Towards the middle of the thirteenth century, the proliferation of heraldic devices gave rise to the first rolls of arms, or lists of names with accompanying descriptions in formulaic language (blazon) or painted shields. Some 350 rolls of arms (130 for England alone) survive from the middle ages, and often provide the only means of identifying individuals and their possessions.
This third volume of the Aspilogia series, established by the late Sir Anthony Wagner in 1950 with the aim of making dependable texts of all the English rolls available to scholars, contains the 17 surviving rolls compiled during the reign of Edward I (1272-1307); it comprises some 5,126 entries referring to about 2100 individuals, who were among the most prominent figures of both contemporary England and Europe. It supersedes earlier editions and brings together important information that until now has been either relatively inaccessible to scholars or presented in unreliable form; the large number of corrections and of new identifications completely transforms the basis of knowledge of the golden age of heraldry in England.
The 17 rolls are fully annotated, with notes justifying all emendations and listing significant variants.
GERARD J. BRAULTis Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of French and Medieval Studies at the Pennsylvania State University.Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies Julian Bickersteth medal, 1998.