Brian Boru, High King of Ireland

 Dear Silas,

Two used books for your birthday?  This year each grandchild has received a book about one of our ancestors.  I chose Brian Boru, the High King of Ireland, for you.  You may notice both books are by the same author—Morgan Llewelyn.  One is fictional and the other non-fiction but both are about Brian Boru.  I suggest you read the old one with the man on the cover first to introduce you to Brian and Ireland of a thousand years ago.

The 1014 book is non-fiction so is a little more difficult to read but I’m finding it very interesting.  The first chapter is about Ireland at that time and the tribes of Ireland during an earlier period.  If you skip that chapter, the second chapter begins the story of Brian Boru.  You may need a little help reading this book so I’m writing notes in it that may help. it is very detailed about the battle of Clontarf which shaped Ireland today.

Brian was brilliant at tactical battles and his enemy was primarily the Norse who had settled in ireland.  We probably descend from Brian, but we also descend from Vikings, Norsemen and Normans who were the primary invaders of all of the countries in the North Sea area.  Try to admire Brian without taking sides since we also descend from the Vikings. Roman’s books were about the Vikings.

The Battle of Clontarf might have been sparked by a chess game but Gormlaith (Gorma) , Brian Boru’s wife, Malemora’ssister and Sitrich Silkbeard’ mother played a part: thus the comparison to Helen of Troy.  We desecend from both Brian and Gormlaith through their son Donnchad.

The battle consisted of Brian Buordu with his son Murrough defending the seat of High King with many neighboring kingdoms joining forces.

 They were fighting a coalition of tribes led by Malemora, Sitric Silkbeard who was the viking king of Dublin, with Sigrud the Stout and Brodir, the pirate king (both Vikings)

The Battle conclude with 7,000-10,000 killed including the leaders on boths sides—-in one day April 23 1104.  More important than who won the batlle is the question who lost—-the leaders of both sides.  Ireland was so defeated with no leaders that the natives (Gael) and the vikings  (Norsemen) learned to live together peacefully and just call themselves “Irish”.

You are Irish from your Granddaddy’s family and mine. Brian was the youngest of about 10 children as you are also the youngest.  I think you will enjoy his story.

If you get together with your siblings and cousins, you will discover we descend from almost every king and queen ruling western Europe in the dark ages.  The Dark Ages were a time of plagues, disease and death in battle.  For example,the black plague in the 1200’s killed half of the European poputlation. The ruling class survived and had children.  So, millions of people have royal roots. What is unusual is we can trace our ancestry on paper to those rulers and most people can’t.

I enjoyed reading these books since I’d been to some of the places mentioned when Grandpa and I went to Ireland.  I wish I’d known this history before we went.  I never thought I’d enjoy reading a book about one battle, but I have enjoyed the books very much.

Love and Happy Birthday!

Grandma (and Grandpa)

The Dark Ages

 Dear Eli, July 2025

This is one of Grandpa’s and my favorite books about “The Dark Ages”. Sorry it’s a little “well-read”. It tells the stories of some of my favorite legendary Brits—-Bodecia and King Arthur (I checked and we probably are not related to either of them to my dismay).  Beginning with chapter 5, there are  other stories which are also very interesting and are indeed relatives or ancestors:  King Alfred the Great, Ethelred the Unready, William the Conqueror. Athelstan and Eric Bloodaxe are “great uncles”: they are siblings of our ancestors so we are related to  them but don’t descend from them.

I’ve tried not to burden any one of my grandchildren with the royal extent of our family but rather wanted each one to focus on an individual because the full array is even hard for me to digest. But, this book is brimming with ancestors—-Sam had a story about King Alfred the Great in his book (and my grandmother’s family in Williamsburg, Va).  So, that leaves you with Ethelred the Unready and William the Conqueror.  William the Conqueror changed England and the English language forever, so if you are to read one story, read about William the Conqueror who etched the year 1066 forever in English history.

This is a particularly good person for you to read about since you probably descend from Normans on your father’s side also.  Although I haven’t researched the details, “Warren” is considered a Norman name. William the Conqueror is not some gorgeous knight in shining armor with sparkling teeth and a confident smile but a warrior king of Viking heritage.  Many are unaware that “Norman” is short for “Norsemen”.  So, William and his vast invasion was a combination of French military organization and Viking fierceness and naval prowess.

While reading the story of the invasion, try not to take sides because you descend from both sides.  There’s a family tree on page 210 of the Saxon and Norman family trees. I have a check mark by all of the people you descend from.  I discovered this when researching Lbby’s person St. Margaret of Scotland. Her granddaughter Matilda was also William the Conqueror’s grandchild.. Those family holiday dinners must have been interesting! The Plantagenet family (William’s family) is one of my favorites with Eleanor of Aquitaine (Anna’s person) and Richard the Lionheart (who had no children that we know of). 

I saved this book for you with all of the other royals in the two lines because you’re interested in history. if you have any trouble understanding anything, let me know.  It’s not as unusual as you might think that we are descend from  so many “royals:  Princes tend to marry Princesses.  

These charts are to show you my direct lineage from them.   Again, millions of people descend from these famous kings and queens but they don’t know it and don’t have a chart showing the lineage.

Love,

“Princess” Grandma

PS If you are ever “into” any of the Viking or Medieval  TV series/movies, there will be lot of family history to watch.

The Spy from Williamsburg

 Sam, May 2025

A Spy from Williamsburg is a book I’ve had in my library for some time..  I bought it because it had a character in it that I was related to, Gabriel Maupin.  But, I have 4 Gabriel Maupins in my family tree who lived in or around Williamsburg before the Revolutionary War. This book was sold at the Williamsburg book store so I trust it has accurate information.  While reading the book,I read that Gabriel Maupin had a son named George Washington Maupin (p. 84), I thought, “I have never heard of a Maupin with that  name.  So, with a little research I found the Gabriel Maupin mentioned in the book —-my first cousin 5 times removed (7 times removed for you).  That one did indeed have a son called George Washington Maupin. So, it’s not one of my ancestors but a still a family member.

Reading on (89-91), I was very interested in all of the details about black smithing.  I come from a long line of black smiths. One of my father’s grandfathers was a smith as were two of his great grandfathers. One worked for the railroad, one for a lead mine and another made wagon wheels but went on to making carriages.  His sons worked in the early automobile industry assembling cars.

In that same section (91) is a story about King Alfred of England——at last someone I knew I descended from—-my 33rd great grandfather who was sometimes called Alfred the Great.  That’s an interesting story they tell in the book about him realizing that life would be difficult without the blacksmiths..  Wikipedia says of King Alfred:

Alfred had a reputation as a learned and merciful man of a gracious and level-headed nature who encouraged education, proposing that primary education be conducted in English rather than Latin, and improving the legal system and military structure and his people's quality of life. He was given the epithet "the Great" from as early as the 13th century, though it was only popularized from the 16th century.^[4] Alfred is the only native-born English monarch to be labelled as such.

This year, each of the grandchildren is being given a book mostly from our bulging bookshelves with special meaning.  Yours is a book that reminded me on one I read on YouTube “Tolliver’s Secret”.  They both take place in the 1770’s, with 12 year olds taking on adult responsibilities when a family member is injured. But this book takes place in Virginia where Grandpa and I both had family living in the 1770s. I hope you enjoy it.  And, I hope you understand a little more about your ancestors and family history.

Love, Grandma

The Vikings

 Roman—

The first time I ever saw or heard of Vikings was watching Saturday morning cartoons.  Those cartoons were also my introduction to classical music.  Bugs Bunny portrayed a Viking woman in a Wagnerian Opera. I loved the helmet with the blonde braids coming down.  Someday I hope to have my photo in one.

After that the only references that I had to Vikings were they were barbarian savages who invaded peaceful villages, killed and pillaged the churches of their valuables.  Oh, and they were Scandinavian:  Norwegian, Swedish, Danish.  

Later, as an adult, I learned they were so much more than that. Hollywood and cartoons had not given them a fair rap.  Sure there were some that killed and pillaged, but many didn’t.  First, they weren’t just Scandinavian but were Baltics which includes Estonia, Lithuania, Latvian, German and Russian. Second, many settled peacefully in areas of England, France, Germany, Scotland.  Grandpa, I, and you descend from Vikings.

I first became aware of Grandpa’s Viking heritage when we visited the Viking Museum in York England—-your mom and aunts were little girls. We had just visited the Swale Valley where his mother’s ancestors were from the Aldersons. I looked at the map of where Vikings settled and  they settled in that same valley.  And then I realized Alderson  wasn’t an English name like Johnson—-John is a common English name but not Alder.They were of Viking descent.

I don’t really have an aha moment on my Viking ancestors. I had known for some time my grandmother’s family were from Normandy and came to America in the early 1700’s.   It took me a few years to put it all together.  If they were from Normandy: they were Normans which is short for “North man”  which is Viking. 

 If you look at the map in your book (on page 6) you’ll see where the Vikings lived. It confirms Grandpa’s English Viking and my French Viking roots, but it also shows that yours are also Viking roots.

This year, all of the grandchildren are getting one of Grandpa’s books and/or a book on their heritage.  You are getting both  The older book has a section on the ship building of the Vikings and how that knowledge influenced the houses they built.  The newer book shows how they lived, who the famous Vikings were, their contributions to society and their brilliant engineering.

Be proud of who you are and what you have accomplished—-Grandpa and I are/were certainly proud of you.

Love Grandma

Charlegmagne----Davis

Although I've loved historical fiction my whole life, I was always especially fond of medieval history. As a child, Princess and the Pea was my favorite story and I often tried to prove I was a princess because my skin was so easily irritated by stiff fabrics, tags in the back and hair brushes. I even went so far as to put things under my mattress to see if I could feel them: I did not. Over the years, I leaned toward the King Arthur legend, Charlemagne and the Crusades.  

Although genealogy has been a hobby of mine for 50 years, I have never been on a quest to find famous people in our family. I was content with finding where our ancestor came from. Recently I've tried a new web site that I'd only "visited" briefly over the years.  It's the Wikitree site which has a "World Tree".  The concept is we all add to the same tree.  There are problems galore when thousands (millions?) of genealogists around the world are contributing. But, we are supposed to provide proof for our additions not hearsay or family legends.

So, I spent several weeks entering information (with sources), and then I found "gateway ancestors" which aligned my tree with royalty and nobility.  The royals have been genealogists for centuries so they aren't marrying too many cousins (like the Hapsburg line did).  With a "gateway ancestors", they've introduced me to family on every throne throughout Western Europe for centuries---most are cousins (King Charles III is our 16th cousin) and uncles, but several are indeed royal ancestors. 

Charlemagne

I think the first "royal" I found in our direct line was Charlemagne (748-814)  who is also known as Charles the Great.  It's been suggested that every person of European descent has Charlemagne as their ancestor. For many years, I've considered him the greatest king of all time. When I taught, I often told the story of Charlemagne learning to read because he knew the power of reading.  He encouraged education, opening schools and promoted legible writing including the widespread use of the question mark.  He always had a book under his pillow.  We have 76,759 paths to Charlemagne.He's my 33 and 36 great grandfather through my father LeRoy Long which makes him 35 and 38 greats for my grandchildren.  I sat stunned probably for about a week with the news.

He was the first emperor of the Carolingian empire consisting of what is today France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, Luxembourg,  and part of Italy and Czech Republic.  He is often called the The Father of Europe. He was very large even by today's standards 6"2".  The photo above is his reliquary located in Aachen, Germany.

Charlemagne had over 20 children with numerous wives and mistresses.  He insisted that all of the children receive a liberal arts education in addition to needlework for the girls and riding and weaponry for the boys.  I descend from two of them for sure : Bertha and Hlodowic (Louis). Others have some degree of uncertainty in the lineage.

Hlodowic

Hlodowic (Louis/Ludwig) was Charlemagne's heir becoming King of the Franks and King of Aquitaine. He is sometimes known as Louis the Pious, Louis the Fair and my favorite: Louis the Debonaire.  We descend from his daughter Gisela who was known for her virtue and piety.  She dedicated her life to educating her children with her husband Eberhard who became St. Eberhard. (We descend from at least three saints: St. Eberhard, St. Margaret of Scotland and San Fernando)

None of Charlemagne's daughters married---he feared their husbands would become political rivals.  It didn't stop them from having long-term relationships and children. But, it shows the political importance of marriages at this time.  Bertha is praised in particular for "having critical discernment and an appreciation for poetry".  

When her father died, she and her sisters went to live in convents which their father left them.  It's unknown which convent she entered but it was probably St. Riquier where her partner Angilbert had become the lay-abbot.

So, now when the tag in my shirt hurts, I nod and think, "It's just my Princess gene".