Kings of England
1. Margaret Cobley: Born about 1490, of Brightley, Devonshire, England; Died 25 December 1547; Married about 1513; Roger Gifford: Born about 1475/1500, of Brightley, Devon, England; Died 1 May 1547. (See Gifford)
2. John Cobley, Lord of Brightley, Stowford Carder, Bremridge, Wollacombe Tracey, Snape, Stowford and Nymet St. George: Born about 1460/1479, of Brightley, Devonshire, England; Died 24 October 1540; Married about 1489; Jane Fortescue: Born about 1464, of Brightley, Devonshire, England. (See Fortescue)
3. John Cobleigh, Exchecquer of Devon: Born 1445; Died 1492; Married before 1479; Alice Cockworthy.
Alice's Parents and Maternal Grandparents--
John Cobleigh's Parents--
4. John Cobleigh: Born before 1430; Married before 1445; Isabel De Brightley: Born after 1375.
Isabel's Parents--
5. Sir John Fitz Warin: Born before 1360, of Brightleigh, Devonshire, England; Died 1407; Married before 12 November 1375; Agnes De Merton: Born 1 December 1359; Died before 29 November 1412.
Agnes' Parents--
John's Parents--
6. Sir William Fitz Warin: Born before 1345, of Brightleigh, Devonshire, England; Died after 1363; Married before 1360; Joan Stowford: Born before 1345.
Joan's Parents--
7. Sir John Stowford, Justice of the Common Bench for Crackaway, Devonshire: Born about 1273; Died after 1346; Married Isabella De Tracy: Born 1275/1280.
8. Henry De Tracy: Born before 1260; Died after 1284. He held the manors of Wollacombe and Bremridge, in Devonshire in 1284.
9. Oliver De Tracy: In 1199, he was granted the manor of Bremridge in County Devon. This manor held the honour of Branstaple. He later (1242-3) held the honor of Wollacombe (later called Wollacombe Tracy) which held the honour of Brandrich in County Devon. Oliver and his children differentiated their arms from the traditional Tracy arms with a label azure which is a feature taken from the Courtenay family.
10. Gervase De Courtenay: Married about 1165; Miss De Tracy.
Miss. De Tracey's Father--
11. William De Tracy: Born after 1090; Died after 1135. William only barely out lived his father. During his father's life he was granted the escheated estates of William Capra in Devonshire, including the Barony of Bradninch in Devonshire. Although his wife is unkonwn he is known to have had two children, Miss De Tracy and William De Tracy, his heir and one of the four murderers of Thomas a Becket.
12. Henry I "Beauclerc", King of England: Born 1070, Selby, Yorkshire, England; Died 1 December 1135, St Denis, Seine-St Denis, France. Had issue with Gieva De Tracy. Henry I, one of the greatest kings of England, ascended the throne on August 5, 1100, and ruled until his death on December 1, 1135. The third son of William I, he succeeded his oldest brother, William II, who died under suspicious circumstances while hunting with Henry. Henry's older brother Robert I (c.1054-1134), Duke of Normandy, invaded (1101) England but was forced to recognize Henry as King. Subsequently, Henry seized (1106) Normandy as well.
In his coronation charter (1100) Henry promised to remedy the alleged misrule of William II; this document was the first English royal charter of liberties, the ancestor of Magna Carta (1215). The King exploited his resources as feudal suzerain; yet in his reign occurred the beginning of the transformation of feudalism by the commutation of personal to financial service. The creation of the office of justiciar and of the royal exchequer also constituted the first appearance of specialization in English government. Royal justice was brought to the local level by itinerant judges, and royal control over the kingdom was strengthened.
Although many Barons objected to the severity of his rule, Henry gave peace, security, and stability to his country. He quarreled with the church over the lay investiture of clergy, forcing the archbishop of Canterbury, Saint Anselm, into exile for a time. This issue was settled (1107), however, by a compromise that served as the pattern for later resolution of the investiture controversy in Europe. During Henry's reign England participated increasingly in Continental intellectual life. His was also the first post-Conquest reign noted for patronage of learning and of secular officials.
Gieva's Parents--
Henry's Parents--
13. William I "the Conqueror" or "the Bastard", King of England: Born 14 October 1024, Falaise, Calvados, France; Died 10 September 1087, Hermentruvilleby, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, France; Married 1050, Castle of Angi, Normandy, France; Matilda (Maud), Countess of Flanders, Queen of England: Born about 1031, of Flanders, France; Died 2 November 1083, Caen, Calvados, France. Duke of Normandy and one of the greatest English kings, William I, led the Norman conquest of England and provided stability and firm government in an age of great disorder. The illegitimate son of the Norman Duke Robert I, he inherited Normandy in 1035, consolidating his rule in the face of Baronial opposition in about 1042. He successfully faced further rebellions and after 1050 began to take an interest in acquiring land in England--perhaps given some encouragement by the English King Edward the Confessor. After Edward's death (Jan. 5, 1066), Vikings under King Harold III of Norway moved on England, and William soon followed with an invasion force of his own. The new English King, Harold II, defeated the Vikings and confronted the Normans near Hastings in October 1066. William's forces achieved a decisive victory, and on Christmas Day 1066, William was crowned King of England, founding the Anglo-Norman monarchy and realm.
A highly capable, intelligent, and determined man, William I established a strongly personal monarchy. He imposed Norman institutions and personnel both on the state and on the church, and he brought England into the mainstream of continental development. Imposing royal authority directly on courts and other institutions, William ordered the inquests that resulted in the monumental Domesday Book. He revolutionized the social, political, and military structures of England, replacing the English nobility with French nobles, thus strengthening his authority, and introducing continental Feudalism, a structure in which nobles held land in return for service in the royal army.
As the Anglo-Saxon state was Normanized, so too was the English church: English bishops and abbots were replaced by noted churchmen from the Continent, including Lanfranc of Bec, who became (1070) archbishop of Canterbury. The Conqueror had been a great reformer of the church in Normandy, and he continued this role in England. He established the archbishop of Canterbury as primate of the English church, held reforming councils (which he attended), and exercised not only his rights but also his responsibilities over the church. The bishops were among his closest advisors and officials. William I kept a close but cool relationship with the papacy, supporting ecclesiastical reform while carefully maintaining his control over the English church. He was succeeded as Duke of Normandy by his eldest son, Robert II, and as King of England by his sons, first William II, then Henry I.
When William The Conqueror decided that he needed a consort, his choice fell on Matilda, daughter of Baldwin V of Flanders. She was about fourteen and a good match, as her father was rich and her mother the sister of Henry, William's erstwhile protector. What was more, she was not engaged to anybody else, which was unusual for a rich heiress in her teens; for in those days they were bargained for from the cradle. She had been in love with a young, good-looking, fair-haired Saxon nobleman, Brihtric Meaw, whose father was the rich Lord of the Manor of Gloucester and who had been sent to her father's court by Edward the Confessor; but Brihtric turned her down.
Matilda had had a very different upbringing from that of William. She had lived in the comparative security of her father's court and was reputed to have all the usual accomplishments of a great lady of the time. Whether she was beautiful or not it is difficult to judge. A chronicler of the day said that she was 'even more distinguished for the purity of her manners than for her illustrious lineage and she united beauty and gentle breeding with all the graces of Christian Holiness'. Most great ladies were accounted beautiful; her manners were not always pure and gentle, nor were her graces of Christian holiness always to the fore; like most women of that time, she had a tough streak.
The first time that William proposed she refused him on the grounds that he was a bastard. Baldwin again seemed to have allowed her to make her own choice, which was unusual for a father of those days. But he may not have been so much a liberal-minded father as a cautious one--her suitor had not completely established himself and was not then so powerful in France as he was to become later.
William was furious at the refusal. He was used to getting his own way and was also touchy on the subject of his birth. Not long before, some townsmen in Normandy had mocked him because he had tanner's blood, so to teach them a lesson he had them flayed alive and had their skins hung on a wall as animal skins were when they were being cured. He was, on the other hand, used to having to fight for what he wanted and he persisted in his courtship for seven years. Some time during that period he either stormed into her apartments and seized her by the hair and knocked her about; or, another version says, he knocked her off her horse and rolled her in the mud. Whichever he did, it was effective, because when her father asked her during the wedding festivities why she had changed her mind about William, she replied, 'Because I did not know the Duke as I do now, for he must be a man of great courage and daring to have beaten me in my own father's palace." By the time they were married he was more eligible than she was. At twenty-one she was getting a bit old for the marriage market, but he was by then recognized as the greatest hunter of his time and had become one of the most powerful men in France.
The wedding took place at Notre Dame d'Eu in 1053. Baldwin gave his daughter a handsome dowry and there were great festivities which he and his wife attended. After these were over and his in-laws had gone back to Flanders, William took his bride on a tour round Normandy to show her to his subjects. They had not had a Duchess for a long time and were pleased with the idea and charmed by her grace and demeanor. The only flaw was that William's illegitimate uncle, the Archbishop of Rouen, had persuaded the Pope to forbid the marriage on the grounds of consanguinity. Matilda was the granddaughter of Eleanor of Normandy, who was William's aunt. William retaliated by accusing the Archbishop of selling church possessions to supplement his income, and was so successful in this that the Archbishop was deposed. The Pope's displeasure could not have upset them much, because they had already had several children before his dispensation arrived in 1057
From whatever motives William married Matilda, he became a most devoted husband, if an absent one, and seems to have been faithful. Most of his contemporaries had acknowledged mistresses and bastards but he had none. They lived mostly at Caen and the hall of their royal palace was one of the most magnificent in Europe. They lived in state but were not extravagant. William never cared for elaborate dress, believing that men should wear clothes that 'fitted to the form of their bodies, leaving them ready to run, ride or do anything that was to be done', and he and his Norman knights dressed accordingly. They took the education of their children seriously. They put the sons into the care of Bishop Lanfranc and under his care Richard, the second son, became a real scholar.
Matilda was fond of such feminine occupations as embroidery, during the thirteen years before the Conquest, had three sons, Robert, Richard and William, and one or two daughters. In their married life she had ten children who survived childhood.
Anybody at that time who had property had to defend it by the sword; but William went further than that. He was ambitious and determined to acquire as much power as possible, so in consequence was away a great deal fighting battles. While he was away Matilda had to be Regent. In those days nobody talked about women and careers, but a wife was often the only person whom her husband could trust, so she had to take over in his absence.
William had had thoughts about England before he married Matilda. He had been there in 1051 and said afterwards that Edward the Confessor, who had no male heir, had promised him that he should succeed to the throne. His claim to it was in some ways rather better than Harold's, who, although he was legitimate, was only the second son of Earl Godwin, while William's Aunt Emma, on his father's side, was Edward the Confessor's mother.
He also said that Harold had sworn, during a banquet held in his honour in Normandy, that William should have the throne. To make this promise more binding, William had hidden a sacred relic under the table and also promised Harold one of his daughters as a wife. As none of his children could have been more than twelve and Harold must have been in his forties, it does not sound as if the match would have had a happy future, and does not show William in a good light as a father. Harold cannot have thought much of the pact, because as soon as he got back to England he married somebody else and when Edward the Confessor died, proclaimed himself King.
William, determined to get his own way as usual, gathered together an expeditionary force. This was held up at St. Valerie by unfavorable winds, so Matilda planned a surprise and arrived in a splendid ship called Afora which had as a figurehead a bronze figure of their third son William.
She then stayed in Normandy while he conquered England, where he was crowned without her on Christmas Day 1066. In March 1067 he rejoined her in Normandy, where they proclaimed that Lent should be a festival that year to celebrate his conquest and return. They then toured Normandy together until September, when he returned to England. She remained behind as Regent again, this time with the help of her eldest son Robert who was then thirteen years old. At the end of the year she came over to England and was crowned Queen. the first consort of an English King to be called Regina. The Saxon queens had simply been styled 'Wife of the King'. William was crowned again, to make the occasion more important and maybe to help to stress Matilda's slight claim to the throne as a descendant, through her father, of Alfred the Great. Despite the joyous occasion and the fact that she had been happily married to William for fourteen years, the tough side of Matilda's nature came to the fore and she took a belated revenge on Brihtric. She not only had him stripped of his lands and honours and imprisoned, but she deprived Gloucester, his town, of its civic liberties and charters.
Their fourth son Henry, their only son to be born in England, was born in Yorkshire in 1068, and Matilda settled on him the lands that William had given her in England and Normandy. In 1069 William sent her back to Normandy again to act as Regent with Robert, because there was so much trouble in England that he did not think that she was safe. As it happened she wasn't safe in Normandy either, because the new King of France attacked her, and William had to stop fighting the Scots to go to her aid.
After this, things were never quite the same between them. He spent more and more time in England and she in Normandy. There was even a hint of scandal in the family. The Norman ladies complained that their husbands had been spending too much time in England and that they were not always faithful while they were away. William himself was accused of having tried to seduce the wife of the Governor of Winchester and also of having had an affair with the daughter of one of the Canons of Canterbury Priests in the Roman Catholic church were allowed to marry until twenty-five years later than this date. Some authorities say that he did then in fact have an illegitimate son known as Peveral, Lord of Nottingham and Derby, and some say that the mother was a daughter of the founder of the Collegiate of St. Martin-le-Grand.
Again Matilda was said to have lapsed from her gentle Christian spirit and had the canon's daughter put to death and hamstrung. The Governor of Winchester's wife she seems to have ignored. After this William is said to have lost his temper with Matilda and beaten her so hard with his bridle that she died. If he did beat her he did not kill her, because she lived for another nine years. If he really had beaten her with such success before he married her, he might have tried the same thing again.
Whatever happened they lived together affectionately enough in Normandy in 1074, but not for long. Like many powerful men he would never be definite about which of his sons should inherit what after his death, and this caused dissension amongst them. Robert, who had been Regent in Normandy for some time and had been led to believe that he was to be its future ruler, did not appreciate it when his father came back on a brief visit and took over from him. Understandably enough he didn't like it either when, after his fiancee died, William took her dowry for himself.
They began to have a lot of quarrels and the whole family suffered. Once, young William and Henry threw dirty water over Robert from a castle window when he was walking in the courtyard with some friends. He was always jealous of William, who was his father's favourite, and, mad with rage although the two younger brothers were only sixteen and eight respectively and he was twenty, he chased them sword in hand, and the King had to rush in, also sword in hand, to stop him. Immediately before this Robert had demanded the Duchies of Normandy and Maine from his father, who had refused them, and the water incident seems to have brought things to a climax; he rushed away from the court to his uncle, Matilda's brother Baldwin, who had quarrelled with William years before over money, loved to make things as difficult for William as he could, and willingly promised his help.
Matilda took sides with Robert against her husband and sold her jewels to send him money. He had always been her favourite son, and during the last few years she had seen more of him when they were acting as joint Regents than she had of William. William was hurt but restrained when he found out about this, and wrote her a reproachful letter in which he said, 'The woman who deceives her husband is the destruction of her house.' To which she replied, 'I pray you not to be surprised if I feel a mother's tenderness for her first-born.' He was reputed to have taken revenge not on her but on her private agent, Sampson, whom he had imprisoned and blinded.
His troubles with Robert continued. They fought against each other in battle and Robert threw him from his horse, a thing that had never happened to him before. William bellowed with rage, and Robert, who had not realized who he was until then, instead of pressing his advantage helped him to his feet. Robert won the battle, but they patched up a peace and in 1079 William took him to England to keep an eye on him, leaving Matilda behind again as Regent.
By this time her health was waning and family events did not help it. Her second son Richard died hunting in the New Forest and was buried at Winchester, and her favourite daughter Constance, the wife of Alan of Bretagne, died almost immediately afterwards. On 2nd November, 1083 she too died at the age of fifty-two.
She was outlived by three sons, Robert, William, and Henry; and four daughters, Cecilia, Adelaide, Adela, and Gundred. Cecilia was an abbess, Adelaide a nun, Adela married Stephen of Blois and was the mother of Stephen, King of England, and Gundred married Earl Warren. William was heartbroken after her death, his temper got worse than ever, and he had terrible fits of depression. His second son William, his favourite, who had fought with him against Robert, was the only person who could deal with him during these moods. He also was said to have given up hunting as part of his mourning, but as he had got tremendously fat and his health was not too good it probably was no very great sacrifice.
His own death was a mixture of farce and tragedy. He had been ill in bed and Philip, the King of France, taunted him by saying that 'King William, his cousin, was laid low in child bed' (a reference to his enormous stomach), adding, 'Oh what a number of candles must I provide at his going to church, certainly I think 100,000 will not suffice.' William, who had not lost his old fire, replied, 'Well, I trust when I shall be churched that our confine shall be at no such cost, but I will help to find him 100,000 candles myself and light them to some of their pains if God grant me life.'
God did, and the next July, when the French corn and grapes were most promising, he went into France and set fire to the cities and countryside and even to a church. His revenge killed him. The heat of the fire gave him fever, his horse trod on a bit of burning timber and he fell off. He died at Hermentrude, near Rouen. None of his sons were with him and the nobles who had been round him went to pay homage to Robert, who was in Germany. He was left alone except for his servants, who plundered his home and left his body naked on the floor, as he had been at his birth sixty years before.
Matilda's Parents--
William's Father--
14. Robert I "the Magnificent" or "the Devil", Duke of Normandy: Born about 999, of Normandy, France; Died 2 Jul 1035, Nicea, Bithynia, Turkey; about 1023, He had issue with Harlette or Arlette De Falaise: Born about 1003, of Falaise, Clavados, France. Robert first saw Harlette while riding his horse near the castle of Falaise, where he was staying. She was washing clothes in a river. They made eye contact and Robert liked her "spirit." Robert sent for her father, Fulbert, and arranged to have her brought to him discreetly. This was done because she was far beneath his station in life and decorum prevented her being seen publicly with him. When Harlette heard this she balked at the idea. she felt that if she was good enough to sleep with, then she was good enough to enter through the front gate of the castle. She had the front drawbridge lowered and was issued in to the castle in state. While her beginnings may have been humble she quickly rose to a position of importance. By the time she was delivered of William she rated several servants who were so concerned for her health (it had been a difficult pregnancy) that they all crowded around her and left Baby William struggling on the floor.
Harlette's Parents--
Robert's Parents--
15. Richard II "the Good", Duke of Normandy: Born about 963, of Normandy, France; Died 28 August 1026, Fecamp, Seine Inferieure, France; Married about 981 Normandy, France; Judith, Princess of Brittany: Born 956, of Brittany, France; Died 1017, of Normandy, France.
Judith's Parents--
Richard's Parents--
16. Richard I "the Fearless" or "the Hardy", Duke of Normandy: Born 28 August 933, of Normandy, France; Died 20 November 996, Fecamp, Seine-Inferieure, France; Had issue with after 962, France; Gonnor De Crepon: Born about 936, Normandy, France; Died 1031, France. After the death of his first wife Emma, daughter of Hugh Capet, Richard married his mistress in order to legitimize their children.
Gonnor's Parents--
Richard's Parents--
17. William I, "Longsword" Duke of Normandy: Born about 891, Probably in Rouen, France; Died 17 December 943, France; Had issue with about 932, probably in Normandy, France; Sporte De Brittany: Born about 911, Brittany, France; In about 927 William succeded to the Duchy of Normandy. In about 930 the Brettons rebelled and William raised an army. William's army successfully subdued the rebellion. With the rebellion squelched he was able to take control of Brittany, The Channel Isles, Contenin, and Averanchin. He was killed in a trecherous attack lead by Arnulph of Flanders and Theobald of Blois. William was noted to be a very religious man. His role as Duke of Normandy sidetracked his true desire to become a monk.
Sporte's Father--
William's Parents--
18. Rollo (Rolf the Ganger), Duke of Normandy, Count of Möre: Born about 854, of Maer, Nord-Trondelag, Norway; Died about 927, of Notre Dame, Rouen, France; Buried at Notre Dame, Rouen, France; Married 891; Poppa, Duchess of Normandy: Born about 872, of Evreux, Normandy, France. Rollo was the Viking who forced the French to surrender Normandy to him in order to stop his raids. The river Seine had been one of the principal routes by which the Viking raiders had penetrated Carolingian France. The earliest known appearance was in the year 820. Vikings first wintered in the Lower Seine in 821, and by the turn of the tenth century they had devastated all of the countryside within reach. The Carolingian kings of West Francia had been unable to organize an effective defense until King Charles III "The Simple" resorted to a device which had already been employed by his predecessors against invading Bretons in the west and against the Vikings themselves in northeastern Francia, as well as by the Anglo-Saxon kings of Wessex. Choosing the moment when the leader of the principal band of Vikings operating from the Seine, one known to history as Rollo, had suffered a defeat near Chartres, King Charles III came to an agreement with him whereby he and his followers should be allowed to settle in and around Rouen in return for their conversion to Christianity. This agreement has been generally known as the Treaty of St. Clair-sir-Epee, Made in the year 911 at a place on what was to be the boundary between Normandy and France. As no text survives, if one was ever made, its terms in any detail can only be inferred; but it is clear from later developments that the king's permission to settle on the designated lands involved making Rollo a Carolingian Count. With this office would have gone the rights and lands that attached to that office within the territory he had conquered. He would also have been granted the virtual autonomy that other Carolingian Counts possessed at that date. In addition to what he was formally granted he took control of the lands of the displaced aristocracy and of the destroyed religious institutions in the duchy. In return King Charles hoped that with land of their own to defend the Northmen would protect at least those parts of France accessible from the Seine Valley. The King also hoped that with the conversion of Rollo and at least his chief men, that they would respect and tolerate what remained of Christianity in the lands granted to them. This would help to smooth over relations between the native frankish people and the new Viking overlords. While Rollo was certainly required to give the same promise of loyalty given by other Carolingian nobles, there is little doubt that he did not consider himself to be holding a fief for the King. He believed that Normandy was his property and he and his ancestors acted with that mindset for generations. Rollo got his wife Poppa when he was Count of Rouen. In 866 he raided Bayeaux. In this battle he killed Berenger, Count De Bayeaux, and took his daughter as his wife, though they were probably never married in the usual sense of the word.
Poppa's Father--
Rollo's Parents--
19. Rognvald I "the Wise" or "the Rich" or "the Mighty", Jarl of North and South Möre and Ramsdal: Born about 857, of Upland, Denmark; Died 890, Orkney, Orkney Islands, Scotland; Married about 853; Hilda (Ragnhild), Countess of Möre: Born about 857, of Norway.
Hilda's Father--
Rognvald's Parents--
20. Eystein Glumra Ivarsson, Jarl of Norway: Born about 810, of Maer, Norway; Married about 846; Aseda Rognvaldsdottir: Born about 812, of Maer, Norway.
Aseda's Father, Grandfather, Great-Grandfather and Great-Great-Grandparents--
Eystein's Father--
21. Ivar Oplaendinge, Jarl of the Uplands of Norway: Born after 788.
22. Halfdan II "the Old" or "Milldi" Eysteinsson: Born about 762, of Western Scandinavia; Died 800; Married about 788, of Vestfold, Norway; Hlf Dagsdatter: Born about 767, of Holtum, Vestfold, Norway.
Hlf's Father--
Halfdan's Parents--
23. Eysteinn I, "Fretr" Halfdansson: Born about 736, of Vestfold, Norway.
24. Halfdan "Hvitbein" Olafsson: Born about 704, Romerike, Norway; Married about 735, of Vestfold, Norway; Asa Eysteinsdottir: Born about 709, of Uppland, Norway.
Asa's Parents and Grandfathers--
Halfdan Olafsson's Parents--
25. Olaf "the Woodchopper" (Tretelgja) Ingjaldsson: Born about 682, Vaermland, Sweden Married about 701 of Romerike, Buskerud, Norway; Solveig Halfdansdottir: Born about 684, of Sweden.
Solveig's Father and Grandfather--
Olaf's Parents--
26. Ingjald "the Evil" Braut-Onundsson: Born about 660, Sweden; Married about 660, of Varmland, Sweden; Gauthild Algautsdottir: Born about 664, Sweden.
Gauthild's Father and Grandfather--
Ingjald's Parents--
27. Braut-Onund Ingvarsson: Born about 638, Sweden; Married about 659.
28. Ingvar "The Tall" Eysteinsson: Born about 616, Sweden; Married about 637.
29. Eystein Adilsson: Born about 594, Sweden; Married about 594.
30. Adils (Athils) Ottarsson: Born about 572, Sweden; Married about 593; Yrsa Helgasdottir. (See The Skjoldungs)
31. Ottar "Vendikraka" Egilsson: Born about 551, Sweden; Married about 571.
32. Egil "Vendikraka" Aunsson: Born about 530, Sweden; Married about 550.
33. Aun "the Aged" Jorundsson: Born about 509, Sweden; Married about 529.
34. Jorund Yngvasson: Born about 487, Sweden; Married about 508.
35. Yngvi Alreksson: Born about 466, Sweden; Married about 486.
36. Alrek Agnasson: Born about 445, Sweden; Married about 465; Dagreid (Dageith) Dagsdottir: Born about 449, Sweden.
Dagreid's Father--
Alrek's Parents--
37. Agni Dagsson: Born about 424, Sweden; Married about 444; Skjalf Frostasdottir: Born about 428, Finland.
Skjalf's Father--
Agni's Parents--
38. Dag Dyggvasson: Born about 403, Sweden.
39. King Dyggvi Domarsson: Born about 382, Sweden. Of Dyggvi, chapter 20 of the Yinglinga says: "Dyggvi then ruled the lands and of him nothing is told except that he died of sickness"
40. Domar Domaldasson: Born about 361, Sweden; Married Drott Danpsdottir: Born about 365, Sweden.
Drott's Father and Grandfather--
Domar's Parents--
41. Domaldi Visbursson: Born about 340, Sweden.
42. Visbur Vanlandasson: Born about 319, Sweden.
43. Vanlandi Svegdasson: Born about 298, Sweden; Married Driva Snaersdottir: Born about 302, Finland.
Driva's Father through Great-Great-Great Grandfather--
Vanlandi's Parents--
44. Svegdir Fjolnirsson: Born about 277, Uppsala, Sweden; Married Vana: Born about 281, of Vanaheim, Sweden. Chapter 15 of the Ynglinga says: "Svegdir took the realm after his father; he made a vow to search for Godheim (the land of the gods) and Odin the old. He went with twelve men far and wide about the world; he came to Trykland and to Sweden the great, and met there many of his friends and kinsmen, and was five winters on that journey. Then he came back to Sweden, and stayed at home for some time. He married a woman called Vana in Vanaheim; their son was Vanlandi. Svegdir went again in search of Godheim. In the eastern part of Sweden there is a large boer called Stein (stone); there stands a rock as large as a big house. One evening after sunset, when Svefdir ceased drinking and went to his sleeping-house, he saw a Dverg (dwarf) sitting outside on the rock. the Dverg stood in the door an shouted to Svegdir to come in if he wanted to meet Odin. Svegdir rushed into the rock which at once closed upon him, and he came not back."
45. Fjolnir Yngvi-Freysson, King of the Swedes: Born about 256, Uppsala, Sweden; Died Hleithra, Denmark. Fjolnir's Name means "much knowing". Chapter 14 of the Ynglinga says: "Fjolnir the son of Yngvi Frey then ruled over the Swedes and the Upsala-wealth; he was a powerful King, and peace-happy and season-happy. At that time Peace-Frodi was at Hleidra; they were friends and invited each other to dine, When Fjolnir came to Frodi in Zeeland there was a great feast prepared for him, and people were invited to it from far and wide. Frodi had a large house; in it there had been a large vat, many feet high, held together by large timbers; it stood in the lower story, and there was a loft above in which there was an opening through which liquid could be poured in; the vat was full of mixed mead, a very strong drink. In the evening Fjolnir and his men were shown to their room on the next loft. In the night he went out on the svalir (balcony) to look for something; he was overcome with sleep and dead-drunk. When he returned to his room he walked along the balcony to the door leading to the next room, and there he missed his footing and fell into the mead-vat and perished."
46. Yngvi-Frey (Frey), King of the Swedes: Born about 235, of Uppsala, Sweden; Married Gerd Gymersdottir, Queen of the Swedes: Born about 239, of Uppsala, Sweden. Chapter 24 of the Gylfaginning says of Frey: "They were beautiful in looks and mighty. Frey is the best of the Asar. He rules the rain and the sunshine, and also has power over the growth of the ground. It is good to make vows to him for good seasons and peace. He also rules over men's fortune in property."
Chapter 12 of the Ynglinga tells us: "Frey took the realm after Njord; he was called the drottin (lord) of the Swedes, and took taxes of them. He was as well liked as his father, and in his days also were good seasons. Frey raised a large temple at Upaslir (Uppsala), and had his head burgh (Hofudstad) there; all his taxes, lands, and loose property he gave thereto. That was the begining of the Upsalir wealth, which has been kept up ever since.
In his days the Peace of Frodi began: and there were good seasons in every land. The Swedes attributed that to Frey. He was worshipped more than other gods because in his days the people of the land became wealthier than before, on account of the peace and the good seasons. His wife was called Gerd, daughter of Gymer; their son was Fjolnir. Another name of Frey was Yngvi; this name was long afterwards used among his kin as a name of honour, and his kinsmen were afterwards called the Ynglingar. Frey fell sick; when death was near they took counsel and allowed few men to see him; they made a large mound ready for him with a door and three holes. When Frey was dead they carried him secretly into the mound and told the Swedes that he was alive and kept him there for three winters. They poured all the taxes into the mound, the gold through one hole, the silver through another and, the brass pennings through the third. Then peace and good seasons continued." Chapter 13 says " When all the Sivar knew that Frey was dead, and peace and good seasons continued, they believed it would last while Frey was in Svithjod, and would not burn him, and called him the god of the world, and sacrificed ever since chiefly to him for good seasons and peace."
Gerd's Parents--
Yngvi-Frey's Parents--
47. Njord Svia-king, King of the Swedes: Born about 214, of Noatun, Sweden; Married Skadi: Born of Thrymheim. Chapter 11 of the Ynglinga says of Njord: "Thereupon Njord of Noatun became ruler over the Swedes, and continued the sacrifices; the Swedes called him their drottin (lord); he gathered taxes from them. In his days there was very good peace, and seasons were so good in every respect that the Swedes believed that Njord ruled over good seasons and the wealth and welfare of men. In his days most of the Diar died, and all of them were afterwards burnt and sacrificed to. Njord fell sick and died; he also marked (with a spear) before he died, as a token that he belonged to Odin. The Swedes burnt him, and wept very much over his mound." Chapter 24 of the Gylfaginning tells us that Njord of Noatun begat two children. His son was Frey and his daughter Freyja. The Prose Edda tells us "the third god is the one called Njord. He lives in heaven in a place called Noatun. He controls the path of the wind, stills sea and fire, and is invoked for seafaring and fishing. He is so wealthy and prosperous that he is able to bestow abundance of land and property on those who call on him for this. (Njord is one of the Æsir.) He was brought up in Vanheim, but the Vanir gave him as a hostage to the gods and accepted as counter-hostage one called Hoenir. He brought about a reconciliation between the gods and the Vanir.
Njord had a wife called Skadi, daughter of the giant Thjazi. Skadi wanted to have the homestead her father had, on some mountain in the place called Thrymheim, but Njord wanted to be near the sea. They came to an agreement that they should be nine nights in Thrymheim and then another nine at Noatun. When Njord came back to Natun from the mountain, however he said this:
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Mountains I loathed
no longer than nine nights did I stay there the howling of the wolves seemed ugly to me compared with the hooping of swans. Then Skadi said this: I could not sleep by the shores of the sea for the noise of the new that awakened me, the bird that flew each dawn from the deep Then Skadi went up the mountain and lived in Thrymheim, and she goes about a great deal on skis and with her bow and arrow shoots animals. She is called Snow-shoe goddesss, or Snow-shoe divinity. As it is said: Thymheim's the name of Thjazi's place that Giant of a monsterous frame; his daughter wed with one of the gods Skadi, now, the fair of face, lives there in her sire's old house. |
Skadi's Father--
Njord's Father--
48. Yngvi Tyrkja-King.