Family Tree of Knowledge 2: Factual or Fictitious Family Ancestor
The modern concept of tracing one’s family ancestor as a leisure activity was virtually unknown before the Victorian period. Until then genealogy had primarily been used as a legal process, in order to support a claim – to a crown, rank or title, or office (wholly confirmed through descent from a renowned family ancestor), or, more commonly, to prove title to property. Pedigrees can even be found among medieval and later law court papers .
Furthermore, those pedigrees compiled by the heralds at the College of Arms in London always show the descent from a certain family ancestor, who had been officially granted a coat-of-arms. They were drawn up in order that his descendants would then be legally confirmed as entitled to bear and display his coat-of-arms. It is indeed a modern fallacy to suggest that there is such a thing as a “family coat-of-arms”. This notion is hawked by market-traders and “genealogical” websites, who prey upon the uninitiated and ignorant, enforcing the misconception that every surname has a coat-of-arms. The only people entitled to a coat-of-arms are those who can legally prove descent from a certain armigerous family ancestor – that is, a family ancestor who had been granted that device in the first place.
Likewise, false information, and, more importantly, “filling the void” when no evidence exists or survives, has caused numerous false genealogies over the centuries. Many members of the English nobility still claim descent from a family ancestor who supposedly fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Yet, the main source for their claims – the Battle Abbey Roll – had been proved (in 1901) to be compiled over 300 years after that event had taken place, and was therefore undoubtedly “invented”. For most of the families who claim to have a French family ancestor, it was more than likely that the family ancestor did not arrive in England until many years after the famous battle.
Genealogical research can therefore prove to be very disappointing for those who are obsessed with finding a family ancestor who was “noble” or “royal” or extremely “notable”, for the simple reason that they are – and always were - the targets of unscrupulous “genealogists” and “historians”. There are certainly many more fictitious or inaccurate genealogies that have been compiled or claimed throughout the world than there are genuine ones, unfortunately. That would mean that many families would have a so-called family ancestor who was not actually related to them.
Although there is evidence stating that genealogy had been pursued as a leisure activity by a few individuals even before the mid-nineteenth century, the Victorians were the ones who had made family ancestor research popular, and had therefore, to a great degree, brought it into the world of the hobbyist and out of the hands of the legal profession. Victorian academics went to work transcribing multitudes of records that had previously been out of reach to the majority of the working and middle classes, and, as their labours were replicated by their successors, then the whole field began to open up, thus allowing more and more people to become hooked in their quest to discover their family ancestor.
Yet, until more recent years research had been limited to the few devotees, curious about a family ancestor. Non-enthusiasts had often stated their lack of interest in history as the reason why genealogy did not appeal to them. However, times they are a-changin’, and, amazingly, some of those very people who were never interested in history have even now become equally obsessed with the attempt to trace their family ancestor.
[The author is a professional genealogist and historical researcher of 35 years' experience, dealing with all types of sources in England, but now specialising in medieval, manorial and legal work. For more information visit http://www.thechangingseasons.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=22&chapter=40 ]
The modern concept of tracing one’s family ancestor as a leisure activity was virtually unknown before the Victorian period. Until then genealogy had primarily been used as a legal process, in order to support a claim – to a crown, rank or title, or office (wholly confirmed through descent from a renowned family ancestor), or, more commonly, to prove title to property. Pedigrees can even be found among medieval and later law court papers .
Furthermore, those pedigrees compiled by the heralds at the College of Arms in London always show the descent from a certain family ancestor, who had been officially granted a coat-of-arms. They were drawn up in order that his descendants would then be legally confirmed as entitled to bear and display his coat-of-arms. It is indeed a modern fallacy to suggest that there is such a thing as a “family coat-of-arms”. This notion is hawked by market-traders and “genealogical” websites, who prey upon the uninitiated and ignorant, enforcing the misconception that every surname has a coat-of-arms. The only people entitled to a coat-of-arms are those who can legally prove descent from a certain armigerous family ancestor – that is, a family ancestor who had been granted that device in the first place.
Likewise, false information, and, more importantly, “filling the void” when no evidence exists or survives, has caused numerous false genealogies over the centuries. Many members of the English nobility still claim descent from a family ancestor who supposedly fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Yet, the main source for their claims – the Battle Abbey Roll – had been proved (in 1901) to be compiled over 300 years after that event had taken place, and was therefore undoubtedly “invented”. For most of the families who claim to have a French family ancestor, it was more than likely that the family ancestor did not arrive in England until many years after the famous battle.
Genealogical research can therefore prove to be very disappointing for those who are obsessed with finding a family ancestor who was “noble” or “royal” or extremely “notable”, for the simple reason that they are – and always were - the targets of unscrupulous “genealogists” and “historians”. There are certainly many more fictitious or inaccurate genealogies that have been compiled or claimed throughout the world than there are genuine ones, unfortunately. That would mean that many families would have a so-called family ancestor who was not actually related to them.
Although there is evidence stating that genealogy had been pursued as a leisure activity by a few individuals even before the mid-nineteenth century, the Victorians were the ones who had made family ancestor research popular, and had therefore, to a great degree, brought it into the world of the hobbyist and out of the hands of the legal profession. Victorian academics went to work transcribing multitudes of records that had previously been out of reach to the majority of the working and middle classes, and, as their labours were replicated by their successors, then the whole field began to open up, thus allowing more and more people to become hooked in their quest to discover their family ancestor.
Yet, until more recent years research had been limited to the few devotees, curious about a family ancestor. Non-enthusiasts had often stated their lack of interest in history as the reason why genealogy did not appeal to them. However, times they are a-changin’, and, amazingly, some of those very people who were never interested in history have even now become equally obsessed with the attempt to trace their family ancestor.
[The author is a professional genealogist and historical researcher of 35 years' experience, dealing with all types of sources in England, but now specialising in medieval, manorial and legal work. For more information visit http://www.thechangingseasons.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=22&chapter=40 ]
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