English History… the Nobles Spoke French… Illiterate Peasants Spoke English

I just finished reading an article about the Magna Carta. (The Rule of History by Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, April 20, 2015.) Lepore writes about England’s King John and how in 1215 he signed the Magna Carta. She writes:

“The King and the barons spoke French. ‘Par les denz Dieu!’ the King liked to swear, invoking the teeth of God. The peasants, who were illiterate, spoke English.”

I shouldn’t have been surprised that the King and barons spoke French. Being a fan of early European history, I know that in 1066, William the Conqueror claimed his right to the English throne. William was from Normandy and spoke French. But, because English has been perfected and many take great pride in their mastery of it, it’s strange to think of those who spoke English as being “illiterate.”

Suellen Ocean is the author of the Civil War Era Historic Romance, Black Pansy.

Available Here:

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Pansy-Suellen-Ocean/dp/1484900278

The King’s Singing Led to His Whereabouts

During the 1100s, it was very fashionable for nobles to write poetry, strum a musical instrument and sing love songs. These singing minstrels were called troubadours. Quite often the nobles hired professional musicians to sing their songs for them. These professional musicians were called jongleurs. One of history’s well-known kings, Richard I of England, also known as Richard the Lion-Hearted, was one of these noble troubadours who hired a jongleur and together they created songs. When the Duke of Austria captured King Richard and hid him in a castle, the king’s former musical collaboration helped England find him. The jongleur searched high and low for the king, going to castles and standing outside, singing the songs that he and the king had composed together. One day outside a German castle, the jongleur sang the words to one of their songs. It was with great joy when he heard the voice of his captive king sing the next verse.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy III – From Jewish Anglo-Saxon Tribes to New France Acadians. Available here: https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-III-Jewish-Anglo-Saxon-Acadians/dp/148407579X

Travelling on the Ship “Mayflower,” Sounds Like Some Fun Was Had

I’ve been reading John Winthrop’s diary he wrote when he left England for America. He later became the governor of Massachusetts. I’ll probably blog a lot about this diary because it’s hundreds of pages and it will take me months to finish it. I read it a little bit at a time.

I’ve seen far too many movies about America’s founding “fathers” that depict them as cruel, colorless, stern, oppressive people. The voice that I hear coming from Winthrop himself, feels like that of a rural homesteader of my own era. I look forward to reading more of the well written, easy to read narrative. Honestly, he sounds like a nice guy. He speaks kindly of the others and so far, sounds like a reasonable man. The journey that they take together, sounds a lot like the camaraderie that modern travelers experience when they are away from home, adventuring. They even have a little fun.

Kids that were seasick, below deck moaning and cold, were brought on deck to bounce on the ropes and that brought them back around. Ships travelled together and when the captains wanted to dine together, they would drop their little top flags as a signal. The invitees would get into a schooner and make their way to the other ship for an evening of socializing. It all sounds so civilized. What a smart man Winthrop was, to document his historical emigration. He knew he was onto something big. He created a seventeenth-century documentary. Just think, they were riding the waves where they encountered foreign ships and mercenaries. Honest, I can almost feel the salty wind blowing my hair and my lungs inhaling the fresh sea air. I see him smiling, alive with the excitement that a new era can bring and like any good book, it has me dying to know… what happens next.

P.S. After I wrote the above, I read more of the diary. Unfortunately, Winthrop’s son drowned. He only wrote one line about it in the diary. After that, they have their feet in the New World. Once on land, there is more focus on people who do things wrong and the punishment that is doled out.

Suellen Ocean is the author of Secret Genealogy IV – Native Americans Hidden in Our Family Trees: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Genealogy-IV-Native-Americans/dp/1500756105

The Conspiracy Theories Surrounding Princess Diana’s Death…

There are those who believe that Princess Diana’s death was not an accident. Conspiracy theories abound. There’s the belief that because she was associating with extremely powerful and wealthy Arabs, of whom the queen did not approve, she was assassinated. And there’s a belief that some nefarious Freemasonry cult used her as a symbolic sacrifice. If you need more detail on these conspiracies, you’ll have to google them. I read the former in a news magazine years ago and the latter came straight from someone’s mouth. I had a hard time understanding but it had something to do with the royal family and being named after the ancient goddess. I’m not one to randomly believe hearsay but I’ve always wondered what was the significance of Princess Diana’s name, so I read up on it.

The Greeks had a mythological goddess named Artemis. The Romans called her Diana. (Diana means goddess.) She was the daughter of Zeus and the sister of Apollo. She’s associated with hunting and you’ll see her with a bow and arrow. Diana… nature goddess… virgin goddess. And for women who worshipped her during childbirth, she was the moon-goddess. Artemis is even mentioned in the Bible and through the ages, who and what Artemis (Diana) was, grew distorted from the original Greek myth, even evoking human sacrifice. Thus the connection to the conspiracy that she was killed and that the tragic car accident in Paris was deliberate.

Suellen Ocean is the author of many books on diverse topics. Her books are available here:  http://www.amazon.com/Suellen-Ocean/e/B001KC7Z78

 

Does Anglo-Saxon Mean White Person? Is it Derogatory?

What does Anglo Saxon mean? Does it mean white person? What about WASP… White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant… is that me if my mother was a Lutheran and I’m white? And is it a derogatory term?

Whether or not WASP began as a derogatory term or not, I certainly have felt the sting when I heard it. I first started hearing it in the 1960’s, a time of social upheaval, right along with the expression, “white bread,” another expression for white people that was intentionally derogatory.

OK, enough of the name-calling. Anglo-Saxon is the term for the people of the English heritage to describe their descending from two tribes: the Angles and the Saxons. Long ago, the English kings referred to themselves as the kings of the Angles and the Saxons. But then the Vikings invaded… the men from the north, also known as Norman. After many years, the Vikings settled into their new environment and you could hardly tell them from the Angles and the Saxons. British is what you’d call them all today.

No I am not a WASP. I’ve dug deeply into my family history and pretty much like everyone else… I am what you call an admixture. We all are. The word is pretty self-explanatory but I admit, I did look it up. It means to mix.

In this crazy old world we live in, we are all mixed up. What fun genealogists have these days trying to un-mix it so that we can tell the story of those who came before us. Their history, our history… our story.

Suellen Ocean is the author of many books on diverse topics. Her books are available here:  http://www.amazon.com/Suellen-Ocean/e/B001KC7Z78

Merry Olde England? Not So Much…

A couple hundred years ago, England was really changing. What was once a land of green pastoral countryside was fast becoming a land of dirty, sooty air from too many factories arising in the new Industrial Age. What’s striking is the dramatic change the country folk had to endure. Artists had made things by hand at a much slower pace but with the advent of mechanization, artists, crafts people and farmers were put out of work and forced to join thousands in these new factories. Survival forced whole families away from the countryside, including children, to work for pay so low, they could barely meet their basic needs. It was not a merry time. Some women were working in dirty, filthy mines, crawling around on their hands and knees all day. To make matters worse, a trend began that was very greedy. Pay the worker low, sell the goods high. This all came at the expense of the environment. Factories dumped their waste in the rivers and their smoke polluted the air. If all this sounds familiar, that’s because it also happened in America and still does today. Although China is the world’s leading investor in renewable energy, air-monitoring stations in the Sierra Mountain Range are detecting China’s increasing smog. Maybe the pre-Industrial era wasn’t the good old days, and England is still a green and beautiful land, but when I see dirty air and families suffering because they can’t meet their basic needs, it leads me to believe… we need to back track. Suellen Ocean is the author of the historical series, The Lion’s Trace Available here:

The Lies of the Lion (Book 1)

http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lion-Lions-Trace/dp/0965114074

The Guild (Book 2)

http://www.amazon.com/Guild-Hesters-Goodwill-Lions-Trace/dp/1484916697

The Last Quadroon (Book 3)

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Quadroon-Lions-Trace-Volume/dp/149283999X

eBooks and computer downloads available through Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ocean

        

What Does Anglican Mean?

Although England and English start with an “e,” an Anglican derives from the Latin word Angli, referring to one of the Germanic tribes who conquered England in the 5th century A.D. Anglican is used for that which pertains to England, especially to the Church of England. It’s counterpart in the United States is called the Protestant Episcopal Church, both having similar beliefs, together they are called the Anglican Communion.  Suellen Ocean is the author of the historical series, The Lion’s Trace Available here:

The Lies of the Lion (Book 1)

http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lion-Lions-Trace/dp/0965114074

The Guild (Book 2)

http://www.amazon.com/Guild-Hesters-Goodwill-Lions-Trace/dp/1484916697

The Last Quadroon (Book 3)

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Quadroon-Lions-Trace-Volume/dp/149283999X

eBooks and computer downloads available through Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ocean

    

What Does Dickensian Mean?

If you didn’t know for sure, you may have guessed. It refers to Charles Dickens and authors who have the same qualities as the enormously popular English author, Charles John Huffman Dickens, who lived from 1812 to 1870. Dickens’s signature style exhibited kindly humor and a humanness that awakened the reader’s emotions. He had the ability to portray the suffering and pitiful circumstances of common yet unusual folks living among us, and make it interesting and entertaining. Dickens created these characters from people he encountered in his every day life, including his father who was sent to a poorhouse for not paying his bills. In other words, Dickensian means, an author who writes like Charles Dickens.  Suellen Ocean is the author of the historical series, The Lion’s Trace Available here:

The Lies of the Lion (Book 1)

http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lion-Lions-Trace/dp/0965114074

The Guild (Book 2)

http://www.amazon.com/Guild-Hesters-Goodwill-Lions-Trace/dp/1484916697

The Last Quadroon (Book 3)

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Quadroon-Lions-Trace-Volume/dp/149283999X

eBooks and computer downloads available through Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ocean

        

What Does Anglo-French Mean?

Anglo-French is an “Old French” word used to designate that which pertains to England and France as they are joined together. It’s like Native-American or African-American and came in use after 1066 when William the Conqueror invaded England. William was from Northern France. By this time the Angli (German Tribes) had invaded England so they were the Anglo. William brought the French aspect, when he invaded in 1066, even though his ancestry was originally from the North but had populated Northern France, married French women and adopted their culture, which was what the Viking invaders from the north commonly did.  Suellen Ocean is the author of the historic novel The Celtic Prince Available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Celtic-Prince-Before-After/dp/1484086392

eBooks and computer downloads available through Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ocean

eBook through Barnes & Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/celtic-prince-suellen-ocean/1102338307?ean=2940016618968

Beatle Mania… We Have A History With Loving All Things English

It’s interesting that Beatle mania was used to describe the lads from England when they broke into the hearts of North Americans. There is an expression for an excessive fondness for English styles, music, customs, etc.; it’s called “Anglo-mania.” Isn’t there another expression called the “Beatles Invasion” or the “English Invasion” referring to the music of the 1960’s that poured out of England? Whatever the case, the United States has a long history with England, for some she was the original “Mother Country” but for those whose ancestors came to America before the English, and were forced to abandon their own language and customs, they may have suffered from Anglo-phobia, which is an intense dread of or aversion to all things English. In the hills of Kentucky, the memory of their ancestors is strong. Before it was New York, it belonged to their Dutch ancestors and was called New Amsterdam. These folks did not want their children to be speaking English and acquire English customs, so they headed over the Appalachian Trail. We know who won that battle. When was the last time you heard someone speaking Dutch?  Suellen Ocean is the author of the historical series, The Lion’s Trace Available here:

The Lies of the Lion (Book 1)

http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lion-Lions-Trace/dp/0965114074

The Guild (Book 2)

http://www.amazon.com/Guild-Hesters-Goodwill-Lions-Trace/dp/1484916697

The Last Quadroon (Book 3)

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Quadroon-Lions-Trace-Volume/dp/149283999X

eBooks and computer downloads available through Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ocean