ad U.S. Heraldic Registry � Registrations/Wesleyan College?

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Wesleyan College


Registration number 20061025D


This certifies that the heraldic arms of the Wesleyan College are registered as an original design and are described by the blazon below

Arms: Gules on a cross Argent five escallops Sable.


Source

The university's website: http://www.wesleyan.edu/

Design rationale

The Wesleyan shield is a simplified version of a heraldic shield created in the early 1950s for display at the University Club of Chicago. Inspired by the family coat of arms of John Wesley, founder of Methodism and namesake of the University, President Victor L. Butterfield accepted the design as Wesleyan's official coat of arms in 1953. The red shield bears a cross decorated with five scallop shells. Decorated shields were used in medieval warfare to identify knights and their soldiers during the battle. Pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land wore a scallop on their hats, and so this shell entered the heraldry as the symbol for a pilgrimage. Later, the shell came to symbolize anyone who had made long journeys or voyages to foreign countries.

Registered by

Michael Swanson

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Education, US, W

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