The Battle Abbey Roll is believed to have been a parchment on which were inscribed the names of Norman knights who supported William the Conqueror, Battle Abbey being the site of William's victory over England's Harold II. The roll, if it ever existed, is not extant. There are fragments of at least two, and perhaps three, fifteenth century lists which purport to represent the Battle Abbey Roll but conflict to some degree. The Roll has been highly criticized, and the Duchess of Cleveland in 1889 had published this attempt to examine the record and give it credibility as well as to draw connections to families then living in England.

An extensive review of the work was published in The Edinburgh Review: Or Critical Journal, Volume 170, pp.107 et seq.
[http://books.google.com/books?id=VXsViae0ZssC&lpg=PP7&pg=PA107]