parents of
John Washington, the President's first ancestor in America,
there came into the family inheritance lineage from most of
the Royal Dynasties of Mediaeval Europe and from many of the
great Baroriial Houses of Plantagenet
England.
This
ancestry includes the old Saxon kings of England, whose blood was mingled with that
of the Norman Vikings, by the marriage of Matilda, daughter
of MaIcolm Ill, King of Scotland, and of Saint Margaret, his
wife, to King Henry I of England, son of William the Conqueror.
Saint Margaret was daughter of Prince Edward, son of the
English King, Edmund Ironside.
The
identity of Saint Margaret's mother long has been an unsolved
problem to European scholars. There is no doubt that she
was an Hungarian, and it is indicated that she may have been
descended from, or closely related to, the ancient Hungarian
Kings, and, also, as seems certain, the German Emperors of
the Middle Ages. Certainly, she was born on Hungarian soil,
and all early historians state definitely her Royalty and
her Imperial kinship.
Perhaps
the earliest extant record of Saint Margaret's Hungarian
lineage was made by Ordericus Vitalis,
whose "Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy" is
of priceless worth in the study of chronicles, secular as
well as religious, of the land of America's forefathers,
and of the earlier home of many of them. He was born in England
in 1075, nine years after the Norman Conquest. His father, OdeIirius, was.a native of Orleans in France, who was attached
as one
of his council to the Norman Roger de Montgomery, later Earl
of Shrewsbury. OdeIirius was probably a Priest, certainly in Clerk's Orders. Whether his marriage had taken place prior to
his entry in .
Religion,
or whether he had been one of the lax clerics who, in this
early period, did sometimes contract matrimony, is not known.
At the time when, as a widower; with a son, Ordericus,
ten years old, he planned the latter's career, he was a man
deeply and devoutly concerned .with matters of the soul.
He himself entered a Monastery in England,.and sent Ordericus to the Abbey of Ouche in
Normandy, which had been founded by Saint Evroult,
and bore the Saint's name. There, the little boy's name, Ordericus,
a Latinized form of what is thought to have been a name of
Scandinavian derivation, was change?
to VitaIis;
but he is usually known by both names. It was not untd
1107
that he became a Priest. Guizot, the famous French historian,commenting on
the long time passed between Ordericus'
entry in the
Religious
Life in childhood, his ordination as a Deacon at the age
of eighteen, and his Priesthood, at thirty-seven,2 wrote: "All
the records of those ancient times concur in informing us
with what holy fear truly pious men then regarded the duties
of the Priesthood, how they shrank from undertaking them,
and often only consented to accept the office upon the express
command of their superiors." All of his life, Ordericus remained at Saint Evroult's,
taking only a few journeys elsewhere, one of these to England.
He devoted himself to his spiritual duties and to the study
and writing of history. All students of the latter owe a
supreme debt to Ordericus Vitalis.
He probably died either in 1141 or 1142. In his young manhood,
he was a contemporary of Saint Margaret, who died in 1093.
Thus, his account of her birth and parentage is of prime
importance.
He
relates the battles between the English and the Danes, in
the time of Ethelred, the Rede1ess 3 King of England. Sweyn,
the Danish King, invaded England and there was killed, having
before, however, driven Ethelred, his wife, and sons, tp Normandy. Ethelred's wife was Emma, sister of Richard lI, Duke of Normandy. On Sweyn's death,
the King returned, to fight against Sweyn's son, Canute,
and the latter's allies, King Olave of Norway and King Lacman of
Sweden; While these three were besieging
London, Ethelred lay there in his last illness, and there
he died. His son, Edmund Ironside, became King and leader of the English forces against
the Northmen. FinalIy,-as
had been done some three-quarters of a
century before,
between Alfred the Great and the earlier Scandinavian invaders
of England,-a compromise was effected. "Canute embraced
Christianity," writes Ordericus, "and
received for his wife
Emma,
the widow of King Ethelred, with one-half of the kingdom. By
her he had Hardicanute, who became
king of England, and Gunnilda,
who married Henry Ill, emperor of the Romans."
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