Monday, March 02, 2020
Our Robinsons were Normans
Nadene Goldfoot
Normans were the Norseman Vikings that were in a part of France called Normandy. Our Robinson lived around 900 CE that connected to the Fitzpatricks of Ireland. Today we can trace the male line by DNA, and ours is titled from the Y haplogroup of R-A1487. This is done through the Big Y test past 111 alleles.
William I, usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. He was a descendant of Rollo and was Duke of Normandy from 1035 onward.
Rollo of Normandy was the chief – the “jarl” – of the Viking population. After 911, he was the Count of Rouen. which was north of Bergen in Norway, and was the Jarl of Orkney.
His successors gained the title Duke of Normandy from Richard II. After the rise of the Capetian dynasty, they were forced to vacate the title, for there could be only one duke in Neustria, and the Robertians carried the title. The Robertians were a Frankish noble family which eventually rose to the throne of West Francia. The founder was Robert II, Count of Hesbaye. "Neustria was the western part of the Kingdom of the Franks. Neustria included the land between the Loire and the Silva Carbonaria, approximately the north of present-day France, with Paris, Orléans, Tours, Soissons as its main cities. ." "Frank, a member of a Germanic-speaking people who invaded the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Dominating present-day northern France, Belgium, and western Germany, the Franks established the most powerful Christian kingdom of early medieval western Europe. The name France (Francia) is derived from their name."
These dukes increased the strength of Normandy, although they had to observe the superiority of the King of France. The dukes of Normandy did not resist the general trend of monopolizing authority over their territory: the dukes struck their own money, rendered justice, and levied taxes. They raised their own armies and named the bulk of prelates of their archdiocese. They were therefore practically independent of the French king, although they paid homage to each new monarch.
The Norman nobles who invaded England in 1066 were descended from a Viking expansion from the south in the 9th and 10th Centuries. They genes included some similar to those of the Danes. Early in the 10th Century, the Vikings gave their attention to the Seine and Loire Rivers of NW France. It was Rollo the Ganger who took lands there in the Rouen region up the Seine.
With the Pope's blessing King William conquered England in 1066, and he permitted Norman lords to raid Wales and carve out feudal lordships. These new masters also set about reforming the Welsh church. For Wales, the old border held the Normans at off for a while. Compared this with Scotland with its 200 years of unified rule under the descendants of Kenneth MacAlpin. Wales was in a shambles after the downfall of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn. Feuds between claimants to their vacant kingdoms had caused a chaos of murder and betrayal ending in 1081 with the Battle of Mynydd Carn. This caused 2 royal houses to merge; Gweynedd in the north and Deheubarth in the south. William had had no interest in the conquest of Wales, but he wanted a stable frontier. He granted lands to the Marcher Lords who built castles along the frontier.
A general gene mixture of Norwegian genes of varying rates have been found in some small towns throughout the British Isles. It showed a higher male Norwegian admixture in island and western coastal regions, but with the exception of Wales and west central Ireland, Shetland and Orkney show the highest Norwegian intrusion, followed by the Western Isles, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The Scottish west-coast ports of Oban and Durness show over 10% Scandinavian intrusion. Elsewhere was found more localized Danish matches. The Norwegian influence in northern Britain is older than generally assumed.
The Normans were the most recent invaders of Britain back to 1066, which is 954 years ago. The native population they found then was about 1.1 to 2.6 million people. Roman England had had much more but is 4 to 6 times more than the population in the Dark Ages. "Total Norman immigration is unlikely to have been in 6 figures." It might have been as low as 10,000s. "It has been estimated that in the beginning the Norman French accounted for no more than 3 or 5% of the population. Earlier were the anglo Saxons and the Vikings of Norway and then of Denmark.
Using surnames in England started 100 years after William's Conquest of 1066.so it's hard to use surnames as an ethnic marker. Many French names were anglicized with English speakers, like "Carteret" became Cartwright" and "D'Urberville" became "Derbyfield."
The English used 4 ways to name:
1. Place names: John LONDON
2. Patronyms: John ROBERTSON, ROBINSON OR WILLIAMS,
3. Occupational names: John SMITH
4. Descriptive names: John LITTLE
Place name evidence shows that at least some of the new settlers in Normandy came from farther west, perhaps from Viking settlements in Ireland!
From this evidence of coming from such a mixed source, and that the main Norman migrants to Britain were an elite and related group, we could not say there is a genetic sample from people in Normandy today that could be used to trace an elite migration from 1,000 years ago.
During this period, half of all male first names were of Norman regal derivation, like Robert, Wiliam, Henry and Richard. The Jews followed Normans with their own biblical names such as Moses and Isaac into London, Lincoln and Southampton, but these names also became popular with the Gentiles. Inevitably, the English began to imitate their master and adopt popular Norman names, especially the royal ones such assssss Henry and Robert. Some people had even taken Viking names like Tosti.
The Normans had a terrible effect at first on the written English. They wrote in French or Latin. English didn't die out but wasn't used for official purposes. This kept up until about the 14th century. Nearly 30% of the 2,650 words in the epic English poem, Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight, are of French origin.
1066's Norman conquest shows the tense relationships between the descendants of the Norman invaders and former English serfs, and between the English and Scots, Welsh and Irish. One relation they share that I notice shown on Netflicks' historical epics is that the English and the Vikings had buried their dead by setting them on wooden piles and setting it on fire. It was to send them to Val Halla and could be done on land or in a ship.
Rollo's descendants changed their language from Scandinavian to French and by doing so were following a well-established trail since the Neolithic days of men from the north coveting, invading and plundering Britain's natural riches. For the Normans, riches like the wool trade, as measured previously in Danegeld were high on their list.
Why did Rollo invade England? He said that King Harold had sworn him an oath of allegiance. Harold was killed by the Normans at the Battle of Hastings in October. "The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman conquest of England."
The Norman aristocracy shunned the English, who became 2nd class citizens in their own land, rarely married local women and spoke French.
They had been invaded before by the Angles and Saxons who said they had been invited by the British King Vortigern. 30% of previous invaders which helped make England so genetically like Norwegians and such countries across the North Sea had arrived long before the Romans. There is evidence through archaeological records of cultural links and trade across the water. In the Early Mesolithic Age, that shallow strip of water was a landbridge, and East Anglia was merely a western part of the Northern European Plain.
Our Robinson, by his Y haplogroup, was Norman. The authentic Robin Hood ballads were the poetic expression of popular aspirations in the north of England during a turbulent era of baronial rebellions and agrarian discontent, which culminated in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. The theme of the free but persecuted outlaw enjoying the forbidden hunting of the forest and outwitting or killing the forces of law and order naturally appealed to the common people. Our DNA shows that we go back to the year 900 when we mixed in with the Irish Fitzpatricks. I only know for sure that my maternal grandfather, Frank Hugh Robinson's father was Abiathar Smith Robinson from Vermont born 1829, USA.
Updated 3/2/2020 from The Tribes.
Resource:
The Origins of the British by Stephen Oppenheimer; the new prehistory of Britain ad Ireland from ice-age hunter gatherers to the Vikings as revealed by DNA analysis
The Tribes of Britain by David Miles
Saxons, Vikings, and Celts by Bryan Sykes, the genetic roots of Britain and Ireland
Wikipedia
William I, usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. He was a descendant of Rollo and was Duke of Normandy from 1035 onward.
Rollo of Normandy was the chief – the “jarl” – of the Viking population. After 911, he was the Count of Rouen. which was north of Bergen in Norway, and was the Jarl of Orkney.
His successors gained the title Duke of Normandy from Richard II. After the rise of the Capetian dynasty, they were forced to vacate the title, for there could be only one duke in Neustria, and the Robertians carried the title. The Robertians were a Frankish noble family which eventually rose to the throne of West Francia. The founder was Robert II, Count of Hesbaye. "Neustria was the western part of the Kingdom of the Franks. Neustria included the land between the Loire and the Silva Carbonaria, approximately the north of present-day France, with Paris, Orléans, Tours, Soissons as its main cities. ." "Frank, a member of a Germanic-speaking people who invaded the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Dominating present-day northern France, Belgium, and western Germany, the Franks established the most powerful Christian kingdom of early medieval western Europe. The name France (Francia) is derived from their name."
These dukes increased the strength of Normandy, although they had to observe the superiority of the King of France. The dukes of Normandy did not resist the general trend of monopolizing authority over their territory: the dukes struck their own money, rendered justice, and levied taxes. They raised their own armies and named the bulk of prelates of their archdiocese. They were therefore practically independent of the French king, although they paid homage to each new monarch.
With the Pope's blessing King William conquered England in 1066, and he permitted Norman lords to raid Wales and carve out feudal lordships. These new masters also set about reforming the Welsh church. For Wales, the old border held the Normans at off for a while. Compared this with Scotland with its 200 years of unified rule under the descendants of Kenneth MacAlpin. Wales was in a shambles after the downfall of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn. Feuds between claimants to their vacant kingdoms had caused a chaos of murder and betrayal ending in 1081 with the Battle of Mynydd Carn. This caused 2 royal houses to merge; Gweynedd in the north and Deheubarth in the south. William had had no interest in the conquest of Wales, but he wanted a stable frontier. He granted lands to the Marcher Lords who built castles along the frontier.
A general gene mixture of Norwegian genes of varying rates have been found in some small towns throughout the British Isles. It showed a higher male Norwegian admixture in island and western coastal regions, but with the exception of Wales and west central Ireland, Shetland and Orkney show the highest Norwegian intrusion, followed by the Western Isles, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The Scottish west-coast ports of Oban and Durness show over 10% Scandinavian intrusion. Elsewhere was found more localized Danish matches. The Norwegian influence in northern Britain is older than generally assumed.
The Normans were the most recent invaders of Britain back to 1066, which is 954 years ago. The native population they found then was about 1.1 to 2.6 million people. Roman England had had much more but is 4 to 6 times more than the population in the Dark Ages. "Total Norman immigration is unlikely to have been in 6 figures." It might have been as low as 10,000s. "It has been estimated that in the beginning the Norman French accounted for no more than 3 or 5% of the population. Earlier were the anglo Saxons and the Vikings of Norway and then of Denmark.
Using surnames in England started 100 years after William's Conquest of 1066.so it's hard to use surnames as an ethnic marker. Many French names were anglicized with English speakers, like "Carteret" became Cartwright" and "D'Urberville" became "Derbyfield."
The English used 4 ways to name:
1. Place names: John LONDON
2. Patronyms: John ROBERTSON, ROBINSON OR WILLIAMS,
3. Occupational names: John SMITH
4. Descriptive names: John LITTLE
Place name evidence shows that at least some of the new settlers in Normandy came from farther west, perhaps from Viking settlements in Ireland!
From this evidence of coming from such a mixed source, and that the main Norman migrants to Britain were an elite and related group, we could not say there is a genetic sample from people in Normandy today that could be used to trace an elite migration from 1,000 years ago.
During this period, half of all male first names were of Norman regal derivation, like Robert, Wiliam, Henry and Richard. The Jews followed Normans with their own biblical names such as Moses and Isaac into London, Lincoln and Southampton, but these names also became popular with the Gentiles. Inevitably, the English began to imitate their master and adopt popular Norman names, especially the royal ones such assssss Henry and Robert. Some people had even taken Viking names like Tosti.
The Normans had a terrible effect at first on the written English. They wrote in French or Latin. English didn't die out but wasn't used for official purposes. This kept up until about the 14th century. Nearly 30% of the 2,650 words in the epic English poem, Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight, are of French origin.
1066's Norman conquest shows the tense relationships between the descendants of the Norman invaders and former English serfs, and between the English and Scots, Welsh and Irish. One relation they share that I notice shown on Netflicks' historical epics is that the English and the Vikings had buried their dead by setting them on wooden piles and setting it on fire. It was to send them to Val Halla and could be done on land or in a ship.
Rollo's descendants changed their language from Scandinavian to French and by doing so were following a well-established trail since the Neolithic days of men from the north coveting, invading and plundering Britain's natural riches. For the Normans, riches like the wool trade, as measured previously in Danegeld were high on their list.
Why did Rollo invade England? He said that King Harold had sworn him an oath of allegiance. Harold was killed by the Normans at the Battle of Hastings in October. "The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman conquest of England."
The Norman aristocracy shunned the English, who became 2nd class citizens in their own land, rarely married local women and spoke French.
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Vortigern was a 5th-century CE English ruler best known for inviting the Saxons to Britain to stop the incursions of the Picts and Scots and allowing them to take control of the land. Vortigern is a title, not a given name, and means "Great Chief" or "Supreme Lord."
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They had been invaded before by the Angles and Saxons who said they had been invited by the British King Vortigern. 30% of previous invaders which helped make England so genetically like Norwegians and such countries across the North Sea had arrived long before the Romans. There is evidence through archaeological records of cultural links and trade across the water. In the Early Mesolithic Age, that shallow strip of water was a landbridge, and East Anglia was merely a western part of the Northern European Plain.
 |
| Our grandfather, Frank Hugh Robinson b: 1871 Wenona, Illinois |
Updated 3/2/2020 from The Tribes.
Resource:
The Origins of the British by Stephen Oppenheimer; the new prehistory of Britain ad Ireland from ice-age hunter gatherers to the Vikings as revealed by DNA analysis
The Tribes of Britain by David Miles
Saxons, Vikings, and Celts by Bryan Sykes, the genetic roots of Britain and Ireland
Wikipedia
Labels: England, Fitzpatrick, France, King William I, Normans, R-A1487 Y haplogroup, Robin Hood, Robinson, Rollo of Normandy, Vikings, Vortigern
