Learning Journey

We all have to start somewhere, myself included.  I have researched my family history for over 15 years now, and it is the one interest I keep coming back to.  Like so many others, I have been fortunate enough to be able to trace several lines back through the centuries to the period in European history usually referred to as the "Medieval" period.  This is both a blessing and a curse.  Of course, it is thoroughly exciting to learn that you might be descended from kings, noblemen, knights and princesses (and a couple of Saints!) but I have learned the hard way that the skill set required is very different from that used for modern genealogy.  There are no censuses, there are no ministerial books neatly listing your ancestors one after the other, there are no probate records, wills, or birth or death records.  What, then, are we to do?

Research, is the short answer to the question (perhaps somewhat obviously given that I am currently doing a doctorate in a historical, but unrelated, area).  This is not an easy thing to do, especially when navigating a treacherous and much debated territory such as medieval genealogy.  Much of the available material is in Latin, or requires other language skills.  The vast majority of the original source material is held in the bowels of University and National libraries throughout Europe and her colonies, although accessibility is getting increasingly better with the advent of digital resource departments.  If we are lucky enough to get our hands on an original document, digital or otherwise, we are faced with palaeographical challenges - how do we read the handwriting in a language we do not necessarily speak?  And how do we interpret it?  Finally, how do we approach the secondary material, the academic debate, and the decision we will ultimately have to take on whether a specific individual ought to be included in the old family tree or not?

These are all challenges to be overcome and I hope to do so and document what I learn in this blog.  A quick search on Amazon has revealed only one book on the topic, apparently out of print.  So I shall start from the beginning, pick an individual and guide you through my research process.  Wherever possible I will try to use original materials, secondary works if relevant, and any academic discussion that pertains to the topic.  The main focus is of course to establish genealogical links, or to prune the tree of those that are dubious and difficult to prove.  Nevertheless, I imagine that historians or those with a general interest in the medieval period may find bits of information useful to them too.

Who to pick, then, from the leafy tree in front of me?  Which one of all these ancestors will provide the best example and be intriguing enough to research in-depth?  How about William X of Aquitaine?  I call him this at the moment as that's the label I have assigned to the parent of Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife of King John of England, a couple from whom undoubtedly millions alive today descended.  More of him in the next post.