The genealogical fun continues this evening as I wander far, far, really far into my past. You know, like a thousand years ago. I'm always hoping to find some gem- like a distinctly Turkish name or something. That would be cool.
Well, this gets pretty good. Bear with me. About a million generations back, we are descended from Archbishop Håkon Thorersson of Oslo (early 1200's). Yesss! (Never mind that he married his sister.) Oh, and his mother, Sigrid Havtoresdatter Eyre-Iceland, was Icelandic of course. I knew I was more Scandinavian than that! He is also the great-great-great-grandson of Cecilie Sigurdsdatter, Princess Of Norway (1153-1185), who is the granddaughter of Malfrid Princess of Russia (1098-1137) (what?! I'm Russian?). This Russian princess gal was married to the Norwgian King Sigurd "The Crusader" (naturally). And he's the son of Magnus III 'the Bare-Footed' King of Norway (1050-1103) who is buried in Ireland- and I'll give you three guesses as to why. Now, Malfrid's heritage is really cool. She is of Russian, English, and Swedish (what?! I'm Swedish, too?) royal blood. Really royal. And her paternal great-grandmother was... wait for it... Maria, Princess of the Byzantine Empire (1018-1067) who married the Duke of Kiev. And, yes, Maria is the daughter of Konstantinos IX, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire (980-1055).
I am content. I can now go to bed.
Oh, and I'm sure you were wondering: all their temple work has been reserved.
6 comments:
Now that is fun!
I feel like the blood in my veins is enriched after reading your blog. It reminds me of the beautiful fact that we all have a royal and magnificent heritage - as Pres. Uchtdorf said it, "a celestial pedigree." Knowing this makes me want to live up to it better.
Thank you, Maren!
p.s. if you ever would like some help with these lines of research and temple work, Greg and I would be very glad to oblige.
Ah -- all on your Mother's side, I presume.
@MT (Life is Beautiful): Yes, there are plenty of names to do- lots of McDonalds. At the moment all the cards are in the file box at the DC temple, but if you need some to do, let me know how many and what kind. I'll be more than happy to mail them to you (after I go get them next time I'm up there). Or call your Dad- he is going next, I think. :)
@Geary: Well, that's the line I was in at the time. Yours goes back into Prussia, but I'd have to go wandering again to see where it leads.
Nice rich name source there - I especially like Malfrid.
I remember one year for Christmas, Grandma Jean gave the younger girls framed pictures of themselves and had written on the matting "Princess of Norway", etc. These must be the relatives to which she was referring.
Great find, Maren!
And good luck with the new calling!
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