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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1999-04 > 0925418718


From: Stewart Baldwin< >
Subject: Re: Oldest European Lines
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 20:45:18 GMT


(Francisco Antonio Doria) wrote:

>>I actually think it's sociologically and demographically interesting. I
>>have little faith in either of these above-mentioned cases. I'd like to
>>hear more, if possible.
>>
>>Nat Taylor

>From this point of view, I do agree with you. But can we - reliably,
>not just using speculation as I've done several times recently :) -
>establish such an old line? I doubt so. I wouldn't include Glckner's
>reconstruction of the Capetian ancestry as `reliable' in this sense,
>even if I think that it is fully correct.

>My impression is that the boundary for reliability lies between the
>9th-12th century.

>Best,

>Chico Doria

It is misleading to suggest there is some sort of "boundary of
reliability" at this time. For example, there are numerous well
documented modern descents back to Charlemagne, and Charlemagne's own
paternal ancestry is non-contraversial back to Bishop Arnulf of Metz
in the seventh century. Elsewhere in Europe, the Irish have a large
number of families whose genealogies are well documented back to the
sixth and seventh centuries, with some going back to the fifth century
with a very high degree of probability.

While the "boundary" you suggested might be valid in some localities,
the situation for Europe as a whole is much more complicated.

Stewart Baldwin

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