Recording a Tudor Navy: The Anthony Roll

Over three rolls of parchment, the Anthony Roll proudly displays the 58 ships that formed Henry VIII’s ‘Army by the Sea’. This includes the Henry Grace a Dieu, the Mary James and significantly the Mary Rose. In 1546 it was presented to Henry VIII , by its creator Anthony Anthony, an official of the Ordnance. Importantly this document holds the only illustration and final report of the Mary Rose from its active life.

Beneath each ship is an individual inventory detailing information on the weaponry, crew, and tonnage, providing an in-depth Tudor catalogue. The Mary Rose is listed with 91 guns throughout the three decks, 250 longbows and 50 handguns. These staggering figures reveal she was the second largest and second most heavily armed of Henry’s ships following her refit. This records her at 700 tonnes- 200 tonnes more than before her upgrades!

_{Image courtesy Pepys Library, Magdalene College Cambridge}

Experts have grappled with the question of the Anthony Roll’s accuracy and reliability when applying it to reality as it is doubtful the ships were drawn from life. However, it has still played a vital role as a reference for divers and historians when identifying the Mary Rose and its equipment. Upon the excavation by the Mary Rose Trust in the 20th century, six bronze guns were recovered. When combined with four salvaged from the 1800s over 60% of the recorded 15 bronze guns were retrieved. This document provided not only a guide for what should be and was there but also for what shouldn’t or wasn’t.

The document itself, spanning more than 15 yards in total, holds its own interesting story outside the illustrations. Exactly a century after the Anthony Roll was given to Henry VIII it was handed over to Samuel Pepys (yes, the one with the diaries) by King Charles II. Pepys redesigned the rolls by cutting them up into volumes and after his death in 1703 they were passed to Magdalene College in Cambridge. Two of them still reside there now, safely stored within the appropriately named Pepys Library. However, the exact location of the second segment was unknown until the mid 1800s; it is now part of the British Museum’s Collection.

Those familiar with this image of the Mary Rose may note slight differences between the terminology, colour and artistic styles when comparing it to other ships within the roll . Nonetheless, what remains the same is the importance this document has played in many aspects of the Mary Rose’s story.

The Mary Rose inventory

The Mary Rose's entry in the Anthony Roll

The Anthony Roll is available in its entirety on Wikimedia commons. However, it can be difficult to understand in places, so we've translated the Mary Rose's entry below.

Tonnage - 700

Men

Soldiers - 185
Mariners - 200
Gunners - 30
415 in total

For the Mary Rose

"Ordenaunce, artillary, munitions, habillimentes for the warre, for the armyng and in the deffence of the sayd shyppe to the see"

Guns of Brass

Cannons - 2
Demi cannon - 2
Culverin - 2
Demi culverin - 6
Saker - 2
Falcon - 1
Total - 15

Guns of Iron

Port pieces – 12
Slings - 2
Demi slings - 3
Quarter sling - 1
Fowlers - 6
Bases - 30
Top piece - 2
Hailshot piece - 20

Gunpowder

Serpentine powder in barrels – 2 last (4,800lb)
Corn powder in barrels – 3 barrels

Iron Shot

For cannon - 50
For demi cannon - 60
For culverin - 60
For demi culverin - 140
For sakers - 80
For falcon - 60
For sling - 40
For demi sling - 40
For quarter sling - 50
Dyce of iron for hail shot - blank

Shot of stone and lead

For port pieces - 200
For fowlers - 170
For top pieces - 20
For bases, lead shot - 400
For handguns, lead shot - 1,000

"Bowes, bowestrynges, arrowes, morrys pyckes, byllys, daertes for toppis"

Bows of yew - 250
Bowstrings - 864
Arrows in sheaves - 400 (9,600 individual arrows)
Morris pikes - 150
Bills - 150
Darts for tops in dozens - 40

Munitions

Pick-hammers - 12
Sledges of iron (sledgehammers) - 8
Crowes of iron (crowbars) - 12
Comaunders (large wooden mallet) - 12
Tampions - 4,000
Canvas for cartridges - 21 ells (1 ell = 114.3cm)
Paper roll for cartridges - 1 quarter (22.86cm)
Formers for cartridges - 6

"Habillimentes for warre"

Ropes of hemp - 10 coils
Nails of varied sorts- 1,050
Bags of leather - 8
Firkins 'with purses' (lined with leather for storing powder) - 6
Lime pots - 120
Spare wheels - 4 payer
Spare truckells - 4 payer
Spare 'extras' - 6
Sheep skins for sponges - 12
Timber for breech chamber wedges and quoins - 100 feet