Apr 06 2008
Are you descended from Bran the Blessed?
This may amuse you. I found an article in the Tampa Bay Online Tribune about a hard-working researcher who was using Ancestry.com to delve into the genealogical origins of her family and discovered some amazing facts. All discovered in a single afternoon. The reporter received an email which said:
She first wrote that “recently on Ancestry.com I started following my mom’s grandfather’s line back to Virginia, then to England. Before I knew it, we were at 1099 and in Normandy, on and on it went – France to Germany to Denmark to Sweden. … I was amazed at A.D. 500, A.D. 400, A.D. 300, A.D. 200, finally there I was at A.D. 100 … and so I wondered, how in the name of genealogy can anyone go back to Jesus?”
She told me that her search on Ancestry listed her Danish and Swedish ancestors as living in “Arkansas” in A.D. 200. Concerned by what she might be finding, I asked for some of the links she had used so I could check this nearly miraculous ancestry she had found.
The Ancestry genealogy doesn’t show who Joseph (of Arimathea) married, but it does identify his daughter as Anna A. Druids, who married “The Blessed Bran,” who was born in the year 100 in “Canada.”
There are many variations of stories about The Blessed Bran, a supernatural heroic giant in early Celtic narratives of Britain. He was said to have been the son of Llyr, the supernatural king of the sea, and a mortal woman named Penardun.
At this point, of course, common sense is screaming at me that a Celtic giant could not have been born in Canada.
This genealogy continued that Anna and the Bran’s son, P. Prasutugu, was born in the year 61 in England and married Boadicea, Queen of Britain. Ancient history records that Boadicea was queen of the Iceni, a Celtic tribe during the Roman occupation, and that she did marry a King Prasutugu. The question is whether or not the couple fits into this particular family. No proof or sources are included in the online information.
And she concludes:
I am amazed that people think they can “do their family history” in a single afternoon on the Internet.
This is great fun but it is somewhat sad that there will be some people who will take all this on board as genuine ancestry. I know my mother, whose favourite hobby is geneaological research has spent years in research and is justly proud of having traced our line back a mere 400 years.
If you’ve ever watched “Who do you think you are?”, you will have found Matthew Pinsent can trace his ancestry back to Jesus, through William the Conqueror.
It was the way the medieval ancestry scrolls were produced. Every king was of divine origin, so every king of Britain’s family tree went back to the origins of Christianity. As it happens, I can also trace one line of my family this way, though I tend to view it as fiction.
My own family history gets lost in a culture without written records on several lines, so I will never be sure (without DNA tests) of my true origins.
I think the same was true for the Pharoahs – each claimed ancestry from a god. Possibly Osiris?
I too have found ancestory all the way back to Adam on OneGreatfamily. I would like to see these websights defend their research records on investigative television. I think they should all be investigated for fraud. They are after all, taking people’s money.
Ah….it is nice to see those forged ancestries finally including Pagans. Back when you could rule a country only by “divine right”, the court historian, genealogist or what have you would invariably produce a genealogy which linked whatever despot had just seized the throne with Mithras, Mabon, Bran, Odin, etc. (later Jesus and Adam). If the scholar didn’t, a suitably nasty fate happened and a NEW historian/genealogist would be asked to produce a suitable line back to the Gods.
That’s why most credible lines only go back to the 300s or so C.E.
I had come across many forgeries going back to the Christian myths. I hadn’t come across any for the other traditions until now.
If you’re doing genealogy, those sites are tempting, but you want to stick with sources that you can credibly cite. It sucks having to throw out a line because it was based on faulty info, but it is the right thing to do.
I’ve learned, though, that there is no talking sense into those who have invested themselves in a forgery that takes their line back to [insert deity of choice here]. If they have wrapped themselves into it, there’s no amount of proof that will unwrap them.
I, too, have just traced my heritage back to Bran the Blessed on ancestry.com. I just thought that it was really fascinating. I absolutely fell in love with Celtic mythology and the Druids when I was a teenager, so I began recognizing the names while I was tracing my heritage. I think that it is silly to want to investigate ancestry.com for fraud because this information is on the site. I know that when I paid my money for the subscription, I just wanted to be able to go back a few generations and search for answers to some questions. There are millions of government records on this site and if you question the legitimacy of anything prior to these records, stop tracing and cancel your subscription at this point. I know that there will be no way to ever “prove” I am actually related to Bran the Blessed, or whether he even actually existed. It is not as though anyone who finds this information will be entitled to anything or out anything because of it. It is not harming anyone, and besides, the tales surrounding these legends are incredible. Even as an adult, I find that it is great fun just to think that I could be related these kings, lords, Druids, descendents of gods, etc. It is a great escape from every day.
As for the comments from “flyinggargoyle” … I think that as long as you are not trying to use the information to, say, publish a book, what is the harm? I don’t believe that it is a matter of “talking sense” into anyone. Common sense says that if you are looking for real, hard data, you are not going to divulge much effort into tracing ancestry back to a time when you can find no real records. I know that for me, I don’t need to be “unwrapped.” I enjoy being able to go my computer and see, not only the ancestors I can prove existed, but also those supposed ancestors descended from a magickal realm. Having an imagination is something that should never be outgrown.
You’ve got some really good points there, Melissa. I mean, I think the days of claiming Pharoah-like descent from some God or other are long past
Good thoughts, thank you
Gary x x x