If genealogy books were rated by the pound, the book I examined this week would be number one. I don't recall ever picking up a single genealogy book as thick and heavy as this one. Of course, genealogy books are not graded by heft. Nonetheless, this particular book is the definitive guide to descents from the Magna Carta Barons of 1215 A.D. for over 200 individuals who emigrated from the British Isles to the North American colonies in the 17th century.
Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, by Douglas Richardson is a 1,099-page reference to those descents, combining both research in original records with the use of published literature to provide well-documented ancestral lines for American colonists with Magna Carta ancestry. Yes, that is one thousand ninety-nine pages. Best of all, nearly every page is full of high-quality, well-researched genealogy information.
Magna Carta (Latin for "Great Charter") is a document written in 1215 A.D. that serves as the charter of England which limited the power of English monarchs. King John was the ruler at the time, and he ruled with an iron fist, much to the chagrin of his noblemen. The barons of England organized numerous uprisings. In the face of such strong and well-organized opposition, King John was forced to renounce certain rights and to grant a charter of liberties. This document stated that the King would respect certain legal procedures and accept the premise that the will of the king could be bound by law. Magna Carta is widely considered to be the first step in a long historical process leading to the rule of constitutional law.
Magna Carta was signed in the meadow at Runnymede on June 15, 1215. Numerous disagreements arose immediately, and King John soon refuted it. A civil war then erupted. In the midst of this war, King John died of dysentery on October 18, 1216. His death quickly changed the nature of the war. His nine-year-old son, King Henry III, was soon crowned King of England. The civil war stopped, and a somewhat modified Magna Carta was issued. When he turned eighteen in 1225, Henry III himself reissued Magna Carta a third time, this time in a shorter version with only 37 articles.
The twenty-five barons who signed the Magna Carta were the leading nobles of England at the time. Most were married, and many had large families. Hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of people alive today can trace their ancestry back to one or more of these twenty-five barons. Indeed, this book, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, lists 238 Colonial-era immigrants to the United States with proven descent from the Magna Carta barons. If one of these immigrants is in your family tree, this book will trace your ancestry back to the meadow at Runnymede in 1215 A.D.
This scholarly book features thousands of biographical sketches of people who lived in medieval England and their descendants through to those who immigrated to America. The book also contains more than 28,000 source citations to published materials, making it the most documented source book of its kind. In fact, the extensive cross-referencing makes the text simple to follow. The book also contains a 93-page bibliography, probably the most exhaustive listing of medieval genealogy and history ever published. Finally, Magna Carta Ancestry contains an index of over 18,000 entries.
Author Doug Richardson has refuted numerous published genealogies in this new book, pointing to source citations that disprove many lineages that have been accepted for decades. If you believe that you have royal or noble English ancestry, you need to check this book!
Many new additions to the book show the lineages of colonial immigrants that previously were unknown. As a result, many people will be able to claim noble ancestry for the first time.
While the primary audience for this book is anyone with American ancestry in the Colonial era, the book contains extensive biographical information about thousands of individuals who lived in England between 1215 and the 17th century. As such, the information will be of interest to anyone with ancestry in England, even if their later ancestors moved to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or elsewhere.
A complete list of the 17th-century American immigrants with proven Magna Carta ancestry can be found on the publisher's web site at http://www.genealogical.com/item_detail.asp?afid=&ID=4887
Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, by Douglas Richardson will be the standard reference for many, many years. This huge scholarly work with more than 28,000 source citations belongs on the shelf at every genealogy library as well as in many private collections.
Magna Carta Ancestry sells for $100 and is available directly from Genealogical Publishing Company at http://www.genealogical.com/item_detail.asp?afid=&ID=4887 as well as from Amazon.com and from many other bookstores. You can order it by specifying ISBN 0806317590.