According to
Wikipedia:
The Burgon Society was founded in 2000 for the study and promotion of academical dress, to preserve its history, and to advise film and television companies and interested others in its correct usage.
Patrons of the
Burgon Society include:
The Rt. Revd. and Rt. Hon. Dr. Richard J. C. Chartres PC ChStJ DD (London, City, Brunel) DLitt (Guildhall) FSA FBS - Bishop of London
Rt. Revd. Graeme Knowles, former Dean of St Paul's
Is it just me and the person who sent me the link? Does anyone else see the resemblance to something right out of the
The Diocese of Wenchoster?
That the Society's emblem is "surrounded by Bishop Andrewes caps" is a lovely detail. Brings to mind that fine site Affirming Laudianism as well as Wenchoster.
ReplyDeleteWho runs the Laud site, Lapin, or is it a secret?
ReplyDeleteBy coincidence, I am just now reading about King James and his 'soulmate' Archbishop Laud in The History of Christianity by MacCulloch.
The proprietor of the Wenchoster site may be better informed than I, Mimi.
ReplyDeleteArchibald Armstrong, court jester to James VI/I and to Charles I, pronounced at court, in the presence of the archbishop, the grace "Great praise be given to God and little laud to the devil". [The archbishop was a very short man.]
ReplyDeleteYEs, I know the Wenchoster stuff...
ReplyDeleteBut in and of itself its not a BAD thing to affirmthe tradition.
Our tradition is an ancient one too, and when we admit students to it, we need to tell them their history. We are admitting them to an ancient community of scholars.
Every year at Commencement, I walk around the faculty assembly area to explain to my colleagues that they have their hoods on backwards, re-hooding them, and to show them the little twist on one shoulder to expose the colorful satin underneath the wide velvet border.
I also have my students come during the last week of classes and expalin to them the mediaeval history of our garb, and explain how they can look at the robes ad the hoods and determine the degree, the school, and the degree of the faculty.
And i explain that in academic hierarchy, the PhD is the queen of degrees, with the other doctorates being "professional" degrees that rank lower in the academic hierarchy.
And it's hard not to get a little chill marching out with my colleagues in their colorful robes, and recognizing that as academics, we too are tracing our roots well bact.
IT, there is absolutely nothing wrong with tradition. You do a good thing by teaching the faculty and students to do the academic dress properly.
ReplyDeleteI confess that I am not much for dress-up, ceremonies, and processions. I tend to feel rather foolish when I have to participate, but that's not to say everyone should be like me.
Oh Mimi, if you want to experience it, show up and I will have the department rent you garb....because most of our colleagues do not participate on this day that will the THE day for most of our students so I am happy to pad the population.... and in the English tradition, you can toss it off, oh yes,I'm a viisting professor from.... and you march through the procession and you know that this ho-hum day for you is THE day for the kids and their parents and how can you not be be there for them? We're all peacocks!
ReplyDeleteAfter the formal, elegant ceremony we send the kids to their deprtamental groups (Sciences, humanites, etc) where their names are read out. And their parents run up and want pictures, and the kids are excited, and the graduate students are a little shell shocked in their elaborate robes as we try to convey to them that THEY are the inheritors of the community of scholars and then I always recite this poem by Christopher Logue, about Guillaume Appollinaire:
Come to the edge.
We might fall.
Come to the edge.
It's too high!
COME TO THE EDGE!
And they came,
and we pushed,
And they flew.
And Doctor comes from Docere which means, to teach.
:-)
And i explain that in academic hierarchy, the PhD is the queen of degrees, with the other doctorates being "professional" degrees that rank lower in the academic hierarchy.
ReplyDeleteTry telling that to a ThD! ;-)
[No, not me. I have a lowly, "professional" EdD]
IT, beautifully said. I love the poem. You are right. One day I may show up and let you dress me properly to march and honor the graduates. I do have the master's degree, so I'm part way up academic ladder and will have a bit of color.
ReplyDelete