This page was set up by Robert Sewell in July 2006 to show the descent of the Sewell Family from Charlemagne and his ancestors.  Robert Sewell graduated from McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) in 1967 with a B.Sc. degree in chemistry.  After a year of studies at the University of Toronto's College of Education, he taught high school science in Collingwood, Ontario for a year and then taught chemistry, physics and general science in Hamilton, Ontario for twenty-nine years.  Robert Sewell retired from teaching in June 1998.

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Sources

• Sewell Vincent Sample: Letters
• George E. Cokayne: The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Sutton Publishing, August 24, 2000
• Frederick L. Weis and Walter L. Sheppard:  Ancestral Roots, 7th Edition, Baltimore, 1999
• World Book Millenium 2000 Deluxe Edition, © 1999 World Book Inc., © IBM Corp.
• Microsoft Encarta Encyclopædia 99, © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation
• Norman F. Cantor (ed.) The Encyclopædia of the Middle Ages, New York, 1999
• Berhard Grun, The Timetables of History, New York, 1991
• Patrick J. Geary:  Before France and Germany, Oxford University Press, 1988
• George Andrews Moriarty: The Plantagenet Ancestry of King Edward III and Queen Philippa, Mormon Pioneer Genealogical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1985.
• The Book of History (18 Volumes), London, 1914
• Richard Thomson:  An Historical Essay on the Magna Charta of King John (London, 1829)
• Edward Gibbon: The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776 – 1788)
• Einhard: Vita Karoli Magni (ca. 830; The Life of Charlemagne, translated by A.J.Grant, 1922)
• Periodical Historical Atlas of Europe,  http://www.euratlas.com
• Mediæval History Guide, http://historymedren.about.com/index.htm
• Brian Tompsett, Royal Genealogical Data, http://www3.dcs.hull.ac.uk/genealogy/royal/
• Catholic Online Saints and Angels, http://saints.catholic.org/index.shtml
• The Kings of France, http://www.beyond.fr/history/kings.html

The Franks and their Kingdoms

    Franks were members of a confederation of Germanic peoples that attacked the Roman Empire beginning in the A.D. 200's.  The Franks were divided into two branches, the Salians and the Ripuarians.  The Salians settled in the Low Countries on the lower Rhine, near the North Sea.  The Ripuarians moved into the region around what are now the cities of Aachen, Trier and Cologne, Germany, in the region of the middle Rhine.

    Frankish history is divided into two periods.  These periods are the Merovingian, from about 481 to 751, and the Carolingian, 751 to 987.  Charlemagne, who was king of the Franks from 768 to 814, created a vast empire.  In 800, Pope Leo III crowned him emperor of the Romans.  After the time of Charlemagne, the Frankish empire began to break up into what later became the kingdoms of France, Germany, and Italy.

    Our genealogical history begins with Clovis, a Ripuarian Frank who was King of Cologne in the early 5th century.  It should be noted that many of the kings at this period of history were really just tribal chieftans; and that this is not Clovis I (466? - 511) who founded of the Merovingian Dynasty.
 

Generation One
Clovis, a Ripuarian Frank who was the King of Cologne circa 420 AD.  Frankish "kings" at this time were really just local tribal chieftains.
fl. ca. 420 (flourished circa 420)
Clovis had a son:

• Childebert

• Siegbert

• Cloderic

Cloderic married a kinswoman of Clothilda, the Burgundian Princess and wife of Clovis I.  They had a son:

• Munderic

• St. Gondulfus, shown next.
• Duke Bodegisil (I) who died in 581. Bodigisil is said to have married first to Palatina, a daughter of Gallus Magnus, a Gallo-Roman Senator and Bishop of Troyes (elected 562).  Bodigisil married second to Sancha, a Gascow. Some earlier works show Duke Bodegisil (I) and his wife Palatina as having a son:
• Duke Bodegisil (II), shown under Generation Seven. (See George Andrews Moriarty: The Plantagenet Ancestry of King Edward III and Queen Philippa, Mormon Pioneer Genealogical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1985, page 5)
• A third son (name unknown) who is said to have married Palatina, the daughter of Gallus Magnus who is also said to have married Duke Bodegisil (I). This son and Palatina may have had a son:
• Duke Bodegisil (II), shown under Generation Seven. (See George Andrews Moriarty: The Plantagenet Ancestry of King Edward III and Queen Philippa, Mormon Pioneer Genealogical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1985, pages 5 and 241. However, Weis and Sheppard believe that St. Gondulfus is almost certainly the father of Duke Bodegisil (II); see Frederick L. Weis and Walter L. Sheppard: Ancestral Roots, Baltimore, 1999, 190-6.)

St. Gondulfus is almost certainly the father of Duke Bodegisil (II); see F.L. Weis, Ancestral Roots, Baltimore, 1999, 190-6. Other earlier works including George Andrews Moriarty: The Plantagenet Ancestry of King Edward III and Queen Philippa, Mormon Pioneer Genealogical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1985, pages 5 and 241, show St. Gondulfus' brother Duke Bodegisil (I) or perhaps another brother, name unknown, of St. Gondulfus and  Duke Bodegisil (I) as the father of Duke Bodegisil (II).

While it may seem strange to us to-day for a "saint" and a "bishop" to have had children, this was not the case in early mediæval times. Married clergy were the rule rather than the exception until Gregorian reforms of the 11th century. By the late middle ages, there were virtually no married clergy.

St. Gondulfus was a political figure; he was Governor of Marseilles and Mayor of the Palace and was not consecrated until quite an old man in 599. As well, it was very unusual among the early Franks for a son to have the same name as his father as would be the case if Bodegisil (I) had been the father of Bodegisil (II). The same name was used to indicate a close kinship such as the uncle and nephew relationship here.

St. Gondulfus had a son:

• Duke Bodegisil (II)

• Arnoself

Born in 582
Died on August 16, 641
St. Arnoself married Clothilde (Doda) who became a nun at Trèves in 612
St. Arnoself and Clothilde had a son:

• Ansigise

Born circa 602
Died (murdered) in 685
Married:  St. Bégue or Begga, daughter of Pépin the Old of Landen who was Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia in 623 and a counsellor of Dagobert (I), King of Austrasia. St. Bégue's mother was St. Itta, said to be a daughter of Arnoldus, Bishop of Metz, said to be a son of Ansbertus, the Gallo-Roman Senator and his wife Blithilda.  On the death of her husband in the year 691, St. Bégue built a church and convent at Andenne on the Meuse River and died there. Her feast day is December 17th.

Duke Ansigise and St. Bégue had a son:

• Pépin

• Drogo, Duke of Champagne
• Grimoald (II), Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia

• Charles Martel

Born in 676
Died on October 22, 741
Charles Martel married first to Rotrou or Chrotrud who was perhaps a daughter of St. Liévin, Bishop of Trèves.  Charles and Rotrou had the following children:

• Carloman who ruled Neustria, Burgundy and Provence as Mayor of the Palace from 741 until 747 when he retired from political life and became a monk at the Monastery of Monte Casino. He was succeeded by his younger brother Pepin the Short.
• Landrée who married Count Sigrand
• Jerome
• Pépin the Short

• Grifo, who was endowed with a portion of his father's land, but was displaced and imprisoned by his half brothers Carloman and Pépin the Short.
• Chiltrud, who married in 749 to Odilo, Duke of Bavaria.  In 757, their son Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria the magnates of Bavaria acknowledged themselves as vassals of Pépin the Short.

Generation Twelve
Pépin the Short, King of the Franks who was Mayor of the Palace in Austrasia and who had himself declared King of the Franks in 751.  Please click on Pépin the Short for further details.

Born circa 715
Died on September 24, 768
Pépin the Short married in 740 to Bertha or Bertrada II of Laon also known as "Bertha Broadfoot".  She was the daughter of Caribert (or Herbert), Count of Laon and granddaughter of Bertha, a Merovingian Princess who was in turn a daughter of Thierry (III), King of Austrasia, Neustria and Burgundy.

    Some sources, eg. World Book 2000, © 1999 IBM Corporation, suggest that Bertrada or Bertha was known as "Queen Goose-Foot" or "Goose-Footed Bertha", and is the original “Mother Goose”.  Hence, we can also list “Mother Goose” among our illustrious forebears.

Pépin the Short and Bertha of Laon had the following children:

• Charlemagne, Emperor of the West

• Carloman of the Franks, King of Franks, born about 751, died in 771

• Gisela, Abbess of Chelles, who had a son Rowland, who had a daughter Juliana who married her first cousin once removed,Charles the younger, Duke of Ingelheim who was a son of Charlemagne.

• Pippin who died young

Generation Thirteen
Charlemagne, Emperor of the West ruled jointly with his younger brother Carloman from 768 until 771, at which time Carloman died.  Charlemagne greatly extended his empire, and was crowned emperor by Pope Leo III on December 25, 800.  Charlemagne was predeceased by two of his sons, and was succeeded by his sole surviving son, Louis the Pious.  Click on Charlemagne for further details.

Born on April 2, 742 at either Ingolheim or Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle)
Died on January 28, 814 at Aachen

Charlemagne married in 771 at Aachen to Hildegarde of Vinzgau, and they had the following children:

• Pépin (I), King of Italy
• Charles the younger, Duke of Ingelheim, born 772 and died 811 before his father. Charles married Juliana, who was his first cousin once removed.
• Louis (I) the Pious of Aquitaine, King of France, whose 7X great granddaughter Mathilda of Flanders married in 1053 to William the Conqueror.  Please click on Mathilda for this descent.

Generation Fourteen
Pépin (I), King of Italy  who was crowned King of Italy by his father Charlemagne in 781.

Born in April 773
Died on July 8, 810, before his father Charlemagne.
Pépin married in 795 to Bertha who may have been his cousin; a daughter of  his Uncle Carloman. Pépin and Bertha had a son:

• Bernhard, King of Italy, born circa 797

Generation Fifteen
Bernhard, King of Italy who revolted in July 817 when his uncle, Louis (I) the Pious who had succeeded Charlemagne as Emperor, proceeded to divide the empire among his sons, Bernhard's cousins.
    Bernhard doubtless felt that his father Pépin had been crowned King of Italy by Charlemagne and that he should follow his father as the full fledged King of Italy.  Louis the Pious, however, had a different view of the situation.  Seeing as Pépin had died before Charlemagne, Louis the Pious felt that as Charlemagne's heir, he was overall king or emperor; and that Bernhard was perhaps sort of a sub-king.  Bernhard's revolt didn't work, and he was forced to submit to Louis in December 817.
    Eventually, by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, the territory that had been Bernhard's Kingdom of Italy was awarded to Louis the Pious' son Lothaire who became Holy Roman Emperor.
    Please click to see a Map of the Carolingian Empire after the Treaty of Verdun of 843.

Born circa 797
Died on August 17, 818 at St. Amrosius, Mailand
Berhard married in 813 to Kunigunde (also Cunegonde or Cunigunde)  and they had a son:

• Seigneur Pépin (II), Count of Peronne

Generation Sixteen
Seigneur Pépin de Peronne
Born in 817
Died after 840
Seigneur Pépin was probably the Lord or Count of Peronne and St. Quentin in the Vermandois; an area in Picardy in northern France. Seigneur Pépin had the following children:

• Herbert (I), Count of Senlis
• a daughter who married Gui, Count of Senlis.  Their children included:
• Bernard, Count of Senlis was a friend and counsellor of Hugh Capet "the Great" of Neustria.
• and perhaps Poppa who married in 886 to Rolf, 1st Duke of Normandy. Click on Rolf the Ganger for this line. For further details including an excerpt from George Andrews Moriarty: The Plantagenet Ancestry of King Edward III and Queen Philippa, Mormon Pioneer Genealogical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1985, page 226; please Click Here.

Generation Seventeen
Herbert (I), Count of Senlis and Vermandois
Born circa 840
Died (murdered) circa 900 – 908

Herbert (I) married Bertha, a daugher of Guerri (I), Count of Morvois and they had the following children:

• Sprota or Adela of Senlis who married William (I) Longsword 2nd Duke of Normandy as his first wife.  Click on William Longsword for this line.
• Herbert (II), Count of Vermandois
• Beatrice de Vermandois, born in 880, who married Robert (I), King of France.  Please click on Robert (I), King of France for this descent.

Generation Eighteen
Herbert (II), Count of Vermandois

Herbert (II) married Liegarde (or Hildebrante) a daughter of Robert (I), King of France and his first wife Aelis.  (See Capet, Generation Nine), and they had the following children:

• Alice of Vermandois, born 910, who married Arnolph "the Great", Count of Flanders. Please click on Alice of Vermandois for this line.
• Robert, Count of Troyes
• Albert, Count of Vermandois
• Luitgarda of Vermandois, born about 915 who married William (I) Longsword 2nd Duke of Normandy as his second wife.  See William Longsword.

Generation Nineteen
Robert, Count of Troyes and Meaux
Born circa 910
Died circa 967/68
Robert married Adelaide, a daughter of Giselbert, Count of Burgundy and his wife Ermengarde.
Robert and Adelaide had the following daughters:

• Adelaide de Vermandois who was born in 950 and died circa 975 - 978. Adelaide married Geoffrey (I) "Grisgonelle", Count of Anjou (died July 21, 987), son of Fulk (II) "the Good", Count of Anjou. Adelaide and Geoffrey had the following children:
• Fulk (III) "the Black", Count of Anjou (died June 21, 1040) who married Hildegarde;  they had a daughter:
• Ermengarde, heiress of Anjou (born circa 1010/1015 and died 21 March, 1076) who married Aubri-Geoffrey, Count of Gâtinaise.
• Ermengarde of Anjou who married in 980 to Conan "the Crooked" Duke of Brittany who died in 992. Ermengarde and Conan had a daughter:
• Judith of Brittany (982 - 1017) who married Richard (II) "the Good", Duke of Normandy.

Albert (I) "the Pious", Count of Vermandois
Born circa 915
Died in 987
Albert married Gerberga of Lorraine.  Click on The Merovingians for Gerberga's descent from Clovis and the Merovingian Kings.
Adalbert and Gerberga had a son:

• Herbert (III), Count of Vermandois

Generation Twenty
Herbert (III), Count of Vermandois

Born circa 954
Died about 1000
Herbert married Ermengard, a daughter of Reinald, Count of Bar and they had a son:

• Odo

Generation Twenty-one
Odo, Count of Vermandois

Born circa 1000
Died May 25, 1045
Odo married Parvie, Parrie or Parrè, and they had a son:

• Herbert (IV) Count of Vermandois

Generation Twenty-two
Herbert (IV), Count of Vermandois
Herbert (IV) married Adela, daughter of Raoul (III) Count of Valois and the Vexin, and they had a daughter:

• Adelaide of Vermandois

Generation Twenty-three
Adelaide of Vermandois
Died in 1123
Adelaide married to Hugh "the Great" de Crépi, Count of Vermandois, son of Henry (I) Capet, King of France and brother of Philip (I), King of France.  Click on Hugh "the Great" for details.
Adelaide and Hugh had a daughter:

• Isabel or Elizabeth de Crépi of Vermandois

Generation Twenty-four
Isabel de Crépi of Vermandois who is also know as Elizabeth de Crépi of Vermandois
Died before July 1147
Isabel married first to Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan.  Robert de Beaumont, son of Roger, Seigneur de Beaumont, was present at the Battle of Hastings.
Isabel and Robert had the following children:

• Waleran de Beaumont (1104 - 1166, twin brother of Robert de Beaumont), Count of Meulan and Earl of Worcester who married circa 1141 to Agnes de Montfort,a daughter of Amauri de Montfort, Count of Évreux.  They had a son:
• Sir Robert de Beaumont (died in 1207), Count of Meulan.
• Robert de Beaumont (1104 - 1168, twin brother of Waleran de Beaumont), 2nd Earl of Leicester who married Amice de Montfort, a daughter of Ralph de Gael de Montfort, Seigneur of Montfort de Gael in Brittany.   Their children:
• Hawise de Beaumont  who married William Fitz Robert, Earl of Gloucester
• Sir Robert de Beaumont (born before 1135, died at Durazzo, Greece, 1190), 3rd Earl of Leicester, married Petronilla de Grandmesnil, their daughter:
• Margaret de Beaumont married Saher de Quincy.
• Hugh de Beaumont, Earl of Bedford.
• Adeline who married Hugh IV, Seigneur of Montfort-sur-Risle.
• Aubrée who married Hugh II, Seigneur of Chateauneuf-en-Thimerais.
• Maud who married William Louvel, Seigneur of Ivri and Brevel.
• Isabel (or Elizabeth) de Beaumont who first "had an affair" with King Henry I of England and later married Gilbert FitzGilbert de Clare.
• a daughter whose name is not known.

• William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Warren & Surrey, born in 1119; whose daughter married Hamlin Plantagenet.  Click on Hamlin Plantagenet for this line.
• Gundred de Warren
• Adelaide (or Ada) de Warren
• Ralph de Warenne
• Rainald de Warenne

Generation Twenty-five
Adelaide de Warren who is also known as Ada de Warren.

Died in 1178
Adelaide married in 1139 to Henry, Earl of Huntingdon who was the son of David (I) "the Saint", King of Scotland and Matilda of Nothumberland.  Henry was next in line as King of Scotland, but he died about a year before his father.  When David (I) died in 1153, he was succeeded Henry's son, Malcolm (IV).
Adelaide de Warren and Henry of Huntingdon had the following children:

• Malcolm (IV) "the Maiden", King of Scotland, born on March 20, 1141/42
• William (I) "the Lion", King of Scotland, born in 1143
• Margaret of Huntingdon, Countess of Hereford
• Ada
• David, 9th Earl of Huntingdon, born about 1144
• Maud
• Isabella
• Marjory

Generation Twenty-six
David, 9th Earl of Huntingdon

Click to Contact Robert Sewell

Favourite Links
 

• The Sewell Society  (where I got started . . . thanks to Ruth Summers.
• The Rose Tree  (check out "William Sewall" and "Jane Dummer")
• {Judge} Samuel Sewall's Page  (my great X 7 uncle, a really cool guy)