Wow! POE does it again!!

Well spotted Vince...

Vince, I am happy to answer your question. Hi Ron and Anna and James too.

 When I began looking for my ancestors 21 years ago, I never imagined finding any in Medieval England. I didn't even have the names of all my great-grandparents. Fortunately, I began before the generation before me passed away, and they were able to lead me to cemeteries and pictures and quite elderly relatives who could tell me more. I found ancestors who came over the Oregon Trail (yes! wagon trains, even Indians, etc.), then I found those who were in our Civil War (some on either side), then I found some who fought in the war of 1776, and finally found some who came to America in the 1600's.

 I thought that would be the end. Then I found the Internet tree of Mr. Marlyn Lewis, with over 153,000 people in his tree. I found early immigrants to America who matched my ancestors, and asked him if I could use his very well documented tree, he said yes and I spent the next year entering the people who were part of my ancestry. (I did not want a gedcom download, as I needed to become well acquainted with the individuals; not just a colleciton of names and dates.)

When I came to the 1200's, I thought how wonderful it would be if I found one ancestor who was at the signing of Magna Carta. My husband, I discovered, has thirteen surety barons of MC, and I have three, plus he is a descendant of William Marshal. Yes, there is royalty in our combined tree, but I find the Magna Carta barons more exciting!

You can find Mr. Lewis' tree at http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/index/htm

He has written a book on the wife of King Henry VII which was well received by many in the genealogy community. The title is: The Ancestry of Elizabeth of York wife of Henry Tudor; a three volume set it is out of print.

I see I have really taken off on this. I'll try for a short finish:

I combined my husband's tree and my tree because we both come from English ancestors and in some branches our trees overlap, and this way our kids can see all their ancestors from England on one tree (the rest are from Finland and from Russia).

Of the 25 barons who were voted by their peers to enforce Magna Carta on King John, only 17 have descendants past the 5th generation. Of those seventeen, thirteen are in our tree. Excited? I couldn't believe it when I found the first one. Finding more was just astonishing. Since then I have read some papers on statistics and ancestors. It turns out millions of Americans have similar ancestry, but most of them don't know it. I suppose you see a lot of those who do know, because they are the tourists who are all over your castles, etc.

Here are the names I'm working on:

William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, William, earl of Salisbury, William, earl of Arundel, Hubert de Burgh (seneschal of Poitou),  Alan Basset, (these five are among those listed in the Preamble to Magna Carta who are called 'illustrious men', and in our tree).

The 13 barons are: Saher de Quincy; Roger Bigod; Hugh Bigod; Henry de Bohun; William d'Albeney of Belvoir castle; William de Huntingfield; John fitzRobert; William III de Lanvallei/Lanvalay; John de Lacie/Lacy; Robert de Vere; Richard de Clare; Gilbert de Clare; Robert de Roos.

Fifty years after Magna Carta there was the Battle of Lewes and the next year the Battle of Evesham, and in between the Provisions of Oxford, and there are ancestors in our tree who were involved, working to limit an absolute monarchy with the next generations of royalty, Henry III and his son Edward.

 The book I'm making for our descendants about these people is about half done; it is my full time hobby. I would be happy to know if we have any of these ancestors in common, and if you have a website on them, or?  I have a blog, which is undergoing reconstruction, and my Ancestry.com tree, which is temporarily not public because I'm making so many changes (but if you want to see it I'll send you the code for viewing).

 Well, this is shocking. I didn't intend to write so much. Hope I didn't bore you, not many people really want the details.

I really need to see if there is a forum with this topic. 

Thanks for asking, Vince!

Well, James - I hope you are not just kidding me - I am seriously trying to find which castles these men built or modified or lived in and which ones suffered damage in the barons war that followed Magna Carta.

I used to think of Medieval knights as sort of one-dimensional characters who only knew one thing - fighting with a sword. I was soooo wrong. I have discovered many of these men were builders, also diplomats, courtiers, and justices who studied law and rode a circuit to dispense justice. Some few were scholarly and read Latin and Greek and spoke several languages. Some, like William Marshal, were skilled with the lute and song. They were also men of business acumen, although might not have been in trade, they managed enormous farmlands, villages, sometimes shipping. They were responsible for bridges and roads and defense. They traveled widely, crossing the Channel regularly, and many going to the holy land on Crusade or on pilgrimages. Really, quite amazing people.

Well, that is surely enough for now

You see why have to make a book for my descendants - I am very fascinated with this subject.

There are aspects of our Civil War which I only discovered since doing our family tree. My husband's great-great grandfather lived with his family in Texas at the start of the war, and a friend warned him to leave, because a gang of men were going to kill the families who sympathized with the North and were against slavery. He was very outspoken against slavery. He and his family got out but over a hundred people were massacred in that area the next day. People died for their beliefs in that war, in many different places and ways.

 I do wish history could be taught in a way that would make it come alive in the schools. It is very nice to meet someone else who really enjoys history, James.

  OH MY WORD !!!!

      We are singing off the same hymn sheet here, there are a lot of names you have mentioned above that are common to our tree. I must point out that the line is on my wife's side ( I am told my place is under the scullery table) and my daughter is the one who has been enthralled finding her way back into history. I will have to get her help with the names as I always loose track following all the links.    I'll be back.

I agree James, and in the words of Cicero, "Not to know what happened before you were born is to be a child forever" I just can't understand why history isn't taught more, and why young people seem disinterested.

 My main area of historical interest is Ancient Rome, but I do read a lot of Medieval history, so the names cropping up in your posts April are familar, and it's all making fascinating reading, I look forward to reading more.