Anthony Roll The Anthony Roll is a record of ships of the English Tudor navy of the 1540s , named after its creator , Anthony Anthony . It originally consisted of three rolls of vellum , depicting 58 naval vessels along with information on their size , crew , armament , and basic equipment . The rolls were presented to King Henry VIII in 1546 , and were kept in the royal library . In 1680 Charles II gave two of the rolls to Samuel Pepys , who had them cut up and bound as a single volume book , which is now in the Pepys Library at Magdalene College , Cambridge . The third roll remained in the royal collection until it was given by William IV to his daughter , Mary Fox , who sold it to the British Museum in 1858 ; it is now owned by the British Library . 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 " . 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 has been identified as the compiler of the information and the artist behind the illustrations through his signature , which has been compared with holograph letters among the State Papers . Anthony ' s father was William Anthony ( died 1535 ) a Fleming from Middelburg in Zeeland who migrated to England in 1503 . William was a supplier of beer to the army , and Anthony followed in his father ' s footsteps . He went into beer exporting no later than 1530 and became a supplier of beer to the navy . In 1533 Anthony was appointed gunner at the Tower of London , a position he retained nominally until his death . He rose to the rank of overseer of the Ordnance Office , the government body responsible for supplying the armed forces with artillery , and it was in this position that he compiled his Roll . In 1549 he was promoted to master surveyor of the ordnance in the Tower , Calais , Boulogne , and elsewhere for life . He continued the work of supplying arms to English forces , and was active in the last month of his life supplying guns for an expedition against Le Havre . In 1939 Dutch historian Nicholas Beets proposed that the Flemish artist and cartographer Cornelis Antoniszoon ( or Antonisz . , c . 1507 – 1553 ) could have been Anthony Anthony ' s brother . Although Beets ' suggestion of kinship was conjectural and without any direct evidence , it was picked up by Geoffrey Callender in the " Mariner ' s Mirror " in 1963 and has been relayed by several other authors . The will of William Anthony did not mention any other sons and Anthonisz . is believed to have been the son of Antonis Egbertson , the daughter of Jacob Corneliszoon van Oostzanen . That Cornelis and Anthony were related is , in the words of Ann Payne , " not , presumably , impossible , but there is little evidence that they were connected at all " . History of the manuscript . The " ship portrait " had a long history in maritime art , from medieval seals and coins to early engraving s in the 15th century , and the plain side - on view of a ship under sail , often with no crew shown , was well established as the most effective way of recording the build of vessels . The Anthony Roll belongs to a genre of works that was intended to serve a dual role for the king and the military leadership : as reasonably informative overviews listing details of ships or strategic areas of coastlines they could be studied to determine strengths and weaknesses , and as boastful and lively depictions of Tudor military might they could be used to flatter the king , impress courtiers and impose martial authority on foreign ambassadors . Contemporary maps , or " plats " , were routinely decorated with detailed pictures of ships , to mark bodies of water as much as to liven up the scenes . Such maps were common at the time , and were even embellished by artists if deemed too simple or drab . The navy was expanded during King Henry ' s reign , and he was known to take an interest in warships , as can be seen by the epic painting " Embarkation of Henry VIII at Dover " which portrayed , if rather unrealistically , the ships that took the 29 - year - old king to the summit meeting with Francis I at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520 . This painting , recently dated to around 1545 , has also been suggested as a likely source of inspiration to Anthony for his illustrations . There are three such plats depicting naval actions and expeditions that are attributed to Anthony : the route of Anne of Cleves from the Low Countries to England ( 1539 ) , a French attack on a coastal fort ( date unknown ) and a French raid on Brighton ( July 1545 ) . The design of the ships in these paintings , especially that of the Brighton raid , closely match those in the rolls . It is not known exactly when work on the rolls began nor when it was finished . It is only certain that it was presented to the king the year it was dated , 1546 . The inclusion of the " Mary Rose " that sank at the Battle of the Solent 19 July 1545 does not mean it was necessarily started before this date , since it was still considered possible that she could be raised even as late as 1549 . The galleass es , the " Antelope " , " Hart " , " Bull " and " Tiger " , all present in the second roll , were still being built around March 1546 , and the " Hart " was not at sea until October that year . At the same time the " Galley Blanchard " , captured from the French 18 May 1546 is not included . 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 and Mary , 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 . The second roll was presumed lost by the 1780s , but actually remained in the hands of the royal family . William IV gave it to Mary FitzClarance , one of his illegitimate children by the courtesan Dorothea Jordan , sometime in the early 19th century . In 1824 , FitzClarance married Charles Robert Fox , a major - general and from 1832 – 35 an officer of the surveyor of the ordnance , the same position Anthony Anthony had three centuries before him . Fox was a bibliophile , and historian Charles Knighton has suggested he knew the value of the roll , but its location nevertheless remained unknown to scholars . In 1857 Frederic Madden , keeper of manuscripts at the British Museum , was shown the second roll and learned that Mary Fox wished to sell it . After negotiations it was sold for £15 to the British Museum and was numbered Additional MS 22047 . It was kept in its original format as a roll and has been stored in the British Library ' s manuscript collection at St Pancras , London since 1999 . 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 . 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 70 cm ( 27 ½ inches ) and a height varying from 79 to 96 cm ( 31 to 37 ¾ inches ) . 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 Additional 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 . The three rolls list 58 ships divided into classes based roughly on size and construction . Each ship is presented along with its name , tonnage , crew size and , in Anthony ' s own words , " the ordenaunce , artillery , munitions and habillimentes for warre " . The first roll lists the carrack s and one pinnace , beginning with the largest ship " Henry Grace à Dieu " . The second roll lists galleass es , a hybrid of oar - powered and sailing vessels , and one galley . Finally , the third roll is reserved for pinnaces and " rowbarges " , both basically smaller versions of galleasses . 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 " . The rolls were all of roughly the same length , about 5 . 5 m ( 15 ft ) , 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 pinnace " Mary James " in the first roll , which is otherwise reserved for ( sailing ) ships . This appears to have originally been placed at the beginning of the third roll , among the other pinnaces and rowbarges , but was moved to achieve more equal lengths . In his pursuit of living up to the image of a Renaissance prince Henry is known to have been particularly fond of galleys , something which would have been known to Anthony . 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 " . 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 stern galleries of some of the galleasses and the figureheads of the " Mary Rose " , " Salamander " and the " Unicorn " , the latter both captured from the Scots in 1544 . The prominent exception is the " Galley Subtle " placed in the middle of the second roll . It is more consistent in type with Mediterranean - type galleys than the galleasses and small rowbarges , and features a considerable amount of detail not present in the other ships . It is the only ship where any crew is visible , in this case rowers behind pavisades as protection from enemy arrows and an overseer wearing " a bonnet , full skirted armorial doublet and baggy breeches " holding a stick or baton , as if beating the time of the strokes of the rowers . Use as an historical source . As an historical record , the Anthony Roll is in many ways unique . It is the only known fully illustrated list of a Tudor period royal navy , 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 . 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 stay s " . 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 . 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 . 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 aftcastle , aiming forwards , but which would have been obscured due to the angle from which the ship was depicted . The list of ammunition , small firearms , longbow s , arrows , pikes , and bills closely matches the archaeological evidence . As the source that is closest in time to the sinking of the " Mary Rose " , it has been of central importance for the archaeological project , especially in estimating the size of the crew . Flags and ornamentation . The Anthony Roll provides detailed information about the flags used on the ships . According to the vexillologist Timothy Wilson , the flags depicted flying from the ships are " the most elaborate source we have for the flags flown on the ships of King Henry VIII , being richer in visual detail than all other sources put together . " Among the most striking flags in the illustrations are the elongated ceremonial streamers , shown flying from all ships in varying numbers . These feature a Saint George red cross on white ground on the hoist , nearest the flagpole , and a very long tail striped in green and white . They all feature gold paint on the red and green , and silver paint ( now oxidized to black ) on the white . This artistic device was used either to simulate the fluttering of the flags or to actually display the metallic thread and paint that was sometimes used to decorate them . 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 .