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Cambridge University - Gonville and Caius College (England)

Last modified: 2010-01-16 by rob raeside
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[Gonville and Caius College] image by António Martins-Tuvālkin, 24 August 2009
Image based on image at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Caius_College_Crest.svg
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Description of the flag

This very large banner of arms was flying at Gonville and Caius College on one occasion (13 April 2007). The arms of Gonville and Caius College were formed in 1575 by impaling the arms of the founders, Edmund Gonville and John Caius (http://www.cai.cam.ac.uk/rota.php?count=3). A blazon can be found at http://www.netsoc.tcd.ie/~peterh/armscantab.html, a page with blazons for all the Cambridge colleges:

"Argent, on a chevron between two couple closes indented sable three escallops or impaling, Or semy of flowers gentle, in the middle of the chief a sengrene resting upon the heads of two serpents in pale, their tails knit together, all in proper colour, resting upon a square marble stone vert, between their breasts a book sable garnished gules, buckles or; all within a bordure compony argent and sable."
Jonathan Dixon, 9 July 2007

A Flickr photo shows additional details: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnlinwood/3163751034/, put up by John Linwood on 3 Jan 2009.  Caius arms, 1561: http://www.cai.cam.ac.uk/rota.php?count=3. Gonville and Caius large arms (clickable, too): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Caius_College_Crest.svg.

The "couple closes" are thin chevrons, usually accompanying a normal one; a sengrene is a plant, a kind of leek.
Jan Mertens, 26 January 2009


Wilson's sledging flag

[Gonville and Caius College] image by António Martins-Tuvālkin, 31 August 2009

For a special case see the sledging flag at http://www.antarctic-circle.org/E16.htm: [Antarctic explorer] "Wilson's flag hangs in Gloucester Cathedral (…). I thought it was at his Cambridge college, Gonville & Caius, but going there last October and seeing the flag in the dining hall, it was clear that this was the college flag which Wilson took south with him (…) and not his sledging flag. It's mounted on the wall beside the high table, protected by a covering."
See the flag in all its beauty here (tiny shield on a blue field): http://www.flickr.com/photos/9494577@N04/2068815457/ for which we have to thank mffitzgerald (photo uploaded 27 Nov 2007). Caption: "From the dining hall at Caius and Gonville".
Jan Mertens, 4 February 2009

The colors of Gonville and Caius College are given as black and pale blue, not taken from the arms.
António Martins-Tuvālkin, 31 August 2009