CITY ARMS, SEALS, PLATE, AND INSIGNIA
The city arms, showing an ox passing over a ford,
were recorded at the heralds' visitation of 1574, (fn. 1) but
the rebus had been used extensively by both town and
university in the Middle Ages. (fn. 2) The crest and supporters may have been granted when Elizabeth I visited
the city in 1566. The crest, a crowned demi-leopard
holding a double rose, alludes to the royal arms, while
the supporters, an elephant and a beaver, allude to the
crest of Sir Francis Knollys, the city's high steward,
and to the supporter of the arms of Henry Norreys of
Rycote, captain of the city musters; the motto was
'fortis est veritas'. A version of the arms appears on a
carved panel of 1577 in the town hall, and there were
many later variants. (fn. 3) An exemplification of the arms
was obtained from the college of heralds in 1926. (fn. 4)
City of Oxford
Argent, an ox gules horned and hoofed or fording water barry wavy argent and azure in the base of the shield.
The town's common seal, in use in 1191 and thus
the earliest municipal seal in Great Britain was round,
c. 27/8 in., and depicted a triple-towered walled city with
an ox superimposed, passant from dexter to sinister,
and the legend, lombardic: SIGILLVM COMMVNE
OMNIVM CIVIVM CIVITATIS OXENEFORDIE. (fn. 5) It was used
until 1662, (fn. 6) when the council decided that it was
'dishonourable to the city' because of its 'absurd, ill,
and unhandsome cutting'. It was replaced by a round
seal, 2½ in., depicting the city arms with supporters,
crest, and motto, but no legend. (fn. 7) That seal was
replaced by another, again showing the armorial
achievement of the city, in 1682; the new seal
remained in use until the late 19th century, when an
embossing stamp, in use in 1975, was copied from it. (fn. 8)
The earliest known counter-seal, in use in 1598,
depicted the city arms with crest and supporters but no
motto; (fn. 9) in 1619, 1678, and 1700 a round counter-seal,
1¼ in., was used, depicting an ox passant in a ford,
with the legend, humanistic: SIGILLVM CIVITATIS
OXONIE. (fn. 10) The 19th-century counter-seal bore the city
arms on a shield without legend. (fn. 11)
A mayor's seal was in use by 1244; it was round,
1¼ in., depicting an ox passant from dexter to sinister
before a conventional bush or tree, with the legend,
lombardic: SIGILLVM MAIORATVS OXONIE. (fn. 12) The seal
was used in 1418 but by 1424 was replaced by a round
seal, 1½ in., depicting an ox passant in a ford, in the
background an oak-tree and, on the sinister side, a
shield bearing a cross, the background replenished
with sprigs of foliage; the legend, black letter:
SIGILLVM MAIORIS OXONIE. (fn. 13) The seal was used in
1498 (fn. 14) but was superseded before the 19th century by
an oval mayor's seal bearing the city arms. (fn. 15) An
embossing stamp copied from the late medieval seal
was made in the late 19th century, and the seal itself
was used 1973 and 1974. (fn. 16)
Oxford was granted a Statute Merchant seal in
1306. (fn. 17) In 1318 a merchant was accused of forging the
first seal, of Edward I. (fn. 18) The seal of Edward II was
round, 15/8 in., depicting the king's bust, full-face,
crowned, with a border of annulets on the neck, lion of
England couchant guardant on the breast, a tripletowered, embattled castle in the field on each side, and
the legend, lombardic: SIGILLVM EDWARDI REGIS RECOGNICIONEM [DEBITORVM] APVD OXONIAM. The Statute
Merchant seal of Richard II, of which the silver matrix
survived in 1975 in the city plate room, was made
from a cast of that of Edward III in which the letters of
the king's name had been re-cut; it resembled that of
Edward II with the legend, lombardic: SIGILLVM
RECARDI REGIS ANGLIE AD RECOGNICIONEM DEBITORVM
APVD OXONIAM.
(fn. 19) Fragments of two impressions of the
seal of Elizabeth I on documents of 1597 show that it
depicted a crowned Tudor rose with the letters ER and
the legend, humanistic: SIGILLVM REGINE
ELIZABETH. . . . (fn. 20) Statute Merchant bonds required
two seals, and appointments of clerks to keep the
smaller seal were made regularly from 1306 to 1415,
by which date it was kept by the town clerk. (fn. 21) The
clerk's seal of Edward II was ¾ in. in diameter showing
an ox stant guardant in a ford, its tail recurved over its
back, and in the field the legend, lombardic: BOS
OXONIE; those of Edward III and Richard II were
similar, depicting the ox passant. (fn. 22) The silver matrix of
the clerk's seal, dated 1597 and similar to the earlier
seals, survived in 1975. (fn. 23)
A seal of the husting of Oxford was recorded in
1327, (fn. 24) and other seals were referred to from time to
time: in 1670–1 the 'ox seal' was engraved in silver,
and in 1704 and 1705 the 'council chamber seals' were
mended. (fn. 25) Four 19th-century matrices, bearing the city
arms, survived in 1975; one was presumably the
sheriff's seal. (fn. 26)
In 1298 a bailiff involved in a scuffle with clerks at
Carfax had his mace with him, (fn. 27) and in 1451 the two
bailiffs for the year gave a second mace, of silver, for
the bailiffs' serjeant to carry. (fn. 28) In the late 15th century
two maces, one bearing fleurs-de-lis and lions, were
kept by the bailiffs' serjeants. (fn. 29) The office of
macebearer in the town of Oxford, to which Edward
III appointed in 1346, (fn. 30) may perhaps have been that of
mayor's serjeant, first recorded, without reference to a
mace, in 1321. (fn. 31) There were two maces in 1405, (fn. 32) and
one was presumably the mayor's. A mace was carried
before the mayor in 1556, (fn. 33) and in 1573 the mayor,
Roger Hewet, gave the first 'great mace', the earlier
mayor's mace having been no bigger than a
serjeant's. (fn. 34)
The city's charters of 1605 and 1684 provided for up
to four serjeants-at-mace, who were to carry before
the mayor gold or silver maces decorated with the
royal arms. (fn. 35) In 1975 the city possessed a silver-clad
iron mace or marshall's staff 11 in. long, with the
initials of the town crier, Baldwin Hodges, and the
date 1606, and two much altered early-17th-century
maces of silver-clad iron, 11½ in. long; all three bore
the Stuart royal arms. (fn. 36) There is no record of their
acquisition, unless one was a new mace made in
1634–5. (fn. 37)
In 1651 the great mace was altered from a royal to a
Commonwealth mace, a silver mace being sold to
cover the cost. (fn. 38) At the Restoration a new great mace
was made (fn. 39) and was used at the coronation of Charles
II. (fn. 40) It was repaired and re-gilded several times, once,
in 1723, at the expense of Francis Knollys, M.P. for
the city, (fn. 41) and remains the city mace. It is 5 ft. 4½ in.
long, of silver gilt, surmounted by an open crown with
an orb and cross, bearing on the bowl the royal arms
of Charles II and on four panels the letters CR with a
Tudor rose, thistle, harp, or plume of feathers; the
inscription records its making in 1660.
The mayor's chain, given by James Hughes, mayor
in 1884, is of gold, with the letters of OXENFORD
alternating with enamelled roses; the enamelled badge
is of the city arms and civic emblems. Silver-gilt chains
and enamel badges of the city arms were presented for
the sheriff, the mayoress, the sheriff's lady, and the
deputy mayor in 1897, 1924, 1953, and 1960. Scarlet
and crimson gowns were worn by senior councillors
from at least the mid 15th century. (fn. 42) In the late 19th
century the mayor and aldermen wore dress gowns of
scarlet trimmed with sable, the sheriff a scarlet gown
with black velvet facings, (fn. 43) and such gowns continued
in use in 1975.
Pieces of city plate were sold in 1550, in order to
buy land, and others had been pawned by 1581. (fn. 44)
Gifts, including three silver tankards and a silver-gilt
salt, were made by prominent councillors in 1581,
1620, and c. 1636, (fn. 45) but all the city's plate seems to
have been sold during the Civil War to the high
steward, Thomas, earl of Berkshire; three councillors
were ordered to be arrested in 1652 for their part in
the transaction. (fn. 46) Two silver tankards dated 1651,
given by John Whicker Morton, two cups given by
John Davis in 1659, and a tankard given by Andrew
Potter in 1659 were altered or exchanged for other
pieces in 1676, 1694, 1714, and 1715; (fn. 47) a gold
porringer and cover given in 1681 by the high steward,
George, duke of Buckingham, and twelve silver plates,
dating from 1679 and 1687, given by Nathaniel, Lord
Crewe, and his wife Dorothy between 1700 and 1715,
remained in the city's possession in 1975. Other
noteworthy pieces were two silver-gilt coronation cups
and covers presented to mayors at the coronation
banquets of Charles II and George IV and acquired by
the city in 1684 and 1946; (fn. 48) a boxwood cup with
silver mounts, presented to one of the bailiffs at the
coronation of George IV, bought in 1974; silver-gilt
grace cups with covers given by Willoughby Bertie,
earl of Abingdon, in 1775 and by Peregrine Bertie,
M.P., in 1781; and a large hunting scene, modelled in
silver, presented to James Morrell in 1857. There were
also large silver almsmen's badges of 1674 and later,
worn by recipients of the charities of John and Charles
Harris, and of the Cutler-Boulter charity in St. Clement's, (fn. 49) and three smaller silver badges of unknown
derivation, but perhaps worn by the Trinity men, (fn. 50)
inscribed with the ox passant in a ford.