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Heraldry in Glastonbury
As with the development of heraldry in general, the earliest ecclesiastical seals were unquestionably personal, bearing the effigy, arms, or device of a bishop or abbot respectively.
In Glastonbury, several examples of abbots’ personal arms are known – those of Abbot Bere and Abbot Whiting being displayed at various locations in the town.
During the reign of Edward I, the ‘Statutum de apportis religiosorum’ of 1307 enacted that every religious house should have a common seal, and that all grants made to which this common seal was not affixed should be null and void.
Impressions from Glastonbury’s Great Seal still exist, and they depict Our Lady of Glastonbury holding the Christ child, with St. Catherine (shown with characteristic ‘wheel’) to her left and St. Bride (carrying a lamb) on her right.
The reverse impression shows three male Saints connected to the Abbey: the central figure is St. Dunstan, with St. Patrick – the legendary first Abbot – to his left, and St. Benignus on his right.
With the arrival of the common seal came the idea of an ‘impersonal’ coat-of-arms for that community, and circa 1400, Glastonbury assumed the arms attributed to the legendary King Arthur (whose bones were exhumed at Glastonbury in 1191, and entombed in black marble before the Abbey’s high altar by King Edward 1 on 13th April 1278).
Arthur’s shield is green (a field, vert), charged with a silver cross botonée (argent), and depicts Our Lady of Glastonbury – exactly as she is appears on the Great Seal – in the first quarter.
The oldest extant representation of the Abbey’s Coat-of-Arms can be seen on the West exterior of St. Patrick’s Chapel in the Abbey grounds.
There is no known motto for the Abbey ... however, Mediaeval Glastonbury claims several splendid motto-esque legends or ‘titles’ such as “Roma Secunda” (the Second Rome), “The Mother of Saints”,
“The Secret of our Lord”, “The Holiest Earth in England” .
On 20th November 1703 a petition was presented to Queen Anne requesting letters patent to create a governing Corporation, the absence of which, the petition claimed, was the reason “whereof the morrall of the inhabitants are corrupt, and cavill and breach of the peace very frequent”.
The charter of Corporation was granted on 23rd June 1705.
The architect of the petition, Peter King, was appointed the town’s first Recorder.
The current heraldic device and motto of Glastonbury Town Council almost certainly dates from the 1705 Royal Act – being the ‘Common Seal’ of that organisation in 1735.
Crest: the full achievement of the Royal Coat-of-Arms of Queen Anne.
Shield: a red background with an image of two croziers crossed in an X shape behind a mitre.
In heraldic terms: colour gules; two croziers in saltire behind a mitre.
Motto: Floreat Ecclesia Anglicana – “May the Church of England Flourish”.Whilst the exact date when the heraldic device or motto were devised and adopted is uncertain, the diary of Glastonbury’s John Cannon, written in the 1730s, has a crude representation of the “Corporation Common Seal” which he describes as “Silver with a Mitre & Croziers having this motto Floreat Ecclesiae Anglie”.
Somerset County historian, Robert Dunning, tells the story of when Glastonbury’s ‘common seal’ was lost in 1840 (when Richard Periam Prat, town clerk, left the town in disgrace) – a new seal was ordered “that bore a shield of arms identical with that on the mayor’s chain presented in 1870, namely gules, two croziers in saltire behind a mitre, or, with the motto FLOREAT ECCLESIA ANGLIAE within a border of trefoils ...
The Local Board of Health used the same achievement,but with the motto "FLOREAT ECCLESIA ANGLICANA”.
[‘Glastonbury: Town’, A History of the County of Somerset: Vol 9: Glastonbury & Street 2006, pp. 16-43].
The Corporation’s Coat-of-Arms
There has been some debate over the meaning of the Corporation’s motto.
1) Floreat Ecclesiae Anglie – whilst unusual Latin – can be interpreted as “May the English Churches Flourish”. This has been described as ‘Arimathean’, in reference to the legendary ‘pre-Rome’ founding of Glastonbury’s Old Church – i.e. AD 37.
2) Floreat Ecclesia Anglicana is Latin for “May the church of England Flourish”.
The following extracts are taken from historian and researcher Dr Adam Stout’s learned contributions to the debate – he is of the opinion that the motto means “Church of England” – whichever way it is formed:
“Personally I think the motto’s first intention was to emphasise the new Corporation’s loyalty to the Church of England at a time when it was felt to be under threat from Catholics and especially Dissenters, of whom Glastonbury had rather a lot, including the first Mayor...
‘Floreat Ecclesiae Anglie’ – this version of the motto, as John Monet points out is ‘rather odd Latin’ and he thinks it means ‘the English churches’ – i.e. the‘Arimathean’ version.
I’m sure that this meaning is in there too but I still maintain that this motto also had contemporary political significance, since Glastonbury was a borough notorious for its Dissenter population, incorporated by the Anglican-loving Queen Anne during the time of the ‘Church in Peril’ scare...”
“Getting Corporation status was quite an honour for the Glastonbury elite.... My best guess at the moment is that Peter King himself devised the motto as a compliment to Queen Anne, as a way of reassuring her ‘Church in Peril’ Tory supporters – who were getting all agitated about letting non-Anglicans have the right to sit on Corporations – that Glastonbury was OK in spite of the Dissenters... and by the same token managed to convince Glastonbury Dissenters that accepting this motto was a small price to pay in order to get Corporation status.
There was a definite law-and-order dimension to all this too.
The original petition to Parliament asked for Corporation status to be granted because ‘the morall of the inhabitants are corrupt, and cavill and breach of the peace very frequent’.
1705 was only twenty years after the Monmouth Rebellion, in which Dissenters from Somerset played an important part, and Glastonbury had been quite rebellious (Judge Jeffreys hanged six men from the inn sign of the White Hart, where the Assembly Rooms now is).
Peter King may also have been trying to reconcile the different factions in town, since the first Mayor, John Applin, was a leading Presbyterian.
His opponents later accused his father of having been ‘a plunderer in the Monmouthing times’, but in 1705 the great-and- good of Glastonbury, no doubt gently steered by Peter King, chose him to be their civic leader.”
The Motion –
To consider the appropriateness of the Town Council’s heraldic device and motto
Research has suggested there are currently over 70 different faiths, creeds, and spiritual paths followed in Glastonbury, and that these various groups live in relative tolerance and harmony in a community no larger than 10,000 people – something that Glastonbury should be justifiably proud of.
Over the past four years, a new, most welcome, movement has emerged, with the aim of greater understanding and unity between the diverse communities that call Glastonbury home.
Under the inspired leadership of Cllr. Bill Knight, during his Mayoral year, the drive of this movement was encapsulated into the expression “Unity Through Diversity”, and an extremely successful ‘Unity’ event – attended by over 50 different faiths, creeds, and paths – was initiated into what is hoped will be an annual demonstration of unity in Glastonbury.
With this ‘Unity’ movement in mind Cllr. Jon Cousins put forward the motion, seconded by Cllr. Denise Michell, that Glastonbury Town Council would consider their heraldic device and motto.
A working group was established to investigate, who spent six months reviewing the subject.
The reasoning behind this motion:
Representation:
The symbolism, sentiment, and meaning of the coat-of-arms and motto are biased to one religion: the Church of England – and therefore not representative of the whole community.
Whilst this bias may have been appropriate to the political and cultural context of the early 18th century, it could be reasonable to think it inappropriate for a modern 21st century town whose population has such a wide range of differing spiritual beliefs.
Legitimacy and lawfulness:
The current heraldry is unlawful.
The College of Arms has never granted Glastonbury Town Council the ‘Right to Arms’, and therefore the use of the current heraldry by the Council is, in itself, a civil offence. The Windsor Herald of the College of Arms has stated: “Without a Grant of Arms on behalf of the Crown, Glastonbury Town Council should not be currently using a Coat-of-Arms, in any form.”
In addition, according to the Windsor Herald, Glastonbury Town Council’s Crest – The full achievement of Queen Anne – is an offence to Her Majesty the Queen, as the Arms are for the sole use of the Sovereign and can, by extension be used by her government, police force and judiciary.
He quite categorically stated: “it is an offence to use the Royal Arms, even those of a past Sovereign.”
Legislation:
1) The Town Council has statutory Equality Duty to “promote and inclusive culture; torespect and value differences of everyone; to prevent discrimination, harassment and victimisation; to promote and foster good relations throughout the community betweenpeople of different groups” – as defined by the Equality Act 2010.
2) The Town Council’s responsibility to “uphold the law and on all occasions act in accordance with the trust that the public is entitled to place on them.”
Note. this motion was not passed by Council.
Here is the Central Somerset Gazette Article.
Here are (1) Letters, (2) to the paper about council meeting and letters from Cllr. Jon Cousins and Cllr.Mike Free.