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.


Wednesday 17 March 2021

St Patrick’s Blue


In contemporary popular culture green is the colour associated with being Irish and all things Irish. Historically however the Irish colour was blue, or St Patrick’s Blue. This is the ground colour of the arms of Ireland, of the Order of St Patrick, of the hackle of the Irish Guards in the Anglo-Irish tradition, and of the ground colour of flags in the past in the Nationalist one, and was used in all manner of uniforms and liveries. It is perhaps not surprising that its origins are a subject of serious debate, reflecting no doubt different Irish cultural traditions.

This use of a shade or shades of blue thus links with both of my previous posts for today. Wikipedia has a good illustrated article about the Irish emblematic use of the colour at St. Patrick's blue


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