INTRODUCTION
Every Norbertine abbey has a coat of arms that is distinct to that community, as well as coats of arms for each of the abbots. However, many of these have yet to be digitized and there have been no attempts to compile Premonstratensian coats of arms in 50 years. As such, it is difficult to study and learn about this intriguing niche of Premonstratensia. In response, I wanted to create a digital database that would house images of the coats of arms for all the Norbertine communities past and present, along with detailed information about the history and significance of the arms and the elements contained within them. After some consideration, I decided that this would be a perfect project to foster international collaboration between Norbertine educational institutions and abbeys globally. And the SNC Digital Fellows Initiative gave me the perfect opportunity to develop a robust platform to serve as a foundation for this project.
Link to the website can be found here.
Design Philosophy
I designed the Premonstratensian Heraldry Project that would be accessible to students at the secondary and post-secondary level (and maybe even the intermediate school level with good teacher guidance), that would engage students of all nationalities, that would encourage international collaboration and communication, and that would provide a meaningful contribution to Norbertine scholarship and to the active communities of Norbertines. Students at participating schools will be working directly with their peers at their sister schools and with the Norbertine brothers and sisters in order to gather the information they need and compile the database.
Project Tasks
Each student is assigned a Norbertine abbey or convent. Their task is to communicate with members of that community to learn about the history and significance of their coat of arms. They will also learn the extent to which the coat of arms has been digitized. If needed, the students will create or update the digital asset using the proper hardware and software. Once the students have final approval from the abbey on the digital asset, they will be uploading this asset to the Norbertine Heraldry website, along with all the information they have gathered about the coat-of-arms.
The Process and Timeline: Past and Future
- Summer:
- I received the invite to participate in the Digital Fellows program.
- I reached out to Norbertine schools and communities to gauge their interest in the project. Students at Archemere Academy comprise the first cohort in Fall 2024.
- September:
- I met with Molly Lucareli to determine how to proceed with technological component of the heraldry project
- I then met with an ITS student worker to set up a Knight Domain website
- Throughout September I worked on the design of the webpage, choosing a suitable template and structure. I added a base-level of information needed to give what the website and finished product will be like. I also added resources to help facilitate initial research for the students.
- I met with Archmere Students via Zoom to lay out the project, its goals, and their responsibilities.
- I continued to reached out to Norbertine communities globally to promote the project, encourage their participation, and gain permission to use their digital assets for our project.
- [Students began their initial research into their chosen abbey]
- October:
- I continued building and adding to the Premonstratensian Heraldry page, adding new sections, such as the Glossary of Ecclesiastic Heraldic Terms.
- I worked Archmere’s staff to determine how students will create the images.
- I gave a presentation to Archmere students on “The History, Science, and Artistry of Ecclesiastical Heraldry”
- [Students began reaching out to their abbeys to learn about their coat of arms]
- November:
- I aided students in their research, facilitated communication between the abbeys, and assisted with other issues that arose.
- Communicated with the global Norbertine Education Commission on the status of the project and encouraged them to promote and participate in the project.
- I continued to develop the Premonstratensian Heraldry website.
- December/January:
- I will continue to add content and updates to the website and aid the students in their projects.
- When the student hand over their final projects to me, I will upload the images and other data to the website.
- 2025 and Beyond:
- Future cohorts of students will continue to study the coats of arms and help upload images and data to the website
- When more schools begin to participate in the project, we will incorporate other elements into the project, such as having students from separate schools meet together virtually to interact and collaborate on the project, sharing their progress and learning from their peers
- I will also seek out grant funds to be used for research, travel, and working with students at the various schools across the globe who wish to participate in the project.
- Once we have compiled a full database of the coats of arms of all active Norbertine communities, we will move to the historic communities, and then to the coats of arms of abbots. My goal is for this to be an evergreen project, continuing indefinitely as long as their are students are interested in working on it.
