Who Do We Think We Are: Bush-Lambert Saga: The Vikings are Coming; The Vikings are Coming

Cathédrale Norte-Dame de Rouen, France
All Photos: Jennie Lambert

The fourth season of the Vikings, an Irish-Canadian historical drama TV series, begins on the History Channel starting Thursday, February 18^th, 10pm EST. More:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikings_(TV_series)

Although crucial viewing for our extended family, all history and genealogy buffs should find the series exciting and thought-provoking.

Few historical dramatizations are more pertinent to our Lambert-Bush family genealogy than this presentation of how a specific Viking clan, our Viking clan, lived, fought, settled, and influenced the course of Western European civilization during the “middle ages.”

Using an historically accurate template, although at times truncated and laced with some “artistic license”, the series follows a clan of Vikings during the late 8^thto early 10th^th centuries as they plunder and trade their way around England and Northeastern Europe. Early episodes in the series focus on the culture, and early saga-inspired adventures of a particular clan originating from the Denmark/Norway regions led by a legendary Viking, one Ragnar-Lothbrok, who evolves from a farmer-adventurer to Earl and eventually a King. http://www.britannica.com/topic/Ragnar-Lothbrok .

It is his cinematic “brother” Rollo, however, that merits our genealogical attention. Rollo was an actual Noble Viking warrior who’s role in raids into NE Europe, up the Seine, and eventual siege and plunder of Paris are well documented. He has also been associated with the early establishment of Dublin, Ireland. The clan’s raids on Paris in the late 800s and early 900s are covered in gory detail in the last few episodes of season 3 of the Vikings. History tells us (and presumably season four of the Vikings will as well) that in 911 Rollo makes a deal with Charles III (The Simple), King of West Francia, to the effect that if he, Rollo, accepts the NW part of “France” (An area known as Neustria), agrees to defend it against other raiders, and gives fidelity to King Charles, the King will grant Rollo the land as a Duchy, and give his daughter Gisela in marriage as a part of the deal. Never mind that Rollo already had a wife of Frankish Nobility, Poppa of Bayeux. Rollo agreed, accepted Gisela as a consort (maybe??), converted to Christianity (sort of?) and became Robert I, Duke of Normandy, and thereby changed the course of Western civilization. More on Rollo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollo

Over the years, through a number of marriages and relationships, Rollo becomes William’s 29X great grandfather (ggf) via his maternal line and Jennie’s 34X ggf via her paternal line. A pedigree listing is at the end of this blog, and reflects a previous, more extensive, listing on our French Connections at: http://williamandjennie.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=6 .

Nave, Cathedral d' Rouen

Interesting story. Rollo made his headquarters at Rouen on the Seine. Rouen is home to a massive Gothic Cathedral that has its origins in Antiquity. Rollo was baptized there (c. 912/15) and interred therein in 931. Jennie and William visited Cathédrale Norte-Dame de Rouen and Rollo’s sarcophagus, September 2015. While stopping at Rollo’s tomb we come across a tour group (about 15-20 English speaking tourists from various countries). The tour guide was discussing the famous founder of Normandy and overheard our comments about our grandfather. The guide, momentarily distracted from her presentation, asked how that connection came about. She seemed to be impressed with our explanation. An Australian bloke asked if we would stand by Rollo’s sarcophagus for a picture, as he had never met such an ancestor. After a few photos we made our way to tombs of other ancestors also enshrined in the immense Cathedral, including Rollo’s wife Poppa (aka, great grandma), their sons/grandsons and our great X. . . . grand uncle, Richard the Lionheart. More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouen_Cathedral .

William Observes Rollo’s Sarcophagus

The Vikings were a lot more complex than the history channel drama depicts. Their military prowess, weapons and social organizations were prized and emulated. The term Viking is Old English for “Pirate”, but has other etymology as well. It is usually attached to the incursions of raiding parties from the northern European frontiers, collectively known as Scandinavia, including contemporary lands of Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Viking raiders descended into Europe as Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals and others, as part of the Saxon/Germanic peoples. These groups often used the great rivers of both Eastern and Western Europe to engage their raiding, trading and settling. Russia and the Ukraine evolved from this process. They settled into Ireland, and the island complex known today as the United Kingdom. Vikings eventually raided, traded and mingled with peoples on the shores and islands of the Mediterranean, North Africa, middle East and the far East. They settled Iceland, Greenland and visited areas now within eastern Canada (500 years before Columbus). The Norman Vikings are a part of an immense cadre of nobility and royalty of greater Europa, both past and present. Through the "great migrations" of the 15th - 17th centuries, the vast majority of Anglo-European settlers in colonial North America were ancestors of Norman Vikings.

In the near future we will be posting additional Blogs about the French Normandy Vikings and how they further fit into our genealogy. As always, comments, questions and discussions are welcome. Meanwhile the following listings represent our ancestral ties to the vikings who founded Normandy, France.

William James Lambert, Jr. – Maternal (Havens) Calculated Pedigree Line through English/French Ancestors to Rollo, Robert I, 1^st Duke of Normandy

Rollo "The Wise" Ragnvaldsson~, (c. 830/46/64 – 931/32)

[Viking – Scandinavia a.k.a. Denmark; Finland; Norway, Sweden]

29th great grandfather

William Longsword (900 - 943) son of Rollo "The Wise" Ragnvaldsson~,

Richard I "the Fearless" Duke of Normandy (933 - 996) son of William Longsword

Richard II 'The Good' Duke De Normandy (957 - 1027) son of Richard I "the Fearless" Duke of Normandy

Robert II Devil Magnificent Normandy (999 - 1038) son of Richard II 'The Good' Duke De Normandy

William II (1028 - 1087), son of Robert II Devil Magnificent Normandy (aka: Duke of Normandy; William the Conqueror; King William I of England) [William Lambert, Jr.’s 24X great grandfather]

Henry I Beauclerc King England (1068 - 1135) son of William the Conqueror

Matilda Countess D'Anjou Beauclerc Plantagenet Planatagenet (1102 - 1169) daughter of Henry I Beauclerc King England

Henry II King of England (1133 - 1189) son of Matilda Countess D'Anjou Beauclerc Plantagenet Planatagenet

John Lackland King of England (1166 - 1216) son of Henry II King of England

Henry III Plantagenet (1207 - 1272) son of John Lackland King of England

Edward I Longshanks England Plantagenet (1239 - 1307) son of Henry III Plantagenet

Edward II King of England Plantagenet (1284 - 1327) son of Edward I Longshanks England Plantagenet

Edward III King of England Plantagenet (1312 - 1377) son of Edward II King of England Plantagenet

Thomas Plantagenet (1355 - 1397) son of Edward III King of England Plantagenet

Anne Plantagenet (1383 - 1438) daughter of Thomas Plantagenet

John Lord Berners Bouchier (1410 - 1474) son of Anne Plantagenet

Sir Humphrey Bourchier (1435 - 1471) son of John Lord Berners Bouchier