A roll of arms is a collection of coats of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

, 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 blazon

Blazon

In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...

s (verbal descriptions) rather than illustrations.

Varieties

The heraldist Stephen Friar, writing in 1987, classified rolls as follows:

• Occasional: relating to a specific event such as an expedition, tournament or a siege.
• Institutional: associated with foundations, orders of religion or chivalry possibly compiled over many years.
• Regional: collecting the arms of residents of a region; a practice almost unique to the English county rolls of the 14th century.
• Illustrative: sometimes used to illustrate narratives or chronicles.
• General: a combination or variety of collections.
• Online rolls: In the Internet age, a number of societies maintain rolls of their members.

Mediaeval examples

• Glover's Roll, c. 1240–1245 as dated by Sir Harris Nicolas
  Nicholas Harris Nicolas
  Sir Harris Nicolas, KCMG, KH was an English antiquary.-Life:The fourth son of John Harris Nicolas , he was born at Dartmouth. Having served in the navy from 1812 to 1816, he studied law and was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1825...
  
  , 55 coats. British Museum Add MS 29796. Made by Robert Glover
  Robert Glover (officer of arms)
  Robert Glover was an English Officer of Arms, genealogist and antiquarian in the reign of Elizabeth I. In the College of Arms, he rose to the rank of Somerset Herald of Arms, serving in that capacity from 1571 until his death in 1588...
  
  (d.1588), Somerset Herald
  Somerset Herald
  Somerset Herald of Arms in Ordinary is an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. In the year 1448 Somerset Herald is known to have served the Duke of Somerset, but by the time of the coronation of King Henry VII in 1485 his successor appears to have been raised to the rank of a royal...
  
  , in 1586 from a now lost roll of arms of the reign of King Henry III
  Henry III of England
  Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
  
   (1216–1272). The arms are not drawn but only blazoned. Planché
  James Planche
  James Robinson Planché was a British dramatist, antiquary and officer of arms. Over a period of approximately 60 years he wrote, adapted, or collaborated on 176 plays in a wide range of genres including extravaganza, farce, comedy, burletta, melodrama and opera...
  
   states it to be the earliest source of heraldic information and was the first to name it after Glover.
• The Dering Roll
  Dering Roll
  The Dering Roll is the oldest English roll of arms surviving in its original form. It was made between 1270 and 1280 and contains the coat of arms of 324 knights, starting with two illegitimate children of King John. Sir Edward Dering acquired the roll during the 17th century and modified it to...
  
  , late 13th.c., the earliest surviving English original roll of arms. 324 coats, painted. Parchment, 8" wide by 8ft 8" long. British Library. Provenance: Sir Richard Dering (1598–1644).
• The Bigot Roll, 1254, French. 300 coats. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds français no 18648 fo 32 – 39.
• Walford's Roll, c.1275, 185 coats with blazons. British Museum MS Harl 6589,f.12,12b.
• The Chifflet-Prinet Roll, c. 1285–1298, 147 coats with blasons. Bibliothèque Municipale, Besançon, Collection Chifflet, MS 186, pp. 145–154.
• The Camden Roll, c.1280, 270 coats painted, 185 with blazons. British Museum, Cotton Roll, 8.
• St George's Roll, c.1285, 677 coats, painted. College of Arms, London, MS Vincent 164 ff.1–21b.
• Charles' Roll, c.1285, 486 coats, painted. Society of Antiquaries, London, MS517 (Copy, c.15th.c.). Planché however names as "Charles's Roll" a copy of a mid-13th.c. roll containing nearly 700 coats drawn in pen & ink (i.e. "tricked") by Nicholas Charles
  Nicholas Charles
  Nicholas Charles or Carles was an English officer of arms, namely Lancaster Herald between 1609-1613. He made a copy of an early and rare 13th. c. roll of arms, the original of which is now lost,known after him as "Charles's Roll".-References:...
  
  (d.1613), Lancaster Herald
  Lancaster Herald
  Lancaster Herald of Arms in Ordinary is an English officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. The title of Lancaster Herald first occurs in 1347 at Calais, and to begin with this officer was a servant to the noble house of Lancaster...
  
  , in 1607 (British Museum, Harley MS 6589). Charles stated that the original had been lent to him by the Norroy King of Arms.
• The Galloway Roll, 1300, 259 coats with blazons. College of Arms, London, MS M.14, ff.168–75 (copy by Sir Thomas Wriothesley
  Thomas Wriothesley
  Sir Thomas Wriothesley was a long serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He was the son of Garter King of Arms, John Writhe, and he succeeded his father in this office.-Personal life:...
  
  , Garter King of Arms, d1534).
• The Falkirk Roll, c.1298, 115 coats with blazons. Lists the knights with King Edward I at Battle of Falkirk
  Battle of Falkirk
  The Battle of Falkirk, which took place on 22 July 1298, was one of the major battles in the First War of Scottish Independence...
  
  (1298). Various copies exist. The British Museum copy (MS Harl 6589, f.9–9b) was formerly in the Treasury Chamber in Paris in 1576.
• The Heralds' Roll, c.1280, 697 coats, painted. FitzWilliam Museum, Cambridge MS297 (Copy, 15th.c.)
• Roll of Caerlaverock or Poem of Caerlaverock,http://www.briantimms.net/rolls_of_arms/rolls/caerlaverockK.htm 1300, 110 poetry blazons, no images. Near contemporary copy, vellum: British Museum, Cotton Caligula A XVIII, ff.23b–30b. Two other copies exist, made by Glover from a now lost different original source, one at College of Arms, London, the other at the Office of the Ulster King of Arms, Dublin. Made in 1300 by English heralds during Edward I's siege of Caerlaverock Castle
  Caerlaverock Castle
  Caerlaverock Castle is a moated triangular castle, built in the 13th century, in the Caerlaverock National Nature Reserve area at the Solway Firth, south of Dumfries in the southwest of Scotland. In the Middle Ages it was owned by the Maxwell family. Today, the castle is in the care of Historic...
  
  , Scotland. Text: see s:The Roll of Caerlaverock/The Roll
• The Lord Marshal's Roll, 1295, 565 coats, painted. Society of Antiquaries, London, MS 664, vol.1, ff.19–25. Collin's Roll (Q)
• Collins' Roll, 1296, 598 coats, painted. Queen's College, Oxford, MS 158, pp. 366–402 (Copy c1640). College of Arms, London
• Stirling Roll, 1304, 102 coats. College of Arms, London MS M.14, ff.269–272 (Copy by Sir Thomas Wriothesley, Garter King of Arms, d1534).
• Armorial du Hérault Vermandois, c. 1285–1300. 1,076 blasons. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS.français 2249 (Copy, 15th.c.)
• Armorial Wijnbergen, French. Part 1, c.1265–1270; Part 2, c.1270–1285. 1,312 coats, painted. Royal Dutch Association of Genealogy & Heraldry, The Hague.
• Stepney Roll, 1308. Lists knights present at Stepney Tournament, 1308. Published in Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, vol. 4, p. 63.
• Dunstable Roll, 1334. Lists knights present at Dunstable Tournament, 1334. Published in Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, vol. 4, p. 389.
• Calais Roll, 1346/7. 116 shields in brown ink, shaded & lettered to denote tinctures. Made probably in late 16th.c. 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 only in form of about 20 16th. c. manuscripts. Classed as spurious by Wagner (1950), but as “one of the documentary pillars of fourteenth-century military studies,” by Ayton (1994).http://www.textmanuscripts.com/manuscript_description.php?id=2930&+cat=all&
• Gelre Armorial
  Gelre Armorial
  The Gelre Armorial is an armorial composed between 1370 and 1414 in the Duchy of Guelders. The book displays some 1,700 coats-of-arms from all over Europe, in colour. Most historians claim that the book was written by the herald Claes Heinenszoon. It is now located at the Royal Library of Belgium....
  
  , Dutch, c.1370–1414, 1,700 coats. Royal Library, Belgium.

Renaissance examples

• Stemmario Trivulziano, Italian, c.1470–1480, 2,000 coats. Biblioteca Trivulziana, Milan, Italy. Possibly the most renowned of the Italian Renaissance armorials, probably a work by Gian Antonio da Tradate, formerly the property of the Princes Trivulzio
  Gian Giacomo Trivulzio
  Gian Giacomo Trivulzio was an Italian aristocrat and condottiero who held several military commands during the Italian Wars.-Biography:...
  
  . This codex dates back to the early years of the condottiere Francesco I Sforza
  Francesco I Sforza
  Francesco I Sforza was an Italian condottiero, the founder of the Sforza dynasty in Milan, Italy. He was the brother of Alessandro, with whom he often fought.-Early life:...
  
   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 the arms of the German merchant-bankers Fugger.

Modern examples

• 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
  Bernard Burke
  Sir John Bernard Burke, CB was a British officer of arms and genealogist.-Personal life:He was born in London, and was educated in London and in France. His father, John Burke , was also a genealogist, and in 1826 issued a Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the...
  
  , C.B., LL.D., Ulster King of Arms. London 1884. May be considered a Roll of Arms in the widest sense of the term. A listing of every known armorial ever used in the British Isles, still not superseded in usefulness. Not always reliable.

External links

• Brian Timms recreated depictions of several mediaeval rolls
• Three Rolls of Arms of the Latter Part of the 13th c. Together with an Index of Names and an Alphabetical Ordinary of the Coats. Edited for the Society of Antiquaries by WESTON STYLEMAN WALEORD, ESQ., F.S.A. & CHARLES SPENCER PERCEVAL, ESQ,, LL.D., E.S.A. London, 1864.
• Johann Siebmacher (Begr.), Horst Appuhn (Hrsg.) Johann Siebmachers Wappenbuch von 1605
  Siebmachers Wappenbuch
  Siebmachers Wappenbuch refers to two heraldic multivolume book series of armorial bearings or coats of arms of the nobility within the Holy Roman Empire .The Old Siebmacher...
  
  , München : Orbis-Ed., 1999, ISBN 3-572-10050-X
• Burke's Peerage International Register of Arms
• US Heraldic Registry, an American armorial that offers free registration of contemporary and historical heraldry
• Online Armorial, free registration for armigers to display their coat of arms online, with reference to heraldic authorities per country.
• General armorial of noble families in the Russian Empire (Gerbovnik)

Sources

• Wagner, Anthony Richard. A Catalogue of English Medieval Rolls of Arms. Aspilogia, 1, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1950.
• Ayton, Andrew. “The English Army and the Normandy Campaign of 1346,” England and Normandy in the Middle Ages, eds. David Bates and Anne Curry, London, Hambledon Press, 1994, pp. 253–268.