Descent from antiquity
Encyclopedia
Descent from Antiquity is the project of establishing a well-researched, generation-by-generation descent of living persons from people living in antiquity
. It is an ultimate challenge in prosopography
and genealogy
.
The idea is by no means new. Hellenistic dynasties, such as the Ptolemies
, claimed descent from gods and legendary heroes. In the Middle Ages, major royal dynasties of Europe sponsored compilations claiming their descent from Julius Caesar
, Alexander the Great, in particular the rulers of Troy
(see also British Israelism
, Euhemerism). Such claims were intended as propaganda glorifying a royal patron by trumpeting the antiquity and nobility of his ancestry. These descent lines included not only mythical figures but also stretches of outright fiction, much of which is still widely perpetuated today. The distinguishing feature of a DFA compared to such efforts is the intent to establish an ancestry that is historically accurate and verifiable. Nevertheless, DFA research still focuses on the ancestries of royal and noble families, since the historical record is most complete for such families.
The possibility of establishing a DFA as a result of serious genealogical research was raised in a pair of influential essays, by the Albany Herald
, Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk, and the late Garter King of Arms
, Sir Anthony Wagner
. Wagner explored the reasons why it was difficult to do, and suggested several possible routes, based on the work of genealogists such as Prince Cyril Toumanoff
, Prof. David H. Kelley
, Christian Settipani
and Ford Mommaerts-Browne. The term ‘Descents from Antiquity’ was coined by T. Stanford M. S. Mommaerts-Browne in 1984/5. The following years have seen a number of studies of the possibilities. These are highly variable in the quality of their research. Many, if not most, of the DFA-related publications widely used by amateur genealogists are essentially worthless.
No DFA has been proven at this time. However, research has established the outlines of several possible or likely ancestries that could become DFAs. Moreover, the project has stimulated detailed inquiry into the prosopography
of ancient and early medieval societies, an effort which is of great value in illuminating the social transformations which took place in those societies.
Genealogical research usually focuses on biological descent as established by documentary evidence. However, DFA research requires investigating genealogical links in many different societies, which may have had different notions of descent that may, moreover, have changed over time. Terms of relationship
such as "uncle" or "cousin" may change radically in meaning over time. Adoptions may not be distinguished from biological births in the available documents – a particular feature of societies such as India or China. Hence the project forces the researcher to decide whether to adopt a biological or a cultural notion of descent.
A second issue is the so-called undetected adultery problem. Available documentation typically gives more information about paternity than maternity, and usually reflects the parentage that was accepted in an individual's lifetime. An example relevant to DFA is the paternity of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI
: his mother, Eudokia Ingerina
, was married to the future Basil I
, whose ancestry is uncertain, while still mistress of Michael III
, arguably a Mamikonian
descendant, at the time of his birth. While the adultery rate surely fluctuated over time and by social class, it is clear that any very long patrilineal descent is unlikely to be biologically accurate, even if the historical accuracy of the documentation for each link is unimpeachable.
Definitions of "antiquity" may also differ. The usual definition of the end of ancient history
in Europe is the end of the Western Roman Empire
in 476. There are Irish (e.g., from Niall of the Nine Hostages
) and Welsh descents which are generally considered reliable to the early 5th century, which would formally meet this definition. But these are Dark Age societies, and such ancestries are not usually considered DFAs for this reason. Instead, an ancestry which reaches the later Roman Empire
in the 4th century is often considered early enough for a DFA. However, the term "antiquity" is normally thought of as classical antiquity
, or earlier. With this definition, an acceptable DFA should seek to establish descent from an ancestor who lived before the Crisis of the Third Century
or before the legalization of Christianity by Constantine.
In principle, DFAs could also be established in non-European societies, such as China or India. Such a DFA implies a definition of "antiquity" that is appropriate to such societies. For example, a Chinese DFA might seek to establish descent from the time of the Han dynasty
, or before the unification of China
; an Indian DFA might seek to establish descent from the time of the Gupta dynasty
or earlier.
, the first of the Arsacids, flourishing ca. 250 BC. One of his descendants, king Tiridates III of Armenia
, who reigned early in the 4th century, is known to have been ancestor of Nerses the Great. The latter's son Sahak I
was the father-in-law of Hamazasp I, an Armenian ruler from the Mamikonian
dynasty. Then the line can be traced, though not with certainty, to a much later Mamikonian, Samuel II of Armenia, whose son-in-law was Smbat VIII Bagratuni, Constable of Armenia
and forefather of all the living Bagratids
. The advantage of this route is that its crucial links (from Arsacids to Gregorids, from Gregorids to Mamikonids, and from Mamikonids to Bagratids) may be corroborated by near-contemporary sources, dating to within a century after the key marriages took place.
Genealogists wishing to trace a DFA to Western Europe
through the Bagratids face the difficulty of establishing a valid line of descent from them to the nobility and royalty of Western Europe. One possibility is the Taronid link. It is known that one of the branches of the Bagratids were rulers of Taron
. After they entered Byzantine service, one Maria Taronitissa married John Komnenos
, dux in Cyprus
, whose daughters were the wives of the Crusader monarchs of Antioch
and Jerusalem. Thence a line can be traced easily to the Lusignan
s and hence to the House of Savoy
as well as to James III of Scotland through Louis I, Count of Flanders. Another line, researched in a paper by Dr. Rafal T. Prinke, a well-known Polish genealogist, leads through Helena Komnene, wife of George I "Longhands", Grand Duke of Kiev, and is based on identyfing her mother Irene as Kata, daughter of David IV "the Builder", King of Georgia
.
The DFA of the Mamikonian Samuel II of Armenia (above) is fairly solid back to the 4th century, and in principle is traceable to the 3rd century BC. However, the genealogy of the Arsacid dynasty itself is poorly known, both in its Armenian branch and its main line. Archaeological discoveries in Iran
and Iraq
in recent decades have improved our knowledge of the main line genealogy, but it is still incomplete. That of the Armenian branch, and its relationship to the main line, is still very obscure. Nevertheless it is universally agreed that the kings of Parthia and Armenia over several centuries all belonged to the same line of descent.
Pre-Arsacid descents to this line have also been proposed. The Roman historian Strabo
states that "the royal dynasty of Atropatene
married into the royal families of Armenia
, Syria
, and most recently Parthia
". In conjunction with other information about these marriages, Settipani interpreted Strabo's statement as showing that a blood link very probably existed between the Arsacid rulers of Parthia-Armenia, the kings of Media Atropatene, and the kings of Commagene. The latter are known to have been descended from the Seleucids, and the Seleucids (as was well known to the ancient authors) prided themselves on being female-line descendants of the Achaemenids.
Prospects for tracing ancestries before the Achaemenids are currently slim. Settipani proposed in 1989 an Egyptian connection through the marriage of the princess Nitetis recorded by Herodotus
, and suggested descent lines from her back to Ramses I; connections between the 18th Dynasty
and the 19th Dynasty
have been suggested but none are plausible. However, the Nitetis descent seems most improbable and Settipani himself has since repudiated it. Chris Bennett proposed a conjecture that Darius I may have had Babylonian ancestry traceable to the 8th century BC, but this path is also highly speculative. The most desirable pre-Achaemenid path would be one that led to an Assyrian
descent. The Assyrian kings claimed descent from one Adasi, king in the 17th century BC.
Another line of descent from the Bagratuni to Western Europe starts with Ashot II
(d. 928), grandfather of Aron of Bulgaria
, father of Tsar Ivan Vladislav
, grandfather of Maria, mother of Irene Doukaina
, who married the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos
. Their great-grandson (Isaac II Angelos
) was the grandfather of Elisabeth Hohenstaufen
, mother of Alfonso X of Castile
.
's descent from one of the senatorial families of the later-day Imperial Rome based in southern Gaul. This project is of particular interest since all European royal families can trace their descent from Charlemagne, as can many other people who are able to trace their descent from European nobility. While such a link possibly existed, extant sources do not permit reconstructing it with any degree of certainty. The record of senatorial families in the 5th and 6th centuries is very sparse. The genealogical evidence about the Dark Ages of European history is so limited that a firm blood link between the Carolingian
s and the preceding Merovingian dynasty cannot yet even be reconstructed, although there are some plausible proposals. Moreover, while a large amount of data exists with which to construct a prosopography of the leading provincial families of Imperial Rome in southern Gaul, it is not yet possible to establish a Gallic line that traverses the Imperial Age, though a Roman line through a Gallic one had been proposed in 1991 by Christian Settipani
. Therefore, all reconstructions of the DFA through Western European monarchs must remain precarious at best and speculative at worst. The most authoritative published research on these topics is by Settipani. Though two possible lines are proposed for the ancestry of Arnulf of Metz
, both are linked to the ancestors who are in turn reputedly linked to the Gallo-Roman genealogies. One of these proposes a descent from the proconsul Flavius Afranius Syagrius
.
A possible alternative route to Settipani's original scheme goes through the Counts of Coimbra
in 9th century Portugal
. That route was originally suggested in a discussion between Settipani and Francisco Antonio Doria
; it starts with a Count Ardabastos (b. c. 611), son of a Visigoth
refugee in Byzantium, Athanagild (in turn son of Saint Hermenegild
) and of Flavia Juliana (a Byzantine noblewoman related to the family of Emperor Maurice
), that later moved to Provincia Spaniae
(Byzantine possession in Spain) and fathered Erwig
, king of the Visigoths (680-687). It is argued that this individual was descended from a Byzantine
Artavazd
of the great Mamikonian
clan. The line is documented in a controversial deed that links the full descent to the historically attested count Hermenegildo Guterres (878); however the genealogical data in that document seems to be sound. If that line holds, due to demographics most of Western Europe
is descended from the Mamikonians, and therefore from their ancestors, as indicated by Settipani. However, it is also said that the mentioned Count Ardabastos was a great-nephew of Emperor Maurice
, grandson of his brother Peter Augustus
, whose ancestry, though Armenian, was of a lower birth. Interestingly, even if Count Ardabastos was "only" a great-nephew of Emperor Maurice, with no kinship to the Mamikonians, through his maternal grandmother Anastasia Areobinda (wife of Peter Augustus and great-great daughter of Flavius Anastasius Paulus Probus Sabinianus Pompeius, Roman consul in 517) he was a lineal descendant of the Valentinian
and Theodosian
dynasties, as well as of the very ancient gens Anicia, whose first mention dates back to the end of the 4th century BC (Quintus Anicius Praenestinus, curule aedile
in 304 BC).
If the link between Count Ardabastos and Hermenegildo Guterres is confirmed, it is possible to trace a blood-link between Theodosius I
or Valentinian I
and Ramiro II of León
(gradson of Hermenegildo Guterres) and so, virtually, to most (if not all) of the modern European royal houses.
Another such case for descent from antiquity originates in the Americas
(i.e. pre-Columbian
civilization) for the descendants of the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II (himself a direct descendant of the first Aztec king Acamapichtli
), among whom can be counted titled members of the Bourbon
, Stuart
, Habsburg
, and Hohenlohe
noble houses (as well as non-titled people such as Eduardo Matos Moctezuma
) and the holders of the titles of Duke of Moctezuma de Tultengo
, Dukes of Ahumada, Counts of Miravalle, Duke of Abrantes, Condes de la Enjarada, Condes de Alba de Yeltes, Dukes of Atrisco and Dukes of Alba.
The well known claim that the Solomonic dynasty
of Ethiopia is descended from King Solomon is unverifiable since reliable documentation is lacking before the 13th century. However, an interesting possibility raised by David Kelley in Wagner's original essay was a DFA to the line of David king of Israel, through his descendants the kings of Judah
and the Exilarch
s, heads of the exiled Jewish community in Babylon. Kelley noted a study of the Jews of Narbonne by Arthur Zuckerman which proposed that a failed claimant to the exilarchate, Natronai ben Havivai, became head of the Jews of Narbonne under the title of Makhir
and was better known to history as Theodoric, Count of Septimania, from whom many descents can be traced. Nathaniel Taylor has shown that Zuckerman's theory was based on a misreading of the key document.
Many Muslim families, including such leading families as the Hashemite
kings of Jordan
, the Alaouite kings of Morocco
and the Aga Khan
s, claim descent from the Prophet Muhammad
or his close relatives. The traditional genealogy of the Prophet's clan in the Quraish tribe is widely regarded as accurate to the 3rd century. While many such descents undoubtedly exist, it is difficult to verify them, since the ancestries of even the most exalted of these families include several generations lacking contemporary documentation, or for which the traditions are contradictory.
It has also proved remarkably difficult to establish a Quraish descent into Western Europe in medieval times. One of the more promising conjectures is a proposal by Francisco Antonio Doria
(with the help of Marshall Kirk
, and following some suggestions by Nathaniel Taylor), to trace the ancestry of several old noble families in Portugal
to a family of the late 10th century, the Lords of Maia
in northern Portugal. Doria found strong persuasive documentary evidence dating from 10th century Portugal that there were descendants of the Idrisid
amirs of Morocco
near Coimbra, and that they might have also have been ancestors of the Lords of Maia. There are several male line descents to the present day that can be traced to the Maia clan in a trustworthy manner; chief example is that of the great da Silva family (da Silva Pessanha (chiefs of lineage in both Portugal
and Spain
), Teles da Silva, da Silva e Meneses, da Silva de Mello Breyner and da Silva Teles da Gama).
In the East
, a descent from antiquity may be easier to establish. The Japanese imperial family
claims descent from the Emperor Ōjin
, who is generally considered historical, though his time of life is uncertain. However, contemporary Japanese records do not commence till several centuries after Ōjin's time, and the tradition reports a major change to a cadet line
shortly before the start of the literate period.
The oldest likely DFA is Chinese. Kung Tsui-chang
, who succeeded to the title Sacrificial Official to Confucius in the Republic of China
in 2009, is the 79th-generation male-line descendant of Confucius
. The claim is quite true, the family tree
can be proved every generation , and it is likely that some of the descent involves links by adoption. Confucius
himself is said to have been a distant relative of the Dukes of Song
, who were themselves descended from the Shang Dynasty
, the earliest ruling family in Chinese tradition which can be documented by contemporary records.
Ancient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...
. It is an ultimate challenge in prosopography
Prosopography
In historical studies, prosopography is an investigation of the common characteristics of a historical group, whose individual biographies may be largely untraceable, by means of a collective study of their lives, in multiple career-line analysis...
and genealogy
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
.
The idea is by no means new. Hellenistic dynasties, such as the Ptolemies
Ptolemaic dynasty
The Ptolemaic dynasty, was a Macedonian Greek royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Their rule lasted for 275 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC...
, claimed descent from gods and legendary heroes. In the Middle Ages, major royal dynasties of Europe sponsored compilations claiming their descent from Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
, Alexander the Great, in particular the rulers of Troy
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
(see also British Israelism
British Israelism
British Israelism is the belief that people of Western European descent, particularly those in Great Britain, are the direct lineal descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The concept often includes the belief that the British Royal Family is directly descended from the line of King David...
, Euhemerism). Such claims were intended as propaganda glorifying a royal patron by trumpeting the antiquity and nobility of his ancestry. These descent lines included not only mythical figures but also stretches of outright fiction, much of which is still widely perpetuated today. The distinguishing feature of a DFA compared to such efforts is the intent to establish an ancestry that is historically accurate and verifiable. Nevertheless, DFA research still focuses on the ancestries of royal and noble families, since the historical record is most complete for such families.
The possibility of establishing a DFA as a result of serious genealogical research was raised in a pair of influential essays, by the Albany Herald
Albany Herald
Albany Herald of Arms was a Scottish herald of arms of the Court of the Lord Lyon.The office was first mentioned in a diplomatic mission from Scotland to England in 1401. The office was probably instituted on the creation of Robert Stewart, son of King Robert II, as Duke of Albany, on 28 April 1398...
, Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk, and the late Garter King of Arms
Garter Principal King of Arms
The Garter Principal King of Arms is the senior King of Arms, and the senior Officer of Arms of the College of Arms. He is therefore the most powerful herald within the jurisdiction of the College – primarily England, Wales and Northern Ireland – and so arguably the most powerful in the world...
, Sir Anthony Wagner
Anthony Wagner
Sir Anthony Richard Wagner, KCB, KCVO, FSA was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He served as Garter Principal King of Arms before retiring to the post of Clarenceux King of Arms...
. Wagner explored the reasons why it was difficult to do, and suggested several possible routes, based on the work of genealogists such as Prince Cyril Toumanoff
Cyril Toumanoff
Cyril Leo Heraclius, Prince Toumanoff was an United States-based historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armenia, the Byzantine Empire, and Iran...
, Prof. David H. Kelley
David H. Kelley
David Humiston Kelley was a Canadian American archaeologist and epigrapher, most noted for his work on the phonetic analysis and major contributions toward the decipherment of the writing system used by the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, the Maya script.-Work and interests:From...
, Christian Settipani
Christian Settipani
Christian Settipani is the Technical Director of an IT company in Paris and a genealogist and historian.He has a Master of Advanced Studies degree from the Paris-Sorbonne University and is currently preparing his doctoral thesis, while he often gives lectures to students undergraduates at the...
and Ford Mommaerts-Browne. The term ‘Descents from Antiquity’ was coined by T. Stanford M. S. Mommaerts-Browne in 1984/5. The following years have seen a number of studies of the possibilities. These are highly variable in the quality of their research. Many, if not most, of the DFA-related publications widely used by amateur genealogists are essentially worthless.
No DFA has been proven at this time. However, research has established the outlines of several possible or likely ancestries that could become DFAs. Moreover, the project has stimulated detailed inquiry into the prosopography
Prosopography
In historical studies, prosopography is an investigation of the common characteristics of a historical group, whose individual biographies may be largely untraceable, by means of a collective study of their lives, in multiple career-line analysis...
of ancient and early medieval societies, an effort which is of great value in illuminating the social transformations which took place in those societies.
Definitions
The terms descent and antiquity both bear some discussion.Genealogical research usually focuses on biological descent as established by documentary evidence. However, DFA research requires investigating genealogical links in many different societies, which may have had different notions of descent that may, moreover, have changed over time. Terms of relationship
Kinship terminology
Kinship terminology refers to the various systems used in languages to refer to the persons to whom an individual is related through kinship. Different societies classify kinship relations differently and therefore use different systems of kinship terminology - for example some languages...
such as "uncle" or "cousin" may change radically in meaning over time. Adoptions may not be distinguished from biological births in the available documents – a particular feature of societies such as India or China. Hence the project forces the researcher to decide whether to adopt a biological or a cultural notion of descent.
A second issue is the so-called undetected adultery problem. Available documentation typically gives more information about paternity than maternity, and usually reflects the parentage that was accepted in an individual's lifetime. An example relevant to DFA is the paternity of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI
Leo VI the Wise
Leo VI, surnamed the Wise or the Philosopher , was Byzantine emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty , he was very well-read, leading to his surname...
: his mother, Eudokia Ingerina
Eudokia Ingerina
Eudokia Ingerina was the wife of the Byzantine emperor Basil I, the mistress of his predecessor Michael III, and the mother to both the Emperors Leo VI and Alexander and Patriarch Stephen I of Constantinople.-Family:...
, was married to the future Basil I
Basil I
Basil I, called the Macedonian was a Byzantine emperor of probable Armenian descent who reigned from 867 to 886. Born a simple peasant in the Byzantine theme of Macedonia, he rose in the imperial court, and usurped the imperial throne from Emperor Michael III...
, whose ancestry is uncertain, while still mistress of Michael III
Michael III
Michael III , , Byzantine Emperor from 842 to 867. Michael III was the third and traditionally last member of the Amorian-Phrygian Dynasty...
, arguably a Mamikonian
Mamikonian
Mamikonian, Mamikoneans, or Mamigonian was a noble family which dominated Armenian politics between the 4th and 8th century. They ruled the Armenian regions of Taron, Sasun, Bagrevand and others...
descendant, at the time of his birth. While the adultery rate surely fluctuated over time and by social class, it is clear that any very long patrilineal descent is unlikely to be biologically accurate, even if the historical accuracy of the documentation for each link is unimpeachable.
Definitions of "antiquity" may also differ. The usual definition of the end of ancient history
Ancient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...
in Europe is the end of the Western Roman Empire
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
in 476. There are Irish (e.g., from Niall of the Nine Hostages
Niall of the Nine Hostages
Niall Noígíallach , or in English, Niall of the Nine Hostages, son of Eochaid Mugmedón, was an Irish king, the eponymous ancestor of the Uí Néill kindred who dominated Ireland from the 6th century to the 10th century...
) and Welsh descents which are generally considered reliable to the early 5th century, which would formally meet this definition. But these are Dark Age societies, and such ancestries are not usually considered DFAs for this reason. Instead, an ancestry which reaches the later Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
in the 4th century is often considered early enough for a DFA. However, the term "antiquity" is normally thought of as classical antiquity
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
, or earlier. With this definition, an acceptable DFA should seek to establish descent from an ancestor who lived before the Crisis of the Third Century
Crisis of the Third Century
The Crisis of the Third Century was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression...
or before the legalization of Christianity by Constantine.
In principle, DFAs could also be established in non-European societies, such as China or India. Such a DFA implies a definition of "antiquity" that is appropriate to such societies. For example, a Chinese DFA might seek to establish descent from the time of the Han dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
, or before the unification of China
Qin Dynasty
The Qin Dynasty was the first imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 221 to 207 BC. The Qin state derived its name from its heartland of Qin, in modern-day Shaanxi. The strength of the Qin state was greatly increased by the legalist reforms of Shang Yang in the 4th century BC, during the Warring...
; an Indian DFA might seek to establish descent from the time of the Gupta dynasty
Gupta Empire
The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire which existed approximately from 320 to 550 CE and covered much of the Indian Subcontinent. Founded by Maharaja Sri-Gupta, the dynasty was the model of a classical civilization. The peace and prosperity created under leadership of Guptas enabled the...
or earlier.
Caucasian route
The most complete proposal for a DFA is the Bagratid one. The route starts with ArsacesArsaces I of Parthia
Arsaces I was the founder of the Arsacid dynasty, and after whom all 30+ monarchs of the Arsacid empire officially named themselves. A celebrated descent from antiquity begins with Arsaces.A 1st century AD tradition casts Arsaces as descending from the 5th-century BC Achaemenid monarch...
, the first of the Arsacids, flourishing ca. 250 BC. One of his descendants, king Tiridates III of Armenia
Tiridates III of Armenia
Tiridates III or Diritades III was the king of Arsacid Armenia , and is also known as Tiridates the Great ; some scholars incorrectly refer to him as Tiridates IV as a result of the fact that Tiridates I of Armenia reigned twice)...
, who reigned early in the 4th century, is known to have been ancestor of Nerses the Great. The latter's son Sahak I
Isaac of Armenia
Isaac or Sahak of Armenia was Catholicos of Armenia. He is sometimes known as "Isaac the Great," and as "Սահակ Պարթև / Sahak Parthev" in Armenian, owing to his Parthian origin....
was the father-in-law of Hamazasp I, an Armenian ruler from the Mamikonian
Mamikonian
Mamikonian, Mamikoneans, or Mamigonian was a noble family which dominated Armenian politics between the 4th and 8th century. They ruled the Armenian regions of Taron, Sasun, Bagrevand and others...
dynasty. Then the line can be traced, though not with certainty, to a much later Mamikonian, Samuel II of Armenia, whose son-in-law was Smbat VIII Bagratuni, Constable of Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
and forefather of all the living Bagratids
Origin of the Bagratid dynasties
The Origin of the Bagratid dynasties – Bagratuni in Armenia and Bagrationi in Georgia – were the longest-reigning royal families in the Caucasus , starting as princely houses and attaining to the royal status in both countries in the 9th century...
. The advantage of this route is that its crucial links (from Arsacids to Gregorids, from Gregorids to Mamikonids, and from Mamikonids to Bagratids) may be corroborated by near-contemporary sources, dating to within a century after the key marriages took place.
Genealogists wishing to trace a DFA to Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
through the Bagratids face the difficulty of establishing a valid line of descent from them to the nobility and royalty of Western Europe. One possibility is the Taronid link. It is known that one of the branches of the Bagratids were rulers of Taron
Taron (historic Armenia)
Taron was a canton of the Turuberan province of Greater Armenia, now in the Muş Province, Turkey. It was divided into four districts: Mamikonian, Palauni, , Artokh Taron was a canton of the Turuberan province of Greater Armenia, now in the Muş Province, Turkey. It was divided into four districts:...
. After they entered Byzantine service, one Maria Taronitissa married John Komnenos
Komnenos
Komnenós or Comnenus was the name of a ruling family of the Eastern Roman Empire , who halted the political decline of the Empire from c.1081 to c.1185.-Origins:...
, dux in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
, whose daughters were the wives of the Crusader monarchs of Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
and Jerusalem. Thence a line can be traced easily to the Lusignan
Lusignan
The Lusignan family originated in Poitou near Lusignan in western France in the early 10th century. By the end of the 11th century, they had risen to become the most prominent petty lords in the region from their castle at Lusignan...
s and hence to the House of Savoy
House of Savoy
The House of Savoy was formed in the early 11th century in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, it grew from ruling a small county in that region to eventually rule the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 until the end of World War II, king of Croatia and King of Armenia...
as well as to James III of Scotland through Louis I, Count of Flanders. Another line, researched in a paper by Dr. Rafal T. Prinke, a well-known Polish genealogist, leads through Helena Komnene, wife of George I "Longhands", Grand Duke of Kiev, and is based on identyfing her mother Irene as Kata, daughter of David IV "the Builder", King of Georgia
David IV of Georgia
David IV "the Builder", also known as David II , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a king of Georgia from 1089 until his death in 1125....
.
The DFA of the Mamikonian Samuel II of Armenia (above) is fairly solid back to the 4th century, and in principle is traceable to the 3rd century BC. However, the genealogy of the Arsacid dynasty itself is poorly known, both in its Armenian branch and its main line. Archaeological discoveries in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
in recent decades have improved our knowledge of the main line genealogy, but it is still incomplete. That of the Armenian branch, and its relationship to the main line, is still very obscure. Nevertheless it is universally agreed that the kings of Parthia and Armenia over several centuries all belonged to the same line of descent.
Pre-Arsacid descents to this line have also been proposed. The Roman historian Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
states that "the royal dynasty of Atropatene
Atropatene
Atropatene was an ancient kingdom established and ruled under local ethnic Iranian dynasts first with "Darius" of Persia and later "Alexander" of Macedonia, starting in the 4th century BC and includes the territory of modern-day Iranian Azarbaijan and Iranian Kurdistan. Its capital was Gazaca...
married into the royal families of Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, and most recently Parthia
Parthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....
". In conjunction with other information about these marriages, Settipani interpreted Strabo's statement as showing that a blood link very probably existed between the Arsacid rulers of Parthia-Armenia, the kings of Media Atropatene, and the kings of Commagene. The latter are known to have been descended from the Seleucids, and the Seleucids (as was well known to the ancient authors) prided themselves on being female-line descendants of the Achaemenids.
Prospects for tracing ancestries before the Achaemenids are currently slim. Settipani proposed in 1989 an Egyptian connection through the marriage of the princess Nitetis recorded by Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
, and suggested descent lines from her back to Ramses I; connections between the 18th Dynasty
Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt
The eighteenth dynasty of ancient Egypt is perhaps the best known of all the dynasties of ancient Egypt...
and the 19th Dynasty
Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt
The Nineteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt was one of the periods of the Egyptian New Kingdom. Founded by Vizier Ramesses I, whom Pharaoh Horemheb chose as his successor to the throne, this dynasty is best known for its military conquests in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria.The warrior kings of the...
have been suggested but none are plausible. However, the Nitetis descent seems most improbable and Settipani himself has since repudiated it. Chris Bennett proposed a conjecture that Darius I may have had Babylonian ancestry traceable to the 8th century BC, but this path is also highly speculative. The most desirable pre-Achaemenid path would be one that led to an Assyrian
Kings of Assyria
The list of Assyrian kings is compiled from the Assyrian King List, an ancient kingdom in northern Mesopotamia with information added from recent archaeological findings. The Assyrian King List includes regnal lengths that appear to have been based on now lost limmu lists...
descent. The Assyrian kings claimed descent from one Adasi, king in the 17th century BC.
Another line of descent from the Bagratuni to Western Europe starts with Ashot II
Ashot II
Ashot II the Iron was an Armenian King, the son of King Smbat I. His reign was filled with rebellions by pretenders to the throne, and foreign invasions, which Ashot fought off successfully. This is how he got the epithet the Iron. In 914, Ashot II visited Constantinople to get aid from Byzantine...
(d. 928), grandfather of Aron of Bulgaria
Aron of Bulgaria
Aron was a Bulgarian noble, brother of Emperor Samuil of Bulgaria and third son of Comita Nikola, Duke of Sofia. After the fall of the eastern parts of the country under Byzantine occupation in 971, he and his three brothers David, Moses and Samuil continued the resistance to the west...
, father of Tsar Ivan Vladislav
Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria
Ivan Vladislav ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from August or September 1015 to February 1018. The year of his birth is unknown, but he was born at least a decade before 987, but probably not much earlier than that....
, grandfather of Maria, mother of Irene Doukaina
Irene Doukaina
Irene Doukaina or Ducaena was the wife of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos, and the mother of the emperor John II Komnenos and of the historian Anna Komnene.-Succession of Alexios and Irene:...
, who married the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...
. Their great-grandson (Isaac II Angelos
Isaac II Angelos
Isaac II Angelos was Byzantine emperor from 1185 to 1195, and again from 1203 to 1204....
) was the grandfather of Elisabeth Hohenstaufen
Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen
Beatrice of Swabia was Queen of Castile and Leon as the wife of King Ferdinand III...
, mother of Alfonso X of Castile
Alfonso X of Castile
Alfonso X was a Castilian monarch who ruled as the King of Castile, León and Galicia from 1252 until his death...
.
Other postulated routes
Innumerable alternative routes of descent from antiquity have been posited. One proposal is to establish CharlemagneCharlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
's descent from one of the senatorial families of the later-day Imperial Rome based in southern Gaul. This project is of particular interest since all European royal families can trace their descent from Charlemagne, as can many other people who are able to trace their descent from European nobility. While such a link possibly existed, extant sources do not permit reconstructing it with any degree of certainty. The record of senatorial families in the 5th and 6th centuries is very sparse. The genealogical evidence about the Dark Ages of European history is so limited that a firm blood link between the Carolingian
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
s and the preceding Merovingian dynasty cannot yet even be reconstructed, although there are some plausible proposals. Moreover, while a large amount of data exists with which to construct a prosopography of the leading provincial families of Imperial Rome in southern Gaul, it is not yet possible to establish a Gallic line that traverses the Imperial Age, though a Roman line through a Gallic one had been proposed in 1991 by Christian Settipani
Christian Settipani
Christian Settipani is the Technical Director of an IT company in Paris and a genealogist and historian.He has a Master of Advanced Studies degree from the Paris-Sorbonne University and is currently preparing his doctoral thesis, while he often gives lectures to students undergraduates at the...
. Therefore, all reconstructions of the DFA through Western European monarchs must remain precarious at best and speculative at worst. The most authoritative published research on these topics is by Settipani. Though two possible lines are proposed for the ancestry of Arnulf of Metz
Arnulf of Metz
Saint Arnulf of Metz was a Frankish bishop of Metz and advisor to the Merovingian court of Austrasia, who retired to the Abbey of Remiremont....
, both are linked to the ancestors who are in turn reputedly linked to the Gallo-Roman genealogies. One of these proposes a descent from the proconsul Flavius Afranius Syagrius
Flavius Afranius Syagrius
Flavius Afranius Syagrius was a Roman politician and administrator.- Life :Afranius' father was Clodoreius; it is unknown who his mother was. Afranius was also a member of the Gallic-Roman aristocratic family of the Syagrii, which originated in Lyon...
.
A possible alternative route to Settipani's original scheme goes through the Counts of Coimbra
Coimbra
Coimbra is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the...
in 9th century Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. That route was originally suggested in a discussion between Settipani and Francisco Antonio Doria
Francisco Antonio Doria
Francisco Antônio de Moraes Accioli Dória is a Brazilian mathematician, philosopher, and genealogist. Francisco Antônio Dória received his B.S...
; it starts with a Count Ardabastos (b. c. 611), son of a Visigoth
Visigoth
The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...
refugee in Byzantium, Athanagild (in turn son of Saint Hermenegild
Hermenegild
Saint Hermenegild or Ermengild , was the son of king Leovigild of Visigothic Spain. He fell out with his father in 579, then revolted the following year. During his rebellion, he converted from Arian Christianity to Roman Catholicism. Hermenegild was defeated in 584, and exiled...
) and of Flavia Juliana (a Byzantine noblewoman related to the family of Emperor Maurice
Maurice (emperor)
Maurice was Byzantine Emperor from 582 to 602.A prominent general in his youth, Maurice fought with success against the Sassanid Persians...
), that later moved to Provincia Spaniae
Spania
Spania was a province of the Roman Empire from 552 until 624 in the south of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. It was a part of the conquests of Roman Emperor Justinian I in an effort to restore the western half of the Empire....
(Byzantine possession in Spain) and fathered Erwig
Erwig
Erwig was a king of the Visigoths in Hispania . He was the only Visigothic king to be a complete puppet of the bishops and palatine nobility....
, king of the Visigoths (680-687). It is argued that this individual was descended from a Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
Artavazd
Artavasdes
Artavazhda, Iranian name, transcribed in Greek varyingly as Artabazos, Artabazes, Artavazde and Artavasdes, had several prominent carriers in antiquity.* Artabazos I of Phrygia* Artabazos II of Phrygia* Artavasdes I of Armenia* Artavasdes II of Armenia...
of the great Mamikonian
Mamikonian
Mamikonian, Mamikoneans, or Mamigonian was a noble family which dominated Armenian politics between the 4th and 8th century. They ruled the Armenian regions of Taron, Sasun, Bagrevand and others...
clan. The line is documented in a controversial deed that links the full descent to the historically attested count Hermenegildo Guterres (878); however the genealogical data in that document seems to be sound. If that line holds, due to demographics most of Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
is descended from the Mamikonians, and therefore from their ancestors, as indicated by Settipani. However, it is also said that the mentioned Count Ardabastos was a great-nephew of Emperor Maurice
Maurice (emperor)
Maurice was Byzantine Emperor from 582 to 602.A prominent general in his youth, Maurice fought with success against the Sassanid Persians...
, grandson of his brother Peter Augustus
Peter (curopalates)
Petrus |Cappadocia]] – 27 November 602 in Constantinople or Chalcedon) was a brother of the Byzantine Emperor Maurice, who reigned from 582 to 602.-Background:...
, whose ancestry, though Armenian, was of a lower birth. Interestingly, even if Count Ardabastos was "only" a great-nephew of Emperor Maurice, with no kinship to the Mamikonians, through his maternal grandmother Anastasia Areobinda (wife of Peter Augustus and great-great daughter of Flavius Anastasius Paulus Probus Sabinianus Pompeius, Roman consul in 517) he was a lineal descendant of the Valentinian
Valentinian Dynasty
The Valentinian Dynasty or Valentinianic Dynasty, consisting of four emperors, ruled the Western Roman Empire from 364 to 392 and the Eastern Roman Empire from 364 to 378.*western emperors:**Valentinian I...
and Theodosian
Theodosian dynasty
The Theodosian dynasty was a Roman family that rose to eminence in the waning days of the Roman Empire.-History:Its founding father was Flavius Theodosius , a great general who had saved Britannia from the Great Conspiracy...
dynasties, as well as of the very ancient gens Anicia, whose first mention dates back to the end of the 4th century BC (Quintus Anicius Praenestinus, curule aedile
Aedile
Aedile was an office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public order. There were two pairs of aediles. Two aediles were from the ranks of plebeians and the other...
in 304 BC).
If the link between Count Ardabastos and Hermenegildo Guterres is confirmed, it is possible to trace a blood-link between Theodosius I
Theodosius I
Theodosius I , also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. During his reign, the Goths secured control of Illyricum after the Gothic War, establishing their homeland...
or Valentinian I
Valentinian I
Valentinian I , also known as Valentinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 364 to 375. Upon becoming emperor he made his brother Valens his co-emperor, giving him rule of the eastern provinces while Valentinian retained the west....
and Ramiro II of León
Ramiro II of León
Ramiro II , son of Ordoño II, was King of León from 931 until his death. Initially titular king only of a lesser part of Asturias, he gained the crown of León after his brother Alfonso IV abdicated in 931...
(gradson of Hermenegildo Guterres) and so, virtually, to most (if not all) of the modern European royal houses.
Another such case for descent from antiquity originates in the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
(i.e. pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
civilization) for the descendants of the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II (himself a direct descendant of the first Aztec king Acamapichtli
Acamapichtli
Acamapichtli was the first tlatoani, or ruler, of the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan, and founder of the Aztec imperial dynasty. He became ruler in 1375 and reigned for 19 years.- Family and early life :...
), among whom can be counted titled members of the Bourbon
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
, Stuart
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
, Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
, and Hohenlohe
Hohenlohe
Hohenlohe is the name of a German princely family and the name of their principality.At first rulers of a county, its two branches were raised to the rank of principalities of the Holy Roman Empire in 1744 and 1764 respectively; in 1806 they lost their independence and their lands formed part of...
noble houses (as well as non-titled people such as Eduardo Matos Moctezuma
Eduardo Matos Moctezuma
Eduardo Matos Moctezuma is a prominent Mexican archaeologist. Since 1978 he has directed excavations at the Templo Mayor, the remains of a major Aztec pyramid in central Mexico City....
) and the holders of the titles of Duke of Moctezuma de Tultengo
Duke of Moctezuma de Tultengo
Duke of Moctezuma de Tultengo is a hereditary title in the Spanish nobility held by a line of descendants of Emperor Moctezuma II, the ninth Tlatoani, or ruler, of Tenochtitlan. Since 1766 the title has been attached to a Grandeza de España, or a place in the Spanish peerage — the highest honor...
, Dukes of Ahumada, Counts of Miravalle, Duke of Abrantes, Condes de la Enjarada, Condes de Alba de Yeltes, Dukes of Atrisco and Dukes of Alba.
The well known claim that the Solomonic dynasty
Solomonic dynasty
The Solomonic dynasty is the Imperial House of Abyssinia. Its members claim lineal descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, the latter of whom tradition asserts gave birth to the first King Menelik I after her Biblically described visit to Solomon in Jerusalem .-Overview:The dynasty, a...
of Ethiopia is descended from King Solomon is unverifiable since reliable documentation is lacking before the 13th century. However, an interesting possibility raised by David Kelley in Wagner's original essay was a DFA to the line of David king of Israel, through his descendants the kings of Judah
Kingdom of Judah
The Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
and the Exilarch
Exilarch
Exilarch refers to the leaders of the Diaspora Jewish community in Babylon following the deportation of King Jeconiah and his court into Babylonian exile after the first fall of Jerusalem in 597 BCE and augmented after the further deportations following the destruction...
s, heads of the exiled Jewish community in Babylon. Kelley noted a study of the Jews of Narbonne by Arthur Zuckerman which proposed that a failed claimant to the exilarchate, Natronai ben Havivai, became head of the Jews of Narbonne under the title of Makhir
Makhir of Narbonne
Makhir of Narbonne was a Babylonian-Jewish scholar, perhaps the Exilarch of the Jews of Babylon, certainly the leader of the Jewish community of Narbonne in southern Gaul at the end of the eighth century...
and was better known to history as Theodoric, Count of Septimania, from whom many descents can be traced. Nathaniel Taylor has shown that Zuckerman's theory was based on a misreading of the key document.
Many Muslim families, including such leading families as the Hashemite
Hashemite
Hashemite is the Latinate version of the , transliteration: Hāšimī, and traditionally refers to those belonging to the Banu Hashim, or "clan of Hashim", a clan within the larger Quraish tribe...
kings of Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, the Alaouite kings of Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
and the Aga Khan
Aga Khan
Aga Khan is the hereditary title of the Imam of the largest branch of the Ismā'īlī followers of the Shī‘a faith. They affirm the Imamat of the descendants of Ismail ibn Jafar, eldest son of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, while the larger Twelver branch of Shi`ism follows Ismail's younger brother Musa...
s, claim descent from the Prophet Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
or his close relatives. The traditional genealogy of the Prophet's clan in the Quraish tribe is widely regarded as accurate to the 3rd century. While many such descents undoubtedly exist, it is difficult to verify them, since the ancestries of even the most exalted of these families include several generations lacking contemporary documentation, or for which the traditions are contradictory.
It has also proved remarkably difficult to establish a Quraish descent into Western Europe in medieval times. One of the more promising conjectures is a proposal by Francisco Antonio Doria
Francisco Antonio Doria
Francisco Antônio de Moraes Accioli Dória is a Brazilian mathematician, philosopher, and genealogist. Francisco Antônio Dória received his B.S...
(with the help of Marshall Kirk
Marshall Kirk
Marshall Kenneth Kirk was a New England Historic Genealogical Society librarian, and a noted writer and a researcher in neuropsychiatry...
, and following some suggestions by Nathaniel Taylor), to trace the ancestry of several old noble families in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
to a family of the late 10th century, the Lords of Maia
Maia, Portugal
Maia Municipality is located in the Porto Metropolitan Area, Grande Porto subregion, in Norte Region, Portugal. The city of Maia includes the parishes of Gueifães, Maia and Vermoim, and has 39,949 inhabitants. The Maia Municipality comprises 135,049 inhabitants in 17 parishes for a total land...
in northern Portugal. Doria found strong persuasive documentary evidence dating from 10th century Portugal that there were descendants of the Idrisid
Idrisid
The Idrisids were a Zaydi-Shia dynasty of Arab origins in Morocco, ruling from 788 to 985, named after its first leader, Idriss I.-History:...
amirs of Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
near Coimbra, and that they might have also have been ancestors of the Lords of Maia. There are several male line descents to the present day that can be traced to the Maia clan in a trustworthy manner; chief example is that of the great da Silva family (da Silva Pessanha (chiefs of lineage in both Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
), Teles da Silva, da Silva e Meneses, da Silva de Mello Breyner and da Silva Teles da Gama).
In the East
East
East is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.East is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of west and is perpendicular to north and south.By convention, the right side of a map is east....
, a descent from antiquity may be easier to establish. The Japanese imperial family
Emperor of Japan
The Emperor of Japan is, according to the 1947 Constitution of Japan, "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." He is a ceremonial figurehead under a form of constitutional monarchy and is head of the Japanese Imperial Family with functions as head of state. He is also the highest...
claims descent from the Emperor Ōjin
Emperor Ojin
, also known as Homutawake or , was the 15th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign, but he is conventionally considered to have reigned from 270 to 310....
, who is generally considered historical, though his time of life is uncertain. However, contemporary Japanese records do not commence till several centuries after Ōjin's time, and the tradition reports a major change to a cadet line
Cadet branch
Cadet branch is a term in genealogy to describe the lineage of the descendants of the younger sons of a monarch or patriarch. In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets – titles, realms, fiefs, property and income – have...
shortly before the start of the literate period.
The oldest likely DFA is Chinese. Kung Tsui-chang
Kung Tsui-chang
Kung Tsui-chang is the Sacrificial Official to Confucius in the Republic of China and Senior Advisor to the President of the Republic of China....
, who succeeded to the title Sacrificial Official to Confucius in the Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
in 2009, is the 79th-generation male-line descendant of Confucius
Confucius
Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
. The claim is quite true, the family tree
Family tree of Confucius in the main line of descent
This is a family tree of the main line of descent of Confucius ....
can be proved every generation , and it is likely that some of the descent involves links by adoption. Confucius
Confucius
Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
himself is said to have been a distant relative of the Dukes of Song
Song (state)
Sòng was a state during the Eastern Zhou Spring and Autumn Period . Its capital was Shangqiu . In 701 BC, a political marriage between Lady Yong of Song and Duke Zhuang of Zheng empowered Song to manipulate the management of Zheng.- Origin :After King Wu of Zhou overthrew King Zhou of Shang,...
, who were themselves descended from the Shang Dynasty
Shang Dynasty
The Shang Dynasty or Yin Dynasty was, according to traditional sources, the second Chinese dynasty, after the Xia. They ruled in the northeastern regions of the area known as "China proper" in the Yellow River valley...
, the earliest ruling family in Chinese tradition which can be documented by contemporary records.
See also
Some ancestries have been proposed and researched, including:- Family tree of Confucius in the main line of descentFamily tree of Confucius in the main line of descentThis is a family tree of the main line of descent of Confucius ....
- Charlemagne to the MughalsCharlemagne to the MughalsCharlemagne to the Mughals is a genealogical route connecting Charlemagne with the Mughal dynasty of India. According to this route, numerous oriental rulers, including those of Brunei and the Maldives, should be counted among Charlemagne's descendants....
- Descent from Adam and EveDescent from Adam and EveDescent from Adam and Eve is the belief that every human being on Earth is a descendant of Adam and Eve. Some adherents claim to have traced their lineage through generations of descendants back to Adam and Eve.-Claims:...
- Descent from Genghis KhanDescent from Genghis KhanDescent from Genghis Khan is traceable primarily in Central Asia. His four sons and other immediate descendants are famous by names and by deeds. Later Asian potentates attempted to claim descent from the House of Borjigin even on flimsy grounds. In the 14th century, valid sources all but dried...
- History of Portugal (711–1112)