Charlemange and Royal Blood

One of my lines goes back to Charlemagne, supposedly. 70% of the people in the world with German, French, Swiss, BeNeLux, Northern Italian or English ancestors are supposed to be able to trace back to him. If you have that ancestry and spend enough time, you too will probably be able to trace back to him. The trail will probably reveal trace amounts of Royal Blood.

The two people below have wondeful web pages with many of Charlemagne's descendants.

Royal Genealogical Data
Brian Tompsett, a computer scientist at the Univerity of Hull (UK) has the royal families of Europe and their ancestors, stretching back to Charlemagne and beyond. He has several clever index pages. In particular, he has one by first name, which is particularly helpful if you don't know what to use for a surname for "Leonardo IV, the Lion of Lombardy".

Winch Genealogical Database
Carolyn Winch has the most user-friendly genealogy web site I've seen. She has close to 30,000 names, several different indexes, AND a slick little utility that lets you download a GEDCOM from her data for up to five generations.

Exactly how I trace back to him follows, but first, a gentle warning. You may want to skip the gentle warning.

A Gentle Warning:

My link to Charlemagne, Emperor of the West and King of the Franks, depends on 1,200 years of record keeping, through fire, flood, worms, the fury of the Norsemen and the Black Plague. In one place our royal blood depends on a lady who worked in a castle, came up pregnant without benefit of a husband, and told her parents it was the King.

Well, let's see. Assume you are in that lady's situation. You can approach HRH and say coyly "Oh, you royal stallion, you've done it again." If the child is a boy and looks like him, the king may make him an earl, and you can live out your days in an upstairs suite in your son's country manor, with a maid. On the other hand, if you tell the hulking young assistant gardener that you have to get married, you'll end up living in a hut at the foot of the Royal Onion Patch, cooking for a man who washes his feet every other month.

I told my kids not to give themselves airs.

My Line to Charlemagne

Here's one of my lines. (As soon as two cousins marry, you get alternate lines.)

Charlemagne (Charles the Great), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, born 2 Apr 742 in Ingelheim, Rheinhessen, Hesse-Darmstadt; married (among others) Hildegarde of Swabia; their son

Louis I, Emperor of the West, born Aug 778, married Ermengarde; their son

Lothair I, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, born abt 795 in France married Ermengarde of Tours; their daughter

Ermengarde, Duchess of the Moselle, born abt 830 in Alsace-Lorraine, France, married Gilbert or Giselbert; their son

Reginer or Rainer I, Duke of Lorraine, born abt 860, married Hersent of France; their son

Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine, born abt 890 in Reims, France, married Gerberge of the Germans; their daughter

Gerberga, Princess of Lorraine, born abt 935, married Adalbert I The Pious; their son

Herbert III, Count of Vermandois, born abt 955, married Ermengarde; their son

Otho, Count of Vermandois, born abt 1000, married Parvie; their son

Herbert IV, Count of Vermandois, born abt 1032, married Adela de Vexin; their daughter

Adelaide, Countess of Vermandois, in married Hugh of France and Burgandy; their son

Robert de Beaumont I, Earl of Leiscester, born 1046, married Isabel de Vermandois; their daughter

Isabel de Vermandois, Countess of Leicester, married Robert de Beaumont; their son

Robert de Beaumont II, Earl of Leiscester, married Amice xxxx; their son

Robert de Beaumont III, Earl of Leiscester, married Petronilla de Grantmesnil; their daughter

Margaret de Beaumont, married Saire de Quincy; their son

Roger de Quincy, Earl of Winchester, married Helen of Galloway; their daughter

Elena de Quincy, married Alan La Zouche; their son

Sir Roger La Zouche, Baron of Ashby, born between 1240 and 1242, probably in England, married Eleanor Longespee; their son

Alan La Zouche, Baron of Ashby, born 9 Oct 1267 in Ashby Magna, Leicestershire, England, married Eleanor Segrave; their daughter

Elena La Zouche, born 1288 in England, married Alan de Charlton; their son

Alan de Charlton, born abt 1318 or 1319, probably in England, married Margert FitzAer; their son

Thomas de Charlton, born 1345 in Appleby, Salop, England, married an unknown lady; their daughter

Anna de Charlton, born between 1362 and 1378, married William Knightley; their son (named Charlton, oddly enough)

Thomas Charlton, born 30 Mar 1394 in Apley Castle, Shropshire, England, married Elizabeth Francis; their son

Robert Charlton, born before 1430 in Apley, Shropshire, England, married Mary Corbet; their son

Richard Charlton, born 1450, probably in Shropshire, married Anne Mainwaring; their daughter

Anne Charlton, born abt 1482 in Apley, Shropshire, England, married Randall Grosvenor; their daughter

Elizabeth Grosvenor, born 1515 in Bellaport, England, married Thomas Bulkeley; their son

Rev. Edward Bulkeley, born abt 1540 in Buntingdale, England, married Olive Irby; their daughter

Martha Bulkeley, born 1572 in Odell, Bedfordshire, England, married Abraham Mellows; their daughter

Christian Mellows, born 1611 in Odell, Bedfordshire, England, married Thomas Pettit; their daughter

Sarah Pettit, born abt 1634 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, married Thomas Skillman; their daughter

Elsje Skillman, born 1672 in Newton, Queens, New York, married Thomas Aten; their daughter

Jannetje Aten, born 1704, married Frans Jacob Lucas; their son

Thomas Lucas, born 1730, married Sarah Rhoda xxxx; their son

Abraham Lucas, born 1761 in Morris County, New Jersey, married Marcy Kelsey; their son

James Lucas, born abt 1789 in Washington County, Pennsylvania, married Hannah Bowman; their son

Thomas Lucas, born 27 Apr 1814 in Liberty Twp, Clinton, Ohio, married Mary Turner; their daughter

Sarah Katherine Lucas, born 23 Apr 1835 in Clark County, Ohio, married Berryman Baughan Wood; their daughter

Emily Catherine Wood, born 9 May 1867 in Mt. Pulaski, Logan, Illinois, married Robert Lee Pack; their son

Roy Elmo Pack, born 27 Apr 1893 in Canton, McPherson, Kansas, married Vera Marie Morgan; their son

K. M. Pack, married M. E. Wilken; their son is me:

Ted Pack.