Rolls of Arms

Rolls of Arms
Name	Rolls of Arms
Language	Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Latin
Subject	Heraldry, Genealogy, Chivalry
Genre	Reference
Release date	13th–17th centuries

Rolls of Arms are medieval and early modern compilations that record coats of arms, blazons, and armorial bearings for knights, nobles, corporations, and institutions. They functioned as practical registers for tournaments, battlefield identification, legal disputes, and ceremonial display, and as reference works for heralds, genealogists, and chroniclers. Rolls survive in manuscript and early print form and intersect with institutions, battles, orders, and households across Europe.

Definition and Purpose

Rolls of Arms served as visual and textual catalogs used by College of Arms, Corporation of York, Order of the Garter, Chancery of England, and comparable bodies to standardize heraldic identity for participants in Tournament of Acre, Siege of Orléans, Battle of Agincourt, Field of the Cloth of Gold, and state ceremonies. They provided authoritative blazons for royal houses such as House of Plantagenet, House of Lancaster, House of York, House of Tudor, and House of Habsburg; civic arms for cities like London, Paris, Ghent, Florence; and armorial bearings for military orders like Order of Saint John and Teutonic Order. Heralds used them during investitures, heraldic visitations, and legal proceedings before courts including Court of Chivalry and royal chancelleries.

History and Development

The practice of compiling heraldic rolls emerged after the crystallization of armorial display in high medieval Europe and was influenced by institutions such as the Knights Hospitaller and the administrative practices of monarchs including Louis IX of France, Henry III of England, and Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor. Early exemplars were produced during campaigns and tournaments associated with figures like William Marshal, Edward I of England, Philip IV of France, and Richard the Lionheart. The genre matured alongside works by heralds and chroniclers such as Matthew Paris, Ralph de Diceto, Jean Froissart, and Geoffrey le Baker, and in the late medieval period notable compilations were associated with scholars and officers like Thomas Wriothesley and Garter King of Arms Nicholas Charles. The Renaissance and the printing press brought further dissemination through antiquaries like Antoine Vérard, Bernardino Corio, Guillaume Revel, and Gerard Leigh.

Notable Rolls and Compilations

Surviving compilations include the Manuscript Tower of London Armorials, the Oxford Roll, the Dering Roll, the Gelre Armorial, the Armorial de Berry, the Héraldique de Montreuil, the Lord Marshal's Roll, the Armorial of Wijnbergen, the Segar's Roll, and the Belles Heures Armorials. These works are associated with patrons and figures such as John of Gaunt, Richard II of England, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Jean, duc de Berry, Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy, and Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. Institutional compilations were maintained by offices like Rouen Heraldry Office and collections found in repositories such as the British Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Vatican Library, Bodleian Library, and Biblioteca Ambrosiana.

Content and Structure

Typical rolls combine pictorial shields, crests, heraldic helmets, tinctures, and textual blazons arranged in rows or columns and often accompanied by names, titles, fiefs, and banners associated with persons such as William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, Thomas Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick, John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, and Robert de Bruce. Formats vary from single continuous parchment rolls to bound codices with folios; some include indexes, marginalia, and colophons naming compilers like Waleran de Beaumont or scribes connected to households of Edward IV of England. Illustrative conventions reflect regional practices seen in the heraldry of Burgundy, Castile, Aragon, Scandinavia, and Bohemia. Later armorials incorporate pedigrees, quarterings, exempla from tournaments such as the Royal Tournament at Westminster, and legal annotations relating to adjudications by Earl Marshal and Court of Chivalry.

Heraldic and Genealogical Uses

Heralds consulted rolls to adjudicate claims before bodies including College of Arms and Court of Chivalry and to compile visitations led by officers like Clarenceux King of Arms and Norroy and Ulster King of Arms. Genealogists and antiquaries such as William Camden, Sir Robert Cotton, Humphrey Lloyd, and John Leland used rolls to trace descent among families like de Clare, Beaufort, Percy, Howard, and Fitzgerald. Rolls informed the composition of state ceremonies presided over by monarchs like Henry VIII of England and Louis XI of France and provided evidence in disputes involving inheritances, marriages, and heraldic rights adjudicated by councils convened by figures such as James I of England.

Preservation and Manuscripts

Manuscripts survive in archives and libraries tied to institutions such as Windsor Castle, Tower of London, Château de Versailles, Archivio di Stato di Milano, and the collections of collectors like Sir Robert Cotton, Sir Hans Sloane, and Thomas Phillipps. Conservation challenges include pigment degradation, parchment fragility, and losses from events like the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the English Civil War. Modern scholarship at institutions including Institute of Historical Research, Society of Antiquaries of London, Heraldry Society, Kunsthistorisches Institut, and universities like Oxford University and University of Paris applies codicology, paleography, and digital imaging to catalog, digitize, and publish critical editions and facsimiles used by researchers worldwide.

Category:Heraldry Category:Medieval manuscripts