Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Tuesday, 27 October 2020

Exhibition about Ulster King of Arms and his Office


The College of Arms Newsletter which presented itself in my inbox yesterday morning has a piece about an exhibition in Dublin Castle, which looks from the official website to be extremely interesting:

Splendour and Scandal: The Office of Arms at Dublin Castle :
This exhibition in the State Apartment Galleries at Dublin Castle is dedicated to the history of the office of Ulster King of Arms, heraldic authority for the island of Ireland. This office, one of the oldest of the state offices, was also one of the last to be handed over by the British Crown to the Irish State, in 1943. The jurisdiction of Ulster King of Arms over Northern Ireland was at that time transferred to Norroy and Ulster King of Arms at the College of Arms. The exhibition, which can be viewed online here includes a portrait lent by the College of Arms of Sir Nevile Wilkinson, the last Ulster King of Arms, who was appointed in 1908 and served until his death in 1940.

Sir Arthur Vicars was Ulster King of Arms 1893–1908.
Image: Wikipedia 

File:Dublin Castle, Bedford tower, South view 20150807 1.jpg

The Bedford Tower in Dublin Castle
Built in 1761 it housed the office of Ulster King of Arms from 1903 until 1943. It was from here that the Irish Crown Jewels were stolen in July 1907.

Image: Wikimedia

There is an introduction to the history of the office of Ulster King of Arms at Norroy and Ulster King of Arms and an introduction to the intriguing story of the 1907 theft at Irish Crown Jewels


No comments: