From Myth to Majesty: An Historical and Scientific Exploration of Fifteenth-Century British Royal Genealogies from the ‘Noah’ Tradition
Overview
The Canterbury Roll is a five metre long genealogical scroll tracing the rulers of England, including mythical and Biblical ancestors, to King Edward IV. It was written in Latin in England during the reign of Henry VI.
During the Wars of the Roses, a large number of such genealogies were produced, but this Roll is one of only 12 in which the royal line starts with Noah, (most start with Adam). Acquired by the University of Canterbury (NZ) in 1918, little is known about its provenance.
This analysis was part of the cross-disciplinary Wars in the Workshop project, which has sought to further our understanding of fifteenth-century genealogical rolls in their social, political and material context through the interplay of historical, scientific and digital methods.
Detail from the Canterbury Roll
The Canterbury Roll was digitised in 2017 and this is now freely available to view, on a website funded and maintained by University of Canterbury Digital Humanities.
Research Aims:
-
To situate the Canterbury Roll in its British and New Zealand contexts and investigate its provenance.
-
To identify relationships between the manuscripts of the ‘Noah’ tradition and deepen our understanding of genealogical chronicles as historiographical sources in medieval Britain.
-
To develop research funding bids to extend the current digital edition to include other manuscripts of the ‘Noah’ tradition, developing innovative techniques for displaying genealogical data.
-
To develop funding bids to exhibit the Canterbury Roll with other manuscripts in the UK.
In situ Spectral Imaging analysis of the Canterbury Roll 2018
In situ XRF
The Canterbury Roll Project Team and the ISAAC Mobile Lab Team
In situ Spectral Imaging analysis of the Canterbury Roll 2018
Images of the 2018 ISAAC Mobile Lab analysis
Prof. Haida Liang and Dr. Sotiria Kogou from the ISAAC Lab discuss the scientific analysis conducted on the Canterbury Roll. Video produced by E-RIHS as part of the PARTHENOS Project Training Module "Digital Humanities Research Questions and Methods"
Addressing the Challenge
The initial phase of the research, carried out by Dr. Chris Jones at the University of Canterbury Arts Digital Lab and University of Canterbury Christchurch student interns, saw the development of a website, digital edition and translation of the roll.
In 2017 an NTU SPUR bursary for two undergraduate students under the direction of Dr Natasha Hodgson (NTU History) helped to develop and populate a prosopographical database for the Roll which will allow us to incorporate innovative display of the genealogical links highlighted in the manuscript in the second digital edition as well as enriching the project metadata. Funding was secured to undertake Spectral Imaging on the Roll (UC Marsden and NTU Global Heritage seed funding grants), in January 2018. The analysis of that data is currently underway and will form a benchmark for the approach to other manuscripts in the group.
In January 2018 a digital symposium was held for interested parties from NTU and UC to develop plans for transition into a wider investigation of medieval genealogies. To that end, links between the 12 manuscripts of the ‘Noah’ tradition are being established to determine ‘proof of concept’ and research questions for individual manuscripts formulated. Fortunately all are in public collections, most in the UK. Efforts are also underway to foster a partner network around the Canterbury Roll with the aim of bringing manuscripts together in a UK-based exhibition on the 600th anniversary of the reign of Henry VI (2021).
Making a difference
The non-invasive scientific imaging and spectroscopic analyses conducted by the ISAAC mobile lab were used to reveal hidden/faded information and to characterise the material. This has informed the historical research, underpinning future investigations of other genealogical manuscripts. The research will be shared through academic peer reviewed journals and conference papers as well as through heritage exhibitions developed with partner institutions. A further development of the Wars in the Workshop project involved analysis of the 15th Century 'Roll Chronicle' at the ISAAC Lab in November 2022.
Left: Colour image derived from Spectral Imaging data; Right: Post-processed image from the data, clearly showing an element of decoration which had been covered with red pigment.
Academic Investigators:
Dr Natasha Hodgson (History, Nottingham Trent University)
Professor Haida Liang (Physics, Nottingham Trent University)
Dr Chris Jones - History (University of Canterbury, Christchurch)
Dr Chris Thomson (Digital Humanities, University of Canterbury, Christchurch)
Research Fellow:
Dr Chi (Sammy) Cheung (Nottingham Trent University)
Research Student:
Sotiria Kogou (PhD, Nottingham Trent University)