Plantagenet, Capetian, Angevin, and
Merovingian Royal Ancestry of
Modern-Day Commoners

By John Major Scott Jenkins

Pharamond

Clodio

Merovech

Childeric I

Clovis I

Chlotar I

Chilperic I

Chlotar II

Dagobert I

Clovis II

Theuderic III

Bertha

Charibert, Count of Leon

Bertrade Leon

Charlemagne (Holy Roman Emperor)

King Louis I (of France)

Adelaide

Earl Robert I

Hugh the Great

Hugh Capet

Robert II

Robert I

Hildegarde

William, The IX Duke of Aquitaine (the "1st Troubadour")

William X

Eleanor of Aquitaine

King John Lackland

King Henry III

King Edward I

King Edward II

King Edward Plantagenet III

Thomas Plantagenet (Prince)

Anne Plantagenet (Duchess)

John Bourchier (Duke)

Humphrey Bourchier (Sir)

Anna Bourchier (Lady)

Thomas Fiennes (Sir Knight)

Thomas Fiennes (Baron Dacre)

Margaret Fiennes (Baroness Dacre)

Elizabeth Lennard

Thomas Barnham

Richard Barnum

Bethuel Barnum

Israel Barnum

Caleb Barnum

Joseph Corey Barnum

Lucy Permelia Barnum

Anna May Moreland

Beatrice Moreland Riffle

William Barnum Jenkins

John Major Jenkins

 

 

To my cousins and siblings: Our direct line (parent-to-child) ancestors include Martin Barnham, King Edward III, Geoffrey Plantagenet, William the Conqueror, Fulk Nera, Ingelgar the First Count of Anjou, Eleanor of Aquitaine, King Louis I of France, Hugh Capet, Charlemagne, Dagobert I, Clovis I, and Pharamond, the semi-legendary founder of the Merovingians. And what does it mean? As much as you want it to.

 

The genealogical story begins with the first Merovingian king, Merovech. But a mystery going further back in time splices into the line via Merovech, a mystery that takes us across the Mediterranean to events in the Holy Land and, ultimately, back in time to the early patriarchs of the House of David. For Merovech was, according to legend, the son of two fathers, one named Clodio, in turn son of the semi-legendary Frankish leader Pharamond, the other a mysterious creature from across the sea who impregnated his mother. Merovech (or Merovee) comes from “of the sea” or “child of Mary.” Also, to be the son of two fathers seems to be a way to refer to a dynastic alliance of two family lines – a tactic which was commonplace in Medieval Europe and which defined Merovech as the founder of the new Merovingian dynasty. As we will explore later, the Merovingians were long-haired monarchs who claimed the divine right to rule from being descended from the House of David. Let us save that speculative journey for later, and begin the tracing of our parent-child descent from Merovech’s Frankish grandfather Pharamond.

 

Clodio. King of the Salian Franks 426-447. Semi-legendary King of the Salian Franks and father of Merovech, founder of the Merovingian Dynasty. Called “the Long Hair” because of the length of his hair. From then on the Merovingians were called the “Long Haired Kings” and the cutting of a king’s hair represented his loss of royal power. According to legend his father was Pharamond (ruled 409-426), the first King of the Salian Franks after the departure of the Romans from Gaul. In history, Clodio was probably real. He lived in Thuringian territory, and ruled at the same time as the semi-legendary kings Theudemer and Richemer. All that is known of his reign is that he took the town of Cambrai from the Romans. He was succeeded by his semi-legendary son Merovech. (Unlike Merovech and Clodio, Childeric I, Merovech’s son, was very real and should  not be considered semi-legendary.)

 

Merovech. King of the Salian Franks 447-456. Semi-legendary early Frankish king for whom the Merovingian Dynasty is named (Meroveus in Latin). Child of a possible alliance between the Franks and Jewish (House of David) line. Legend says his mother was impregnated by Clodio as well as by a creature from across the sea. (see material at the end of genealogy).

 

Childeric I. King of the Salian Franks 456-481. Childeric succeeded his semi-legendary father Merovech as king of the Salian Franks of northern Gaul in 456, during Roman times. He became infatuated with the daughters of his subjects, who were so incensed about this that they forced him to give up the throne. He discovered that they intended to assassinate him, and he fled to Thuringia, leaving a close friend and telling him to send him a message when Childeric could return to his kingdom.


Childeric took refuge with Bisinus, King of the Thuringian Franks, and his wife Basina. The king elected by the Franks was cruel, and soon after Childeric was re-called to his kingdom by his friend, and was restored to the throne. Once Bisinus and Childeric were both kings, Basina deserted her husband and went to live with Childeric, who married her and had a son Clovis. After a battle with Odoacer, King of the Saxons (and conquerer of the Western Roman Empire, 476), at Orleans, Childeric and the Saxon king made a peace treaty and together subdued the Alamanni, who had invaded a part of Italy. In 481 Childeric died and was succeeded by Clovis, his son by Basina.

 

Clovis I, King of the Franks.
King of the Salian Franks 481-486.
King of the Franks 486-511.    Clovis inherited his father's kingdom in 481, at which time he unified the Salian and Ripurian Franks. In 486 he defeated the Roman general Syagrius who ruled northern Gaul out of Soissons. By 493 he married the Burgundian princess Clotilda. In 496, after defeating the Alamanni, he was baptized, thus becoming the first Christian ruler of post-Roman Gaul. By 506 the Alamanni were subdued, and the next year Clovis finished his expansion by taking Aquitaine from the weak Visigothic king Alaric II. On Clovis’ death in 511, the kingdom was split between Chlodomer (Orleans), Childebert (Paris), Chlotar (Soissons), and Theuderic (Metz).

 

Chlotar I. King of Soissons 511-558.
King of Austrasia 555-558.
King of the Franks 558-561.   Son of Clovis I, King of the Franks, he inherited Soissons on his death in 511. He, with his four brothers, attacked and defeated Burgundy under the kings Sigisbert and Godomar early in his reign. With his oldest brother Theuderic I, King of Metz, he attacked the Thuringian Franks under King Hermanfrid, took the kingdom, and took his daughter Radegund. Next, with his brother Childebert I, King of Paris, Chlotar murdered his nephews who were under the care of Queen Clotilda his mother. When Theuderic died, the kingdom was up for grabs. Chlotar and Childebert each received only a small part, the most of it going to Theudebert, his son. In 555, Theudebald, who had succeeded his father Theudebert in Austrasia, died, and Austrasia passed to Chlotar. When Childebert died in 558, Paris fell to Chlotar as well, thus making him sole ruler of the Franks. When Chlotar died in 561, the kingdom was divided among his 4 living sons: Charibert (Paris), Guntram (Burgundy), Chilperic (Soissons), and Sigebert (Metz).

 

Chilperic I.  King of Soissons. King of Soissons 561-584. When Chlotar, King of the Franks, died in 561 he divided the kingdom among his four sons: Chilperic received Soissons. Right away, in 562, Chilperic invaded the lands of his brother King Sigebert I of Metz, thus starting the civil wars. Sigebert advanced all the way to the city of Soissons, exiled Chilperic's son Theudebert, and forced a peace treaty out of Chilperic. In 567, their brother King Charibert I of Paris died, the kingdom was partitioned among the two and their other brother King Guntram of Burgundy, and Chilperic immediately invaded Sigebert's legal share, but was defeated.

Chilperic next allied with Guntram against Sigebert (who was in the midst of a war with Guntram). As hostilities mounted, Guntram swiched his alliance to Sigebert and Chilperic surrendered. The same exact thing happened the next year, 575, when Guntram again allied with Chilperic. That year, Sigebert died and left his kingdom to his son Childebert II. Chilperic banished Sigebert's wife Brunhild, took her money, and imprisoner her daughters. Chilperic then renewed hostilities with Guntram. In that year, Guntram's general Mummolus defeated Duke Desidarius, Chilperic's senior general. In 577, Guntram and Childebert made an alliance, demanding all of the lands Chilperic took from them. When the dysentery epidemic swept through Gaul in 580, Chilperic not only lost two sons but became ill himself. However, by the next year he was doing better and was able to make peace with Childebert. That year, as Chilperic had no sons of his own, he named his nephew, King Childebert II of Austrasia, his successor. A war with Guntram began and ended this year in which Duke Desidarius took many cities from the kingdom of Burgundy. In 582, Chilperic and Fredegund had another son, Theuderic, who died two years later. In 584, Chilperic was assassinated. He died at peace with his brother Guntram and at war with his nephew and alleged successor Childebert, but left a son born that very year: Chlotar.

 

Chlotar II. When his father, King Chilperic I of Soissons died in 584, Chlotar was not yet even born. Until 597, his kingdom was administered by his mother, Queen Fredegund, but when she died that year he bagan to rule for himself, now 13 years old. In 613, the Austrasian and Burgundian kings, Theudebert II and Theuderic II respectively, had died, and Queen Brunhild had placed the young Sigebert II on the throne of those two kingdoms. That year, the 29 year old Chlotar had Sigebert and Brunhild killed, and became the first king of all the Franks since his grandfather Chlotar I died in 561. In 615, Chlotar passed the Edict of Paris, a sort of French Magna Carta that greatly pleased the nobles across the kingdom. In 623, he gave the kingdom of Austrasia to his young son Dagobert I, which was a political move giving Pepin I, Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia, and Bishop Arnulf of Metz, the two leading Austrasian nobles, semi-autonomy for their loyalty to Chlotar. In 629, Chlotar died and Dagobert became sole king, moving his capital from Austrasia to Paris.

 

Dagobert I. In 623, Dagobert's father, Chlotar II, King of the Franks, made him king of Austrasia to please the leading Austrasian nobles: Mayor of the Palace Pepin I and Saint Arnulf, Bishop of Metz. When Chlotar died in 629, Dagobert became sole King of the Franks, and he moved his capital from Austrasia to Paris. Later, Dagobert left the council of Pepin for a more flexible Neustrian Mayor of the Palace. In 632, he was forced to put his three-year old son Sigebert on the throne of Austrasia as the nobles were in revolt, however Pepin was not made his Mayor of the Palace. The Neustrian nobles then wished to unite with Burgundy, and so they urged Dagobert to put his son Clovis II as king of both those kingdoms, although he was only 5 years old and could be easily manipulated by the nobles. When Dagobert died in 639, the nobles of the kingdoms controlled both his sons, now puppet kings. (A separate line going through Dagobert’s son Sigisbert led into two branches: 1. direct male succession to Godfroi and Baldwin, who recaptured Jerusalem for the Merovingian name in 1100 AD; 2. probable direct male succession through Bernard Plantevelue to the Counts of Aquitaine and Poiters, culminating in William X, the father of Eleanor of Aquitaine.) 

 

Clovis II. King of Nuestrea and Burgundy. Before King Dagobert I of the Franks died, his Neustrian and Burgundian nobles urged a union of those two kingdoms, and do when he died in 639, Clovis II became king of Neustria and Burgundy. In 656, both Grimoald, Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia, and his son Childebert who he had placed on the Austrasian throne, were executed. The next year, Clovis II died, leaving the kingdom to his son Chlotar III (younger sons being Theuderic III and Childeric II), who was  just a puppet of the powerful Neustrian and Burgundian nobles.

 

Theuderic III. d. 690, father of a daughter named Bertha. In 673, the young child Theuderic III became puppet king of Neustria, and when his brothers Chlotar III and then Childeric II died in 675, he became king of all the Franks. In 687, he and the Austrasian Mayor of the Palace were defeated by Pepin II, grandson of Pepin I. He died at a young age in 691. Note: the timing of these three brother’s successions is very close after the reported death of their father, Clovis II, in 657. They must have all been about the same age; within five years or so.

 

Bertha. Bertha was the daughter of the Merovingian king Theuderic III and she married Count Martin of Laon (who also had a lineage going back to Clovis, but it probably isn’t a pure male descent); their son was:

 

Charibert, Count of Laon. He married and was the father of a daughter named Bertrade Leon, who was the mother of Charlemagne.

 

Now we can bring it forward through established royal lineages documented for the Carolingian, Capetian and Aquitaine families; the line of mother or father succession is bolded:

 

Pepin "The Short" (b. 714 in Austrasia) & Bertrade Leon [a Carolingian-Merovingian alliance]
  King of Franks Charlemagne (b. 747 Prussia) & Hildegarde, Empress of Swabia, Germany
    Louis I (b. Aug 778 in France) & Ermengarde (b. abt 778 in Liege, Belgium)
      "Fortis" Duke Robert (b. abt 820 in France) Adelaide (b. 824 in Tours, France)
         Earl Robert I (b. in Bourgogne, France) & Beatrice deVermandois, Normandy, France
           Hugh "The Great" (b. 900 Paris, Seine) & Hedwige (b. abt 915 Saxony, Germany)
              Hugh Capet (b. 939 Paris France) & Adelaide (b. 952 Germany)
                 Robert II (b. March 27, 972 in Orleans) & Constance de Toulouse (b. abt 974 Toulouse)
                    Robert I (b. abt 1011 in Francis) & Hermengarde de Helie Anjou (b. 1016 Anjou, France)
                      Hildegarde de Hildegarde (b. abt 1037 in Bourgogne) & William VIII (b. 1026 Aquitaine)
                        William IX (b. Oct. 22, 1071 & Phillippa Mathilde Maude Toulouse (b. abt 1073 France)
                          William X Duke of Aquitaine (b. 1099 in Aquitaine) & Eleanor De Rochefoucaud
                             Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of England

 

Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry II, King of England, who was the great-grandson on William the Conqueror through his mother and the grandson of Fulk V, King of Jerusalem, through his father, Geoffrey Plantagenet. Fulk V, however, became King of Jerusalem only as a result of marrying Melesende, the daughter of Baldwin, the second King of Jerusalem, who was a direct male descendant from the Merovingian kings deposed centuries earlier. Baldwin and his brother Godfroi de Bouillion, both heir to the House of David according to Merovingian doctrine, were responsible for the crusades designed to reclaim Jerusalem—and they were briefly successful. Melesende was Fulk V’s second wife; his first wife was the mother of Geoffrey Plantagenet, father of Henry II who married Eleanor of Aquitaine. Henry II, though King of England, only had an “in-law” connection to the Merovingian line. However, their children (Richard and John)—through Eleanor’s Merovingian bloodline going back through Charlemagne—were the true Plantagenet’s that could rightfully claim the divine right to rule through descent from the House of David. Richard the Lion Heart was the first King after Henry II died, thereafter transferred to King John (Lackland) after Richard died. The direct parent-child descent from King John through a line of kings, a prince, dukes and barons is well established: 

 

King John (Lackland)

King Henry III

King Edward I

King Edward II

Edward Plantagenet (King Edward III) c. 1315 AD

Thomas Plantagenet (Prince)

Anne Plantagenet (Duchess)

John Bourchier (Duke of Woodstock)

Humphrey Bourchier (Sir)

Anna Bourchier

Thomas Fiennes (Sir Knight)

Thomas Fiennes (Baron Dacre) — father died when he was young, brought up by devious relatives; he was hung with two other noblemen for a murder. See this web page.

Margaret Fiennes (Baroness Dacre) — age 1 when father was executed

Elizabeth Lennard (forfeited or lost right of royal inheritance, married Francis Barnham)

Thomas Barnum (b. 1625; came to America, 15th child of Francis Barnham (his Will) and Elizabeth Lennard, grandson of Martin Barnham, who was sheriff of Hollingsham and was knighted by King James, the successor of Queen Elizabeth)

Richard Barnum (& Mary Hurd)

Bethuel Barnum

Israel Barnum (fought in Revolutionary War)

Caleb Barnum

Joseph Corey Barnum (fought in Iowa regiment of Civil War)

Lucy Permelia Barnum

Anna May Moreland

Beatrice Moreland Riffle

William Barnum Jenkins & Eleanor Alice Doepp

You?

 

 

The Counts of Anjou are also direct ancestors, through fathers of Geoffrey Plantagenet:

 

13. Geoffrey Plantagenet (Count of Anjou), married Matilda, granddaughter of William the Conqueror

12. Fulk V, Count of Anjou

11. Fulk Rechin, Count of Anjou (also great great Grandson of Geoffrey Greygown, who in turn was the great grandson of Ingelgar, founder of the Angevin line)

10.\

9.   \

8.    \

7.      > direct  male descent line, 13 generations to Geoffrey Plantagenet

6.    /

5.  /

4. /

3. Geoffrey, Viscount of Orleans, b. 825 A.D.

2. Bouchard De Fezensac

1. Aubri de Burgundy c. 770.

 

Note above (see #11, Fulk Rechin) that another line goes back to Ingelgar, the founder of the Angevin dynasty.  These characters were ruthless and their lives full of well-documented adventures.

 

 

The Merovingian Claim to Royal Rulership (in brief)

 

Now, let’s briefly sketch what this Merovingian / House of David mystery is about. The book Holy Blood, Holy Grail goes deep into the central mystery of esoteric Christianity, and perhaps its greatest and most protected secret: The bloodline of Jesus was preserved through his conceiving a child with Mary Magdalene, who after the Crucifixion fled Palestine with an entourage of disciples and landed in southern France. There, the Mary Magdalene cult still thrives. Sangrael can mean holy grail (San Grael) or holy/royal blood (Sang Rael). Traditions in southern France preserved this strange story and persistent events such as those surrounding Rennes la Chateax, the Cathar and Albigensian heresies, the Priory of Sion, the Templars and its Holy Grail mythos, the Crusades to retake Jerusalem, and the royal claims of the Merovingians reveal little appreciated—though well documented— historical motivations.  The theory laid out so carefully and convincingly in the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail is this: Mary Magdalene gave birth to the child of Jesus in southern France; the bloodline was protected there until the time came that an alliance could be forged  with the sympathetic Sicambrian Franks who had their own claim to ancient Judaic roots through another line.  The alliance was embodied in Merovech, the child of two fathers (dynastic lines), including one who “came from across the sea.” Other elements of Merovingian beliefs and doctrines support this theory, and Holy Blood, Holy Grail and its  sequel The Messianic Legacy should be thoroughly read before laughing dismissals occur. As Plato said, the truth is often stranger than fiction.

 

 

The Cutting of the Elm at Gisors

 

Given the interests that the ruling dynasties of Medieval Europe had in demonstrating royal bloodline, particularly descent from the Merovingian Kings, an event in the lives of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II, and their son Richard the Lion Heart might be better understood.

 

In 1188 AD King Phillip II of France and King Henry II of England (with his heir Richard the Lion Heart at his side) met on the sacred field at Gisors. This site in France was where kings had come for centuries to debate, forge alliances, and sometimes do battle. A huge elm tree in the middle of the sacred field was the central symbol—an ancient elm thought to be almost 800 years old at that time, so huge that nine men joined hand to hand could not encircle it. Phillip and Henry were not on good terms; war between England and France was in the air, and Henry was making a claim on France. Phillip informed Henry that the elm would be cut down; Henry and Richard planned to defend it. A battle ensued, Richard was slightly wounded, the French army stormed the field with superior manpower while the English fled and took refuge in the nearby chateaux of Gisors. Phillip chopped down the elm, and retained France for himself. Henry thus didn’t conquer France but went home and ruled England, passing it on to Richard the Lion Heart followed by his other son, John. Here’s what I believe the “cutting  of the elm” event was about—every historical interpretation I‘ve read about it dismisses it as “baffling.” 

 

The elm at Gisors represented the Merovingian bloodline, and the battle was about the claim to the right to rule. Henry II, it will be remembered, was the grandson of Fulk V, King of Jerusalem. But this title was bestowed through marriage to the daughter of the previous King of Jerusalem, Baldwin, who did have a direct male succession from the Merovingian Kings. Henry II’s claim to France was based on obscuring the truth; his claim to blood descent was untruthful but politically worth making if the facts could be obscured. However, in a more relevant light, his son Richard did embody a true claim, because his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was descended from Charlemagne and therefore Clovis, one of the first Merovingian Kings. The Plantagenets established their Merovingian heritage only through Eleanor of Aquitaine; it was valid for Richard to make the claim (though he couldn’t because he wasn’t yet king), but not for Henry II—even though his grandfather had married the daughter of a legitimate lineal male descendant of the Merovingian line and thus became the third King of Jerusalem after Godfroi and Baldwin.

 

So, here’s why King Phillip of France wanted to symbolically cut the cord for Henry and Richard: Phillip, too, was descended from Charlemagne. Only two, but more like three, females stood in the decent line between Phillip and the Merovingian Kings. (Male descent was preferred in royal successions.) He believed his claim on France was more pure than the Plantagenet usurpers. (Not true, since Eleanor’s other line back through Bernard Plantevelue was probably all male.) Thus the elm at Gisors, ancient symbol of genetic branching and direct continuity, was cut as a statement to Henry II: “go away, France is mine!” The outward visible symbol of the vine transplanted  from the Holy Land was no more. The knowledge thereafter was hidden, though preserved by  the Templars and, later, by the Priory of Sion.

 

 

Resources:

1. Confirming resource for Merovingian-Charlemagne-Eleanor of Aquitaine: http://www.smokykin.com/ged/f001/f88/a0018820.htm

 

2. Successions between King Edward III and Baroness Dacre Margaret Fiennes (grandmother of Thomas Barnum) are not complete on any single website, and so were compiled from various website sources, all well documented and mutually supporting.

 

3. A secondary confirming source: http://www.ghg.net/shetler/oldimp/016.html.

 

4. On the Merovingian’s separate claim to descent from the Trojan line of the House of Judah, from  http://hope-of-israel.org/i000109a.htm): “There is something very  interesting about this dynasty that bears explanation: Its kings all wore long hair. They kept their kingly office until the Pope suggested to the East Franks (Germans) that they could gain the power over the Merovingians by cutting the king’s hair. The last Merovingian was accordingly tonsured. The government thereafter passed to Pepin, father of the German king Charlemagne, who restored the Roman Empire to the west in 800 AD. The history of the Merovingians, WHO DESCENDED FROM THE TROJAN LINE AND THE HOUSE OF JUDAH, is made especially interesting in a book entitled The Long-haired Kings, by J. M. Wallace-Hadrill.”

 

5. Vincent Bridges on the entire mystery - a must read!

 

Another line branching off from the Fiennes ancestor is evident at this page that takes us back to the early kings of Scotland and Ireland, though the page is not very detailed on its own sourcings: http://www.waitegenealogy.org/JustForFun/backtoadam.htm

 

Now, if you really want a chuckle: A biblical genealogy that leads into the Merovingian dynasty (the Merovingians claimed to be descended from Noah – see the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail) is at this guy’s website (and he’s dead serious):  http://www.iserv.net/~jklewis/pratt.htm. Of course, it’s filled with time gaps typical of biblical lists, but here’s the general plan:

 

1. Adam & Eve
 [Seth
  [Enosh
   [Kenan
    [Mahalalel (b: 3605 b.c.)
     [Jared (b: 3540 b.c.)
      [Enoch (b:3378 b.c.
       [Methuselah (b: 3313 b.c.
        [Lamech (b: 3126 b.c.)
         [Noah (b: 2944 b.c.)
          [Shem (b: 2442 b.c.)
           [Arphaxad (b: 2342 b.c.)
            [Cainan
             [Shelah (b: 2307.)
              [Eber (b:2277 b.c .)
               [Peleg (b: 2244 b.c. )
                [Reu (b: 2213 b.c.)
                 [Serug (b: 2181 b.c.)
                  [Nahor (b:2152 b.c.)
                   [Terah (b:2122 b.c.)
                    [Abraham (b:2056 b.c.
                     [Isaac (b: 2046 b.c.) & Sarah
                      [Jacob of Isreal (b: 1886 b.c.) & Rebekah
                       [Judah (b: in Haren) & Leah
                        [Zarah
                         [Darda
                          [Erichthonius
                           [Tros
                            [Ilus
                             [Laomedon
                              [Priam
                               [of Troy Helenus
                                [Genger
                                 [Esdron
                                  [Esdron
                                   [Gelio
                                    [Basabiliano
                                     [Plaserio
                                      [Plesron
                                       [Eliacor
                                        [Gaberiano
                                         [Plaserio
                                          [Antenor
                                           [Priam
                                            [Helenus
                                             [Plesron
                                              [Basabiliano
                                               [Alexandre
                                                [Priam
                                                 [Getmalor
                                                  [Almadion
                                                   [Diluglic
                                                    [Helenus
                                                     [Plaserio
                                                      [Diluglio
                                                       [Marcomir
                                                        [Priam
                                                         [Helenus
                                                          [Antenor (b: 443 b.c.), Chief Prince of Ephraim
                                                           [Marcomir
                                                            [Antenor
                                                             [Priam
                                                              [Helenus
                                                               [Diocles
                                                                [Bassanus
                                                                 [Clodomir & Daughter of King of Orcodes
                                                                  [Nicanor
                                                                   [Marcomir II & Elindure
                                                                    [Clodius
                                                                     [Antenor II
                                                                       [Clodomir II
                                                                        [Merodochus
                                                                         [Cassander
                                                                          [Antharius
                                                                           [Francus
                                                                            [Clodius (b: 20 a.d.)
                                                                             [Marcomir
                                                                              [Clodomir
                                                                               [Antenor
                                                                                [Ratherius
                                                                                 [Richemer
                                                                                  [Odomir
                                                                                   [Marcomir IV & Athildis
                                                                                    [Clodomir & of Franks Halfilda
                                                                                     [Farabert
                                                                                      [Sunno
                                                                                        [Helderic
                                                                                         [Bartherus
                                                                                          [Clodius III
                                                                                           [Walter
                                                                                            [Dagobert
                                                                                             [Dagobert
                                                                                              [Clodius I
                                                                                                [Marcomir
                                                                                                 [Pharamond & Argotta
                                                                                                  [Long-Hair Clodio, father of  Merovech

 

And thus to Clovis I, Charlemagne, Eleanor of Aquitaine, King Edward III, etc…

 

This material compiled and written by John Major Scott Jenkins, 51st generational descendant of Pharamond, King of the Franks. March 11, 2002. This research began with a clue from my sister, Cindy, who pointed out the King Edward and Eleanor of Aquitaine connection through Thomas Barnum. I remembered reading that Charlemagne was an ancestor of Eleanor’s and then, picking up Holy Blood, Holy Grail for the first time in ten years, I read that Charlemagne embodied a blood alliance between the Carolingian and Merovingian dynasties. Three days of internet research sorted out the details.

 

 

 

Clodio, the long-haired Merovingian

 

 

 

Established line                                     Probable Alternative Line              

Pharamond

Clodio

Merovech

Childeric I

Clovis I

Chlotar I

Chilperic I

Chlotar II

Dagobert I

Clovis II

Theuderic III

Bertha

Charibert, Count of Leon

Bertrade Leon

Charlemagne

King Louis I

Adelaide

Earl Robert I

Hugh the Great

Hugh Capet

Robert II

Robert I

Hildegarde & William VIII

William IX

William X

Eleanor of Aquitaine

King John Lackland

King Henry III

King Edward I

King Edward II

King Edward Plantagenet III

Thomas Plantagenet (Prince)

Anne Plantagenet (Duchess)

John Bourchier (Duke)

Humphrey Bourchier (Sir)

Anna Bourchier

Thomas Fiennes (Sir Knight)

Thomas Fiennes (Baron Dacre)

Margaret Fiennes (Baroness)

Elizabeth Lennard b. 1581

Thomas Barnham b. 1625

Richard Barnum

Bethuel Barnum

Israel Barnum

Caleb Barnum

Joseph Corey Barnum

Lucy Permelia Barnum

Anna May Moreland

Beatrice Moreland Riffle

William Barnum Jenkins

John Major Scott Jenkins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dagobert I

Sigisbert III

Dagobert II

Sigisbert IV (Count of Razes)

Sigisbert V (uncle of Wolfram's Willehalm?)

Bera III

Guillaume

Bera IV (founded Abbey of Alet)

Argila

Bera V

Bernard Plantevelue (founded duchy of Aquitaine)

William I

William II, III, IV

William V (founded duchy of Poiters)

William VI, VII, VIII

William IX (the "1st Troubadour")

 

 

 

 

Eleanor of Aquitaine

 

The genealogical flow might have a more direct—and dynastically complete—connection with the Merovingian kings, based upon tracing Eleanor of Aquitaine’s heritage back through a forefather rather than a foremother. It is well known that the founder of the duchy of Aquitaine (and Poiters) was one Barnard Plantevelue. Through his son, William, the counts of Aquitaine descended until William IX, the “first troubador” was born, and he was the father of William X, who was the father of Eleanor. If, as Holy Blood, Holy Grail has it, Bernard Plantevelue was indeed the direct descendant of Dagobert II through Sigisbert IV, then Eleanor was the first female in an otherwise direct male lineage from the earliest Merovingian kings. This makes her alliance with Henry II all the more potent for the forging of a royal dynasty with divine rights to rule. The potential gray area is the identity of Bernard Plantevelue, for the  evidence that his father was a direct descendant of Dagobert II comes from the controversial Priory Documents. These documents, which include Merovingian genealogies, were preserved by the Priory of Sion and were made public in the last 100 years or so. The claim that they represent information otherwise overlooked by historians should not be surprising—many monasteries sequester unknown documents and their unveiling usually is welcomed by historians; however, the Priory Documents, even though they are often confirmed by other historical evidence, do not have the official stamp of approval. Nevertheless, Holy Blood, Holy Grail makes a very good case, based on the Priory Documents, that Dagobert II’s son survived, inherited an uncle’s kingdom called Razes, and gave rise to the following direct succession:  Sigisbert IV (the Count of Razes), Sigisbert V, Bera III, Guillaume, Bera IV (founded Abbey of Alet), Argila, and Bera V (all Counts of Razes). The last in this line, Bera V, was the father of Bernard Plantevelue (or Plantapilus), also a Count of Razes, who established the duchy of Aquitaine. He died  around 886 AD. Bernard’s brother, Hilderic I, was the father of Sigisbert VI (Prince Ursus) and gave rise in direct male succession through 11  generations to Godroi de Boillon (according to the Priory Documents). That branch became the Kings of Jerusalem (which thereafter failed to produce direct male heirs) but  led through another branch to the Plantard family with a direct male line surviving today. Bernard’s direction, into Aquitaine, led through direct male succession to William X, father of Eleanor of Aquitaine. I don’t have the details on this succession at hand; what lies between William I and William VIII is not clear at this point, except that William V founded the duchy of Poiters. Nevertheless, the general summary quoted below indicates a direct succession took place. 

“In the 9th century the leading counts and other nobility gradually freed themselves of royal control. Bernard Plantevelue (r. 868-86) and his son, William I (r. 886-918), whose power was based in Auvergne, called themselves dukes of Aquitaine, but their state disintegrated. William V (r. 995-1030) founded a new duchy of Aquitaine based in Poitou. It reached its zenith under William VIII (r. 1058-86). When William X died (1137), his daughter ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE married Louis VII of France, whom she divorced in 1152 to marry Henry II of England. She maintained an elegant chivalric court at Poitiers. Her sons, Richard I and John, and their successors as kings of England were dukes of Aquitaine.” From: http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Provinces/Aquitaine.shtml

So, the Merovingian Kings became the Counts of Razes, then the Counts of Aquitaine and Poiters, and then, through Eleanor, the Plantagenet Kings of England. The branching off from the lineage given earlier in this paper (which is definitely established) occurs at Dagobert I. Instead of the line through Clovis II, Theuderic, Charlemagne, and Hugh Capet to Eleanor, we go through Dagobert’s other son, Sigisbert III, who was the father of Dagobert II. The intrigues in the life of Dagobert II are amazing; he was assassinated and this event was a betrayal of his ancestor’s pact with the Christian Church.  Thus history tried to erase him, and his son Sigisbert IV was likewise expunged from memory. However, not only the Priory Documents but recent historical investigation on other fronts indicates that Sigisbert IV did survive and became the Count of Razes, and his line descended to Bernard Plantevelue and, eventually, William X and his daughter Eleanor, as described.

 

This alternative line thus indicates with high probability that a direct male succession, except for the illustrious Eleanor of Aquitaine, can be traced from King Clodio to Prince Thomas Plantagenet, son of King Edward III. If, as is likely, the modern Kings of England are directly descended from Edward, then they have a direct male lineage (except for Eleanor) to Clodio and, according to legend, the bloodline of Jesus Christ. According to Holy Blood, Holy Grail, direct male lines do survive— to Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair, Alain Poher, Henri de Montpézat, and Otto von Hapsburg (titular duke of Lorraine and king of Jerusalem). As for the Barnum family and its descendants through Elizabeth Lennard, we can say that Elizabeth Lennard was removed from Prince Thomas by seven generations, with three mothers and four fathers in between. From Elizabeth Lennard it is all male Barnums to Grandma Bea’s grandmother, Lucy Permelia Barnum. Moreland, Riffle, and then Jenkins marriages then quickly follow. 

 

The lives of the Merovingian kings on the alternative line—especially Dagobert II—are fascinating:

 

Sigisbert III, son of Dagobert I (where previous line leaves off). In 632, Dagobert I of the Franks, losing Austrasia to his nobles, put his three-year-old son Sigisbert III on the throne. Without the infamous Pepin I as his Mayor of Palace, however, he was re-instated to the position some years later. In 639, Dagobert died, and the next year Pepin died. Pepin’s son Grimwald succeeded as Mayor of the Palace, and allowed Sigisbert, now 11, to rule independent of the nobles. Grimwald allowed him to lead the Frankish armies against the revolting Thuringian Franks, and he lost. Many years later, in 656, Sigisbert died at the age of 27, and his son Dagobert II, three years old, became King of Austrasia.

 

Dagobert II. King of Austrasia 674-678. When Sigisbert III of Austrasia died in 656, the strong Mayor of the Palace, Grimwald, seized power for himself. He sent away the 8-year old Dagobert II, son of Sigisbert III, to be a monk in Ireland, and put his own son Childebert on the throne. The next year, Grimwald was killed by King Clovis II of Neustria and Burgundy, but Dagobert was not recalled. Finally, in 674, the Austrasian Mayor of the Palace, Ebroin, recalled him. Ebroin enjoyed using the young Merovingian kings as puppets through which he could rule himself, and this is what he sought to do with Dagobert. However, Dagobert, being an educated man of 26 years, began ruling for himself—four years later was killed by Ebroin. Dagobert had been married to a Celtic Princess, who died giving birth to their third girl. He then married a Visigoth Princess who after two girls gave birth to Sigisbert IV. There’s more to the story than this (see Holy Blood, Holy Grail).

 

Sigisbert IV (Count of Razes). Scholars have assumed that Sigisbert, then just a boy, was killed with his father Dagobert, but there is no record of it. In fact other accounts claim he was smuggled with his mother to the south where he inherited some lands of an uncle, becoming the first Count of Razes and Rhedae, where Rennes la Chateax is located. History obscures the existence of this Merovingian, due to the Christian church’s treacherous complicity in assassinating his father. But a document records that a Sigisbert and his wife, Magdala, as rulers of Razes, commissioned a building project near Rennes la Chateax at a time that would place him as the lost son of Dagobert II. Again, see Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

 

Sigisbert V, Bera III, Guillaume, Bera IV (founded Abbey of Alet), Argila, and Bera V were all successive Counts of Razes. They were likewise obscured from the history books, but the Priory Documents affirm their existence as well as Bera V being the father of Bernard Plantevelue. From another direction, according to evidence assembled in Holy Blood, Holy Grail, a certain Theoderic appeared in the early 760s demanding to be acknowledged as king of Razes, an area that included Rennes la Chateax. Scholars believe he was of Merovingian descent. He may have been a son of Sigisbert IV and therefore brother to Sigisbert V. In any case, this Theoderic had a son who became one of the most written about and revered figures of his time—Guillem de Gellone, who was granted the title King of the Jews of Septimania. He also held the title of Count of Razes, a title reserved only for  Sigisbert IV’s descendants. He placed the crown on Charlemagne’s head when he became Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD. Guillem was the inspiration for Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Willehalm, whose Parzifal was about the sacred “Grail family” that Guillem was believed to be a part of. History records that the line of Guillem de Gellone led to Bernard Plantevelue; this fact confirms the Priory Documents’ claim that Dagobert II’s line survived, became Counts of Razes, and flowered through Bernard into Aquitaine. Whether this was a direct male line or occurred through female intermarriage is not clear historically, but the Priory Documents provide an all male succession (without mentioning Guillem de Gellone, unless he is the Guillaume in the list). On the other hand, he wouldn't be on the direct succession listed in the table above because he was probably the nephew of Sigisbert V.

 

Bernard Plantevelue (founded duchy of Aquitaine). He begins the “Counts of Aquitaine and Poiters” line that leads directly to William V (founder of the duchy of Poiters), William IX (the first Troubadour), and his granddaughter, Eleanor of Aquitaine.

 

Postscript Notes. In the alternate line through the Counts of Aquitaine and Poiters, 55 generations separate Pharamond from the children of William Barnum Jenkins and Eleanor Alice Doepp. The first 29 progenitors were male Merovingians, followed immediately by the illustrious Eleanor of Aquitaine, five English kings, and then Prince Thomas Plantagenet. Thereafter the Bourchier, Fiennes, and Lennard families enter in, until Elizabeth Lennard married Francis Barnham. Elizabeth Lennard, daughter of  Sir Sampson Lennard and Baroness Dacre Margaret Fiennes (probably scandalized by her father’s execution for murder), was named in a documented forfeiture of royal inheritance, whether willingly or through neglect. Her marriage into the well-standing Barnham family resulted in a direct male descent of six generations to Lucy Permelia Barnum.

 

The link between the American Barnums via Thomas Barnum/Barnham (b. 1625) and the Plantagenet line via Baroness Dacre Margaret Fiennes is confirmed at the Barnum/Barnham website: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~tapperofamily/newsind.htm. There, we read in the link to the March issue (which contains details: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~tapperofamily/thomas.htm), the following assessment: "The connection of Thomas Barnum to the Family of Lennard/Fiennes has not been proven by primary sources, but is shown as such in all secondary sources I have seen. It has not been disproven either so is included here." I had questioned this connection primarily because Thomas Barnum (b. 1625) is reported as the 15th and last son of Francis Barnham and Elizabeth Lennard (daughter of Baroness Dacre Margaret Fiennes). Since Elizabeth Lennard was born November 26, 1581, it would mean that she was 43 when she gave birth to Thomas. Although somewhat past childbirth age, this is entirely possible; fertility is indicated because she gave birth to fifteen children (of whom ten survived). She herself died in 1636, at the young age of 54. That Thomas is not a bastard son of Francis is strongly indicated by the facts that he is mentioned in records and, after he moved to America and settled in Danbury CT (in 1643, the year his father died), he is described as a citizen of high standing, one of the first eight land owner/settlers of Danbury. His father's Will possibly refers to Thomas obliquely by dictating that his son, Francis, disperse a certain inheritance to "his three younger brothers."

 

Also, see the line that goes back from William the Conqueror to the early kings of Norway and Finland.


 

"This nobleman, as hee was come of high linage, so was hee a right valiant and hardy personage, hauing in his time doone his prince and country good seruice, both in Ireland, France, and other places, greatly to his comendation, although now his hap was thus to lose his head" (Stow's Annals, p.582; 1525-1605). Thomas Fiennes (Baron Dacre) — father died when he was young, brought up by devious relatives; he was hung with two other noblemen for a murder. See this web page.