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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 2007-08 > 1185962104


From: John Plant <>
Subject: Famous medieval DNA - the Plantagenet project
Date: Wed, 01 Aug 2007 10:55:04 +0100


A partly fulfilled aim of this Y-DNA project has been to reach a better
understanding of Plant-like names in general. A remaining aim of the
Plantagenet project is to establish a Y-DNA signature for the
late-medieval kings of England. It is often misunderstood that such a
project might relate to all descendants of the Plantagenets (of which
there are many) but a Y-DNA project relates only to purely male lines of
descent, with no female at any point in the descending line: this is
because the y-chromosome is passed only from father to son and females
do not carry it.

This project was begun in 2001 with the Oxford Ancestors testing
company; but, because the Plant/Plantt haplotype is close to the WAMH as
it is now known, we soon converted to the higher marker tests offered by
FamilyTreeDNA.

Right from the outset, six out of seven of the miscellaneous Plants who
were tested matched and the trend continued to eleven out of twenty,
indicating that Plant was a single-ancestor, rather than a multi-origin,
surname; this led on to a publication in the academic journal, Nomina
[John S Plant (2005) `Modern methods and a controversial surname:
Plant', Nomina, 28, pp 115-33] in which I argued, on the basis of the
DNA and name-distribution evidence, that Plant had the Welsh borderlands
meaning `offspring' rather than one of various other meanings, including
`gardener', that had earlier been suggested in Surname Dictionaries. The
new finding seemed to have implications for Plant-like names more
generally and, in a further publication soon to appear, I have argued
that generative (offspring) aspects of the vegetable soul, which was
important in late-medieval beliefs, played a significant role in the
adoption of the royal Plantagenet name.

Throughout this time, I have also been attempting to establish a Y-DNA
signature for the Plantagenets. There have been published claims that
the names Somerset, Cornwell, Warren and, more contentiously in the
nineteenth century, Plant/Plantt, all descend down male-to-male lines
from the Plantagenet family. However, Cornwell and Warren appear to be
multi-origin surnames and there is no convincing basis for taking any
particular result as being the inherited Plantagenet Y-DNA signature. It
is probably the Somerset family, including such illustrious members as
the Duke of Beaufort and Lord Raglan, who hold the best claim to being
intact male-line descendants of the Plantagenets; but, there is no Y-DNA
result to report for them so far.

The study already illustrates how Y-DNA results for a very ordinary
surname, such as Plant, can lead on to the reappraisal of matters of
some historical significance. Following on from my Nomina 28 paper I am
publishing a further paper in Volume 30 of Nomina: in this, I conclude
that it seems that Plantagenet had "a `hairy broom shoot' implication of
virility, strong limbs, and a robust constitution, with bawdy
connotations of virility that evidently delayed the name's acceptance
until late in this dynasty's reign" [John S Plant (2007) `The tardy
adoption of the Plantagenet surname', Nomina, to appear in Vol 30, pp
57-84]. This is on the basis of evidence too lengthy to repeat here;
and, indeed, the editor of Nomina has asked me not to reveal any detail
until paper copies of Nomina 30 have been distributed to its subscribers
which will probably be towards the end of this year. An on-line
approximation to my earlier Nomina 28 paper (I plan to make camera-ready
copy available in due course) is available at:

http://cogprints.org/5462/

Some recent discussion of the Plantagenet Y-DNA project can be found in
a thread at:

http://genforum.genealogy.com/plantagenet/messages/1477.html

A current task is to obtain a list of addresses for the Somerset family
so that they can be encouraged to be Y-DNA tested. In order to break the
ice, I am planning to send them a copy of my Nomina 30 paper about the
Plantagenet name. I have tried approaching Prof Bryan Sykes and others
to join this quest, since they might carry more weight than me in an
official approach to the nobility; but, in the absence of a more eminent
person, it would seem that this task might fall to me. A few addresses
for the Somersets are given at:

http://www.thepeerage.com/i1249.htm

http://www.worldroots.com/foundation/britain/henrybeaufortgen1436.htm

and Somerset volunteers are welcome to sign up for a Y-DNA test at:

https://www.familytreedna.com/surname_join.aspx?code=W51509&special=true

Any contributions towards the objectives of this project, such as
further addresses for the Somersets, would be welcome.

Dr John S Plant
Co-ordinator of the Plant-like names Y-DNA project

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