Are there British or English people of Frankish origin?

Question

Are there British or English people of Frankish origin? During the anglo-saxon migration to britain, some say even some franks migrated. The House of Plantagenet which ruled england from 1150 to 1485 was of frankish origin.. So there could have been a lot of english kings, nobles, aristocrats, soldiers of frankish origin.

Answer 1

Yes, there could be many British people with Frankish ancestors. There was migration for all sorts of reasons - to avoid religious upheaval, to get away from plagues and other illnesses, coming as merchants and deciding to stay etc. It was very common to create alliances between the different thrones by marrying royal children into royal families in other countries so a lot of English kings, nobles etc. could have had ancestors from many other places.



Prince William of the British royal family (son of Charles and Diana) has 65,274 direct ancestors listed going back to about 1422 http://fabpedigree.com/willa1.htm and these came from every corner of Europe as well as from Russia, America (ancestors 58, 59, 117, 118, 119, 730), India (127), Australia (49168) and Barbados (838, 1676) There is such a lot of German ancestry included, it would nearly be a miracle if there weren't any Frankish roots among the royal family too.

Answer 2

Possibly the Franks were a confederation of German tribes in the 3rd century, However, to say with any of the ruling families of Great Britain were "Frankish in origin" would be all but impossible to prove. The House of Plantagenet is descended from the House's of Wessex and Denmark through the House of Normandy. Alfred the Great 880s–899,(Anglo-Saxon) who defended England against the Danish is the accepted founder of what became the House of Plantagent. There is no direct documented connection to the Franks, Alfred was born at Wantage, historically in Berkshire by now Oxfordshire, the youngest son of Ethelwulf (d. 858), king of the West Saxons. In 870 Alfred and his brother Ethelred fought many battles against the Danes. Alfred gained a victory over the Danes at Ashdown in 871, and succeeded Ethelred as king in April 871 after a series of battles in which the Danes had been defeated.

Many of the Plantagenet kings were not English, but Anglo-Saxons and married into non-English families.

What you propose is possible, however it cannot be documented and there fore not acceptable from a Genealogical prospective.

Answer 3

Hey, check with the history of England/Scotland/Wales/Ireland/Netherlands/France/Spain/Italy and so forth. Then check "European tribes" and you will see that due to wars, migration, fleeing famines, pestilences, war, religious/political persecution, etc. people have been on the constant move ever since they left the Garden of Eden, meaning that people are all an admixture of hundreds of tribes and in many cases of all races.



Check sites such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-Europeans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franks

And don't forget to check Charlemagne.



Short answer: yes, Brits have also Franks for ancestors.

Answer 4

English people ARE British, not two different things....... and genealogy we research individual ancestry not generalistic communities and written records suitable for FH research go back at best 500 years so you can't research back individual families based on what you think 'might' have happened in History............. and in the main people are not related to royal/noble families regardless of what you may have heard/been told/think...............