Reveals the mystery of the ancient scroll of Canterbury

The manuscript came into the hands of scientists after 1918.

Laboratory analysis has helped to discover new facts from the history of Canterbury scroll.

Canterbury scroll is a family tree a record of family lines from the biblical Noah to the last of the English Plantagenet kings. Researchers from the University of Canterbury (New Zealand) confirmed that the scroll was first written in the late 1420’s and edited at least three times over the next 55 years.

The manuscript came into the hands of scientists after 1918. Modern technology in recent years has allowed to reveal some hidden and erased the words. X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, for example, can identify the inorganic pigments, it does not concern the object and not harm him.

Analysis of Canterbury scroll showed a small picture of Noah’s ark was filled with the image of a red rose before 1485. The symbol of the red rose is important because for 30 years in the mid-fifteenth century England was split by the War of the roses — the civil war of Lancaster and York for the English throne (the war was one of the inspirations for George R. R. Martin when writing his “Game of thrones”). The war ended in 1485 with the victory of Henry Tudor, who became Henry VII and founded the Tudor dynasty. This means that the latest edition of the scroll was made around 1485. Red rose suggests that the scroll was owned by a supporter of Lancaster (probably somewhere in Northern England).

paradox