The Slovak Yankee

Margaret Beauchamp c. 1410-1482

It is tempting to think that my closest relationships to royalty are those of my Plantagenet ancestors.  Certainly, the children and grandchildren of Edward III had considerable pull in affairs of state.  But later on I have family members who had influence under the Tudor kings.

Margaret Beauchamp was the daughter of Sir John Beauchamp, the 3rd Lord Beauchamp of Bletsoe by his wife, Edith Stourton.  Margaret married three times to Sir Oliver Saint John then John Beaufort, the Duke of Somerset, and lastly, Lionel de Welles, 6th Lord Welles.  She had children by each husband.  By her first husband she had my ancestor Sir John St. John.  By her second husband she was the mother of Margaret Beaufort.  Margaret Beaufort would marry Edmund Tudor and be the mother of Henry VII.  So my ancestor Anne St. John, wife of Henry Clifford, 10th Lord Clifford was the half first cousin of the King.  A fairly close relationship.  Their daughter Elizabeth Clifford, the wife of Sir Ralph Bowes, would be the half second cousin of  Henry VIII. This relationship between the Cliffords and the Tudors was known and exploited.

These are the somewhat hidden relationships of our ancestors to royalty.

Sir William de Tracy

In a few weeks I'm going to England for the second time (first time in 1984).  Although I won't be doing any genealogical research, I will be seeing many sites that I have a genealogical tie to.  One such outing will be Canterbury.  The murder of Saint Thomas Becket by four knights of Henry II is well known.  Henry certainly took the blame and I descend from him innumerable times.

One of the four knights who murdered Thomas Becket was Sir William de Tracy.  I descend from him too.

1. Sir William de Tracy m. Rohese de Pomeroy
2. Rose de Tracy m. Henry Champernoun
3. Sir Oliver Champernoun m. Wymarca (---)
4. Sir Henry Champernoun m. Dionisia English
5. Dionisia Champernoun m. William de Botreaux
6. Sir William de Botreaux m. (---)
7. Margaret de Botreaux m. Sir John de Dinham
8. Sir John de Dinham m. Muriel Courtenay
9. Sir John de Dinham m. Ellen de Montagu
10. Muriel de Dinham m. Edward Hastings, 8th Lord Hastings
11. John Hastings, 9th Lord Hastings m. Anne Morley
12. Hugh Hastings, 10th Lord Hastings m. Anne Gascoigne
13. Muriel Hastings m. Sir Ralph Eure
14. William Eure, 1st Lord Eure m. Elizabeth Willoughby
15. Sir Ralph Eure m. Margery Bowes
16. Anne Eure, paternal grandmother of Elizabeth (Mansfield) Wilson of Boston, Mass.

 

Michael's Descent from Edward I of England

Michael has three ancestors of royal descent and possibly four.  Anne (Skipwith) (Goforth) Oxley descends from Edward III in four lines from three of his sons; Matthew Clarkson of New York; and Thomas and Elinor Jarnagin of Virginia.

1. Edward I m. Eleanor of Castile
2. Joan m. Gilbert de Clare, 3rd Earl of Gloucester, 7th Earl of Hertford
3. Elizabeth de  Clare m. Roger Damory, 1st Baron Damory
4. Elizabeth Damory m. John Bardolf, 3rd Baron Bardolf
5. William Bardolf, 4th Baron Bardolf m. Agnes Poynings
6. Cecily Bardolf m. Sir Brian Stapleton
7. Sir Miles Stapleton m. Catherine de la Pole
8. Elizabeth Stapleton m. Sir William Calthorpe
9. Anne Calthorpe m. Sir  Robert Drury, Speaker of the House of Commons
10. Bridget Drury m. Sir John Jernegan
11. George Jernegan m. Ela Spelman
12. Thomas Jernegan m. Elizabeth Thompson
13. Thomas Jernegan m. Elinor (---)
14. Thomas Jernegan of Virginia  and Elinor Jernegan m. Thomas Lamkin of Virginia

14. Thomas Jernegan m. (---)

15. John Jernegan m. Temperance Moore

16. Thomas Jernegan m. Elizabeth (---)

17. John Jarnagin m. Mary Bynum

18. Thomas Jarnagin m. Mary Lavinia Witt

19. Chesley Jarnagin m. Martha Barton

20. Lavinia Lea Jarnagin m. Dr. William Isaac Irvine Morrow

21. William Lindsey Morrow m. Sarah Ann Glenn

22. Alice May Morrow m. Charles Chester Clark

23. William Lynn Clark m. Ruth Berrigan

24. Edmund Berrigan Clark m. Doris Clark Ridpath

25. Michael Berrigan Clark m. Martin Edward Hollick

The alternative line is:

14. Eleanor Jernigan m. Thomas Lamkin

15. George Lamkin m. Hannah Cox

16. James Lamkin m. Jane  Johnstone

17. Jane Lamkin m. Richard Straughn

18. John Corbin Straughn m. Mary  Saunders

19. John Corbin Straughn, Jr. m. Obedience Scott

20. Duranda Straughn m. John Wesley Ridpath

21. Daniel Burton Ridpath m. Vida Hamlin Clarkson

22. John Wesley Ridpath m. Nell Carmon

23. Doris Carmon Ridpath m. Edmund Berrigan Clark, nos. 24 above and thus cousins.

 

Alfonso VII, King of Castile and Leon

When I discovered in 2002 that I was descended from Anne Eure and therefore had a considerable  amount of medieval ancestry, I proceeded to only add persons back to the year 1000.  Edward III reigned from 1327-1377 and this was an additional 300 years, very similar to the 300 years between my birth 1963 and the Mayflower 1620.

I've already discussed that Edward III and Philippa of Hainault had over 3000 descents from Charlemagne (747-814).  I was wondering who among the ancestors born from the year 1000 to 1300 had the most descents to Edward and Philippa.  Someone who would be like the Queen Victoria of medieval kings and queens.

My answer is Alfonso VII of Castile and Leon (1105-1157).  I descend from five of his children from his two wives (the first of which was Berenguela of Barcelona).

1. Sancho III, King of Castile
2. Fernando II, King of Leon
3. Sancha, Queen of Navarre and wife of Sancho IV of Navarre
4. Constance, Queen of France and second wife of Louis VII of France

and by his second wife,  Richilde of Poland:

5. Sancha, Queen of Aragon and wife of Alfonso II of Aragon

Alfonso VII was the son of Raymond of Burgundy and therefore grandson of William Count of Burgundy (1020-1087).  I descend through four of his children too.

 

 

 

XY Line for Philippa of Hainault

1. Philippa of Hainault 1311-1369
2. William III, Count of Hainault and Holland c. 1286-1337
3. Philippa of Luxembourg 1252-1311
4. Henry V, Count of Luxembourg 1217-1281
5. Ermesinde, Countess of Luxembourg 1186-1247
6. Henry IV, Count of Luxembourg 1113-1196
7. Ermenside of Luxembourg c. 1080-1143
8. Conrad I, Count of Luxembourg c. 1040-1086
9. Wife of Giselbert of Luxembourg

 

XY Line for Edward III of England

Thirty years ago there was a book called (in part), the Ancestry of John of Gaunt.  It was the known ancestry of any of the children of Edward III.  It was arranged interestingly in lines.  Unfortunately, the author used some dubious sources such as Danish sources that lead back to Odin.  This tainted the book as unscholarly.

Now if you want to see the breadth of medieval ancestry available you can use Wikipedia.  Not all, but 90% of medieval aristocracy and royalty have pages.  All are linked parents to child.  And they are sourced.

Using these sources, this is the proposed XY line for King Edward III of England.  It may go back further than I have outlined.  Any additions would be greatly appreciated.

1. Edward III, King of England 1312-1377
2. Isabella, Princess of France 1292-1358
3. Philip IV, King of France 1268-1314
4. Isabella, Princess of Aragon 1243-1271
5. James I, King of Aragon 1208-1276
6. Marie of Montpelier 1182-1213
7. William VIII of Montpelier d. 1202
8. Matilda of Burgundy
9. Hugh II, Duke of Burgundy 1084-1143
10. Sibylla of Burgundy 1060-1103
11. William, Count of Burgundy 1020-1087
12. Alice of Normandy 1002-1038
13. Richard II, Duke of Normandy d. 1026
14. Gunnor d. ca. 1031

That's fourteen generations for 300 years.

Interestingly, this is not Edward III's only descent from Richard II, Duke of Normandy who was the grandfather of William the Conqueror.

 

 

XY Line for Anne Eure

1. Anne Eure c. 1530-c. 1566
2. Sir Ralph Eure
3. Elizabeth Willoughby
4. Christopher Willoughby, 10th Lord Willoughby of Eresby
5. Cecily Welles
6. Lionel de Welles, 6th Lord Welles, K.G.
7. Maud de Greystoke
8. Ralph de Greystoke, 3rd Lord Greystoke
9. Joan Fitzhugh
10. Sir Henry Fitz Henry, 1st Lord Fitzhugh
11. Albreda Steyngrave
12. William Steyngrave

This a run of a good 300 years of ancestry.

 

Matrilineal Lines

I find that matrilineal lines run out often quickly.  Mine goes back nine generations, but medieval matrilineal lines often don't last that long.

1. Edward III
2. Isabella, Princess of France
3. Joan, Princess of Navarre
4. Blanche of Artois
5. Matilda of Brabant
6. Maria, Princess of Germany
7. Princess Irene Angelica of Byzantium
8. Wife of Emperor Isaac II Angelos of Byzantium

 

1. Philippa of Hainault
2. Jeanne Valois
3. Marguerite Princess of  Sicily and Naples
4. Maria, Princess of Hungary
5. Elizabeth, Princess of Bosnia

 

1. Anne Eure c. 1530-c. 1566, my medieval gateway ancestor
2. Margery Bowes
3. Elizabeth Clifford
4. Anne Saint John
5. Alice Bradshaw
6. Alice Sherburne
7. Yrmane de Bradkirke

 

 

 

Sir Robert Constable 1423-1488

Having finished all of Michael's families you can see that we do not share any American or colonial ancestors.  My family is all New England and Michael is all mid-Atlantic and Virginia.  (His Carman family starts in Dorchester, Massachusetts but moves pretty quickly to Long Island.  So our colonial ancestors were neighbors in Dorchester in the 1630s.)

But we do share medieval ancestors.  The closest ancestor that we share, that I can readily discover is Sir Robert Constable (Jr.) and his wife Agnes Wentworth.  They lived in the 15th century in Yorkshire, England.  Michael and I do also have Irish Catholic ancestry and if I could readily trace that ancestry back to the 1600s, we might share an Irish ancestor.  But to date, the closest I can get is 1423-1488.  I descend through their daughter Margaret  Constable who married Sir William Eure.  Michael descends from her sister Anne Constable who married Sir William Tyrwhit. (Michaels descends from two of their children).

 

Additional Thoughts on Isabel de Vermandois

Isabel de Vermandois lived from 1085 to 1131.  So she is two generations before the barons who signed the Magna Carta in 1215.  In 2015 for the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta I showed that Anne Eure, who lived c.1530-c.1566, was a descendant of everyone who signed the Magna Carta that left descendants.  So there's little wonder that eight of Isabel's children are ancestors of Anne Eure who lived 450 years before her.

The English aristocracy and landed gentry were pretty insular during this time.  You easily find yourself descended from the same people over and over again.  I have four main royal gateway ancestors and I have found all of this from them.