Foundations - Vol. 3, No. 1 - Contents & Abstracts
Abstracts:
Our Dearest
Brother: Changing Expressions of Kinship in the Records of Medieval Royalty
Surviving royal documents from the medieval period not infrequently include
statements of relationship. A detailed examination of representative collections
of these documents demonstrates a gradual move away from purely factual
statements of close relationships in some cases. By the time of the late Middle
Ages, the use of formal and stylised kinship terms had come to reflect political
and pragmatic relationships instead of strict blood ties. This article asks
when such statements can be relied on as fact and seeks to chart potential
changes in royal attitudes towards expressing relationship as a function of
diplomatic and administrative language. The death of Margaret of Scotland, Countess of Kent (Andrew B W MacEwen)
The
author cites evidence from a charter in Magdalen College, Oxford, confirming the
date of death of Margaret, eldest child of William I of Scotland. The Early Tempests (John R Schuerman) The
article reviews what is known about the early Tempests of Bracewell, later of
Waddington and Broughton. The Tempests are ancestors of Peter Worden, the New
England immigrant (d.1638 in Yarmouth, Massachusetts). The Archbishops of Dol and the origin of the Stewarts (Paul A Fox) In
order to gain a better insight into the motivations of a family whose own
survival in the records has been slight, the political and genealogical
framework of the nobility of the county of Rennes has been re-examined. It is
evident that the barons of the north-eastern Breton march were very much
inter-related, and that the Stewart ancestors, as stewards of the Archbishop of
Dol, married into that group. Their earliest male line progenitor has been
identified as Hato, a knight presumed to be of Frankish descent. He was probably
brought into Brittany by Rivallon of Dol, the vidame of the Archbishop, to
assist in the defence of the bishopric. His son Flaald became the first
hereditary steward of Dol, and probably married Rivallon’s niece. Hato’s
grandson Alan fitz Flaald, following his participation in the capture of
Jerusalem in 1099, went on to become an English baron. More concerning Thomas Ellis (John M Ellis)
The
author extends his earlier article relating to Thomas Ellis of Doncaster
(Foundations [2(1): 47-53]) by exploring the possible relationship of
Thomas to the Ellis family of Bilham. Further comment on Whitney (Adrian Benjamin Burke)
This note continues the discussion in the previous issues
(Vol.2, Nos.5 & 6), on the ancestry of Ellen, daughter of Robert Whitney.
REVIEW: Medieval Sheriffs of Surrey, Sussex and the Sussex Rapes 1066-1400 (Chris Phillips) A review of
the CD published by
The Parish Register Transcription Society,
2008 Corrections and Additions: Isabel de Beaumont Minor amendments to the article by Brad Verity entitled, The First English Duchess: Isabel de Beaumont, Duchess of Lancaster (c.1318-c.1359), published in Foundations, Vol.1, No.5 (2004). The online version has been updated and can be linked from here. |