The Burgon Society

The Use of Academic Dress in Heraldry The Use of Academic Dress in Heraldry by Duncan Sutherland

Academic dress appears outside university ceremonies. For example, in heraldry.
Register for a lecture on The Use of Academic Dress in Heraldry, from the 15th century in the UK and abroad. Presented by Duncan Sutherland on Weds, 18 March, at 18.00.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-use-of...

Looking fine, either way!

Town and Gown

I got my cap and gown for graduation!! It's getting real!!

Durham Cathedral, England, seen from Prebends Bridge.

Book your space for the Burgon Society’s 25th Anniversary Spring Conference and AGM. On Saturday 25th April we meet at Durham Cathedral for a programme including a cathedral tour and presentations on academic dress. Enjoy lunch, tea, and a celebratory champagne reception. burgon.org.uk/events

A coloured illustration titled “A Christmas Ceremony at Oxford: Bring in the Boar’s Head at Queen’s College”, showing students, servers, visitors, and a large boar’s head on a platter. From a postcard by Gillette, published by Raphael Tuck & Sons, London c. 1909.

Happy Christmas to all!
A ceremony at Queen’s College, Oxford, from a postcard by Gillette, published by Raphael Tuck & Sons, London, c. 1909.

Winter scene featuring a punt gliding across the River Cam, near a snow-covered arch bridge, accompanied by a 'Merry Christmas from the University of Cambridge' greeting.

Merry Christmas to all our students, staff, alumni and friends around the world 🎄

📸 Lloyd Mann

Winter view of Oxford’s skyline across a frosty field, with spires and domes under a grey sky. Text reads: “Merry Christmas from the University of Oxford.”

Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating 🎄✨

#MerryChristmas

Santa Claus in front of a Christmas tree, wearing with his traditional red outfit a red trencher with red tassel and white fur trimming the skull.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

A procession of university officials in the Czech Republic, wearing academic dress. The gowns of rectors of Czech universities are a reinterpretation of the original model of Charles University. The turquoise gown is the rector of the Academy of Fine Arts. The rector of the Mining University, in Ostrava, wears the black gown.

Academic dress fit for the holidays:
The gowns of rectors of Czech universities are a reinterpretation of the original model of Charles University.
The turquoise gown is the rector of the Academy of Fine Arts.
The rector of the Mining University, in Ostrava, wears the black gown.

I am only and and ever a Glaswegian.'

It's been wonderful to bestow honorary degrees this Commemoration Day, including broadcaster & journalist Kirsty Young.

Welcome to #TeamUofG!

#UofGCommDay

We’re not the only ones who notice deviations from how gowns are worn in real life.

Sussex’s bachelors’ hood, a simple shape with black shell and lining in grey fur with black windowpane pattern. Image copyright Burgon Society Archive, item WBS-174.

Created after the Second World War, the University of Sussex reimagined of some of the oldest elements of academic costume. Andrew Plant explains how its eccentricity attracted opprobrium, speculation, bewilderment, and several urban myths.
newprairiepress.org/burgonsociet...

The scribe at work has left his spectacles in the drawer.
#writingdesk
BnF Français 9198; Vie et miracles de Notre Dame, en prose française, arrangés par Jean Miélot; 15th century; f.19r @gallicabnf.bsky.social

What a desk!
#writingdesk
BnF MS Français 17211; Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, French translation by Claude de Seyssel, volume 1; early 16th century; f.1r @gallicabnf.bsky.social

And if you’re unfamiliar with Charles Franklyn, you’ll find out plenty in Nicholas Groves’ biography of the irascible fellow, “Charles Franklyn: A Man of Strong Opinions.” (A subtitle which describes him mildly.)
burgon.org.uk/shop

Our hood of the month, the beautiful Cambridge Bachelor of Music. Historical details are at burgon.org.uk/hood-of-month
‘For once, Charles Franklyn’s immortal phrase may be confidently applied, since few would contest that this hood really is one of the most beautiful and dignified in the world’.

Father Goff’s article covers a lot ground. The Burgon Society festal hood permits fur, doesn’t require it. The two Burgon festal hoods to our knowledge lined with real fur are one with fur re-purposed from an old hood, and one with possum fur—an invasive species in New Zealand, the wearer’s home.

Two people in black masters’ gowns, facing away from the camera, each showing a version of the Burgon Society’s Congregation hood, wach with a different shade in the lining, seen in 2023. One is closer in shade to cherry, the other to the colour used by judges: terracotta.

When it came to creating our own hood, what should it look like? The [s2] for Congregation was straightforward, but the festal [f7] had a more dramatic inception. Both would be approved for Fellows of the Burgon Society. Philip Goff recounts how they came to be. newprairiepress.org/burgonsociet...

Oh, that isn’t the new hood for Doctor of Electrical Engineering?

A portrait of Charles Frederick D’Arcy (1859–1938), Archbishop of Armagh, painted by Sir John Lavery in oil in 1928, in the Ulster Museum. In the portrait he is wearing a scarlet hood, which appears to be lined black and unbound. The shape of the neckband and the slight curvature at the base of the cape are suggestive of the Oxford DD, though not conclusive.

Peter A. Thompson’s article on wearing academic hoods ‘in quire’ uses as a foundation the portrait collection of the archbishops of Armagh, evidence of past practice and evolving custom. Which hoods were worn when? Should a hood should be worn with the chimere?
newprairiepress.org/burgonsociet...

Ah, splendid! The saturated colours look so summery.

Whoever said academics don’t throw proper parties has never been to a proper part given by an academic.

Nice views, though they’re missing the gowns!

Excited to announce my first ever panel at #IMC2026! 🎉 Our session, 'Negotiating Masculinity in Eastern Orthodoxy', brings together papers from @nick-mayhew.bsky.social, Orlen Crawford (co-organiser) and myself, with @maroulix.bsky.social as moderator. @imc-leeds.bsky.social @leedsims.bsky.social

An old colour picture postcard showing five views of an ancient archaeological site. In the centre is a banner on which is printed Taxila, Pakistan, with the Pakistan flag, and the logos of UNESCO and the WorldHheritage Organisation

Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of Taxila, Pakistan, one of the earliest sites of higher education in the world, active from the 5th century before the common era

If you like this image, please retweet it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm

gharial of the cloth

Brother Gregor never spoke and often spooked the neophytes with his appearance, but he was a gentle soul and a phenomenal cook and knew more ways to prepare a fish than the abbot knew hymns

A chart showing support for wearing of hoods in collegiate choirs, collected from members of eligible choirs in October–December 2022. (Figures rounded.) 66 people were queried. Of them 63% were in support and 27% were not. 12% did not respond.

The question of hood etiquette in choirs has always been something of a contentious one. Regardless of what the Canons say, tradition and opinion still seem to win out in most cases. Samuel Teague’s article on hoods in Oxford collegiate choirs is now available: newprairiepress.org/burgonsociet...

Let’s take a look, Fellows: Whose hoods do you see?

Philip Goff, a founding Fellow of the Burgon Society, was honored by the University of London on its Founding Day and visited with the university’s Chancellor, The Princess Royal.