The Royal Connection

Connection 1 - Edward I of England

The earliest Royal Connection for the Holmes family requires that we step backwards through time over 700 years and twenty-three generations. Back past the two World Wars, past the Civil War which nearly took the life of Robert J. Holmes [Generation 4] of the 16th Connecticut Volunteers and Willard C. Lane of the 22nd Maine Volunteers and past the American Revolution. We are only half way there at the signing of the Mayflower Compact in 1620. Three of our ancestors signed this compact.

It was during this period that a young man named Roger Ludlow [Generation 11] was living. He was the first of this lineage to come to America. Roger was well educated in law at Balliol College, Oxford. In 1630 he and his family came to America aboard the “Mary and John”. His family was wealthy and his wife, Mary Cogan, was the sister of the wife of Governor John Endicott of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This relationship probably enhanced the appointment of Roger to Deputy Governor of Massachusetts. In 1636 Roger left for Connecticut and helped found colonies in Windsor and Fairfield. He framed the first written constitution for the state of Connecticut and is called the Father of Connecticut Jurisprudence. Roger later returned to England where he died in 1665. So the first of this royal lineage to come to America did not remain. In fact only one of his children remained and settled in the new world. His daughter, Sarah Ludlow, married the Reverend Nathaniel Brewster of Brookhaven, Long Island and only through her is this lineage continued.

We must now continue our journey back past the discovery of the new world by Christopher Columbus, back through the Renaissance Period, past the “black plague” of 1350 until the time when Marco Polo made his voyages to China. At this time King Edward I; “Longshanks” was King of England. This is not the earliest Royal Connection found. There is also trace ability from King Edward III of England. Edward the III was a good King especially for that time in Medieval History. Two of his sons, John “of Gaunt” and Edmund “of Langley” had children out of wedlock and descent can be traced through them. However, the legitimacy of any lineage traced through the union of Edward the II and Princess Isabel of France back to Edward I must certainly be questioned.

It is interesting to note that King Edward I married twice, first to Princess Eleonore of Castile and second to Princess Margaret of France. Edward I was over 60 at the time of his second marriage. Lineages are traceable through three children of his first marriage and through two children of his second marriage. Once you are into the line of royalty of Europe many other kings and Queens come into the picture. Of special note is King William I. “The Conqueror”. It is also possible to trace our lineage to and past Charlemagne.

In addition to The Royal Connection, this lineage is also traceable to eleven of the twenty-five Magna Charta Sureties and only eighteen left lineage descents. These were: William d’Albini, Lord of Belvoir Castle; Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk; Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk; Henry De Bohun, Earl of Hereford; Gilbert De Clare, Earl of Hertford and Gloucester; Richard De Clare, Earl of Hertford and Gloucester; William Malet. Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset Counties; William De Mowbray, Governor of York Castle, Saher De Quincey, Earl of Winchester, Robert De Ros, Lord of Hamelake Castle and Robert De Vere, Earl of Oxford. These men were prominent in forcing King John, also our ancestor, to relinquish some of his control over the people of England in 1215. Many other Dukes, Earls, Barons Lords and Knights are also in the genealogical tree. Last count was 72 Barons and 40 Earls, 2 Dukes, 4 Counts and many Knights. Some of these were killed in the Crusades to the Holy Land and many others were killed in the Hundred Year Wars and the Wars of the Roses. Violent executions were also common.

If you really want to see great grandfather, Edward I in action watch the movie “Braveheart”. Edward I, ably portrayed by Patrick MCGOOHAN takes care of William Wallis, portrayed by Mel Gibson when the English conquered Wales. [Click on the "McGoohan"!]

As you look through these files many common ancestor loops are apparent. Some of these occur after the emigration to America. This is believable because the pickings for a spouse were pretty slim and marriages between second and third cousins would occasionally take place. However this is negligible compared to what took place among the nobility of Europe from the 10th to the 14th centuries. Although marriages between first cousins was not allowed – unless the King approved – there was open season on second, third cousins etc. This is why we are descended from five different children of Edward I and multiple children of many other marriages. It is no wonder that the term “blue blood” originated for the unusual common appearance of the recessive gene for hemophilia.

Connection 2 - Charlemagne and Beyond

Also aboard the “Mary and John”, the same ship which brought over the Honorable Roger Ludlow, was another family, the Newberrys. Thomas Newbury [Generation 11], his wife Jane and several children came from the area of Yarcombe, in Devon, England. It is not known for certain why he came but it is most likely for religious reasons. Thomas came from seven generations of Newberry (Newborough) English gentry, preceded by another ten generations of English nobility including Knights, Earls, Lords etc. Then in the year 1096 Robert De Beaumont married Countess Isabel De Vermandois, daughter of Count Hugues, “le Grand” De Vermandois and grand-daughter of Henry I, King of France. Robert came to England about the time the British were conquered by the Normans in 1066. This invasion was led by another ancestor, William ”The Conqueror”, later King William I of England. Robert became 1st Earl of Leicester.

Continuing back in time we pass through the “Capet Kings” and the “Carolinian Kings” to the Reign of one of the greatest kings of all, King Charles the Great, ”Charlemagne”. After he conquered Italy he had Pope Leo III crown him “Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire”.

The grandfather of Charlemagne was Charles “Martel”, Mayor of the Palace Austrasia. He led the army that defeated the Spanish Muslim invaders and saved France. He then began military campaigns that reestablished the Franks as the ruler of Gaul.

As we continue back in time we pass through the reigns of the French Merovingian kings and the kings of the Salian Franks who ruled Gaul for over 740 years to the reign of the last of Sicambri Kings, Francus, who ruled in 60 BC. Sixty years before the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Another 350 years back we reach the reign of King Anthenor I, First King of Sicambri and the last King of Cimmerians. We will stop at this point. We might, however, mention a little about the Cimmerians.

The Cimmerians were among the earliest of the western civilizations. They were the first human group that is identifiable by name rather than by artifacts. Their name appears in the “Odyssey” by Homer. This epic poem was written about 850 BC.

The Cimmerians were a Germanic people and occupied the southern Russian steppe from about 1200 BC. Their civilization, which belongs to the Late Bronze Age, is not easily distinguishable from the other peoples with which they mingled. From the 8th century BC the Cimmerians were gradually replaced by the Scythians.

In 442 BC, Marcomir, son of Anthenors, ascended the throne of the Sicambri and in 441 BC he migrated out of Scythia and settled his people on the Danube. In 431 BC the Goths forced them out of this area and into the country now called West Friesland, Gelden and Holland. Then nine years later, Marcomir crossed the Rhine River and conquered part of Gaul, now France. He made his brother Governor and continued his gradual conquest of the rest of Gaul.

All in all this information is interesting and even impressive but if we consider Edward I of England as our closest Royalty, we are actually only about 1.2 X 10-5% or 0.000012% descended from Royalty. This is not much to claim to be a blue blood.

June 16, 2002