
Last modified: 2010-01-16 by rob raeside
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![[Gonville and Caius College]](../images/g/gb_cu-gc.gif) image by António Martins-Tuvālkin, 24 August 2009
 
image by António Martins-Tuvālkin, 24 August 2009
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
![[Gonville and Caius College]](../images/g/gb_cu@gc.gif) image by António Martins-Tuvālkin, 31 August 2009
 
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