I’ve been tracing my ancestry for the last three years, and have never found anyone other than the usual lot of agricultural labourers (and one TV actor in the 1960’s and 70’s who was my first cousin, but never mind that).
But last week I made the sort of breakthrough that most amateur genealogists only ever dream of, and proved beyond reasonable doubt that I am the 26-greats grandson of King Henry II of England (reigned 1154-1189). He was the king who had Archbishop Thomas Becket killed in Canterbury Cathedral, though he probably didn’t mean for anyone to actually kill him. He owned more land in France than the French king. He invented the concept of criminal law.
I wouldn’t describe myself as particularly monarchist, but I couldn’t help being dead chuffed at this. Mundane and pointless, yes. But I don’t care. I want to tell someone. You lot will do.
Through which child are you descended? Is it a legitimate line or not? If legitimate, you are also descended through Eleanor of Aquitaine (not the Doper) who is a pretty amazing historical figure herself.
I wonder how many living ancestors any individual from the twelfth century has? Pretty cool that you managed to trace back that far though. Was it made easier when you hit some aristocracy or landed gentry whose tree was relatively easy to find?
William de Longespee, 3rd Earl of Salisbury. Not legitimate, but he was recognised by Henry as his son.
Struan - yes, I was tracing routine ancestors back when I found an ancestor who was a member of a noble family. After that it was easy to get back to royalty, most of those family trees are online.
None. Living descendants are another story, though
This guy says “It’s been said that all English descend from Edward I”. Edward I was a descendant of Henry II (specifically, his great-grandson), so probably most people with English ancestry descend from Henry II.
I don’t think there’s much reason to think that Henry II would be unusual for the twelfth century in terms of living descendants today, though there are of course a few people from then who have no living descendants now.
Well yes, I know that (I think Cecil did a column on the subject which I’m too lazy to find just now), but very few people can actually *prove *a line of descent.
Coooooooooooooooool. I bow in your presence, Majesty!
(One of my great-great-somethings was a Governor General of Canada, and I apparently may or may not have a title, but I’m too lazy to go and find out. :D)
Definitely. I’m not saying that it isn’t cool that you can prove a line of descent- it definitely is. I just find the whole common-ancestor thing fascinating, too.
And Niall of the Nine Hostages, of course. DNA tests proved it, but one in twelve Irishmen are.
But I am descended from Ir, it seems, through Iomhar.
If you keep following that back, you get to the stem of the Irish Nation.
Ir’s father, Milesius, who chased the Danan out of ireland, is listed as 36th on that list… 36 generations from Adam.
The point at which this genealogy goes from fact to fiction is… something a little hard to figure out. There’s circumstantial evidence someone existed who might have been Milesius.
Which means that my ancestors were the ones that kicked the faeries underground. Yep.
Not to mention that Henry II must be traceable for hundreds of years before that, going all the way to Hrolf the Dane, ancestor of William the Conqueror.
What’s it gonna take to score a knighthood my Royal Highness ? Thought I better start with a little brown nosing . We’ll move on to the bigger stuff later.
I’m descended from Sir Humphrey Gilbert, half-brother to Sir Walter Raleigh (they shared the same mother) and discoverer of Newfoundland. I believe he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I for his efforts at slaughtering the godless Irish. Supposedly, the pathway up to his tent was lined with the skulls of those he had had executed. Of course, I have lots of Irish in me, too, especially on my mother’s side.
The Gilbert surname in my line lasted to my great-grandmother; it was she who, in the 1870s, married the man carrying my surname today. That surname has been traced back to 1690 Switzerland, the Basel area. I’ve been there and met descendants of the family who did not emigrate to the New World.
Congratulations! You might want to avoid the phrase, “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?”
I just finished reading the book by Bryan Sykes published in Canada under the title of Saxons, Vikings and Celts and in the UK under the tilte of Blood of the Isles. It’s quite fascinating on the subject of the ancestry of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales based on mitochrondrial and Y chromosome DNA analysis. It’s very interesting on the subject of the relatively small ancestor pool.
O/T, I find the general deep ancestry subject interesting, and I think it was one of Sykes’ other books that referenced the huge ripple that Genghis Khan caused in the DNA pool in Asia as determined through Y chromosome analysis.
I’m not settleing for a French one . That’s no good . Have you ever held a piece of steel crafted by the French in your hand? My, My , My it looks like little kids made it. No thanks. I’ll wait.
Aha! And when will Your Majesty upend the lot of Latter Day Lancastrians, Yorkists usurpers, Tudors, Stuarts and Hanovarians, and restore the glory of the Avegin Plantagents?
On that day when Betty Saxe-Coburg and her lot are sent packing, I hope you will remember those who fawned on you early and often.
