List of rolls of arms

Folio 259v. from Wernigerode Wappenbuch, Bavaria, c. 1486–1492

A roll of arms (or armorial) is a collection of coats of arms, usually consisting of rows of painted pictures of shields, each shield accompanied by the name of the person bearing the arms. A roll may also consist of blazons (verbal descriptions) rather than illustrations. The following is a list of known historical examples of rolls of arms.

13th century rolls

• Glover's Roll [British Museum Additional manuscripts 29796] is an English roll of arms from c. 1240–1245, as dated by Sir Harris Nicolas,^[1] containing 55 coats of arms. The manuscript was made by Robert Glover (d.1588), Somerset Herald, in 1586 from a now-lost roll of arms made during the reign of King Henry III (1216–1272). The arms are not drawn but only blazoned. Planché states it to be the earliest source of heraldic information and was the first to name it after Glover.^[2]
• The Matthew Paris Shields is a roll dating from c. 1244-59, during the reign of Henry III, containing drawings of shields with Latin annotations.^[3]
• The Bigot Roll [Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds français no 18648 fo 32 – 39] is a French roll dating from 1254, containing 300 coats.
• The Dering Roll, dating from the late 13th century, is the earliest surviving English original roll of arms. It contains 324 coats of arms, painted on parchment. It is 8 ¹⁄₄ inches (210 mm) wide by 8 feet 8 inches (2.64 m) long. It currently resides in the British Library.^[4]
• Armorial Wijnbergen is a French roll published in two parts (Part 1, c. 1265–1270; Part 2, c. 1270–1285), containing 1,312 painted coats. It currently resides at the Royal Dutch Association of Genealogy & Heraldry, The Hague.
• Walford's Roll [British Museum MS Harl 6589,f.12,12b] is a British roll dating from c. 1275, containing 185 coats with blazons.
• The Camden Roll [British Museum, Cotton Roll, 8] is a British roll dating from c. 1280, containing 270 painted coats, 185 with blazons.
• The Heralds' Roll [FitzWilliam Museum, Cambridge MS297 (15th century copy)] is an English roll dating from c. 1280, containing 697 painted coats.
  • Modern illustration of the Herald's Roll shields by R. S. Nourse (on aspilogia.com)
• St George's Roll [College of Arms, London, MS Vincent 164 ff.1–21b] is an English roll dating from c. 1285, containing 677 painted coats.
• Charles' Roll [Society of Antiquaries, London, MS517 (c. 15th century copy)] is an English roll dating from c. 1285, containing 486 painted coats. Planché however names as "Charles's Roll" a copy of a mid-13th-century roll [British Museum, Harley MS 6589] containing nearly 700 coats drawn in pen and ink (i.e. tricked) by Nicholas Charles (d.1613), Lancaster Herald, in 1607. Charles stated that the original had been lent to him by the Norroy King of Arms.^[5]
• The Chifflet-Prinet Roll [Bibliothèque Municipale, Besançon, Collection Chifflet, MS 186, pp. 145–154] is a French roll dating from c. 1285–1298, containing 147 coats with blazons.
• Armorial du Hérault Vermandois [Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS.français 2249 (15th century copy)] is a French roll of arms dating from c. 1285–1300, containing 1,076 blazons.
• The Lord Marshal's Roll [Society of Antiquaries, London, MS 664, vol.1, ff.19–25] is an English roll dating from 1295, containing 565 painted coats.
• Collins' Roll [Queen's College, Oxford, MS 158, pp. 366–402 (Copy c1640)] is a roll dating from 1296, containing 598 painted coats. It currently resides at the College of Arms in London.
• The Falkirk Roll is an English occasional roll dating from c. 1298, containing 115 coats with blazons, listing the knights with King Edward I at Battle of Falkirk in 1298. Various copies exist. The British Museum copy (MS Harl 6589, f.9–9b) was formerly in the Treasury Chamber in Paris in 1576.^[6]

14th century rolls

• The Galloway Roll [College of Arms, London, MS M.14, ff.168–75] (copy by Sir Thomas Wriothesley, Garter King of Arms, d. 1534) is an English roll dating from 1300, containing 259 coats with blazons.
• Roll of Caerlaverock or Poem of Caerlaverock [British Museum, Cotton Caligula A XVIII, ff.23b–30b (near contemporary vellum copy)] is a roll dating from 1300, containing 110 poetical blazons without images. Two other copies exist, made by Glover from a now-lost different original source, one at the College of Arms in London, the other at the Office of the Ulster King of Arms in Dublin. The original was made in 1300 by English heralds during Edward I's siege of Caerlaverock Castle, Scotland. Commentary by Nicholas Harris Nicolas: "The siege of Carlaverock in the XXVIII Edward I. A.D. MCCC; with the arms of the earls, barons, and knights, who were present on the occasion; with a translation, a history of the castle, and memoirs of the personages commemorated by the poet," London, 1828. ^[7]
  • Read The Roll of Caerlaverock on Wikisource.
  • Modern illustration of shields based on Scott-Giles, C.W., The Siege of Caerlaverock, Heraldry Society, 1960
  • Modern illustration (2001) of shields in period style by Michael Case "Maister Iago ab Adam"
• Stirling Roll [College of Arms, London MS M.14, ff.269–272 (Copy by Sir Thomas Wriothesley, Garter King of Arms, d1534)] is an English roll from 1304, containing 102 coats.
• Stepney Roll [Published in Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, vol. 4, p. 63] is an English occasional roll listing the knights present at Stepney Tournament in 1308.
• The Great, Parliamentary, or Banneret's Roll, c. 1312 (Greenstreet 22; Papworth N), is an English roll consisting of 19 vellum leaves (measuring 6" x 8.25"), which include the names and blazons of 1,110 Nobles, Bishops, knights and deceased lords of the day. It is now part of the British Museum manuscript collection - MS. Cotton, Caligula A, XVIII.^[8]
  • Modern illustration of the Parliamentary Roll shields by R. S. Nourse (on aspilogia.com)
• Dunstable Roll [Published in Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, vol. 4, p. 389] is an English occasional roll listing knights present at Dunstable Tournament in 1334.
• Calais Roll is an English roll dating from 1346-7, containing 116 shields in brown ink, tricked to denote tinctures. This roll was probably made in the late 16th century from transcripts of accounts kept by Walter Wetewang, Treasurer of the Household 1346–7, showing wages paid to participants at the Siege of Calais. Extant in the form of about twenty 16th-century manuscripts, this roll was classed as spurious by Wagner (1950), but as "one of the documentary pillars of fourteenth-century military studies" by Ayton (1994).^[9]
• Powell's Roll [MS. Ashmole 804, Bodleian Library, Oxford] is an English roll dating from c. 1345-1351.^[10]
• Gelre Armorial is a Dutch roll of arms dating from c. 1370–1414, containing about 1,700 coats of arms. It currently resides at the Royal Library of Belgium.

15th century rolls

• Hyghalmen Roll is an Imperial roll of arms made around 1447–1455 in Cologne. It currently resides at the College of Arms in London.
• Salisbury Roll is an English roll in two similar versions: the "Original Roll" dating from c. 1463,^[11] in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch, a descendant of the Montagu family; and the later "Copy A", made c.1483-5,^[12] in the collection of the British Library, catalogued as "Additional Manuscript 45133". It contains coats of arms of the Montagu family, Earls of Salisbury. "Copy A" was formerly in the collection of Sir Thomas Wriothesley, Garter King of Arms 1505-34 and later was owned by William Smith, Rector of Melsonby (d.1735).^[13] Parts are now in the British Library in London.
• Stemmario Trivulziano is an Italian roll from c. 1470–1480, containing approximately 2,000 coats.^[14] It currently resides at Biblioteca Trivulziana, Milan, Italy. Possibly the most renowned of the Italian Renaissance armorials, this roll was probably the work of Gian Antonio da Tradate and was formerly the property of the Princes Trivulzio. This codex dates back to the early years of the condottiere Francesco I Sforza as Duke of Milan (1450–66). It blazons the ducal arms and those of linked families such as Brandolini, Savelli, Colonna, Orsini, Scaligeri, Este and Gonzaga. Also included are the arms of the German merchant-bankers Fugger.
• Wernigerode Armorial is a Bavarian roll of arms from around 1486–1492, containing 524 pages, 477 of which are illustrated with anywhere from one to thirty coats of arms (most of these have four coats of arms each).

16th century rolls

• Livro do Armeiro-Mor is a Portuguese official roll from 1509, compilated by João do Cró, Portugal King of Arms. It includes almost 400 real and imaginary coats of arms, including those of the Nine Worthies, of the states of Europe, Africa and Asia, of the electors of the Holy Roman Emperor, of the pairs of France, of members of the Portuguese Royal Family and of the other noble families of Portugal.
• Livro da Nobreza a Perfeiçam das Armas is a Portuguese official roll from c. 1521-1541, compilated by António Godinho, secretary of the King John III of Portugal. It follows the model of the Livro do Armeiro-Mor, being its update, but omitting the chapters on the Nine Worthies, the electors of the Emperor and the pairs of France.

17th century rolls

• Siebmachers Wappenbuch is a general roll of arms of the Holy Roman Empire, compiled by Johann Siebmacher around 1605.
• Thesouro da Nobreza is a general Portuguese roll, compiled by Francisco Coelho, India King of Arms, in 1675. It includes the real and imaginary arms of the 12 tribes of Israel, of the Nine Worthies, of the Romans, of the pairs of France, of the electors of the Empire, of the cavalry and regular orders of Portugal, of some cities of the overseas dominions of Portugal, of the cities and principal towns of Portugal, of the Kings and Queens of Portugal, of the dukes and marquises of Portugal, of the counts of Portugal and of the families.
• Fojnica Armorial is a Balkan roll of arms of uncertain date, containing 139 coats of arms.

Modern rolls

• Burke's General Armory: "The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales; Comprising a Registry of Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time," by Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster King of Arms was published in London in 1884. This roll comprises a listing of all known armory ever used in the British Isles.

See also

• Coat of arms
• Hatching system
• Heraldry
• Illuminated manuscript
• Ordinary of arms
• Roll of arms
• Tricking

References

External links

• The Rolls, a list of historical rolls of arms reproduced online
• Rolls of Arms & Armorials, Historic from Modar University, a list of historical rolls of arms reproduced online