Author Description

This work, in three volumes, takes the documented ancestry of Stephen George Southerland from his Gateway Ancestors to notable historical figures in medieval history. To name just a few, in these pages you will find King Henri Capet of France, Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, St. Margaret, St. Fernando, St. Vladimir, and St. Louis. Also, included are Kenneth MacAlpin, William the Conqueror, St. Margaret of Scotland, King Henry II and his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, the semi-legendary Viking leader Ragnar Lodbrok as well as documented Vikings such as Eric Blood Axe, Harold Fair Hair, and Rollo the Dane, with many other kings and queens of medieval Europe. The document ends with Merovech who fought Attila the Hun in 451 A.D. and with Cerdic of Wessex, the earliest documented ancestor of the English royal line.These volumes contain thousands of footnotes and references. The references that I have used in most cases are the same as those used by hereditary societies to track the ancestry of their applicants. These are listed in the bibliography at the end of each volume.COATS OF ARMS: Where possible, I have shown the historical Coats of Arms associated with each individual. Daughters typically have the same Coat of Arms as their father. Some notable exceptions are queens, as they typically carried both the Coat of Arms of their father and their husband in pale, or on the same shield, split vertically. Heraldry can tell the story of a lineage all its own. In some cases, the pedigree goes back before the age of heraldry. For example, it is doubtful that Charlemagne carried the shield shown beside his name. It is, however, the Coat of Arms that has been attributed to him. In other cases, such as the early Viking ancestry of some of the ancestors in this book, I have attributed a Coat of Arms to bring attention to the line.In some of the earliest cases, the history goes back to recited tales of lineage. This is especially true of Viking ancestry. The verbal lineage was writt