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From: John Plant <>
Subject: [DNA] Famous DNA - the Plantagenet Y-DNA project
Date: Wed, 01 Aug 2007 10:36:09 +0100


A partly fulfilled aim 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.

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. At the 25 marker level, the modal haplotype for
Plant/Plantt is unique (according to the Ysearch database), being a
genetic distance of 7 from the WAMH, though the same cannot be said for
some members with the Warren surname which is also relevant to this project.

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/Plantt 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,
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
(on the basis of evidence too lengthy to repeat here) 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].

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, Chris
Pomery 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 would be welcome.

Dr John S Plant
Co-ordinator of Plant-like names project

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