Semper fidelis


Semper fidelis is a Latin phrase that means "always faithful" or "always loyal". It is the motto of the United States Marine Corps, usually shortened to Semper Fi. It is also in use as a motto for towns, families, schools, and other military units.

History

The phrase is believed to have originated from the senators of ancient Rome who declaimed it at the end of their speeches.
The earliest definitively recorded use of semper fidelis is as the motto of the French town of Abbeville since 1369. It has also been used by other towns, and is recorded as the motto of various European families since the 16th century, and possibly since the 13th century or earlier. Records show many families in England, France and Ireland using this motto.
The earliest recorded use of semper fidelis by a military unit is by the Duke of Beaufort's Regiment of Foot, raised in south-western England in 1685. This is apparently linked to its use as a motto by the city of Exeter no later than 1660. Subsequently, a variety of military organizations adopted the motto.

Families and individuals

This phrase was used in Europe, at least in Great Britain, Ireland and France and probably in other countries as well. A more recent adoption is by Senator Joe Doyle, in arms granted by the Chief Herald of Ireland in 1999.
Bernard Burke in 1884 listed many notable families in Great Britain and Ireland using the motto "Semper fidelis" in their coats of arms. They include the following:
  • Lynch family : "Semper Fidelis" is the family motto of the Lynch family. The Lynches were one of the Tribes of Galway who were fourteen merchant families who dominated the political, commercial, and social life of the city of Galway in western Ireland between the 13th and 16th centuries. Members of the "Tribes" were considered Old English gentry. The Lynches were descended from William Le Petit, who was one of the Norman knights who settled in Ireland following the grant of Ireland as a fiefdom by Pope Adrian IV to King Henry II of England in the early 12th century. "Semper Fidelis" appears on the Lynch Family coat of arms. Although the earliest traceable reference to this usage is James Hardiman's history of Galway published in 1820, the history of the family makes it likely that the motto was in use by the 14th or 15th century.
  • Frith family : The family of John Frith, Protestant martyr, is thought to have used the motto as far back as the 16th century. John Frith is the earliest entry in Burke's list of the Frith family. The Friths settled in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, after John Frith's execution. The family fought at the Battle of the Boyne.
  • Edge family : The Edge family of Strelley, Nottinghamshire, were using the motto "Semper fidelis" by 1814 at the latest. The arms were granted in 1709, but it is not recorded whether the motto formed part of the initial grant.
  • Molteno family : The Molteno family motto is recorded as "semper fidelis" on versions of their arms held in the archives of the University of Cape Town.
  • Onslow family : the family of the Earls of Onslow uses the motto "Semper fidelis", though their alternative motto is better known.
  • Stewart family : "Semper Fidelis" is the family motto of the Stewart family of Ballechin in Perthshire. J. Burke records that the family goes back to an illegitimate son of James II of Scotland, and the motto is recorded by Burke and by Robson. However, they do not report the date of its first use.
Burke's full list of families using the motto was Booker, Barbeson, Bonner, Broadmead, Carney, Chesterman, Dick, Dickins, Duffield, Edge, Formby, Frisby, Garrett, Haslett, Hill, Houlton, Kearney, Lynch, Lund, Marriott, Nicholls, Onslow, Pollexfen, Smith, Steele, Steehler, Steuart, Stirling and Wilcoxon. A large portion of these families were Irish or Scottish.
Chassant and Tausin list the following French families as using it: D'Arbaud of Jonques, De Bréonis, Chevalier of Pontis, Du Golinot of Mauny, De Coynart, De Genibrouse of Gastelpers, Macar of the Province of Liege, Milet of Mureau, Navoir of Ponzac, De Piomelles, De Poussois, de Lamarzelle, De Reymons, Henry de Lolière and De Rozerou of Mos.

Cities

Abbeville (since 1369)

The city of Abbeville in France is recorded by 19th-century sources as using the motto "Semper fidelis", and recent sources state that the city was accorded this motto by Charles V, by letters patent of 19 June 1369, issued at Vincennes. This would make it the earliest recorded user of the motto among cities. However, both Louandre and the city's current official website give the motto simply as "Fidelis", and Sanson claimed that even this was not part of Charles's original grant, but was added later, sometime in the 14th to 17th centuries.

Lviv (then Lwów)

In 1658, Pope Alexander VII bestowed the heraldic motto "Leopolis semper fidelis" on Lviv. In 1936, the motto "Semper fidelis" was applied again to the coat of arms of the city.
Today, in Poland, the motto is referenced mainly in connection with the Polish-Ukrainian War of 1919 following the collapse of Austro-Hungary in the wake of World War I, and more especially in connection with the Polish-Bolshevik War that followed.

Exeter (since 1660 or earlier)

The City of Exeter, in Devon, England, has used the motto since at least 1660, when it appears in a manuscript of the local chronicler, Richard Izacke. Izacke claimed that the motto was adopted in 1588 to signify the city's loyalty to the English Crown. According to Izacke, it was Queen Elizabeth I who suggested that the city adopt this motto ; her suggestion is said to have come in a letter to "the Citizens of Exeter," in recognition of their gift of money toward the fleet that had defeated the Spanish Armada. John Hooker's map of Exeter of around 1586 shows the city's coat of arms without the motto, suggesting that the city's use of the motto is no older than this. However, the city archives do not hold any letter relating to the motto, and Grey argues that the Elizabethan origin of the motto may be no more than a local myth, since it is not recorded in contemporary chronicles, and that it may have been adopted at the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy to compensate for the city's less-than-total loyalty to the crown during the English Civil War.
Various bodies associated with the city of Exeter also use the motto:
"Semper fidelis" is the motto of the town of St. Malo, in Brittany, France. The date of its adoption is not known, but it appears to have been in use in the 17th century, replacing an earlier motto, "Cave canem".

Calvi

"Civitas Calvi Semper Fidelis" may have been the motto of the city of Calvi, Balagna, area in Corsica for 500 years.

White Plains

"Semper Fidelis" is the motto of the city of White Plains, in New York, United States.

Military units

Regiments from south-western England (from 1685)

The south-western English city of Exeter has used the motto semper fidelis since no later than 1660, inspiring its use by several south-western English military units.

Duke of Beaufort's Regiment of Foot (from 1685)

In 1685, the motto was used by Duke of Beaufort when The Duke of Beaufort's Regiment of Foot, or Beaufort Musketeers, were raised to defend Bristol against the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion. It was numbered as the 11th Regiment of Foot when the numerical system of regimental designation was adopted in 1751 and was designated the regiment for North Devonshire.

The 1st (Exeter and South Devon) Rifle Volunteer Corps (from 1852)

The 1st Rifle Volunteer Corps, raised in Exeter in 1852, was using the motto on its cap badge by 1860 at the latest; The Illustrated London News reported its use in its 7 January 1860 issue. The motto was continued by The Devonshire Regiment of the British Army.

Devonshire and Dorset Regiment (from 1958)

The motto was further continued on the badges of the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment when the Devonshires were amalgamated into them in 1958. This use of the motto evidently derives from these regiments' close connection with the city of Exeter, where they had a base from their foundation until their disappearance by amalgamation into the Rifles in 2007.

The Irish Brigade of France (1690–1792) (''Semper et ubique Fidelis'')

The Irish units in France used a similar motto, "Semper et ubique Fidelis", meaning "Always and Everywhere Faithful". These units, forming the Irish Brigade, were raised in 1690–1 under the terms of the Treaty of Limerick, which ended the war between King James II and King William III in Ireland and Britain. As the native Irish army in exile, "Semper et ubique Fidelis" was a reference to their fidelity to the Catholic faith, King James II, and to the king of France. For decades, the Irish Brigade served as an independent army within the French army, remaining "Always and Everywhere Faithful" to their native Gaelic Irish traditions.
Antoine Walsh's regiment of the Irish Brigade is noted for aiding the American cause in the American Revolution, when they were assigned as marines to John Paul Jones's ship, the.
The involvement of Irish Brigade soldiers serving as marines in the American War of Independence may have inspired the eventual adoption of the motto "Semper Fidelis" by the U.S. Marines.
The phrase "Semper Fidelis" was made the official motto of the Marine Corps by Charles Grymes McCawley, the eighth Commandant of the Marine Corps, who was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which had a large Irish Catholic population. McCawley owed his commission to Senator Pierre Soulé of Louisiana, a Catholic born and raised in France, who would have been well aware of the Irish Brigade's service as Marines during the American Revolution.