Henry the Eighth

Today as I was wandering up and around the family tree I landed on a Great Uncle who lost his head to Henry the Eighth.  My reaction?  "He was probably a jerk." It seems that if I come across a well known male in my tree, that it the case, and it was.  My 15x Great Uncle, Sir Richard Empson, served King Henry the Seventh. He carried out his financial policies, basically making him a tax collector.  He did well for himself, and for the King, but he was very unpopular with the other Nobles. 

When King Henry the Eighth took over things, one of his first acts was to charge Richard with "Constructive Treason", and send him to be beheaded.  Well.......ok.

What most of you don't know about me is that I was obsessed with Henry the 8th.  I've read numerous books about his wives, anything I could get my hands on.  I love the series. "The Tudors".  I wrote this blog several years ago:

http://queenie930.blogspot.com/2010/11/headless.html


In it, I wonder why I relate to his wife Katherine Parr so much.

Well, when I read about Henry lopping off my cousins head I wondered if I could connect myself to any of his wives?  I can, and it's Katherine.  She is my  3rd cousin, 13 times removed.  Of all the special connections I have found, this touches me the most. 

I had a situation the other day, and I sought to diffuse it with silence.  Suddenly I straightened my spine and in my head I told myself, "Enough! You are descended from Kings!" and I said my piece, which did more good than being quiet would have.  This journey is amazing, and I feel like it's helping center me back to who I am. 

Royalty

I was reading my last post about how much you can do online with genealogy these days.  I wrote that two months ago, and had a few folks in the 1700's.  I had a good laugh, because of what I'm about to post.

HOW WE ARE RELATED TO ROLO OF NORMANDY

Rollo of Normandy (836-932)

William Longsword Second Duke of Normandy (893-942)

Richard the first, Duke of Normandy (933-996)

Richard the second, Duke of Normandy (953-1027)

King Robert of Normandy (999-1035)

KingWilliam 1 The Conqueror Beauclaire (1028-1087)

King Henry the 1^st Beauclaire

Emperess Matilda Beauclaire(1102-1167) m.Geoffroi V Plantagenet Count of Anjou

Henry the Second Plantagenet (1133-1189)

King John the First Plantagenet (1166-1215)

King Henry the third Plantagenet (1207-1272)

King Edward the first Plantagenet(1239-1307)

Princess Elizabeth Plantagenet (1282-1316) m. Humphre deBohun Earl of Hereford

Eleanor de Bohun m. James Butler Earl of Ormond

Pernel Butler m. Gilbert the third Lord of Talbot

Richard the 4^th Lord of Talbot m. Ankaret le Strange Baroness of Blackmere 1361-1413

Mary Talbot m. Sir Thomas Greene

Sir Thomas Greene

Elizabeth Greene m. William Raleigh Esquire

Sir Edward Raleigh

Edward Raleigh Esquire

Bridget Raleigh (1506-1558) m. Sir John Cope (1504-1558)
Elizabeth Cope (1529-1584) m. John Dryden (1525-1584)

Bridget Dryden (1563-1645) M. Rev. Francis Marbury (1555-1611)

Anne Marbury (1591-1643) m William Hutchinson (1586-1641)

Anne Hutchinson (1626-1643) m. Rev. William Collins (1612-1705)

William Collins (1642-1716)

Martha Collins (1688-1769) m. Joseph Curtis (1691-1756)

Joshua Curtis (1731-1814)

Ethan Curtis (1753-1815)

Ethan Curtis (1783-1833)

Lucy Elizabeth Curtis (1829-1908) m. Harmon Lee Tuttle (1814-1871)

Cordelia Ann Tuttle (1859-1919) m. William Wagner (1866-1220)

Ruth Mary Wagner ( 1897-1991) m. Joseph Lenihan (1894-1962)

Ruthmarie Lenihan (1937-2004)

Joan Marie Meys (1969- )

Now, a brief question and answer period.....

Yes, if you watch the TV show  Vikings   it's THAT Rollo.  He was a Viking who became the first ruler of Normandy. (France)

Yep, that's William the Conqueror.

King John the 1st is that very king from the Disney animated movie, Robin Hood.  *sucks his thumb* Mooommmmmyyyyy!

I am a proud Plantagenet.

I really enjoy Ankaret le Strange, Baroness of Blackmere.   Look at that, the Harry Potter names are not totally made up.  Belatrix le Strange of The Black.

We are connected to the royal family.  Ankaret is my Great Grandma(18x), and she is also Charles (15x) and Di's.(16x)

Anne Marbury is a force that will get her own blog!

Finding Anne Marbury unearthed a relationship between us and the President's Bush, Garfield, and FDR.  They are all in her siblings direct lines.  We are in hers.  Posers. She is my 9x Great Grandmother.  She is W's 9x Great Aunt. Mitt Romney also ties in to one of her siblings.

Anne Hutchinson made me cry, more than once.

I wish my Grandma and my Mom were here to see this!

My sister wasn't surprised to find out that we (OK, she said ME) come from royalty.  I don't know what she's talking about.......  It sort of does explain why I've always felt like I'm in the wrong life, and why I'm always looking for my servants. ;)  I had a dream once that I found them.  It was so vivid, I could repeat it exactly, down to what I was wearing.  I was so angry when I woke up.........

So this is one direction that the Curtis line on my Mother's side has lead me down.  This also connects to French Kings.  I just haven't done all the branches yet.   It is so interesting, and so much fun!  It's like all of these little mysteries, and because of the Internet I can separate fact from fiction fairly quickly.