Royal descent

Europe

There has been a long tradition for royalty predominantly to intermarry those of their own class. As a result, the ruling houses of Europe have tended to be closely related to one another, and descent from a particular monarch will be found in many dynasties – all present European monarchs, and a great many pretenders, are genealogical descendants of William the Conqueror (1028–1087), for example, and further back in time of Charlemagne (742/747/748–814). Through Charlemagne, some researchers have even speculated on descent from antiquity.

The practice of restrictive marriages has been noted as increasing over the years until the 20th century: the passage of time strengthened the conviction that royalty only allied with royalty, and from the 16th century marriages between royal and commoner became rarer and rarer. This is one reason why descent from more recent monarchs is rarer amongst commoners than from monarchs further back.

Members of untitled families today may be descended from illegitimate children of royalty. Seldom permitted to marry into other royal families, these children tended to marry into upper-class or middle-class families within their own countries.

United States

At one time, publications on this matter stressed royal connections for only a few families. One example included James Pierpont and others. Also, there are NEHGS articles on United States presidents and "tycoon" families and of royal descent that emphasize the discriminating notion, of which the "most royal candidate theory" is a notable result. That is, those of royal descent excel (to wit, Roberts' article on eminent descendants of Mrs. Alice Freeman Thompson Parke). Many, too, were at the forefront of social progress, for example Anne Marbury Hutchinson, who was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for her progressive beliefs.

According to American genealogist Gary Boyd Roberts, an expert on royal descent, most Americans with significant New England Yankee, Mid-Atlantic Quaker, or Southern planter ancestry are descended from medieval kings, especially those of England, Scotland, and France. William Addams Reitwiesner documented many U.S. descendants of Renaissance and modern monarchs. Some Americans may have royal descents through German immigrants who had an illegitimate descent from German royalty.

Due to primogeniture, many colonists of high social status were younger children of English aristocratic families who came to America looking for land because, given their birth order, they could not inherit. Many of these immigrants initially enjoyed high standing where they settled. They could often claim royal descent through a female line or illegitimate descent. Some Americans descend from these 17th-century British colonists who had royal descent. There were at least 650 colonists with traceable royal ancestry, and 387 of them left descendants in America (almost always numbering many thousands, and some as many as one million).

Over time, opposing factors have affected the percentage of Americans who have provable royal descent. The passage of the generations has further intermingled the ancestry of the English colonists' descendants, thus increasing the percentage who descend from one of the immigrants with royal ancestry. At the same time, however, waves of post-colonial immigrants from other countries decreased the percentage who have royal descent.

Africa

Royal descent plays an important role in many African societies; authority and property tend to be lineally derived. Among tribes which recognize a single ruler, the hereditary blood line of the rulers (who early European travelers described as kings, queens, princes, etc., using the terminology of European monarchy) is akin to a dynasty.{{cite journal

Proof of royal ancestry

Royal descent is easier to prove than descent from less historically documented ancestors, since genealogies and public records are typically fuller, better known and preserved in the case of royal descent than in the case of descent from less noted individuals. Typically, it is only since the 20th century that family history has been an interest pursued by people outside the upper classes. Hence, the continuous lines of descent from royal ancestors are typically much better researched and established than those from other ancestors. Until the parish record system introduced in the 16th century, and civil registration in the 19th century, family records are fuller for landowners than for ordinary people.

Between 1903 and 1911, the genealogist Melville Henry Massue produced volumes titled The Blood Royal of Britain - which attempted to name all the then-living descendants of King Edward III of England (1312–1377) - were published. He gave up the exercise after publishing the names of about 40,000 living people, but his own estimate was that the total of those of royal descent who could be proved and named if he completed his work at that time was 100,000 people. His work, however, was heavily dependent upon those whose names were readily ascertainable from works of genealogical reference, such as Burke's Peerage and Landed Gentry.

References

References

1. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society: Sixth Series (Royal Historical Society Transactions) by Royal Historical Society
2. [http://www.progenealogists.com/greatbritain/medievalgenealogy.htm Medieval Genealogy and Family History]
3. Conniff, Richard. "Why Genealogy is Bunk." ''Smithsonian Magazine''. July 2007. p.90.
4. (5 July 2006). "Genealogist: Almost Everyone on Earth Descended From Royalty".
5. Louda, Jiri; Maclagan, Michael. (January 1, 2002). "Lines Of Succession - Heraldry Of The Royal Families Of Europe". Barnes and Noble.
6. Eleanor Herman. ''Sex with Kings''
7. Eleanor Herman. ''Sex with Queens''
8. Browning, CH (1891) ''Americans of Royal descent'' (via [https://books.google.com/books?id=dIUaAAAAYAAJ&q=pierpont&pg=PA267 Google books])
9. Roberts, GB (1988) ''Notable Kin Presidents, New England and Kings'' (via [http://www.newenglandancestors.org/research/services/articles_7236.asp NEHGS website])
10. Roberts, GB () ''#68 Royal Descents, Notable Kin, and Printed Sources: Notable Descendants of Mrs. Alice Freeman Thompson Parke'' (via [http://www.newenglandancestors.org/research/services/articles_gbr68.asp NEHGS website] {{webarchive. link. (2009-01-15 ))
11. Wollmershäuser, Friedrich R. [http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/articles/gnobility.htm German Noble Descent in American Family Tradition].
12. Tidewater Virginia Families: Generations Beyond Adding the Families of by Virginia Lee and Hutcheson Davis
13. Genealogies of Virginia Families From Tyler's Quarterly Historical
14. [http://www.newenglandancestors.org/store/browse/product.asp?sku=715758438 Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States] (NEHGS Store description page)
15. Roberts, Gary Boyd. ''The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants.'' Genealogical Publishing, 2008.[http://www.genealogical.com/products/The%20Royal%20Descents%20of%20600%20Immigrants/4963.html]
16. These colonists with royal descent settled in various states, but a large majority in [[Massachusetts]] or [[Virginia]]. Several families which settled in those states, over the two hundred years or more since the colonial land grants, intertwined their branches to the point that almost everyone was somehow related to everyone else. As one writer observed, "like a tangle of fish hooks".Lady of Arlington by John Perry