Family Tree of Knowledge 1: Ancestry Research through the Ages

Early Ancestry Research

Although it ranks as one of the world’s most popular leisure pursuits today, ancestry research is certainly not a modern phenomenon, by any means. It may not be the oldest profession, but its adherents were definitely around at the dawn of history. In those days, ancestry research – or genealogy or the method of producing pedigrees – was an art form adopted by highly skilled “technicians”, who were often rewarded for their services. To be truthful, the genealogists of those days were more akin to our modern writers of fiction than to any serious historian or legal expert, and their methods of ancestry research would undoubtedly be laughed at nowadays.
Nevertheless, Babylonians, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks and Romans employed the skills of the genealogist, because his ancestry research would reveal links between kings and emperors, and, more importantly, “proved” their descents from the gods. Of course, the Roman Caesars went one better than this eventually, and claimed to be gods themselves, and they probably hoped that in later years future ancestry research would be employed to establish links with them.
Yet, ancestry research was not limited to the so-called “civilisations” of the world. It was wholly in the “public domain”, and therefore ancestry research was freely used by the cultured and the barbarian alike.
In the seventh and eighth centuries of the Christian era each of the various kingdoms in Anglo-Saxon England had their royal genealogies, and each ancestry research revealed a descent of the current (pagan) king at that time from Woden the “king” of the Germanic gods. Now, as an amazing fact, my own ancestry research of these early English royal pedigrees (which lineages had undoubtedly originated in their native Germany) reveals an approximately similar number of generations on each lineage going back to Woden. If the ancestry research for each “tree” was accurate, then it would imply that Woden was most likely a living person, dating from around the fifth century BC! As with all oral accounts, this man would have easily taken on mythical proportions within the matter of a few generations.
However, after the English had been converted to Christianity such royal pedigrees and ancestry research that glorified a pagan god-king would become nothing more than an embarrassment. It was left to Alfred the Great’s father, King Ethelwulf of Wessex, to rectify the matter. Ethelwulf was a truly Christian king, and some accounts even suggest that he was ordained as a priest at one time. Not to be outdone, he had ordered a variation on the ancestry research of the old pagan kings to be compiled. After the project had been completed, his new pedigree showed that the original had merely been extended. In the meantime, as a result of the new work, Woden’s ancestors had actually been discovered – and this achievement must have taken a great deal of effort and fact-finding on the part of the compilers (who were monks), even though it was indeed accomplished in a relatively short time! Ethelwulf’s new pedigree of the early English kings had revealed that Woden himself was actually descended from Adam and Eve! It may possibly be quite a relief for many people today to see that even in ninth-century England ancestry research had to be proved to be “politically correct”, as well.

(The author is a professional genealogist of 35 years' experience. For more information visit http://www.thechangingseasons.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=22&chapter=40 ) This series will be continued, and if you have any questions concerning genelaogical research in the British Isles, please respond.