Caught it on "catch-up" last night. I agree that it was disappointing, considering they found absolutely nothing. Even the axe-head they sent to Germany could only be verified as "pre 1640". Not much to build a case on.

Interesting, I traced my family backwards, (not easy) and my great, great,great and so on... was there,
assisting Duke William, and then he was given lands in Midlesborough (sh*te footy team) and also staffordshire.
So its mine ok.....please pay your rent on time......

 

Excellent that you have been able to trace back so far Marie. Now you know you just have to game Hastings and have your ancestor as one of the commanders .

Quote from: marie on 18 December 2013, 11:25:00 AM
Interesting, I traced my family backwards, (not easy) and my great, great,great and so on... was there,
assisting Duke William, and then he was given lands in Midlesborough (sh*te footy team) and also staffordshire.
So its mine ok.....please pay your rent on time......

Female name. I take it you've heard of Salic law?

no he was not called Marie...lol....yes he was a man....anyone else out there a Norman, and if not are you a saxon, lets discuss...

In this situation I would be a Norseman. I think we have them in a pincer movement.

Descent from one of William's supporters may be impressive, though my experience of genealogy suggests such things are far less certain than would be descendants would like to believe, however since "statistically, most of the inhabitants of Western Europe are probably descended from William the Conqueror" does that mean that most of us here out-rank you as a descendent of a mere hanger-on of our illustrious forebear??

The Moores of Linley in Shropshire claim, until the last generation where it passed to a cousin, direct blood line descendence of one of William's standard bearers at Hastings (he did go through four on the day). Arch-parliamentarians, fought against the King in 1640.
They always referred to the House of Windsor as 'bloody foreign upstarts!'

Quote from: marie on 18 December 2013, 11:25:00 AM
Interesting, I traced my family backwards, (not easy) and my great, great,great and so on... was there,
assisting Duke William, and then he was given lands in Midlesborough (sh*te footy team) and also staffordshire.
So its mine ok.....please pay your rent on time......

You traced your ancestry back to Hastings?!?!  

I'm amazed.  

How?

What records extend that far back with familial continuity?

I couldnt get back past 1760 a couple of re remariages and the Irish records office burning down stopped me in my tracks

I think a lot of people when tracing ancestry forget that especially in some areas of the UK people referred to themselves with the surname of the local lord even though there is not blood connection

Quote from: marie on 18 December 2013, 11:49:07 AM
no he was not called Marie...lol....yes he was a man....anyone else out there a Norman, and if not are you a saxon, lets discuss...

Some interesting genetic research was done recently (http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/04/genetic-mapping-britain) that appears on the surface to support certain aspects of our history; most notably:

The Germanic invasion after the collapse of Roman central authority, appears to have been a significant population migration (and indeed, there were almost no Romans here at all, which probably explains why nobody ever claims to have decended from a Roman).

The 'Norman' invasion was nothing of the sort, representing a replacement of the elite class only (perhaps a few thousand nobles).  However, this one is difficult as of course the Normans are Scandinavian so that may be hidden in the Germanic mix.

Therefore, most people in the UK will be either 'ancient British' (mainly Wlesh or Irish stock, i will not use the 'C-word') or Germanic.





For my part, i'm fairly sure i'm Germanic.  My wife is from the ancient British folk so we're a mixed marriage.

The problem with going back so far even to look for viking/germanic roots is that you very quickly after about 4 generations I think it is end up with more descendents than DNA segments in your own genetic set up

http://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2013/feb/25/viking-ancestors-astrology

I did not use a genealogy site....as they are to random, as you say...I followed my name back in time, we are mentioned, at Battle Abbey ,Hastings.
and when I visited to France I mentioned my family name and they told me we had a castle in the town.
Unfortunately this was closed on a Wednesday,lol.....but at least I got to see it...from the outside...
The great great great and so on went on to be a Templar......and so so on and so on....