Genealogy - Congress2014.no

Genealogy 1. Refugees during the Great Nordic War – a genealogical problem By Johanna Aminoff-­‐Winberg, Riddarhusgenealog, Helsinki, Finland The Great Nordic War has long been an object of interest for military historians. For genealogists this period has been difficult. Therefore they have shown an active interest in the refugees, and various lists of refugees have been published. My research is concentrated on the flight of the Finnish population, which was significantly more far reaching than that from the Baltic provinces. The early exodus from Ingermanland and the Baltic area is however interesting, not only because it provides a model for latter flights during the Great Nordic War. Many of the refugees were to stay in the western part of the kingdom for the better part of a decade, others for even longer. A Refugee Commission was appointed in 1712 to be in charge of refugee questions. The task of the commission was partly to administer the collections that since 1706 had existed for the refugees benefit, and partly to distribute the collected aid among the needy of the refugees. From all the individual information I have found concerning the refugees, I have compiled a data base which mainly consists of the refugee’s names, work, and family relationships and, in the best instances, where the person came from and the location in Sweden where they spent time. When one widens the research from the Refugee Commission’s material and the clergies' lists to also include the parish registers, a whole group of refugees suddenly steps forward out of their anonymity. In the parish registers, amongst other things, there are, for example peasants and commoners mainly from the Åland islands that never received any support. In my lecture I am going to discuss the challenges and possibilities of genealogical studies in the study of refugees during the Great Nordic War, a time of war, crisis and mass migration. 2. Families of Zeelst-­‐Meerveldhoven: Genealogy, genetics and history Johanna E.M.H. van Bronswijka, Jan M.J. Bressersb, Luud J.W.J. Gilissenc, Maarten Larmuseaue, Jacq P.J.M. van Lieshoutb, Frank J.C. van der Madenb, René L.H. van Rooijd, Ad M.J.G. van Runb; Wim J.C. Sendersb a
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Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands; Zeelst schrijft geschiedenis, Veldhoven, The Netherlands; Wageningen University and d
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Research centre, The Netherlands; Nederlandse Genealogische Vereniging, afdeling Kempen-­‐ en Peelland, The Netherlands; Laboratory of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Genomics, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium INTRODUCTION: In the 1648 Treaty of Münster (part of the peace treaty of Westphalia), the Republic of the Seven Provinces was recognized as an independent Calvinistic state. For the southern Catholic part this was a disaster with cultural repression and the loss of both citizenship and regional authority. AIM: Understanding life conditions, migration and origin of the inhabitants of the Roman-­‐Catholic parish Zeelst-­‐Meerveldhoven (Kempen, Noord-­‐Brabant,) of 1650 and their descendants in a multidisciplinary study, as an example for the region. METHODOLOGY: Listing the complete adult population of 1650; Genealogy research of ‘straight’ female and male lines; Genetic analyses of mtDNA and Y-­‐
chr. DNA of current descendants; Published history, archeology, paleontology, archeobotany and paleoclimatology data. RESULTS: After the last ice age, Europe was repopulated. In the last cold wave, people of the Ahrensberg culture left Scandinavia to follow their meat supply (reindeer) and reached the Kempen area. Other tribes repopulated from warmer regions further south or south-­‐east. We traced part of the 1650 inhabitants back to specific tribes (haplotypes). After the establishment of a Dutch centralized state (1813-­‐1815), Noord-­‐Brabant regained its regional authority, and surviving Dutch families could grow again in wealth and numbers. 3. Un village français dans la tourmente de la Grande Guerre By Pierre Le Clercq, Aubervilliers, France En cette année 2014 de commémoration internationale du centenaire de la Grande Guerre, les généalogistes redécouvrent l’impact que ce terrible conflit a pu avoir sur la démographie des villages français, qui ont largement contribué à l’effort de guerre. L’un de ces villages, à savoir Lindry près d’Auxerre en Bourgogne, m’intéresse plus particulièrement puisque près de la moitié de mes ancêtres, par ma mère, y ont vécu. Si dans l’ensemble le déclin démographique de ce village est avant tout dû à l’exode rural, on constate que la Grande Guerre a redistribué largement les cartes matrimoniales, empêchant des unions de se former ou interrompant des unions constituées depuis peu, tout en permettant malgré tout, après la guerre, de nouvelles unions qui n’avaient pas été prévues. Mon propos sera de montrer que la Grande Guerre a détruit, certes, de nombreux couples de Lindry, mais qu’elle a permis ensuite des rencontres amoureuses qui ont débouché sur des postérités qui doivent leur existence même au vaste conflit qui a endeuillé l’Europe de 1914 à 1918. Nombreux sont les habitants de Lindry, de nos jours, qui sont en fait les purs produits des tueries perpétrées pendant quatre ans. 4. Did Edvard Munch Have Children? A Genealogical and Genetic Investigation By Dr. Bruce Durie, BSc (Hons) PhD OMLJ FSAScot FCollT FIGRS FHEA, Fellow, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland It has often been conjectured whether Edvard Munch had children. Recently, the spotlight has fallen on one particular female friend of Munch’s as the possible mother. Genealogical and biographical investigations by the author have revealed much about this person and her background – abandonment by her novelist father, upbringing in London, musical studies in Germany and a fascinating life in Norway, France and elsewhere. This has been combined with DNA testing of her grandson in order to help determine the likelihood of a genetic link to Munch. 5. The Spanish Civil War's Legacy for Genealogical Research By Matthew Hovious, Madrid, Spain This talk will look at how record destruction during the Spanish Civil War and, to a lesser extent, two earlier conflicts during the 19th century, obstructs research into genealogy and heraldry in Spain. Images of records and relevant maps will be included in a Power Point presentation to enliven the topic for those present. Records disasters at a few specific town halls, churches and archives will be highlighted, and I will discuss some reasons why records were wilfully sought out for destruction. An overview will be given of efforts during the 1950s by civil and diocesan authorities to create replacements for the lost records, at least as they pertained to persons then living; and the practical limitations of this process will be underscored. Of special interest is the legacy of regional inequities created by the destruction of council, court and church records; these inequities have resulted in some areas being all but hopeless for genealogical research, while other areas were virtually unaffected. A map of Spain cross-­‐
referenced with known sites of record destruction will establish which areas are hot spots (or, more accurately, cold spots) for genealogical research in Spain. Finally, I will present some practical examples of things genealogists can try to bridge the gaps. Drawing on my broad experience in over a decade of working full time on genealogy in archives throughout Spain, I will show a few specific cases where the destruction of the primary sources for genealogical research necessitated the use of alternative record sets, and what these research gambits achieved. 6. Zwischen Genealogie und Prosopographie. Zum Stand der genealogischen Forschung in österreichischen Schlesien By Tomáš Krejčík, Professor, University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Tschechische Republik In den letzten Jahren wurden neue Fachbücher und Studien publiziert, die den Stand unserer Kenntnisse über den österreichischen Teil von Schlesien (1742–1918) gründlich veränderten. Die Zusammenarbeit der tschechischen, polnischen und deutschen Historiker brachte die wesentlichen Ergebnisse, die eine wichtige Rolle dieses Gebiets in der Neuzeit zeigen. Im Vortrag werden bedeutende wissenschaftliche Arbeiten (biographische Lexika, synthetische Arbeiten usw.) analysiert. Zurzeit werden auch die bisher unpublizierten Quellen herausgegeben (Wappenbriefe, Stammbücher, Memoiren, Tagesbücher usw.). Die adeligen Genealogien spielen in dieser Forschung eine große Rolle und die kritische Betrachtung von den in vorhandenen Quellen verankerten Studien korrigiert oft die Forschungsergebnisse, die in der älteren Fachliteratur präsentiert werden. Gleichzeitig bringen die Arbeiten über Entwicklung der neuen unternehmerischen Schichten bis jetzt unbekannte Beweise für die Bedeutung von diesen „neuen“ Familien. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird auch die Rolle der kaiserlichen Nobilitationen erörtert. Die Struktur der nobilitierten Personen ist aus vielen Gründen (Nationalität, Beruf, Konfession usw.) interessant, wobei die Rolle dieser Gruppe in der Modernisierung des Landes neu erleuchtet werden kann. Aufgrund dieser wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten entwickelte sich vorwiegend in 19. Jahrhundert ein neues Bild von den alten und neuen schlesischen Eliten. 7. Genealogy in post-­‐Soviet Russia (Part 2 of the lecture by Dr Igor Sakharov) By Dr Olga Kulakovskaya, Petrozavodsk, Karelia, Russia The society of Soviet Russia suffered from a kind of collective amnesia. Such was the situation up until the nineteen eighties and nineties, when the totalitarian regime was liberalized, the Communist system collapsed, and the press were freed from ideology. These changes were of enormous significance for genealogy. Today in Russia more and more people are actively engaged in studying their family trees, groups of amateur and professional genealogists are multiplying all over the country, genealogy is enjoying a renaissence as an academic discipline, the number of specialist conferences is growing, articles and books on genealogy and family history appear all the time, along with special periodicals, and for some time Russian scholars have been taking part in the activities of international committees, congresses and colloquia. 8. Bürgermeister Georg Friedrich Storkmann aus Diepholz reist nach Norwegen um die Nordmann-­‐Erbschaft für seine Bürger zu retten. Seit der Hansezeit herrschte reger Verkehr nicht nur der Hansestädte mit Norwegen, auch das Hinterland von Bremen (heutiger Landkreis Diepholz) stellte viele junge Männer By Falk Liebezeit, Diepholz, Deutschland Georg Friedrich Storkmann (1780–1851) war französischer Maire 1811–
1813 und anschließend königlich Hannoverscher Bürgermeister 1813–
1851. Er war diplomatisch genug um mit den französischen Behörden zum Wohl der Kleinstadt zusammenzuarbeiten – was ihm nach der Besatzung durch die Wahl zum Bürgermeister gedankt wurde. Er war Kaufmann, besaß ein Haus in Diepholz und eine Ziegelei in Rehden, zehn Kilometer weiter im Osten. Die Leute erzählten von ihm und seinem Schwiegervater Bürgermeister Heinrich Ludolf Albers, die beiden hätten jeder eine Tonne Gold besessen, aber das war sicher übertrieben. Im Hauptstaatsarchiv Hannover liegt eine Akte die seine Norwegen-­‐Reise erwähnt. Vor allem aus dem Flecken und der Kirchengemeinde Barnstorf, 15 Kilometer nördlich von Diepholz, fuhren zahlreiche junge Männer im achtzehnten Jahrhundert nach Bergen. Im norwegischen Digitalarkiv finden wir wieder. Jeder vierte der Gesellen und Lehrjungen, der im achtzehnten Jahrhundert in Bergen ankam, stammte aus dem Gebiet zwischen Bremen und Osnabrück. Es entsteht der Eindruck Bergen sei zeitweise ein Vorposten von Bremen gewesen. Im Laufe der Jahrzehnte und Jahrhunderte brach die Verbindung in die Heimat ab, die norwegischen Nachkommen wissen oft noch davon, aber im Herkunftsgebiet sind die Beziehungen fast vergessen. 9. From Brandenburg through the Scandinavian and Baltic countries to Russia and Great Britain – a line of descendancy covering more than 400 years By Elin Galtung Lihaug, member of the Congress Executive Comittee, Oslo, Norway From the Grabow manor near Berlin in Brandenburg Hans Grabow emigrated to Denmark in 1582. His granddaughter, Barbara Grabow, was married to admiral Lauritz Galtung in 1650. Their eldest daughter, Clara Maria Galtung, lived in Sweden, and her son, Mathias Johan Siöberg, was an officer in the Swedish army. Sweden dominated the Baltic area at that time, and Siöberg also lived in Riga, Latvia and finally in Pärnu, Estonia. His daughter, Christina Regina Siöberg, was married to Emperor Peter the Great’s protégé, general Abram Hanibal (Gannibal), who was the commander of Tallinn (Reval) from 1742 to 1752. The couple had ten children, among them Osip Abramovich Hanibal, grandfather of the famous Russian poet Alexander S. Pushkin. Pushkin’s granddaughter, Sophie, Countess of Torby, was married to Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich, grandson of Emperor Nicholas I. Their daughter, Nadezhda Mikhailovna, Countess of Torby, was the wife of George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven. These days, their grandson, George Mountbatten, 4th Marquess of Milford Haven, is a successful British businessman and the current Head of the House of Mountbatten. 10. From Mexico to the world: The legacy and tradition of the Gallardo family in tequila and charreria By Rodrigo Lopez-­‐Portillo y Lancaster-­‐Jones, Academia Mexicana de Genealogia y Heraldica, Mexico City, Mexico Since arriving in the late 16th Century to then New Spain (nowadays Mexico), this family has been a unique example of tradition and achievement. Despite many challenges, they’ve succeeded with hard work and vision, growing their business to an international level while always maintaining their traditions and keeping a legacy that unite and embrace the identity of Mexico. While interested in their legacy and traditions, this family has also been involved with the improvement of the community, with a foundation they manage to do social work and also practicing and promoting Mexican traditions for which the country is known abroad like tequila (Mexico's national drink) [1] and charreria (Mexican horsemanship) [2]; they also promote the mariachi [3]. In their descendance there's the only Mexican Nobility title with a "Grande of Espana" honour: Dukes of Regla [4]. Through this line, there has been some Mexican ambassadors, distinguish military men and politicians, in addition to successful entrepreneurs. Objectives: To portray the story of a Spanish family that in late 16th Century migrated to Mexico (then New Spain). To explain: Their participation in the mining and farming business. How this family became a distinguished player in the shape of the Mexican nation. How the traditions have been kept withstanding the test of time. How the legacy continues. How such legacy and traditions are connected with the features that distinguish Mexico in the world today. Method: To trace a genealogical tree and to identify its most important members; to research on their biographies; and to present a paper by a short narrative with the highlights of the investigation. Sources: Primary sources: the Archivo General de Indias (Seville, Spain); the Archivo General de la Nacion (Mexico City, Mexico); the national libraries in Madrid and Mexico City; the Library of Congress (USA); the British Library (London); the Bibliotheque nationale de France (Paris); the Public Library of the State of Jalisco (Mexico); FamilySearch / The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-­‐day Saints; and private archives, libraries and collections (portraits, photographs, maps, documents, printed works, etc.). Secondary sources: books (selected bibliography), magazines, newspapers and other printed matters from France, Mexico, Spain, US, UK; and interviews with the family descendants in Mexico City and Guadalajara (Mexico). Results: To present a family which was very involved with the land and the high society of the former Kingdom of New Spain and how it got adapted into the new political model after Mexico’s independence; and the way this family preserved its legacy and traditions, and its influence in the country's national uniqueness. Conclusion: The New World's conquest influenced a 16th Century Spanish Andalusian branch of the Gallardo family that crossed the Atlantic in order to attend the opportunity of new land grants given by the Crown and to serve into public administration. Through the passage of time, this family got involved in local traditions of distilled spirit making and horsemanship that will be the origin of Mexico’s national drink (tequila) and Mexico’s national sport (charreria). Therefore, its important participation in Mexico’s history during the past 19th and 20th centuries influenced the History of the nation and nowadays both tequila and charreria are two of the three features linked worldwide with the Mexican distinctiveness. 11. Marriage as a political tool for reconciliation. Continuity and change in the Norwegian aristocracy after the death of King Magnus Erlingsson (1184) By Lars Løberg, member of the Congress Scientific Committee, Oslo, Norway The Norwegian civil wars (1130–1240) cover several isolated periods of warfare and are mainly seen as a transitional period in the formation of Norway as a sovereign state in the Medieval ages. Historians argue whether or not the different campaigns were mainly clashes among aristocrats and their throne pretenders or if the campaigns at times involved and engaged the entire society. Fightings were particularly intense during the clashes between the kings Magnus Erlingsson and Sverre 1177–84 in which Sverre managed to defeat and kill first Earl Erling (1179) and five years later also his son king Magnus. After the death of king Magnus Sverre seemingly could establish himself as the sole ruler of Norway. For this purpose he launched a program of reconciliation of which parts were already included in his speech to his troops after the decisive battle at Nordnes (1184). In this speech he does not only promise his men glory and prosperity, he also promises them the best marriages to be found in Norway. The obvious idea behind this promise is that the best way to reconciliate enemy aristocrat families is to unite them by marriage. The presentation will discuss the legal foundation for Sverre’s promise as well as present the cross-­‐enemy-­‐line marriages to be found listed in Sverre’s saga as well as in other documents from the period. I will then discuss what percentage of the Norwegian aristocracy was involved in these marriages as well as what kind of an impact these marriages had for the future development of the state building of Norway. 12. Les généalogies de familles catholiques romaines vivant ou ayant vecu en Méditerranée orientale By Livio Missir de Lusignan, Belgique Mon propos est de retracer la généalogie de certaines familles catholiques romaines parties d'Europe pour l'Orient et pour diverses raisons, croisades, postes diplomatiques ou intérêsts commerciaux importants. Ces familles sont restées en Orient par la suite en gardant une solide Foi de catholiques romains ex Famille Giustiniani partie de Gênes pour Chios, Glavany pour Constantinople ainsi que les de Hubsch , Balladur et Bragiotti etc... 13. Studies on the Forest Finn ethnicity in the Swedish-­‐Norwegian border area. Perspectives on family names and migration before 1821 By Jan Myhrvold, Vice President of the Congress Executive Comittee, Gjerdrum, Norway Unlike native Norwegian and Swedish farmers the migrating Forest Finn settlers, while colonizing the coniferous Scandinavian forest areas, mainly in the first decades of the 17th century, brought an ancient tradition of inheritable family names to the area. These names were not regarded as official by Scandinavian authorities. Nevertheless, family name remnants connected to persons can be found in written sources all through the 17th to the later part of the 19th century. Even if often strongly distorted, the surnames are strong ethnical markers, when interpreted correctly. In 1817 and 1821 the Finnish researcher Carl Axel Gottlund visited Dalarna and the Swedish-­‐Norwegian border area and registered the family names of the Forest Finns living there. The tracing of ancestors utilizing the naming of individuals mentioned in the Gottlund register back to the 17th century in order to compare with the naming in other historical sources, is a very useful method, not to say a very powerful tool as such. It allows for a unique way of controlling prior results in the research of micro migration and genealogy, especially when combining the results with DNA-­‐testing. 14. Evaluation of traditional Celtic genealogies By Hugh Peskett, Winchester, United Kingdom The Celtic races have a long tradition of preserving genealogies in their own languages – Gaelic in Scotland and Ireland, and Welsh in Wales. But these genealogies have been misunderstood because of failure to understand what is recorded and importantly what is omitted. This has been supported by a recent decision in Scots Law (remembering that Scots Law is quite separate from English Law and includes the Lyon Court, which has jurisdiction over heraldry including, in consequence, succession of Clan Chiefs). The claim of the heir to be Chief of Clan Macdonald of Keppoch was disputed, ultimately won on appeal to the highest Court of Appeal in Scotland. My key evidence was a traditional genealogy of seven generations recited in Gaelic by an elderly lady I found in Lochaber which, evaluated, was supported by Professor William Gillies of the Department of Celtic at Edinburgh University and others. Then I apply these principles to the unjustly ridiculed genealogy of the Cecils who rose from Welsh origins to the highest ranks in English government – notably William Cecil, Lord Burghley under Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century – and show the truth behind it. 15. L'immigration scandinave au Québec jusqu'en 1901 (année du recensement) By Denis Racine, Québec, Canada Bien que marginale dans le courant migratoire qui a suivi la fin des guerres napoléoniennes (1815) jusqu'en 1901, au Québec (469 suédois et norvégiens, 122 danois et 2 islandais qui y habitaient en 1901), cette immigration, qui fut beaucoup plus importante à la même période dans le reste du Canada (12 331 en 1901) et aux États-­‐Unis, a façonné ce coin de pays tant par la concentration de ces immigrants (au Saguenay) que par la notoriété de ceux-­‐ci ou certains de leurs descendants (famille Kronström à Lévis et Québec). Elle correspond à un moment de grandes difficultés économiques en Europe et les grandes vagues d'immigration qui ont peuplé l'Amérique du Nord. Ailleurs au Canada, ces immigrants ont constitués des colonies importantes au Nouveau-­‐Brunswick, en Ontario et dans les provinces de l'Ouest. Ils nous ont laissé un héritage important qui marque encore de nos jours la vie sociale, économique et culturelle, canadienne et québécoise. La présentation sera divisée ainsi: L'immigration scandinave au Canada 1608 à nos jours -­‐ Les statistiques; Les difficultés reliées à l'immigration -­‐ Les décès d'immigrants scandinaves dans le registres de l'Hôpital de la Marine de Québec; Quelques figures marquantes parmi ces immigrants et leurs descendants; Une concentration d'immigrations scandinaves au Saguenay (familles Rasmussen, Elefsen, Olsen, Robertsen) L'héritage scandinave dans la vie sociale, économique et culturelle des québécois (notamment l'implantation du ski de fonds au Canada avec Herman "Jack Rabbit" Smith-­‐Johanssen (1875–1987)). 16. The Rise of Genealogical Manifestation after the Election of Poland and Lithuania Ruler in 1669 By Dr Agnė Railaitė-­‐Bardė, Junior Researcher, The Lithuanian Institute of History, The History of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Department, Vilnius, Lithuania After the death of the last Jagiellonian dynasty offspring Sigismund II Augustus in 1572, the Polish-­‐Lithuanian Commonwealth was ruled by the elected foreign persons from the Valois, Báthory and Vasa dynasties for almost a century. When John II Casimir Vasa abdicated in 1668, one year-­‐long interregnum began. To great surprise, Michael Korybut Wisniowiecki became the king of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1669. He overcame his rivals such as Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé and others. Michael Korybut Wisniowiecki was a ruined noble whose father’s, famous in soldiership, fortune was lost during the war period. The election of Michael Korybut Wisniowiecki brought a strong wave of personal genealogical manifestation in occasional writings, family tree and heraldry, which was uncommon to the previous monarchs of the Commonwealth. The monarch declared his origin from ancient Rome, i. e. from Caesarino Columna through the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytenis and his successor Gediminas. He also paraded kinship ties with many Christian rulers of North, Middle, Western European countries, Russia and the Byzantine Empire. What were the reasons and peculiarities of such demonstration of genealogical identity? 17. Documenting a Nation’s History Using the Resources of FamilySearch By David E. Rencher, AG, CG, FIGRS, FUGA, Chief Genealogical Officer, FamilySearch, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-­‐day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA This presentation focuses on the resources of the FamilySearch website and the extensive collection of microfilm and digital images. It will also include a discussion on how to maximize the online catalog and the rich resources of the FamilySearch Research Wiki – a tool for all historians and genealogists. FamilySearch is partnering with many of the world’s leading genealogical companies, expanding the access to content globally. These combined resources of images and indexes are provided free of charge on the FamilySearch website. FamilySearch currently posts 1.6 million indexed records online each day and continues to image records world-­‐wide with over 250 digital cameras operating in many countries, especially the United States, Europe and South America. 18. The political and social upheavals in pre-­‐Soviet and Soviet Russia during the twentieth century, and their impact on genealogy as an academic discipline, and on personal attitudes towards family history (Part 1) By Dr. Igor V. Sakharov, St. Petersburg, Russia In the history of Russia a series of events stand out as having to a lesser or greater degree influenced the development of genealogy. For instance there was the Tsar’s decree of 1685 abolishing the law of “precedence”, by which appointments had to be made not on the basis of personal merit, but in accordance with the positions that had been held by a person’s direct ancestors or other relatives, and always counterbalanced by consideration of the positions held by the ancestors of the figure who in principle might become the appointee’s superior! In the early eighteenth century, in the context of the reforms of Peter the First, came the introduction of obligatory church registers recording the civil status of every citizen. And in 1785, under Catherine the Second, a system was established for proving an individual’s right to belong to the upper echelons of the Empire, and local genealogical registers of the nobility came into use. Not one of these events, however, can be compared in any way to the radical changes brought about by the collapse of the monarchy in 1917 and the rise to power of the Communist party. During the second half of the nineteenth and the early part of the twentieth centuries genealogy as an academic discipline was quickly developing. Not only was public interest in genealogy and family history growing rapidly, but serious works of research in these fields were published in increasing numbers. Several distinguished genealogists appeared who made their mark in Russian historical studies. Genealogical societies were set up in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and it looked as if the next decades would see a flowering of scholarly genealogy. The establishment of Bolshevik power in 1917 spelt disaster for Russian genealogy. The new regime proceeded to “introduce order” not only into politics and the economy, but into all spheres of life -­‐ social, academic, cultural and spiritual. Such was the case for the humanities, which were subjected to brutal suppression, and the fate of genealogy was a particularly glaring example of this policy. In the eyes of the new authorities this branch of history was ideologically alien to the construction of socialism and communism; if not actually harmful, it was seen as at best utterly useless, and interest in genealogy was considered inappropriate. Consequently, genealogical studies in Soviet Russia were driven underground, and no works on the subject could be published. It became one of many repressed branches of learning -­‐ just as happened, for instance, with genetics. But it was not only scholarly genealogy that suffered. After 1917 the traditional basic structures of life were violently destroyed and all accustomed forms of state administration broken apart. A lengthy, bloody civil war ensued, accompanied by mass emigration. A campaign of terror was unleashed against whole sections of the population -­‐ business people, the nobility, civil servants, officers, clergy, the old intelligentsia, and later on the wealthier peasantry. The Russian way of life had been based on traditional family values. The Orthodox majority unfailingly observed the pious practice of regularly praying both for living relatives and for those who had passed on into the next world. Church rules, which limited or actually proscribed marriage between relations (in the old Russia only church marriages were legal), obliged people to remember not only their own family tree, but also that of potential marriage partners. After 1917 the church was subjected to brutal repression. All over the country churches were closed or destroyed and priests arrested and exiled, and a new generation grew up who had never been inside a church and never seen a priest, or for that matter a pastor, a mullah or a rabbi. Now only civil marriages were recognized. In the nineteen thirties repressions were carried out on a massive scale against every section of the population; people were shot, confined in the gulag, or exiled to far distant places. Families were torn apart, hundreds of thousands of those who remembered the past vanished without trace, and with them family memories. For a great many people such memories actually constituted a danger; parents and grandparents took pains to hide the facts of their family history from their children and grandchildren, either saying nothing about their own family background or inventing a false version of it, and destroying documents, letters and photographs... Rapid urban expansion meant a mass exodus from the villages, and many of these were deserted. Even close relations lost touch with one another, and the basic sense of belonging to a particular patch of native soil was eroded. Finally, millions perished in the war of nineteen forty-­‐one to forty-­‐five, millions who had remembered their own kith and kin; and huge numbers of people grew up with no memory of their fathers and grandfathers. The result was that the society of Soviet Russia suffered from a kind of collective amnesia. Most Russians had an imperfect memory of their own family’s past, and successive generations grew up of what we call “Ivans who don’t remember their kin”. Sociological studies have demonstrated that the vast majority of citizens know practically nothing about their great-­‐grandfathers, neither where they lived, nor what they did for a living, nor even their names. 19. From 17 May 1814 back to 17 May 1537: The end of Norwegian independence. Who were the men fighting together with the last archbishop of Norway? By Johan Marius Setsaas, Co administrator of the genealogical homepages www.Setsaas.net and www.selbuslekt.no, Selbu, Norway The article briefly explains the role of Nidaros archbishopric as a major force and opponent of foreign rule in Norway during the period 1428–1537, and includes a detailed survey of the genealogical background of the archbishop’s officials. The castle Steinvikholmen, held by the forces of the archbishop, submitted to the Danish forces on 18th of May 1537. Negotiations between the parties must have been made the day before, on 17th of May, ironically enough the same date as for the Norwegian Constitution, 17 May 1814. Ever since the creation of Nidaros archdiocese in 1152/53, the archbishopric represented an important force in Norway, also politically. In the Tønsberg settlement of 1277, the archbishop received the right to keep his personal army of 120 men. This survey detects many examples of genealogical relationship between the archbishops and their officials. It may explain the strong loyalty among many of the Archbishop officials. The main sources for this article are Diplomatarium Norvegicum, Norges gamle Love, and Regesta Norvegica, but some rare sources, such as Olav Engelbriktssons rekneskapsbøker 1532–1538, have also been used. 20. The end of the Norwegian Nobility – Nobility in Norway and the effects of the Constitution of 1814 By Kaare Seeberg Sidselrud, aih, Congress General Secretary, Oslo, Norway With the Constitution of May 17th 1814 the future granting of nobility and the connected special and exclusive rights were prohibited. There were voices at the Constitutional Assembly who held other views as well. With ‘Adelsloven’ – the Nobility act of 1821 the Norwegian parliament abolished the nobility in Norway. The statute, however, was not meant to have effect for living members of the nobility and the nobles were given a 1824 deadline for presenting proof of their nobility for the Storting (the parliament) in its next session. The king opposed this statute. In the 1824 session of the parliament nobles representing a total of 15 different families had their documents accepted as proof of their nobility. Two persons representing two different families had their claims refused. The Norwegian Nobility in the years before 1814 has been estimated to consist of 75–100 families. The differences in numbers may be due to the frequent mobility between Norway and Denmark. It is also a fact that some families from the old nobility did not submit proofs of nobility to the parliament for the 1824-­‐session, but have been entered in some lists as noble in the latter part of the 19th century. This paper will present and discuss the families in question, their heraldry, their status and the question of nobility within and outside of Norway in connection with the formal and legal abolishment of the nobility of Norway. 21. The usefulness of genealogical research for the study of political and social developments in the County of Flanders in the 14th century: the case-­‐study of the noble family Van Gavere-­‐Van Liedekerke By Paul Trio, Prof. Dr., KU Leuven and the KU Leuven Campus Kortrijk (Kulak), Leuven, Belgium In 1987, the famous American medievalist Nicholas wrote with regard to the political developments in the county of Flanders at the end of the 13th and in the 14th century that the interaction of these developments is illustrated very well by the case of the family of Gavere, lords of Boulare, Breda, Eksaarde, and Aspelare … The family became increasingly prominent in the affairs of Ghent with the advent of Raas Van Liedekerke, called Van Herzele. Thus a lesser noble was assimilated into the bourgeoisie while remaining fundamentally a man of the countryside. Ever since the middle of the 11th century, the Van Gavere (of Gavere) family (afterwards also called ‘Van Liedekerke’ (of Liedekerke) had become one of the most prominent noble families of the county of Flanders, a principality which had during the course of the 11th to the 13th century developed into one of the most significant principalities of Western Europe. Members of the Van Gavere family functioned as cup-­‐bearers of the count and played a prominent political role in the county as a result of their wealth and extensive social network. However, in the course of the 14th century, Raas van Liedekerke, also known as ‘Van Herzele’ (of Herzele), and his descendants changed allegiance and began to side with the rebellious city of Ghent against the Flemish count. Raas van Liedekerke or Van Herzele was first attested in 1301; at that time, he was already married to the hitherto rather enigmatic Clementien van Berchem (Clementine of Berchem). How can this evolution within this noble family be explained? To find the answer to this question, we need to find out who this Raas van Liedekerke really was. Older studies invariably identify him as the 4th son of Raas VIII of Gavere, born from the latter’s marriage to Aleydis van Boelare (Alice of Boelare), and consequently a direct scion of this illustrious noble family. However, recent publications have cast considerable doubt upon this claim and have suggested that Raas van Liedekerke was the son of a relatively minor local lord of Herzele, a village some 20 kilometres from Ghent. If this was the case, this would seriously impugn the thesis that Raas van Herzele was an exponent of a late 13th-­‐ and 14th-­‐century evolution that saw the integration of members of important noble families into the burgeoning towns, where they married members of the urban elite and in time began to champion urban privileges. Our research, however, has proved that Raas van Liedekerke or Van Herzele was indeed the son of Raas VIII van Gavere and Aleydis van Boelare, and that his wife was a member of one of the richest families of Ghent, namely the Van Herzeles. By that time, the Van Gaveres had already been integrated into the urban fabric of Ghent for some decades, via the acquisition of moveable property and real estate, the membership of corporations etcetera, and had even obtained a seat in the town government. So we should not at all be surprised that Raas van Liedekerke, his son and grandson decided to take up arms with Ghent against the count. A new reading of the already published documents and additional research in the records focusing on the Ghent urban elite – and especially the Van Herzele family – have allowed us to solve what the famous legal historian Napoléon de Pauw has once called one of the hardest problems of genealogical research and historiography in Flanders.