[G.Alan Beck]

Greetings & salutations.I'm sure that in some small part, most of us started studying & training WMA in order to connect with our Martial Ancestors.While trying to research my family geneology(very hard with no living relatives) I discovered a website(dnaancestoryproject.com)that allows the average Joe or Jane to scientifically & conclusively trace your genetic family all the way back to the African Adam,some 50-100,000 years ago.This is done through DNA Testing & Mapping.The basic test will give you more of an overview of your genetic family history(genetically &ethnically).The more advanced tests(which I chose) can actually tie your genetics to very specific geographical areas & ethnic populations.I hope to specialize my training in WMA to the exact geographical & ethnic origins of my genetically matched ancestors.I am wondering if anyone else out there supplements their WMA training with a personal search of their exact ancestral origins,how far back have you been able to go & if this has given you a more grounded attachment to your WMA training?Most of us have been asked at one time or another why we study WMA.How cool will it be to answer by stating that your personal genetic family history has been scientifically traced back to (whatever genetic group you're tied to) & this is your physical connection to that geographic area & historic time period.Thanks for reading.

[Craig Peters]

One of the main reason I identify with my German ancestory (father's paternal line; as far as we've been able to trace them, the Peters are from Penzlin, near Neustrelitz, Mecklenberg/Vorpommern) is because of the huge significance of the Holy Roman Empire, and in particular, Germany, in the production of fechtbuecher. And yeah, this is one of the reasons I like to train, because it gives me a connection with my past, even although my family, to the best of my knowledge, were peasant farmers. Keep in mind, however, that it's misleading to think you can "specialize" your WMA to your exact geographic region. There is not good evidence to support WMA as differing from region to region in any significant way. Even if your family originally came from say Strasbourg, it wouldn't be really meaningful to specialize in the "Meyer style" versus say the "Paulus Kal style" or "Ringeck style" or "Mair style", whatever that means. (Such distinctions even between the masters are meaningless, in my opinion).

Here's something a bit tangential but worthy to consider: according to Andreas Capellanus in his book on courtly love, there is no peasant, no matter how poor, who does not claim to have a rich and noble relative. And, given human nature, there is no reason to believe that his statement isn't true. What intrigues me is that it seems to be true in modern times as well. Of the people whom I've talked to about their family history, one person claimed to be descended from Welsh royalty; another from royalty in the Holy Roman Empire, (although if the claim is true, it's far more likely they are descended from nobility, rather than an emperor), and another whose ancestor was knighted on his maternal side, and whose ancestor was a member of the samurai on his paternal side. Obviously, there has been a lot more time for genetic cross-over and mixing over time, more so than in the medieval period. Even so, I wonder how many people can legitimately claim to be directly descended from either the nobility and royalty? I'm sure if we use the term "descended" loosely enough that most of us have tenuous connections to the aristocracy in one way or another. It just seems odd to me that I'm the only one descended entirely from "commoner stock".

[Anders Backlund]

Well, I'm Swedish with, supposedly, a good deal of walloon blood and some sami. Not sure what kind of martial heritage that's supposed to give me.

[Glen A Cleeton]

[Lancelot Chan]

I'm native Chinese.... :|

[Bob Burns]

I was obsessively involved in my maternal genealogy for 7 years, during which many people and their information benefted me and I also benefited many others. For one, I proved the "Drake" line in my ancestry by finding a will going back to the early 1800s and this line went back to Sir Francis Drake's brother Captain Thomas Drake (off hand I believe
that was his first name, Sir Francis Drake had no children. I also disproved a lineage that was thought to be true and founded by a Ph.D. back in the 40's that went back to Benjamin Harrison, the father of President Harrison, the link was an Eleanor Harrison and I proved that there was no Eleanor Harrison that was a sister of President William Henry Harrison. That the Eleanor Harrison in our line was the daughter of a Colonel Benjamin Harrison in PA.
To make this post brief, I found 3 lines back to King Edward I of England "Longshanks" (Hammer of the Scots). All were through his second wife, two were through his daughter Princess Elizabeth Plantaganet. I also found the line going back to Simon De Montfort. The link to all this nobility was a marriage of Sir George Boothe to Katherine Montfort in ca 1450.
I spent thousands of hours on this obsession, went to county seats, a couple of genealogy libraries here in the Chicago area. I'd rack my brains for hours and hours in searches, etc.and come away from the computer with my head spinning!
I have to say though, having done all that research and now some years later becoming even more obsessed with our common interest, the genealogy that I did has benefited me wherein I know where some of my ancestors were in specific points of history.
I also have a few German lines that all go back to the black forest region, such as Wurttemburg during the 30 years war. I also go back to King Malcom III of Canmore who slew Macbeth. I even have Lady Godiva in my ancestry. LOL!
It goes on and on and I could bore everyone to tears, but I won't, in fact I will cease and desist right now!

SIncerely!

Bob

[Toni Lozica]

I'm Croat from Dalmatia. A bit of Italian blood, basically commoners. My grandmother was Sessa originating from South Italy close to Bari. Her great grandfather escaped from Italy after killing a priest. This story runs in a family.
From my mothers side Croatian from the hills behind Dalmatian coast. Tough people there. A story that runs through that side of the family is that we could have some Turkish genes.
What a mess....

[M. Wagner]

[Anders Backlund]

[Bob Burns]

M. Wagner is exactly correct, virtually everyone will have nobility in their ancestry, it's just a matter of finding the lineage, which is something that I did, but it's a real thrill finding "that" lineage. I did not click the link that M. Wagner listed because it's something that I know full well from being a very seasoned amateur genealogist. As you go back generations it goes like this in numbers, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128; 256; 512; 1,024; 2,048; 4,096; 8,192; 16,384; 32,768; 65,536 ; 131,072;
262,144; 524,288 and by the 20th generation you have 1,048,576 progenitors! Off hand, the closest of the 3 lines had
King Edward I as my 23rd great grandfather.
Something tells me that in the link it lists the amount of progenitors for each generation on back.

Anyway, yes it's very true, virtually everyone has kings in their ancestry, it's just a matter of finding the link or links and what is the most recent nobility. Believe me, genealogy is another obsession that can get really crazy!

Sincerely,

Bob

[Christopher Gregg]

Well, I'm Scottish (some might argue Scotch-Irish), descended from the MacGregor Clan. My father recently completed (?) our geneology, assembling a huge volume showing various lines of our family, both paternal, maternal and through second marriages. Being a MacGregor, and by default also of the Alpin Clan, my lineage goes back to the earliest Irish (Celt) kings, but since I identify as mostly Scot, all of my ancestors prior to the '45 would have been required to be warriors in service to their chieftan.

I myself applied to the US Air Force before graduating high school, but my eyesight was too poor to fly (didn't want to be ground crew). My hobby as of late (besides sword collecting) is 18th century living history and reenacting, so at least I get to portray a soldier in service to my country.

[Shayan G]

[Randall Pleasant]

[Steven H]

On being descended from nobility: In Farewell to Alms the author, an economist, reports that in Europe most people are the descendants of nobility. The reason is that (at least for 1250-1850 the period covered by this book) the rich consistenly had more children than the poor. With the poor averaging 0-1 children who survived to adulthood. The result, after a few generations, is tremendous downwward mobility. By 1500 everyone in England is descended from some nobility of 1250.

For those of with European ancestry you can pretty much claim to be from nobility without checking the tree first

-Steven

[Sean Flynt]

A more interesting experiment, from our perspective, would be to calculate the odds of one's ancestors being in a given battle. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the majority of us here have claims on Towton, Crecy, Agincourt, Pavia, etc.

I suspect that we can find most anything we want to find in our ancestry. Makes it so much easier to justify that Albion Markgraf, eh?

[Randall Pleasant]

[Sean Belair]

i'm descended from the MacSheehy Gallowglass on my mother's side. my father's side comes from normandy. Belair is not a norman name but i like to think i'm descended from some hard fighters.

unfortunately, in the aftermath of the desmond rebellion, the Sheehy's were booted off our lands and scattered across ireland. when the patriarch of the american sheehy's landed no record was made of his birthplace, making it impossible to track down which branch of the family we kame from. there are numerous famous and infamous sheehy's in ireland (including the aid du comp of napoleon and founder of the irish legion) but i'll never be able to tell with any certainty who if any i am directly related to.

[G.Alan Beck]

Mr.Flint raises a note to ponder.If indeed DNA mapping can put your ancestry in a given geographic area at a specific point in medieval history,it should be easy enough to connect these ancestors to the major battles of medieval history as we have a fairly accurate accounts of armed conflict throughout the age of man.As to specializing my training to my ancestors I should have been a little more specific.As training time is becoming harder & harder to find it would be nice to focus on a system common to my genetic ancestors,ie:not spending a lot of time on German longsword or Spanish Rapier when your ancestors where Vikings(or whatever).

[Steven H]

[Bob Burns]

Hi Randall, yes true, you would run out of people! The families tie back into themselves, cross back over themselves sort of to speak. I mean it's only common sense, by 30 generations your in the 100s of millions! LOL

Bob