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ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿
ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿History

The ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿family and college seals

The family that would eventually be called ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿came to England from Normandy sometime before 1071. The surname is first recorded as "de Scudemer." Scudemer/Scudamore gave way to Skydmore/ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿by the mid-14th century, though the Norman spelling enjoyed a renaissance during the reign of the Tudors, and still survives.

The part of the college seal considered correct from a heraldic standpoint is the stirrup, which has been traced to the 1323 seal of Peter Scudamor. A Welsh pedigree, ca. 1600, cites a John Skydmore as using a seal with three stirrups; a shield bearing such an emblem appears in a stained glass window at the church in Upton Scudamore, near Bath, England.

Later additions—helm, vegetation, unicorn, motto, and vertical lines on the escutcheon—were invented or appropriated from heraldry unrelated to the lineage of Lucy ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿Scribner. The motto scuto amoris divini ("by the shield of God's love") is presumed to be a play on the family name: scut- + amor- = Scudamor. 

Sources: "An Overview of the History of the ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿Family" () and Mary C. Lynn.

 

Seal
A wax seal attached to an original parchment deed dated August 24, 1323, at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California (from a drawing by Warren Skidmore)
 

Seal
Arms with modified escutcheon and the motto scuto amoris divini (from Thomas ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿and His Descendants by Emily Hawley)



Seal

Skydmore arms as depicted in a church window in Upton Scudamore, England

 
seal
An undated original artwork by Lillian Ford Andrews (ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿ Archives)


Seal
A later version, with helm, vegetation, and a unicorn


 

seal
The ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿ seal, adopted after the ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿School of Arts (est. 1911) was chartered as ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿ in 1922.