Anthony Roll
The Anthony Roll is a written record of ships of the English
The Anthony Roll is the only known fully illustrated inventory of ships of the English navy in the Tudor period. As the work of a successful state official in 16th century England, the artistic value of the Anthony Roll has been described as being characterised by "naive draughtsmanship and conformity to a pattern" though its artistic aspects display "a decent amateur grasp of form and colour".[1] While the inventories listed in its text have proven to be highly accurate, most of the ship illustrations are rudimentary and made according to a set formula. The level of detail of the ship design, armament and especially rigging has therefore proven to be only approximate. Nevertheless, through their depiction of the ceremonial ornamentation the illustrations in the Roll have provided relevant secondary information to the study of Tudor period heraldry, flags and ship ornamentation.
The only known contemporary depictions of prominent Tudor era vessels like the Henry Grace à Dieu and the Mary Rose are contained in the Anthony Roll. As the Mary Rose sank by accident in 1545 and was successfully salvaged in 1982, comparison between the information in the Roll and the physical evidence of the Mary Rose has provided new insights into the study of the naval history of the period.
Author and artist
Anthony Anthony (before 1530-c. 1564) has been identified as the compiler of the information and the artist behind the illustrations through his signature, which has been compared with
In 1939 Dutch historian Nicholas Beets proposed that the Flemish artist and cartographer
History of the manuscript
The "ship portrait" had a long history in
There are three such plats depicting naval actions and expeditions that are attributed to Anthony: the route of
After the rolls were presented to the king they were archived in the royal collections. In 1680 Charles II gave two of the rolls to Samuel Pepys, a navy administrator and avid book collector. Pepys did not disclose the details of how the rolls were given to him, but it is believed that the gift came out of a meeting with King Charles where Pepys took down the king's account of how he escaped from the Battle of Worcester (1651). The plan was that Pepys would edit and publish the already famous story, but he never did so. It is also known that Pepys was planning to write a history of the navy and that he was gathering material for this task, but this project also was never finished. It is considered likely that King Charles was aware of Pepys' plans and presented him with two of the rolls either as a gift or as payment for the intended publication of the escape story. The second roll could not be located at that time, and it was not until 1690 that it was discovered by Henry Thynne, keeper of the royal library 1677–89 and a close friend of Pepys. Thynne arranged for Pepys to make copies of some of the illustrations, but by 1690 Charles was dead and James II was in exile. Pepys had resigned from his position as Secretary of the Admiralty that same year and refused to recognize the reign of William III and Mary II, which meant that acquisition of the final roll for his collection was out of the question. The creation of the codex from the first and third rolls is therefore assumed to have been completed shortly after that time. After Pepys' death in 1703 his library passed on to his nephew John Jackson. After the death of Jackson in 1724 the library, along with the codex, was then passed on to Pepys' old college at Magdalene, Cambridge, where it remains to this day.[9]
The second roll was presumed lost by the 1780s, but actually remained in the hands of the royal family.
The Anthony Roll has been used frequently as a primary source for histories of the English navy of the 16th century but the full text and all illustrations were not collected in one volume until 2000.[11]
Description
The Anthony Roll was originally a set of three separate vellum rolls. It exists today in the form of a bound volume containing the first and third rolls while the second roll is preserved in its original form. The three original rolls were made up out of a total of 17 individual membranes glued to the back of the next membrane. The membranes were of a width of 27+1⁄2 inches (70 cm) and a height varying from 31 to 37+3⁄4 inches (79 to 96 cm).[12] After receiving the first and third rolls Pepys had his clerks cut the rolls up and bound in a single volume as a book, now known as Pepys 2991. The transformation of the two rolls created a horizontal page structure, and some of the ornamentation that was cut in process was copied into the volume by hand. Pepys also inserted abstracts between the two rolls and a summarizing table that was not Anthony's, but pre-dated Pepys' binding of the rolls. This radical treatment of the original document has damaged some of the illustrations and is today deprecated. The first three illustrations of the Henry Grace à Dieu, Mary Rose and Peter Pomegranate were all too large to fit on one page and were therefore converted to two-page spreads. The resulting bend down the centre of the illustrations led to noticeable loss of detail. Despite this, there are no plans to attempt a recreation of the original structure of the first and third rolls. The second roll, British Library Add MS 22047, is still in its original condition with the exception of a written endorsement by Mary Fox from 1857 and some damage caused by an application of chemicals to reveal faded writing.[13]
The three rolls list 58 ships divided into classes based roughly on size and construction. Each ship is presented along with its name, tonnage,
Artistic analysis
Anthony Anthony was not a trained, professional artist. The illustrations are described as "striking and boldly executed, but [...] have few claims to be fine works of art". The vessels are for the most part painted according to a standard formula, with distinct repetitions even in the more elaborate depictions. Anthony's style is signified by a "naive draughtsmanship and conformity to a pattern [...] consistent with the abilities of a government official with a decent amateur grasp of form and colour".[1]
The rolls were all of roughly the same length, about 15 feet (4.6 m), and would most likely have been presented side by side for display on a table or hung on a wall. The focal point of the whole composition is in the second, middle roll where the exceptionally well-executed painting of the Galley Subtle is placed. That this ship was intended to be the centrepiece illustration is made clear by the presence of the
The lettering, framing lines and floral pattern decorations are painted in red or black with the exception of the first three ships of the first roll, which also feature gold. Most of the illustrations were first sketched with plummet outlines and were then painted over in washes. Ship timbers are a light brown that are shaded in the bow and stern to achieve depth, decorations and anchors are highlighted with red, and green is used for guns. Contours are in black and the sea is in shades varying from "greyish green" to "a richer blue".[17]
The first two rolls were done with roughly the same amount of detail while the lesser rowbarges (essentially small galleys) were done more hastily. The first two ships of the first roll, the Henry Grace à Dieu and the Mary Rose, have traces of a grid pattern, indicating that they were transferred from a different drawing while the rest are done in freehand. Overall, the ships follow a formula depending on the type of ship. The exceptions are
Use as a historical source
As a historical record, the Anthony Roll is in many ways unique. It is the only known fully illustrated list of a Tudor period royal navy,[22] though the pictures should not be seen as exact depictions drawn from real life. For example, the lists of guns of the individual ships, which are considered to be an accurate record produced by a senior state official, are only approximately matched to the paintings.[23] The rigging is only roughly accurate, and has been described by Margaret Rule, archaeological project leader of the Mary Rose excavations, as "a confusing assemblage of shrouds, ratlines and stays". Many details are present, but others are missing, such as the chain-wales (the horizontal platforms extending from the sides) to which the shrouds (the parallel ropes that stabilized the masts) were attached to keep them clear of the hull.[24]
Comparisons with the Mary Rose
Comparisons with the finds from the salvaged Mary Rose itself have provided an opportunity to compare the accuracy of the records provided in the Roll. The picture of the ship has provided clues about basic structural features, such as the number of masts and sails. When compared with an inventory of the ship from 1514, there is a close match, proving the illustration to be largely accurate. Examination of details in the construction, however, reveals that Anthony allowed himself some artistic licence. The armament in the painted ship appears clearly exaggerated. The heavy stern chasers (cannon placed in the stern aimed backwards) mounted through gun ports on the orlop deck, just about the waterline, would not have been feasible because of the lack of an orlop deck and the steep angle (sheer) of the ship in this area. The number of gunports in the broadside is inaccurate since it implies two slightly staggered rows of nine ports while the surviving starboard side of the Mary Rose has only one row of gunports on the main deck with seven ports. The accuracy of the forecastle has been more difficult to ascertain since none of it remains; conflicting interpretations of what it looked like have been suggested.[25]
The guns in the back of the forecastle have defied explanation, but one theory is that they were included to compensate for the guns that were positioned in the
Flags and ornamentation
The Anthony Roll provides detailed information about the flags used on the ships. According to the
Along the railing of all ships, most prominently on the large carracks and the Galley Subtle, there are rows of banners displaying various heraldic designs, including the English royal arms, one or three fleur-de-lis of the French arms, Saint George's crosses and Henry VIII's monogram ("HR") in gold on blue, what appears to be the Tudor rose, and the green and white of the House of Tudor. The depictions of the flags and banners on the ships are in a heraldic and military sense considered to be roughly accurate but not entirely consistent. A kind of system of command among the various vessels is apparent in how flags are displayed on the masts, but it does not appear to have been carried through systematically. Some of the heraldic designs have been described as "unlikely" by the 20th century herald George Bellew, but have deemed to at least be "plausible" by Wilson.[33]
References
Notes
- ^ This is a rather rough estimate of burthen, the carrying capacity of a ship, and should not be confused with the much more modern measurement of displacement, which would be considerably higher than the figures in the roll. For a detailed discussion of the meaning of tonnage and burthen in early modern naval terminology, Rodger 1997, pp. xx–xxii
- ^ See Bennel 2000, p. 35 for a detailed discussion of the definition of the various oar-powered vessels.
- ^ a b c d Payne 2000, p. 20.
- ^ a b Knighton 2000, p. 5.
- ISBN 978-1-351-54670-6.
- ^ Knighton 2000, pp. 3–4.
- ^ Rodger 1997, p. 548, note 35.
- ^ Payne 2000, pp. 24–25.
- ^ Russell 1983, Chapter III.
- ^ Payne 2000, pp. 20–23.
- ^ Knighton 2000, pp. 4–5.
- ^ Anthony roll at the British Library
- ^ Knighton & Loades 2000, p. xi.
- ^ Payne 2000, p. 23.
- ^ Knighton 2000, pp. 5–9.
- ^ Knighton & Loades 2000, p. 41.
- ^ Loades 1992, pp. 91–92.
- ^ Rodger 1997, pp. 209–10.
- ^ Payne 2000, p. 24.
- ^ Nau 1883, pp. 318, 338–9.
- ^ Seccombe 1903, pp. 39–44.
- ^ Payne 2000, pp. 23–24.
- ^ Bennel 2000, p. 35.
- ^ Payne 2000, p. 25.
- ^ Loades 2000, p. 13.
- ^ Rule 1983, p. 137.
- ^ Vine & Hildred 2000, pp. 15–16.
- ^ Loades 2000, pp. 13–14.
- ^ Vine & Hildred 2000, p. 18.
- ^ Gardiner & Allen 2005.
- ^ Marsden 2009.
- ^ Stirland 2000.
- ^ Wilson & Hayward 2000, p. 28.
- ^ Wilson & Hayward 2000, pp. 31–33.
- ^ Wilson & Hayward 2000, pp. 28–30.
Sources
- Gardiner, Julie; Allen, Michael J. (2005). Before the Mast: Life and Death Aboard the Mary Rose. The Archaeology of the Mary Rose. Vol. 4. Portsmouth: Mary Rose Trust. ISBN 978-0-9544029-4-5.
- Knighton, C. S.; Loades, D. M., eds. (2000). The Anthony Roll of Henry VIII's Navy: Pepys Library 2991 and British Library Additional MS 22047 with Related Documents. Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-0094-7.
- Bennel, John (2000). "The Oared Vessels". In Knighton, C. S.; Loades, D. M. (eds.). The Anthony Roll of Henry VIII's Navy: Pepys Library 2991 and British Library Additional MS 22047 with Related Documents. Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-0094-7.
- Knighton, C.S. (2000). "The Manuscript and its Compiler". In Knighton, C. S.; Loades, D. M. (eds.). The Anthony Roll of Henry VIII's Navy: Pepys Library 2991 and British Library Additional MS 22047 with Related Documents. Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-0094-7.
- Loades, D. M. (2000). "The Ordnance". In Knighton, C. S.; Loades, D. M. (eds.). The Anthony Roll of Henry VIII's Navy: Pepys Library 2991 and British Library Additional MS 22047 with Related Documents. Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-0094-7.
- Payne, Ann (2000). "An Artistic Survey". In Knighton, C. S.; Loades, D. M. (eds.). The Anthony Roll of Henry VIII's Navy: Pepys Library 2991 and British Library Additional MS 22047 with Related Documents. Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-0094-7.
- Vine, Stuart; Hildred, Alexzandra (2000). "The Evidence of the Mary Rose Excavation". In Knighton, C. S.; Loades, D. M. (eds.). The Anthony Roll of Henry VIII's Navy: Pepys Library 2991 and British Library Additional MS 22047 with Related Documents. Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-0094-7.
- Wilson, Timothy; Hayward, Maria (2000). "The Flags". In Knighton, C. S.; Loades, D. M. (eds.). The Anthony Roll of Henry VIII's Navy: Pepys Library 2991 and British Library Additional MS 22047 with Related Documents. Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-0094-7.
- Bennel, John (2000). "The Oared Vessels". In Knighton, C. S.; Loades, D. M. (eds.). The Anthony Roll of Henry VIII's Navy: Pepys Library 2991 and British Library Additional MS 22047 with Related Documents. Aldershot: Ashgate.
- ISBN 0-85967-922-5.
- Marsden, Peter (2003). Sealed by Time: The Loss and Recovery of the Mary Rose. The Archaeology of the Mary Rose. Vol. 1. Portsmouth: Mary Rose Trust. ISBN 978-0-9544029-0-7.
- Marsden, Peter (2009). Your Noblest Shippe: Anatomy of a Tudor Warship. The Archaeology of the Mary Rose. Vol. 2. Portsmouth: Mary Rose Trust. ISBN 978-0-9544029-2-1.
- Nau, Claude (1883). Stevenson, Joseph (ed.). The History of Mary Stewart from the Murder of Riccio Until Her Flight Into England. Edinburgh: Wm Paterson.
- Rodger, Nicholas A. M. (1997). The Safeguard of the Sea: 660-1649. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-00-255128-1.
- ISBN 978-0-85177-382-7.
- Russell, Margarita (1983). Visions of the Sea: Hendrick C. Vroom and the Origins of Dutch Marine Painting. Leiden: Brill Archive. ISBN 90-04-06938-0.
- Seccombe, Thomas, ed. (1903) [1544]. "The Late Expedition in Scotland". Tudor tracts: 1532-1588. Westminster: A. Constable and Co.
- Stirland, Ann (2000). Raising the Dead: The Skeleton Crew of Henry VIII's Great Ship, the Mary Rose. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-98485-6.
Further reading
- Anderson, Roger Charles (1962). Oared Fighting Ships: From Classical Times to the Coming of Steam. P. Marshall.
- Childs, David (2009). Tudor Sea Power: The Foundation of Greatness. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-031-4.
- Knighton, C.S.; Loades, D.M. (2017). The Anthony Roll of Henry VIII? Navy: Pepys Library 2991 and British Library Add MS 22047 with Related Material. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-351-54669-0.
- Nelson, Arthur (2001). The Tudor Navy: The Ships, Men and Organisation, 1485-1603. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-785-6.
External links