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Re: Seems I have a little Viking ancestry...
2/8/2010 2:44 PM
Garry Cantrell (3704) wrote:
Cool. And, yes, I'm sure your GGGGGGGGGGGGrandmother looked exactly like that!!
Brings up an interesting question. When is it that we can claim specific ancestry? My ancestry is pretty darn English with some Scots (and a couple of Scots who spent a generation in Ireland before heading west) and at least one errant Welshman thrown in. By that, I mean that all the ancestors of whom I'm aware came to the US from England, Scotland or Wales during the last 400 years. But what does that mean? Saxons, Ingles, Jutes, Celts, Picts, Britons, Gauls (Gaels), Vikings, and Normans all have done a fair amount of procreating in Britain. Were they that different from one another? It gets even more squirrelly when you consider specific events. For instance, we know that Harold held off a Viking invasion in 1066 only to have to turn around and (unsuccessfully) fight off a Norman invasion led by William. So, the Normans owe at least some of their victory to the Vikings who distracted and wore out Harold. But wait. Wasn't Normandy (Northman) given to the Vikings to keep them from invading the rest of France? So, the Normans were really Vikings anyway. It's all very confusing.
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