Ancestry.com and new records

This week I checked on some of the 'brick walls' in my family tree, and was pleasantly surprised to find new records added to the already impressive and vast collection at Ancestry.com

Although most of my 'end of this line' branches remain the same, one branch grew fifteen new people,with documentation. In the chart above, most of the people on the right half were born and died in England, and most of the people on the left half were born in, or moved to, America.

 These are some of my earliest immigrant ancestors. Some of them were Quakers. (Click on the picture to see a large version.)

They lived in Milford, Fairfield county, Connecticut, and in the last generation (Mary Coley), moved to Cohansey, Cumberland county, New Jersey, which was settled earlier by Quakers.

MAGNA CARTA - CELEBRATE THE ANNIVERSARY

This Saturday, June 15, celebrate the 798th anniversary of Magna Carta. Hang out our flag. Tell a friend it is a special day. 

Following is a brief calendar of the events concentrated immediately before and after King John put his royal seal to Magna Carta.  This was just the beginning - King John gathered his troops and set out to defeat his barons.

He won some battles, tore down some castles and imprisoned some of his barons - but - he died October 8, 1216 before he could win the war.

Because of the legacy of Magna Carta, we have laws such as Habeas Corpus, the law requiring a person under arrest to be brought before the court to determine whether the government has the right to continue detaining them. People didn't always have that right, and could be held indefinitely without a trial by jury of their peers.

Habeas Corpus resulted from what is now known as Magna Carta clause 39, and may be one of the reasons the prisoners of the war against terror are held in Guantanamo Bay - it is our military base in Cuba and 'technically' is said to not fall under such laws.  (To be strictly fair, our law of habeas corpus can be specifically suspended in cases of rebellion, invasion, and public safety.)

May 17, 1215 - London opens gates to barons (with at least 1,187 knights)

June 15, 1215 - King John sets his seal to Magna Carta

June 17, 1215 - barons sign their vow to enforce it

June 19, 1215 - barons renew their oaths of fealty to King John

July 19, 1215 - A formal document to record the agreement was created by the royal chancery: this was the original Magna Carta. Copies were created and distributed around England, however only four copies are known to still exist today, one of which is on display in our National Archives in Washington, D.C.

August 24, 1215 - Pope Innocent III issues a papal bull declaring Magna Carta null and void.

November 12, 1216 - Magna Carta abbreviated, reissued by John's heir, King Henry III. 

England is planning a great 800th anniversary celebration for Magna Carta in 2015 - sure wish I could be there!

Sources:

Matthew Strickland, ‘Enforcers of Magna Carta (act. 1215–1216)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/theme/93691, accessed 13 June 2013]

'Featured Documents', National Archives, [http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/magna_carta/, accessed 13 June 2013]

'Magna Carta', Wikipedia, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta, accessed 13 June 2013]

Treasures in Full: Magna Carta, 'Timeline', British Library, [http://www.bl.uk/treasures/magnacarta/timeline/timeline.html, accessed 13 June 2013]

Dictionary of Medieval Knighthood and Chivalry

Arrived today from Friends of Books, Volume one of two: concepts and terms. Volume two, on persons, places and events, is on the way.

Bouncing up and down in my chair, I opened the box and pulled out a thick book to an accompaniment of goose-bumps.  As I cracked it open at random spots, I could tell it would not disappoint. Although the new version of this scholarly work is priced at $118.75 and up, my used library version was much less, and still in good condition.  If there are any equivalent books on this arcane subject, I am not aware of them.  At 604 pages, the volume covers concepts and terms from the years 1050 to 1400 thoroughly.  Every glance at a page shows me the work of an author in love with his subject, a work fifteen years in the making.

This has been a difficult year for me, physically, but rewards like today make it all worth the effort.

Found: Sir Walter Giffard's correct coat of arms

After more searching, I have found what is the correct coat of arms for Walter Giffard.  It is not a blue background with silver lions, but a red background with silver lions (the blue shield is a later, cadet branch of his family).  His blazon may be found in several books, including the authoritative Sir Bernard Burke, "The general armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales:", copyright 1864.

Blazon: gules three lions passant in pale argent

see the image for Walter Giffard's Coat of Arms at 

Genealogy Ancestral Family Trees  

Love Castles? Must See These!

I have a passion for Medieval history, and that includes castles.  Want to know more than just 'oh, that is a pretty castle'? Curious about how people lived in their castles, what they did while they were there? Have an itch to know how castles were built?

Philip Davis has had a life-long passion for castles, and he has created the most comprehensive website on castles I have found.

See GATEHOUSE for answers to your questions about castles: who made them, how they were constructed, who tore them down, who rebuilt them; what archeological investigation has found at individual sites; where exactly they are located and so much more. Gatehouse is deep and extensive for factual information, including a comprehensive list of licenses to crenelate. Images of castles are from a bird's eye view. [For photographs of castles, see other websites such as Wikipedia or Castles of Wales, etc.]

Among the most exciting discoveries I have made in my investigations is that many of our ancestors were not only warriors, they were statesmen. They were not only capable of besieging a castle, they were capable of building one. The narrow view of the Medieval knight as a brutal and ignorant fighter who knows how to do only one thing is proven wrong over and over again, in the multitude of records showing how they built, they protected, they preserved.

Below is a modern picture of the remaining shell keep of Cardiff Castle, Wales, which was rebuilt in stone circa 1136 by Sir Robert earl of Gloucester, my 25th times great-grandfather.

Photograph by Jvhertum 1 Dec 2012, from Wikimedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Norman_keep_cardiff_castle.jpg
 Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

So Many Questions - so little Time

While putting together  a book about Magna Carta and our ancestors who were there, I have discovered great websites with information I can glean for the book.  The challenge is that no one place has all the information I want. So I wrote a page of questions that I'd like to answer about each baron.  After I wrote out the questions, I realized how much I have learned from reading books and websites. A year ago, I would not have even known what questions to ask.

Magna Carta Ancestors biography Questions -

What is fealty?

Name, date born, whether eldest son or inherited unexpectedly.
Shield and blazon
Titles (inherited or granted or acquired through marriage)
Honors/appointments
Whether a Marcher Lord
Castles and locations w/pictures and/or descriptions
Whether disseized of their titles and lands or reinstated
Whether went on Crusade
Whether a sheriff or a justice/judge
Marriage.  If widowed, wife’s activities/remarriage/nunnery.  Children.
Statesman; Warrior; Builder; Courtier; ?
How many knights/fees?     How many acres/manors?
Whether granted a license to crenelate their fortified manor or castle
Whether on river or bay
Whether granted exclusive import/export rights to X (wine, wool, or ?)
Abbeys or priories (hospitals, or ?)  they Established or supported
Rights to hold fairs (when, where)
Rights and offices of forests:
(example) from Many Mini Biographies - 8/22/1198, Confirmation by Richard I of his permission to Alan Bassetto hunt foxes, hares, and wild cats. (S) Pipe Roll Society, V10, 1888, P30.
Military campaigns
If they were sent on diplomatic missions
Whether active in Magna Carta; Oxford Provisions; etc.
Whether they were subsequently excommunicated for it and if restored?
When died and how. Where Buried.