{"id":15498,"date":"2022-05-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=15498"},"modified":"2022-05-09T11:35:51","modified_gmt":"2022-05-09T09:35:51","slug":"gentry-royalty-and-aristocracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/2022\/05\/03\/gentry-royalty-and-aristocracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Gentry, Royalty And Aristocracy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BEST WEBSITES<\/span><\/h4>\n\n

Gentry, Royalty And Aristocracy<\/h2>\n\n

Finding nobility in your family tree is always welcome, writes Jonathan <\/strong>Scott <\/strong>\u2013 provided there\u2019s not too much of it<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
A ball at Harewood House near Leeds in Yorkshire, 1845 <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

One of the first rules of thumb told to me when I caught the genealogy bug was that the richer your ancestors were, the more extensive the potential paper trail.<\/p>\n\n

I also learnt that many Victorian researchers were primarily concerned with establishing connections with titles and nobility, and this driving factor could mean a certain disregard for proper evidence. And the echoes of sketchy connections still ring down the ages, surviving in the family legends we tell each other.<\/p>\n\n

Of course we class-ridden Britons tend to send confusing signals when it comes to nobility, and the average family historian is likely to be significantly more proud of roots in the fields and on the factory floor than they are with a link to some landed to.<\/p>\n\n

A sprinkling of both is by far the most interesting option, and thankfully there are several free and subscription-based resources that can help you find out more about the kinds of sources that come in handy when researching aristocracy.<\/p>\n\n

BURKE\u2019S PEERAGE<\/h4>\n\n

burkespeerage.com<\/a> <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

This is the online home of the definitive guide to the genealogy and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage and landed gentry, established by John Burke in 1826. Much of the material is only accessible by subscription, but free sections give you an idea of what\u2019s on offer. These include detailed pedigrees of prominent royal families of Europe. Subscribers can search for details of the peerage \u2013 those with the titles of duke, marquis, earl, viscount or baron \u2013 and the baronetage. Entries usually contain biographical information, including lineage and the coat of arms. This is not a cheap resource, so do see if the data is available elsewhere. Via peerageandgentry.com<\/a>, <\/strong>for example, you can view free copies of editions containing family trees of the peerage.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

COLLEGE OF ARMS <\/h4>\n\n

college-of-arms.gov.uk<\/a> <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

The website of our official heraldic authority tackles commonly held misconceptions concerning the right to bear arms. The main thing to remember is that coats of arms belong to specific individuals and families \u2013 there is no such thing as a coat of arms for a family name. The site includes the subject\u2019s 12th-century origins, heraldic artwork, the complete Roll of the Peerage \u2013 an official list of all living peers, and digital copies of the college\u2019s newsletter. The \u2018About Us\u2019 web page leads to a series of online exhibitions that focus on such topics as Agincourt, Waterloo, the Great Fire of London and the college\u2019s collection of pedigree rolls.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

THE PEERAGE<\/h4>\n\n

thepeerage.com<\/a> <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

The goal of this website is to capture all members of the interconnected families of the British peerage. Its creator, New Zealand-based researcher Darryl Lundy, first started his work back in 1988. Today the website boasts references to more than 735,000 people, and you can check a simple surname index of names included so far (thepeerage.com\/surname_index.htm<\/a>). There\u2019s still a way to go \u2013 Lundy estimates that at his current rate of progress, entering approximately 900,000 people referred to in Cokayne\u2019s Complete Peerage <\/em>and Complete Baronetage, <\/em>plus the various editions of Burke\u2019s, <\/em>he should be done by October 2032!<\/span><\/p>\n\n

SOME NOTES ON MEDIEVAL ENGLISH GENEALOGY<\/h4>\n\n

medievalgenealogy.org.uk<\/a> <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

While most of us won\u2019t get anywhere near this far back in our family history research, <\/span>Chris Phillips\u2019 website on (primarily) English medieval genealogy remains a fascinating place to visit. It has information about the kinds of sources that survive from the period, covering land taxes and feudal surveys, pipe rolls and feet of fines, manorial documents and Heralds\u2019 Visitations. In terms of our topic this month, a good starting point is the page medievalgenealogy.org.uk\/sources\/peerages.shtml<\/a>, <\/strong>where you\u2019ll find links to all sorts of free-to-view digitised copies of multi-volume works such as The Scots Peerage <\/em>and Familiae Minorum Gentium.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

BRITISH NOBILITY AT WIKIPEDIA <\/h4>\n\n

en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/British_nobility<\/a> <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

While we all instinctively \u2018know\u2019 what is meant when we hear the words gentry, nobility and aristocracy, we may find ourselves stumbling over knowledge gaps. This page and its various offshoots together give you a quick and easily digestible introduction to the whole subject, with a rundown of the foibles and intricacies of British nobility, including summaries of unfamiliar terms, obscure meanings and archaic jargon. So next time you read \u201call Scottish armigers are ennobled in their grant or matriculation of arms awarded by the Crown or Sovereign through the Court of the Lord Lyon\u201d, you\u2019ll know exactly what it means.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\n\n

Expert\u2019s Choice<\/h4>\n\n

Anthony Adolph is a genealogist, author and broadcaster (anthonyadolph.co.uk<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
The College of Arms in the City of London, 1768<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Many (most?) pedigrees on the internet purporting to trace normal people back to blue-blooded ancestors are wrong. This is mainly because their fabricators simply have no idea of the sources on which accurate lines are based. The basis for our knowledge of the landed gentry, through whose families these connections often run, are the pedigrees in Burke\u2019s <\/em>Landed <\/em>Gentry <\/em>(first published as Commoners) <\/em>of the 19th and 20th centuries, often based (generally accurately, though not without errors) on gentry family pedigrees in older county histories. Many of these, for England and Wales, are derived ultimately from the pedigrees drawn by the heralds from the College of Arms during their visitations of the shires in the 16th and 17th centuries. Their aim was to determine who was using arms with proper authority, but the result was a rich genealogical corpus that is unsurpassed in most other countries.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
The Harleian Society has made Heralds\u2019 Visitations accessible <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

The heralds still have their original records, which can be searched for a fee, but copies existed outside the college and many of these were published, with or without scholarly additions and updates, by the Harleian Society (harleian.org.uk<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n

Runs of these are held by good libraries, such as those of the Society of Genealogists (sog.org.uk<\/strong><\/a>) <\/strong>and the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies (ihgs.ac.uk<\/a>). The most accessible site for English counties is TheGenealogist (thegenealogist.co.uk<\/strong><\/a>), <\/strong>filed by county under \u2018Peerage & Heritage\u2019 within the site\u2019s \u2018Peerage, Gentry & Royalty\u2019 section, along with Burke\u2019s Commoners <\/em>and Ruvigny\u2019s The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal. <\/em>It also has other resources that may help prove grand connections, including wills that were proved by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Crisp\u2019s Visitations of England and Wales.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

Go Further<\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Eight more websites that you need to visit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ANCESTRY<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

ancestry.co.uk\/search\/categories\/royal_heritage<\/a> <\/strong>
Ancestry\u2019s \u2018The Royal Collection\u2019 includes material from 50 historical publications with details of almost half a million people.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BRITISH HISTORY ONLINE<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

british-history.ac.uk<\/a> <\/strong>
This website provides access to Victoria County History volumes, alongside various name-rich sources useful for researching elite classes.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COURT OF THE LORD LYON<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

courtofthelordlyon.scot<\/a> <\/strong>
The Public Register of All Armorial Bearings in Scotland was created by the Scottish Parliament during the reign of Charles II.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

INSTITUTE OF HERALDIC AND GENEALOGICAL STUDIES<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

ihgs.ac.uk<\/a> <\/strong>
The institute\u2019s library includes collections of British and foreign armorials, peerage and gentry directories, and Heralds\u2019 Visitations.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

nli.ie\/en\/heraldry-introduction.aspx<\/a> <\/strong>
Find our more about the Office of the Chief Herald \u2013 part of the Genealogy and Heraldry division at the NLI.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ROYAL BASTARDS<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

royalbastards.org<\/a> <\/strong>
This community of genealogists focuses on the descendants of the illegitimate sons and daughters of the kings of Britain.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SOCIETY OF GENEALOGISTS <\/h5>\n\n\n\n

sog.org.uk<\/a> <\/strong>
The society is currently mid-move, but here you can learn about its collection of pedigree rolls, a number of which are available online through its new application TreeSearch.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WDYTYA? MAGAZINE <\/h5>\n\n\n\n

tinyurl.com\/wdytya-descended-royalty<\/a> <\/strong>
Visit our website for a detailed guide to the essential records that can help you find out if you\u2019re descended from royalty.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

Photos: GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finding nobility in your family tree is always welcome, writes Jonathan Scott \u2013 provided there\u2019s not too much of it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":15827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"51","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"51","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_51-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_51-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"June-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"June-2022","purple_external_id":"June-2022-51-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"June-2022-51-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000105659||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000105659||","purple_android_product":"com.im.wdytya.191","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.wdytya.191","purple_ios_product":"com.im.wdytya.191","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.wdytya.191","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"ef59bcf9-d1d8-4088-a81b-df06cc4ab496","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-05-04T13:09:06Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"8c770289-1833-4961-86ed-b6c94e701c19","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-05-09T09:36:01Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AjHcCiRgzSWGG7bbJTnAcGQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[23],"tags":[69],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/04\/0MSI6MKUH7J2YTN09M4961QXIXLN.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"7","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/04\/0MSI6MKUH7J2YTN09M4961QXIXLN.jpg",2048,1384,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/04\/0MSI6MKUH7J2YTN09M4961QXIXLN-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/04\/0MSI6MKUH7J2YTN09M4961QXIXLN-300x203.jpg",300,203,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/04\/0MSI6MKUH7J2YTN09M4961QXIXLN-768x519.jpg",768,519,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/04\/0MSI6MKUH7J2YTN09M4961QXIXLN-1024x692.jpg",800,541,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/04\/0MSI6MKUH7J2YTN09M4961QXIXLN-1536x1038.jpg",1536,1038,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/04\/0MSI6MKUH7J2YTN09M4961QXIXLN.jpg",2048,1384,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Finding nobility in your family tree is always welcome, writes Jonathan Scott \u2013 provided there\u2019s not too much of it","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15498"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15498"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16536,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15498\/revisions\/16536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}