TheCamden Roll is a 13th-century Englishroll of arms believed to have been createdc. 1280, containing 270 paintedcoats of arms with 185 Frenchblazons for various English and European monarchs, lords and knights.
The original roll is now held at theBritish Library asCotton Roll XV. 8. It consists of threevellum membranes in total measuring 6.25" by 63". The face of the roll consists of 270 painted shields arranged in 45 rows of six shields, each with associated names and/or titles listed above each shield. The dorse includes French blazons for 185 of the shields on the face.[1]
The roll belonged toWilliam Camden,Clarenceux King of Arms,c. 1605, and is believed to have been among several documents and manuscripts which were willed toSir Robert Cotton in 1623. In 1700 Sir John Cotton, Sir Robert's grandson, sold theCottonian library to the nation, and in 1753 the collection was granted to the British Museum in London.[1]
The coats on the face of the roll are loosely divided into the following sections:[1]
The blazons, written in French on the dorse, are of shields 1–202, with a small number of omissions: these include nos 9 "Rey de Escoce" (King of Scotland) and 86 "Johan Giffard" (John Giffard).
Below are a series of modern illustrations of the arms in the roll, based on the list of blazons published by James Greenstreet in 1882.[2]
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