
cipher or initials of the Institute at its own centre. The badge
(with or without the bonnet) can be placed (either singly or multiply,
as on the motto-scroll) on items owned by the Institute, or worn
by Fellows, students, employees, and graduates on ties, lapel
pins, and the like, as a symbol of affiliation.
The BONNET is actually a distinct symbol representing the hierarchical
status of the Institute in terms of the status of its head, and
also indicating the general nature of the Institute as an academic
institution. It can be used to mark any of the elements of the
achievement in the way shown here, and in a greater or full achievement
would normally be placed directly above the shield, resting on
its upper edge or corner, either below or in place of the helm
with its crest and lambrequin. The Director of the Institute would
also use it in place of the crested helm in his official arms,
which would be further distinguished with a collar indicative
of his professorial rank.
|
IV. THE SCROLL AND MOTTO:
 A.Text:
In medio optimum querimus
('We seek the best in the middle.')
B. Explanation:
The motto alludes at once to the idea of the Medium Aevum of
'Middle Age' studied by the Fellows of the Institute; to the idea
that the Fellows are seeking to discover both the most important
elements of that 'middle period' and some of the best things ever
created by human minds and hands; to the ancient dictum that a
middle position between two extremes is always the best one; and
finally to the idea that the best way of life is to be found in
Christ, who should be placed at the centre of life, just as his
symbol, the sun, is placed at the centre or middle of the Institute
arms.
|
