Guy de Beauchamp
10th Earl of Warwick
My 18th great grandfather

Henry Beauclerc 1068-1135

Coat of arms of
the Arderne family

If each generation is on average 25 years
...then by the start of the parish registers in 1583
......you will be looking for 1,048,576 ancestors
.........or over 274 billion by the time of the conquest !

The message then is that by 1500, you are looking for more people than are living in the country. By the conquests you are looking for many time todays world population. So how can this happen? The answer of course is intermarriage. Cousins - however remote or close - married other cousins.

Also consider the simple facts of medieval life : Rich people survived better than poor people. Their living conditions were better, they ate better and they protected themselves better. Aliances were forged by marrying their sons and daughters. Land and women were the currencies of the day, as well as gold.

So as long as you can keep going back along your tree, it's very likely that you will eventually come across land owners, minor nobility and more. It's simple mathematics and it's nothing special! Most of us are descended from the Conqueror - we just need to establish how.

The following tree shows just one of many lines defining the relationship between my wife Margaret Ann Roberts and myself back to our common ancestor Hugh Kevelioc, the 5th Palatine Earl of Chester. Hugh was the Great-great grandson of William the Conqueror

You might want to start at the bottom and work back

If you would like to find out more about how to research genealogy before the parish registers, then click here