[Gusteau]

Ok Part 2!

As I mentioned earlier, Delta Chi did not have a Coat of Arms until 1899, nine years after our founding. The Coat of Arms was designed by Fraser Brown and Roy V. Rhodes. Brown and Rhodes were fellow heraldry nerds and roommates in the Cornell Chapter House. They designed the Coat of Arms one day over Easter Break when everyone else in the house had left Ithaca for the holiday. They made and discarded several designs before retrieving the Ritual Book and using it as a guide. This is an early version, and as close as I can get to the arms designed by Brown and Rhodes in 1899:

The design we have today has a few modification, but maintains the same principles that Brown and Rhodes intended. Our Coat of Arms is meant to be a "marriage" or union of two "families." That of our spiritual founder Sir Edward Coke, and that of the knight errant, the feudal predecessor to law enforcing justice. Sir Edward Coke is represented by the martlets, peculiar heraldic birds depicted without feet. They fly to the left like the Pegasus on the arms of the Inner Temple where Coke studied law, and are black denoting their secret meaning to the fraternity. The knight errant is represented by his weapons, the battle-ax and scimitar.

Above is a version of the Coat of Arms from an 1930s Quarterly. It is my favorite depiction because of the graceful lines of the shield - it is still used today, mostly on stationary. Below is the modern, standard version of the Coat of Arms. In "heraldry speak" our Coat of Arms would be described "Quarterly, first and fourth or, three martlets volant sable, 2 and 1, second and third gules, a battle ax bendwise crossing a scimitar blade pointing upward, saltirewise proper. Crest: On a wreath of the colors the badge of Delta Chi proper. Motto: LEGES."

Some of the changes were made after Brown and Rhodes, and Rhodes at least was not a big fan. "One of these changes was the addition of a lot of what appear to be rivets around the edges of the shield and which do not, in my opinion, improve the appearance." he said in a 1930 letter.

In the same letter Rhodes makes a statement regarding our legal heritage which I think at least other Delta Chis will appreciate. "It is at once apparent that the arms are largely significant of the tradition of the law. This is natural inasmuch as Delta Chi was organized as a law fraternity and continued as such until a few years ago. I see no reason, however, why there should be any desire to change any of the symbols, for they are all well adapted to the uses of a general fraternity. Without law there can be no civilization and the fraternity may well feel proud of its early ideals and
foundation."

Brevity is clearly not my forte.