The ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ family and college seals
The family that would eventually be called ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ came to England from Normandy sometime before 1071. The surname is first recorded as "de Scudemer." Scudemer/Scudamore gave way to Skydmore/³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ 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 ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ 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 ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Family" () and Mary C. Lynn.
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 ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ)
Arms with modified escutcheon and the motto scuto amoris divini (from Thomas ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ and His Descendants by Emily Hawley)
Skydmore arms as depicted in a church window in Upton Scudamore, England
An undated original artwork by Lillian Ford Andrews (³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ College Archives)
A later version, with helm, vegetation, and a unicorn
The ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ College seal, adopted after the ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ School of Arts (est. 1911) was chartered as ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ College in 1922.