Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 2.djvu/613

 597 APPENDIX C THE BATTLE OF BOROUGHBRIDGE AND THE BOROUGHBRIDGE ROLL(^) The Boroughbridge Roll, a highly interesting and, as is proved by the writs to the Sheriff of Northampton which are attached to it, con- temporary list of the persons of distinction engaged in the battle, was first published by Sir Francis Palgrave in 1830 {Pari. Writs, vol. ii, pp. 194- 201). In this form it is not very readily accessible to many who are interested in such matters. In The Genealogist, New Series, vol. i, pp. 51 and 117, and vol. ii, pp. 30 and 98, it appears again as "Edited by James Greenstreet," and translated from the Norman-French; it might naturally therefore be supposed that there is not much left to be said on the subject. I had my- self, however, compiled from the Close and Patent Rolls a list of those concerned in the rebellion before I knew of the existence of the Roll, and when I learnt that it was to be found in The Genealogist I expected that my labours would result in a futile and partial reproduction of what had already been given urbi et orbi by Mr. Greenstreet. IMy surprise was great to per- ceive that of the forty-seven names of notables I had collected, only nine or ten appeared among the 214 names scheduled in The Genealogist. Although I realised that this could be partly explained by the Roll being confined to those engaged in the battle and the list including those engaged in the conspiracy, I soon saw that men of note who were undoubtedly there were omitted and I began to suspect that the Roll was a sort of "Battle Abbey" affair and did not arrive at a true solution, until I examined the volume of Parliamentary Writs abovementioned, where all the contents of the Roll are reproduced. To tell the truth, and with all respect to the late Mr. Greenstreet's memory, his " edition," though very interesting for those concerned with the armorial bearings of that time and the way in which such bearings were then described, is singularly unsatisfying from the historian's or genealogist's point of view. To begin with, as he was only concerned with the arms, he reproduced but one, though the longest, of the various lists (') Contributed to The Genealogist, Apr. 1905, by Vicary Gibbs.