Dering Roll

Dering Roll

An excerpt from the Dering Roll
Material	Paint on vellum
Size	264.5 centimetres (104.1 in) x 21 centimetres (8.3 in)
Present location	The British Library

The Dering Roll is the oldest English roll of arms surviving in its original form. It was made between 1270 and 1280 and contains the coat of arms of 324 knights, starting with two illegitimate children of King John. Sir Edward Dering acquired the roll during the 17th century and modified it to include a fictitious ancestor of his own. It was eventually purchased by the British Library (as Add Roll 77720) following fund raising involving a number of other charities and individuals.

Glover's Roll, made in 1586, is a copy of a now lost roll dating from even earlier, from the reign of King Henry III (1216–1272).

The Dering Roll depicts the coats of arms of around a quarter of the English baronage during the era of Edward I. Emphasis was given to knights from Sussex and Kent, as it was produced in Dover between 1270 and 1280 and the document was designed to list the knights who owed feudal service there. It depicts 324 coats of arms, beginning with Richard Fitz Roy and William de Say, two of King John's illegitimate sons. The shields are arranged in 54 rows, with six shields on each line. Above each shield reads the knight's name, except in six cases where it has been omitted or removed.Stephen de Pencester may have commissioned the roll during his time as Constable of Dover Castle.

Sir Edward Dering acquired it whilst lieutenant of Dover Castle, and modified the roll after 1638, removing the coat of arms of Nicholas de Croill and inserting his own coat of arms with a fictitious ancestor named Richard fitz Dering in order to prove the history of his own family.