Manuscripts
First Calais roll of arms
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- Description
- The present manuscript belongs to the first of two variant versions of the Calais Roll in circulation during the later sixteenth century. It includes details of the military retinues of each peer and knight as well as a summary of the 700 ships and more than 14,000 mariners of the English fleet, arranged by home port, and a few notes of other expeditionary expenses. The manuscript is skillfully and calligraphically designed and executed, with a colored frontispiece of the arms of Edward III, encircled by the Garter, and contains 116 heraldic coats of arms, professionally tricked. The decorative scheme of the manuscript is however unfinished, with only one of the arms colored in, although the scribe's instructions to the illuminator can be seen.
- Call number
- mssHM 72023
- Provenance
- Purchased with funds provided by the Library Collectors' Council from Dr. Sandra Hindman of Les Enluminures, January 2010. This manuscript was owned in the 19th century by the Duke of Newcastle, whose arms are embossed in gold on the front and back of an elegant "tree calf" binding.
