EssaysVolume9

July 01, 2025

Charting the Stanford and Polk Ancestries

3rd Edition

by Richard Stanford

CONTENTS

NOTE: You may click on the symbol <> at the end of any section to return to the CONTENTS.

Introduction

Ancestry Tracing Basics

A. Macro and Micro Ancestry Stories

     Stanford, Tapley, Polk, and Pollock Ancestry Traces
         Stanford Paternal Grandfather
         Stanford/Maxwell Paternal Grandfather
         Stanford/Teel Paternal Grandmother
         Tapley Maternal Grandfather
         Polk Maternal Grandmother
         Polk/Pollock Maternal Grandmother

     Lineage Ancestry Traces
         1. Vikings in the Polk Ancestry
         2. Celts in the Polk Ancestry
         3. Frankens in the Polk Ancestry
     Linkage to Non-Lineage Ancestry Traces
     Non-Lineage Ancestry Traces
         4. Carolingian
         5. Iberian Peninsula
         6. Merovingian
         7. Hebrew Patriarchs

Introduction

This work was prepared for the benefit of the descendants of Richard Alexander Stanford and his brother, David Jon Stanford. At mid-2019 I would have been hard pressed to identify any of my ancestors preceding my great grandparents. Using the MyHeritage.com search engine that can access the MyHeritage and other ancestry databases, it has been possible to trace several Stanford Family ancestry lines back in time to before the Common Era (i.e., the BCE era). All ancestry records referenced in this report may be accessed and viewed at the Stanford Family MyHeritage website:

https://www.myheritage.com/site-family-tree-608792221/stanford?rootIndivudalID=1500006&familyTreeID=1

An ancestry tree and accompanying commentary is a form of storytelling. It is the story that we tell ourselves about ourselves and whence we came. An ancestry story can be revealing, or it can be told to hide essential truths. An ancestry story can amuse and entertain, or it can be terminally boring. It can reveal national heroes or horse thieves among the relatives. It can surprise, and it may even shock to discover who is up one’s family tree. Ancestry research educates with respect to language, culture, history, geography, economics, mathematics, and even theology. Often it is possible to find more information about an ancestor by “Googling” the name on-line. Ancestry research is factual, but it may become fiction if the researcher is tempted to extend the story beyond what can be confirmed. All of these possibilities surface in the telling of the Stanford Family ancestry story.

Lineage of course descends through time which progresses linearly from earlier dates toward the present, but ancestry research necessarily ascends from the present back in time. An ancestry line search is conducted record-by-record by identifying a subject's parents and then checking the information in the parents' records to confirm that the subject indeed is their child. The parents then become the subjects in the next step. This process may continue stepwise until a dead-end is reached, i.e., when neither parent of a subject is identified. When a dead-end is reached in one subject's ancestry line, it often is possible to shift to the spouse's ancestry line to continue tracing ancestry.

While ancestry research typically is conducted by tracing paternal ancestry lines, maternal ancestry lines have turned out to be crucial to Stanford ancestry research. In the ascending ancestry tracing process, three women have served as ancestry portals to Viking, Celtic, and continental European ancestry lines: my grandmother Etta Avarilla Polk and my 15th-great grandmother Egidia Stewart.

This is an interim work because it never will be finished. Richard's and David's descendants are invited to revise, correct, and extend the contents of this report as new information and vehicles of analysis become available to them.

The second edition of this work includes a controversial Hebrew Patriarch trace based on the belief that Mary Magdalene was Jesus’ wife, that they had three children, that Jesus survived the crucifixion, and that the family escaped across the Mediterranean to the south coast of Gaul.

The third edition includes enhancements to the lineage and non-lineage ancestry traces, revisions to Hebrew Patriarchs trace, and the addition of appendices.

Richard A. Stanford, March 2023.

Ancestry Tracing Basics

1. An ancestry tree and accompanying commentary is a form of storytelling.

2. Family trees and ancestry name lists are two ways to present ancestry traces.

3. An ancestry list or a family tree is a "macro story" within which many "micro stories" may be embedded.

4. Genealogical research examines historical documents to authenticate an ancestor; ancestry tracing accesses existing databanks or family trees for additions to an ancestry list or family tree.

5.           A genealogical lineage list descends from the name of an ancient person; an ancestry trace ascends from the name of a recent person.
    Chapter 1 of Matthew's Gospel contains a lineage list;
    Chapter 3 of Luke's Gospel contains an ancestry trace.

6. An ancestry system with automatic-search capability can find names contained in databanks and other ancestry trees to which it has access (but it won't find names not contained in databanks or family trees.

7. An ancestry trace may be extended by checking the identities of the parents of a subject, and then checking the identities of children of the parents to confirm a match.

8. Names may be added to an ancestry trace from external sources such as family histories and family Bibles.

9. "Record matches" (red dots on name panels in the MyHeritage system) may be more reliably documented than are "smart matches" (green dots) found in other family trees.

10. Existing documentation for a name panel in an ancestry tree may be examined to assess authenticity.

11. The absence of documentation of an event or a named person does not mean that the event did not happen or the person did not exist, especially in oral traditions.

12. The farther back in time an ancestry trace goes, less confidence can be placed in entries and the more likely that some entries are mythical.

13. Most ancestry traces are for paternal lines, but maternal lines are no less significant.

14. An ancestry trace may reach a "dead-end" when neither parent is identified in a name panel.

15. It may be possible to extend a dead-end ancestry trace by shifting to that of a spouse.

16. Two persons sharing a common great grandfather (or grandmother) are cousins of that great grand number plus 1; If the great grand generation count differs between the two persons who share a common ancestor, they are cousins removed by the difference in the generation counts.

17. For any great grandfather (or grandmother) number, theoretically I have that number of great grandfathers (or grandmothers), raised to an exponent (base 2) that is that number plus 1.

18. I may tire of tracing my ancestry, but my ancestry tracing project never will be finished.

19. This is only an interim report.

A. Macro and Micro Ancestry Stories

In my quest to see how far an ancestry trace could be taken, I have examined six traces that approach or reach into the BCE era. These are what I call “macro” or big-picture traces. Three are in direct lines of lineage descent:

   1. Viking
   2. Celt
   3. Franken

and three are linked but not in direct line of descent:

   4. Carolingian
   5. Iberian Peninsula
   6. Merovingian

These six, identified by the numbers above, are listed Chart 5R2. All six ascend as ancestry traces from Richard A. Stanford in the red oval at the bottom of the chart.

A seventh ancestry trace, presented in Chart 5R92, shows a combination of direct lineage and ancestry linkage by marriage:

7. Hebrew Patriarchs

Before these macro ancestry traces are exhibited in detail, we need to examine the much shorter Stanford and Tapley ancestry traces.

Stanford, Tapley, Polk, and Pollock Ancestry Traces

Stanford Paternal Grandfather

The Stanford paternal ancestry trace is presented in Chart 5R11.

This ancestry trace listing reaches around 1675, the approximate birth date of my 5th great grandfather, Robert Stanford (c.1675-1765). His death date and burial site are known, but his birth date cannot be documented. It is estimated to be around 1675 because Robert was quite elderly at his death, possibly around 90 years old. This ancestry listing dead-ends with Robert because neither his father nor his mother can be identified.

Stanford/Maxwell

I have checked the ancestry traces of the spouses of the Stanford ancestors. Only one reaches farther back than 1600, as depicted in Chart 5R13.

Presbyterian minister Samuel L. (Leonidas?) Stanford (1764-1833) married Margaret Torrens (1777-1858), the daughter of Thomas Torrance (c.1730-1764). Thomas’ mother was Elizabeth Kenan (?-1826), the daughter of Elizabeth Johnstone (1704-1789) and Thomas Kenan, founder of the town of Kenansville, county seat of Duplin County, North Carolina. The Johnstone ancestry may be traced to Elizabeth’s 2nd great grandfather, James Johnstone (1567-1608), and grandmother Sarah Maxwell (1570-1636). The Maxwell ancestry can be traced to Sarah’s 13th great grandfather, Undewyn MacCus (c. 1155-1190) the progenitor of the Scottish Maxwell Clan. The ancestry of Mary de Means (c.1210-1262), wife of Aymer (a.k.a. “Homer”) de MacCuswell (1190-1260), may be traced to her 2nd great grandfather, Reinald MacGaughan (c. 1095-1187). It may be noted that this ancestry trace entailed five shifts to the ancestries of spouses.

The origin of the name Maxwell is that it comes from Maccus Well, a pool in the River Tweed near Kelso in the Scottish Borders. Maccus is believed to have been a Norse (or Danish) chief who lived during the reign of King David of Scotland.

Stanford Paternal Grandmother

Chart 5R15 traces my paternal grandmother’s ancestry. The ---^ symbol indicates “marriage to”, and the marriage partner’s record is right-offset by three spaces. For example, John Jackson Teel (1799-1880), my 2nd great grandfather, married Mary Francis Darden (1803-1881), who thus became my 2nd great grandmother. In this ancestry trace, there are 6 spouse shifts to reach Lawrence Washington (1568-1619), but no ancestry record in this ancestry trace goes farther back in time than 1568.

Tapley Maternal Grandfather

My maternal grandfather’s ancestry can be traced to around 1580, the birth year of my 10th maternal great grandfather as depicted in Chart 5R21.

I did not know my maternal grandfather, Irby Parks Tapley (1879-1930), because he died before I was born. I do know that he is buried in McRae, Telfair County, Georgia, so his family must have lived there for some time. His ancestry can be traced to his 8th great grandfather, Clement Topliff (1580-1628), who is my 10th great grandfather. This ancestry trace reaches the 17th century, but my maternal grandmother’s ancestry trace will go much farther back in time.

Polk Maternal Grandmother

I knew my maternal grandmother, Etta Avarilla Polk (1884-1966), because she lived with us, and I credit her with being one of the great moral forces who helped my mother to raise me. The Polk ancestry may be traced to her 5th great grandfather, Robert Bruce Polk III (1625-103), who was my 7th great grandfather as depicted in Chart 5R23.

Pollock/Polk Maternal Grandmother

The Polk ancestry listing may be extended to include their ancestors, the Pollocks, as depicted in Chart 5R27.

The following is an edited version of an explanation by Tristan Pollock of the origin of the name Pollock:

The name of Pollock (originally Pollok) is among the oldest family names in Scotland dating to the 12th century. It stems from the features of the land like many surnames from Scotland. The translation is a body of water such as a small pond or lake. The name 'Pollock' in Celtic translates to Pollog, "people who live by a pool.”

Pollock, or Polloc, is an armigerous (they provided armed support in exchange for land) Scottish clan whose origin comes from a grant of land in Renfrewshire [on the southern bank of the River Clyde to the west of Glasgow]. The grant was made to the sons of Fulbert de Falaise {1073-1153) by Walter FitzAlan (1106-1177), the 1st High Steward of Scotland, during the reign of King David I of Scotland (1084-1153) as a thanks for his father’s service to Scotland at the Battle of the Standard in 1138. (https://www.tristantoday.com/home/2018/11/4/the-genealogy-of-tristan-pollock-and-clan-pollock)

The first person to carry the name Pollock was Fulbert de Polloc (1073-1158). The Pollock lineage can be traced from Fulbert, my 22nd great grandfathet, down to Robert Bruce Pollock III, my 7th great grandfather born 1625. Around 1608, King James I of England (James VI of Scotland) granted a barony for a “Plantation of Ulster” at Coleraine in County Derry, Ireland, to Robert Bruce Pollock I (1559-1565), my 9th great grandfather, who thereby became the “First Baron of Ireland.” His son, Robert Bruce Pollock II (1597-1660), inherited the barony and title to become Second Baron of Ireland. When the Irish barony was inherited by Robert Bruce II’s elder son Thomas, his younger son Robert Bruce Pollock III and wife Magdalen Tasker (1637-1726) immigrated to the American Colonies around 1670.

The family name changed in this transition. When a Scotsman says the name "Pollock," he emphasizes the first syllable with a long "o" and sort of swallows the second syllable. To a non-Scotsman it may sound like “Polk.” The story is told, whether true or not, that when the Pollock immigrants arrived at Dames Quarter in Ann Arundle County, Maryland, the colonial official who met the ship prompted for the name and heard Robert Bruce Iii Pollock say "Polk" which he wrote on the immigration documents. The Scottish Pollocks were American Polks from that time onward. Robert Bruce III Pollock/Polk is my 7th great grandfather.

Lineage Ancestry Traces

1. Vikings in the Polk Ancestry:

As can be seen In Chart 5R30, Bricius de Pollock’s ancestry trace is to the Viking Age.

The progenitor of the Pollock clan was my 22nd great grandfather, Fulbert de Polloc (1073-1153), who was the son of Fulbert de Falaise (?-1073). His father was Fulbert William Tanner, Lord de Falaise (973-1017), a commune in the Normandy region in northwestern France. Fulbert is a French name, but many so-called “Normans” were descended from Danish Vikings. Much of William the Conqueror's army that invaded England in 1066 consisted of descendants of Danish Vikings who established winter quarters in Normandy and stayed on to settle there and adopt French names. Fulbert William Tanner’s father is identified in ancestry records as Viking descendant Thorgils Styrbjornsson (967-1024) whose father was Styrbjorn Olafsson (930-985), King of Sweden.

The Viking Age in Scandinavian history is the period from the earliest recorded raids by Norsemen in 793 until the Norman conquest of England in 1066. In addition to raiding and trading, Vikings established settlements, which at first may have served mainly as winter quarters while abroad. A major area of Danish Viking settlement was in Normandy, France. In 911 the Viking leader Rollo became the first duke of Normandy as a vassal of Charles III of France.

Various contenders fought for the throne of England until the question of the succession was settled in 1066 by one of Rollo’s descendants, William I (“The Conqueror”), who led the Norman forces to victory over the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, Harold II, at the battle of Hastings. (https://www.britannica.com/place/Denmark/The-Viking-era)

Bricius’s father was John de Pollock (1299-1393). As depicted in Chart 5R30, the Polk ancestry line stretches back in time through the Swedish and Danish Viking era to the Norse god Odin. Information about early Danish and Swedish kings is oral tradition as elders told younger people about relatives and where and how they lived, their deeds, their wives and children, and who they married. Few could read and write, so few written documents of the era survive, but lack of written documentation does not mean that the information in oral tradition did not happen.

The Vikings, along with many other tribal peoples, claimed descent from a god or gods. The earliest identifiable Stanford Viking ancestor is Uwald or Fritzuwald (143 A.D.-?), who would be my 55th great grandfather. He appears to have named his son Odin Fritzuwaldsson (162-?) after the Norse god Odin.

Fulbert William Tanner, Lord de Falaise (973-1153) is my 24th great grandfather. Two of his children were Fulbert de Falaise (?-1073) and Herleve Arlette de Falaise (1005-1050). Herleve and Robert “the Magnificent,” Duke of Normandy, were not married, but they had a child that they named William who became known as “William the Conqueror” of England. His invasion at Hastings on the south coast of England is depicted in the 220 foot-long, 22 inch-wide Bayeux Tapestry that is displayed in a museum in Bayeux, France.

Ragnar Sigurdsson, a.k.a. “Lodbrok” (765-845), my 33rd great grandfather, was a Viking raider who inspired the dramatic television series entitled “Vikings” that was broadcast from 2013 to 2021 on the History Chanel. The series explored the cultural and religious clashes between the Vikings and the Christian kingdoms of England and France, as well as the internal conflicts and intrigues among the Norse rulers and warriors.

2. Celts in the Polk Ancestry

A key to an ancestry trace reaching BCE (before the common era) is that an ancestor is a royal or has married into royalty for which most ancestry records are well documented. Five Pollock ancestors married women with surname “Stewart”:

• Bricius de Pollock (1337-1401) married Egidia Stewart (1355-1407).

• Charles de Pollock (1420-1490) married Margaret Stewart (1440-1470).

• David de Pollock 1463-1543) married Marion Stewart (1465-1497).

• John IV de Pollock (1535-1593) married Dorothea Stewart (1533-1633).

• Robert Bruce II Pollock (1597-1660) married Annabel Stewart (1565-1648).

The surname Stewart implies that the Pollock spouses were scions of the Stuart family, the royal house of Scotland. The fact that five Pollocks married into Scottish royalty attests to the social and political standings of the Pollock clan. The common ancestor of the Stewart spouses was Alexander FitzWalter Stewart (1214-1283), the 4th High Steward of Scotland. He is the 13th great grandfather of Annabel, the 9th great grandfather of Dorothea, the 7th great grandfather of Margaret, the 6th great grandfather of Marion, and the 2nd great grandfather of Egidia.

Egidia Stewart, the wife of my 15th great grandfather Bricius de Pollock, is the Pollock spouse that enables a “breakthrough” to Celtic and Franken ancestry traces. Although Egidia cannot be documented by “record matches” of information contained in existing databanks, MyHeritage "smart-matches" of records from other family trees indicate that Egidia may have been a daughter of Walter Stewart (6th High Steward of Scotland, 1292-1327), his son King of Scots Robert lI Stewart (1318-1390), or his son King of Scots John Robert III Stewart (1337-1406). Birth and death dates suggest that Robert II Stewart and first wife Elizabeth Mure (1320-1355) most likely were the parents of Egidia Stewart, and that she was sister of John Robert III (Chart 5R30). Egidia is the 2nd great granddaughter of King Robert I "The Bruce" (1274-1329) and the key to extending ancestry traces toward BCE. She is my 15th great grandmother.

Bricius Pollock’s ancestry is Viking, but his wife Egidia Stewart’s ancestry is Celtic as depicted in Chart 5R40. But even if Egidia’s paternity cannot be documented by record matches, there is another route to the Celtic ancestry trace (#2 in charts 5R2 and 5R40). The ancestry of Doda Duxia MacKenneth (980 – 1015), wife of Hubert Fulbert William Tanner (973 – 1017) and grandmother of William the Conqueror (1028 - 1087), can be traced to Donald I MacConstantin (780 – 814), brother of Argant Argentael (755 – 790) and son of Constantine de Cornouaille (750 – 792) in ancestry trace #2. It is not surprising that my Scottish ancestry has roots in the Celtic ancestry trace.

Celtic trace #2 in chart 5R40 entails three shifts to the ancestries of spouses: Gwladys Siluria of Britain, Eurgen ap Liewfer, and an unnamed daughter of Aminidab ap Joshua who was the queen consort of Meirchion ap Owain. The names of the fathers of both Aminadab ap Joshua (136 – 187) in Celtic trace #2 and Aminadab [ben Josue] de Tournai (130 - 185) in Merovingian trace #6 are variations on the name “Joshua.” Both married women named Eurgen. Both have sons named Catheloys. If these Aminadabs are the same person, the identity coincidence enables a biological ancestry link from Bricius de Pollock through the Viking and Celtic traces to the Merovingians and then to Yeshua ben Yeshua and Marie bat Syrus. Celtic trace #2 includes two Hebrew spouses who link it to the Nathan-to-Joachim path in trace #7: Anna Enygeus bint Yossef (daughter of Joseph of Arimathea) who married Silurian King Beli Mawr to become queen of Siluria; and Enygeus bint Matthat, granddaughter of Joseph of Arimathea, who married Cunobeline of Britain.

The earliest Celtic Polk ancestor that can be identified is the Trojan Priomos Podarcus, born around 525 BCE. Brutus “the Dardaian” immigrated from the Balkans to western Briton (now known as Wales) at some time between 600 and 500 BCE. By 450 BCE his descendants had immigrated to central Briton, now England, and eventually to the Cornwall region on the southwest coast. The Celts in the Polk line then moved back and forth between Cornwall and Wales until around 350 CE when their descendants immigrated to the northwest coast of France to settle in Bretagne, now Brittany, in the vicinity of Dol in the modern French Department of Ill-et-Vilaine. The following map depicts the spread of Celtic peoples throughout Europe.

Dol-de-Bretagne is reputed to be the origin of the royal House of Stewart who became the monarchs of Scotland and later England and Ireland. The Stewart monarchs descended from Alan Dapifer Fitzflaad, the Seneschal of Dol. His son, Flaad Fitzalan and his grandson Alan Fitzflaad, arrived in Britain at the request of Henry I, King of England. Flaad’s grandson, Walter Fitzalan, was appointed the 1st Steward of Scotland by King David I of Scotland. King Malcolm IV later confirmed the honor bestowed by David and made the office of Steward of Scotland hereditary in Walter’s family who adopted the name “Steward” which eventually became transliterated to ”Stewart.” Walter Stewart’s descendants became the royal House of Stewart. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dol-de-Bretagne)

3. Franks in the Polk Ancestry

Bricius Pollock’s ancestry reaches Franken tribes as depicted in Chart 5R50.

Many tribal peoples have claimed descent from a god or gods. The Vikings claimed descent from the Norse god Odin. Chart 5R50 depicts the Franken ancestry trace in the Polk line from Bricius de Pollock (1337 - 1401) to my 117th great grandfather, Dardanis van Arcadia (1620 B.C. - ?), and onward to the mythical Greek gods Zeus, Kronos, Uranus, Aether, and Erebus.

In the Franken trace (#3) of charts 5R2 and 5R92, the lineage descends from Antenor IV (24-27), King of the Franks, and wife Sarah Damaris (27 - ?) through Sicambrian, Salien, Toxandrian, and Septimanian tribes. The term “desposyni” (or “De Esposyni”) appears in the sequence of eighteen names from Pharamound De Esposyni of Franks, King of the East Franks (370 - 430), to Frotbald Desposyni de Bretagne (840 - 923). This name sequence implies that Franks from the 4th to the 10th centuries may have regarded themselves as direct descendants of Yeshua ben Yossef, reputed to be the husband of Mary Magdalene and the father of Sarah Damaris. As described in trace #7, the ancestry trace above Myriam bat Heli (the mother of Yeshua) passes through Nathan ben David and on to Adam, the first human created by the Hebrew god, El or Yahweh.

The Cimmerians were a nomadic Iranian people of the Eurasian steppe who originally lived in the Caspian and Caucasian steppes corresponding to present-day southern Russia. Their success at expanding into eastern Europe was due to the development of mounted nomadic pastoralism and the adoption of weapons suited to equestrian warfare. By the late 7th century BCE, the Cimmerian presence had become concentrated in Anatolia in present-day Turkey. After defeats in battles with Lydian forces, the Cimmerians remained in the region of Cappadocia and the Troas until they were finally defeated by the Lydians. The remnants of the Cimmerians eventually were assimilated in Anatolia and Germanic tribes in eastern Europe. (https://en.widipedia.org/wiki/Cimmerians)

In early historic times Germanic tribes settled on either side of the lower Rhine River and Celts along its upper course. The Rhine was bridged by Julius Caesar in 55 BCE, and it became the political boundary of Roman Gaul. When the Western Roman Empire disintegrated, the Rhine was crossed along its entire length by Germanic tribes (406 CE), and the river formed the central backbone of the kingdom of the Franks.

The Franks emerged into recorded history in the 3rd century as a Germanic tribe living on the east bank of the lower Rhine River. In the mid-3rd century the Franks tried unsuccessfully to expand westward across the Rhine into roman-held Gaul.

In Roman and Merovingian times, Romans often were called Trojans, and Franks were called Sicambri. The Sicambri were a Germanic people who during Roman times lived on the east banks of the Rhine River in what is now Germany, near the border with the Netherlands.

The Ripuarian or Rhineland Franks were the tribes who settled in the Roman territory with capital at Cologne. Their western neighbors were the Salien Franks who settled with imperial permission within the Roman Empire in what today is the southern part of the Netherlands and Belgium.

In 481/482 Clovis I succeeded his father, Childeric of the House of Merovech, as the ruler of the Salian Franks. In the following years Clovis compelled the other Salian and Ripuarian tribes to submit to his authority. He then took advantage of the disintegration of the Roman Empire and led the united Franks in a series of campaigns that brought all of northern Gaul under his rule by 494.

In the late 6th century, Ripuarian Franks pushed from the Rhineland westward to the Schelde River in present-day Belgium. Their immigration strengthened the Germanic faction in that region, which had been almost completely evacuated following the disintegration of the western Roman Empire.

The Kingdom of the West Franks refers to the western part of the Frankish Empire established by Charlemagne. It represents the earliest stage of the Kingdom of France, lasting from 840 until 987. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Frank-people)

Linkage to Non-Linage Ancestry Traces

All three Polk ancestry traces described thus far, Viking, Celt, and Franken, have ascended from Bricius de Pollock and are in direct lines of lineage descent to Bricius de Pollock and on to Richard A. Stanford. Three additional ancestry traces are linked to the Stanford/Polk base but are not in direct line of descent to them. These are the Carolingian, Iberian Peninsula, and Merovingian ancestry traces. A seventh ancestry trace, Hebrew Patriarchs, is a special case of both direct descent to the Stanfords and linked by marriage.

The linkage to the three non-lineage traces follows the path illustrated in Chart 5R60:

Bricius de Pollock married Egidia Stewart of the Scottish royal House of Stewart.
Egidia Stewart, daughter of King of Scots John Robert II Stewart, is the sister of King of Scots Robert III.
Robert III’s son, King of Scots James I Stewart, married English noblewoman Joan Beaufort, daughter of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, a legitimized son of John of Gaunt by his mistress (and later third wife) Katherine Swynford, to provide a link to English ancestry.
Joan Beaufort’s 2nd great grandfather, English King Edward II, married Isabelle de France, daughter of French King Phillippe IV, to provide a link to the Vermandois/Carolingian/French ancestry.
Isabelle de France’s grandfather, Philippe III, married Isabelle d’Aragon, daughter of Aragon King James I, to provide a link to Iberian peninsula ancestry.
Isabelle d’Aragon’s great grandfather, Alfonse II, married Sancha of Castile, daughter of Castillian King Alfonso VII to provide a link to the Franken ancestry.
Isabelle d’Aragon’s 15th great grandfather, Sigbert V Van Razes, married Magdalena Van Urgel to provide the link to the Merovingian ancestry.

It is possible to specify how any one name in ancestry lines 4, 5, and 6 are linked to my 15th great grandfather, Bricius de Pollock. For example,

Isabelle de France (in the Carolingian ancestry line) is my 15th great grandfather's (Bricius de Pollock) wife’s (Egidia Stewart) nephew's (James I Stewart) wife's (Joan Beaufort) second great grandfather's (Edward II) wife.
Isabelle d'Aragon (in the Iberian ancestry line) is my 15th great grandfather's (Bricius de Pollock) wife’s (Egidia Stewart) nephew's (James I Stewart) wife's (Joan Beaufort) second great grandfather's (Edward II) wife's (Isabelle de France)'s grandfather's (Philippe III de France)' wife.
Sancha of Castile (in the secondary Franken ancestry line) is my 15th great grandfather's (Bricius de Pollock) wife’s (Egidia Stewart) nephew's (James I Stewart) wife's (Joan Beaufort) second great grandfather's (Edward II) wife's (Isabelle de France) grandfather's (Philippe III de France) wife's (Isabelle d'Aragon) great grandfather's (Alfonse II d'Aragon) wife.
Magdalena van Urgel (in the Merovingian ancestry line) is my 15th great grandfather's (Bricius de Pollock) wife’s (Egidia Stewart) nephew's (James I Stewart) wife's (Joan Beaufort) second great grandfather's (Edward II) wife's (Isabelle de France) grandfather's (Philippe III de France) wife's (Isabelle d'Aragon) 15th great grandfather's (Sigbert V Van Razes) wife.
Charlemagne de Vermandois (in the Carolingian ancestry line) is my 15th great grandfather's (Bricius de Pollock) wife’s (Egidia Stewart) nephew's (James I Stewart) wife's (Joan Beaufort) second great grandfather's (Edward II) wife's (Isabelle de France) 16th great grandfather.
Yeshua ben Yeshua (in the Merovengian ancestry line) is my 15th great grandfather's (Bricius de Pollock) wife’s (Egidia Stewart) nephew's (James I Stewart) wife's (Joan Beaufort) second great grandfather's (Edward II) wife's (Isabelle de France) grandfather's (Philippe III de France) wife's (Isabelle d'Aragon) 15th great grandfather's (Sigbert V van Razes) wife's (Magdalena van Urgel) 22nd great grandfather.
Yeshua's sister, Sarah Damaris (in the Franken direct line of descent), is my 64th great grandmother.

Non-Lineage Ancestry Traces

4. The Carolingian Empire

Vermandois was a French county during the Merovingian period. The count (some sources call it the "palace mayor") was the ruler of the County of Vermandois. Today the Vermandois County would fall in the Picardy region of northern France.

The Carolingian dynasty came to power as Vermandois hereditary counts or mayors of the palace of the Frankish kingdom of Austrasia. By the time that Pippin II became mayor of the palace in 679, they had reduced their nominal Merovingian kings to mere figureheads. In 687 Pippin II gained effective rule over the entire Frankish realm when he defeated his Neustrian rival, Ebroïn.

At his death in 714 Pippin left an illegitimate son, Charles Martel. By 725 Martel had established himself as ruler of the Vermandois Franks, although he maintained the fiction of Merovingian sovereignty until 737. When Martel died in 741, his sons divided the realm between themselves. Pippin III became the sole ruler in 747, and by 750 he had deposed the last of the Merovingians, Childeric III. With the support of Pope Zacharias, Pippin had himself elected king by an assembly of Frankish nobles and consecrated by a bishop of the Roman church.

The realm again was divided on Pippin III’s death in 768, but the territories were reunited in the hands of Pippin’s elder son, Charles, who became known as Charlemagne. Charlemagne extended Frankish power by conquest over virtually all of Gaul and into Germany and Italy. He formed an alliance with the papacy and in 774 created a papal state in central Italy. On Christmas Day of 800, in the presence of Pope Leo III, he was crowned emperor of the restored Roman Empire.

At Charlemagne's death in 814, his sons divided the empire into three kingdoms: Francia Occidentalis in the west, Francia Orientalis in the east, and Francia Media, including the Italian provinces and Rome. Subsequent partitions of the three kingdoms, together with the rise of such new powers as the Normans and the Saxons, whittled away at Carolingian authority. By 887 Carolingian power had all but dissolved in the empire. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Carolingian-dynasty)

The kingdom of the West Franks refers to the western part of the empire established by Charlemagne. It is the earliest stage of the Kingdom of the Francs, lasting from about 840 to 987. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Francia

Philippe II (1165-1223) was the last of the House of Vermandois to be known as “King of the Franks.” From 1190 onward Philippe was the first French monarch to style himself as “King of France.”

5. The Iberian Peninsula

Ancient Greeks reached the Iberian peninsula by voyaging westward on the Mediterranean Sea. Early in the first millennium BCE, several waves of pre-Celts migrated from Central Europe into the Iberian peninsula. Carthaginians arrived in the peninsula in the sixth century BCE while struggling with the Greeks for control of the western Mediterranean.

In 219 BCE during the Second Punic War against the Carthaginians, the first Roman troops occupied the Iberian peninsula. During their 600-year occupation of the peninsula, the Romans introduced the Latin language that influenced many of the languages that are spoken today in the peninsula.

In the early fifth century, Germanic Vandals occupied the peninsula. The Visigoths, a wave of Germanic invaders, occupied all of the Iberian peninsula and expelled or partially integrated the Vandals. In 711, a Muslim army conquered the Visigothic Kingdom in Hispania. Conversion and arabization of the Hispano-Roman population took place following the conquest. Muslims, referred to by the generic name Moors, allowed Christians and Jews to live as part of a stratified society.

During the Middle Ages, the north of the Iberian peninsula contained many small Christian polities including the Kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, Navarre, and Leon. Christian and Muslim polities fought and allied among themselves with Christian kingdoms progressively expanding south, taking over Muslim territory in what is known as the “Reconquista.” Most of the territorial expansion southwards was carried out through agricultural colonization rather than through military operations.

The last Muslim stronghold, Granada, was conquered by a combined Christian and Aragonese force in 1492. Muslims and Jews throughout the period were variously tolerated or shown intolerance in different Christian kingdoms. After the fall of Granada, all Muslims and Jews were ordered to convert to Christianity or face expulsion. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iberian_Peninsula)

The Polk ancestry link to the Iberian peninsula occurred with the marriage of Philippe de France (1245-1285) to Isabelle d'Aragon (1247-1271). The marriage of Sigbert V Van Razes 695-763) to Magdalena Van Urgel (698-?) provided a link to the Merovingian ancestry. The Iberian peninsula ancestry can be traced to a Roman, Caius Julius Severus (25-98).

6. The Merovingian Dynasty

The Merovingian dynasty was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gaulish Romans under their rule to become the largest and most powerful of the states of western Europe.

Merovingian kings traced their lineage to a tribe of Cimmerians referred to as the Sicambri. However, it is not possible to tell if the Sicambri were Cimmerians or a mythical tribe thought to have helped the Merovingian kings to bolster their royal claims.

The Merovingians’ long hair distinguished them among the Franks who commonly cut their hair short. Contemporaries sometimes referred to the Merovingians as “the long-haired kings.”

The first known Merovingian king was Childeric I (436-481). His son Clovis (467-511) converted to Christianity, united the Franks, and conquered most of Gaul. Clovis's sons divided the kingdom among themselves and it remained divided to 679. The main divisions of the kingdom were Austrasia, Neustria, Burgundy, and Aquitaine.

During the final century of Merovingian rule, the kings were gradually pushed into a ceremonial role. Actual power was increasingly in the hands of the mayor (or “count”) of the palace, hereditary descendants of the House of Vermandois, the highest-ranking official under the king. In 656, when the mayor Grimoald I tried to place his son Childebert on the throne in Austrasia, he was arrested and executed, but his son ruled until 662 when the Merovingian dynasty was restored.

When King Theuderic IV died in 737, the mayor Charles Martel continued to rule the kingdoms without a king until his death in 741. In 751 Charles's son, Pippin III, deposed the last Merovingian king, Childeric III, and had himself crowned, inaugurating the Carolingian dynasty. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merovingian_dynasty

Historian Lee Levin notes that for reasons lost to history, the western Mediterranean coast of France had a large Jewish population, particularly in the seaport city of Narbonne. Levin recounts the eighth century negotiation by Franken King Pippin III (House of Vermandois) with the Jewish population of Narbonne to open the city gates so that Pippin's troops could enter and drive the Moors out of southern France and Spain. The reward to the citizens of Narbonne for opening their city gates was the creation of the Jewish Kingdom of Septimania, with stipulation that its king must be of royal blood descended from King David. Natronai ben Zabinai, a direct descendant of David, was brought from Babylonia to become the Jewish king of Septimania. Natronai took the Hebrew name of Machir. Upon Pippin's death in 768, his son Charlemagne demanded that the Jewish Machir marry his Catholic aunt Alda. Somehow overcoming the prohibition of marriage between Jewish and Catholic parties, the marriage produced a legitimate son through whom royal Jewish blood intermingled with that of the Carolingian kings of France. After 140 years, the Jewish Kingdom of Septimania disappeared when the last king of the Machiri dynasty died without a male heir. (http://jewishmag.com/175mag/septimania_jewish_kingdom/septimania_jewish_kingdom.htm)

The names of the fathers of both Aminadab ap Joshua (136 – 187) in Celtic trace #2 and Aminadab [ben Josue] de Tournai (130 - 185) in Merovingian trace #6 are variations on the name “Joshua.” Both married women named Eurgen. Both have sons named Catheloys. If these Aminadabs are the same person, the identity coincidence enables a biological ancestry link from Bricius de Pollock through the Viking and Celtic traces to the Merovingians and then to Yeshua ben Yeshua and Marie bat Syrus. The Merovingian ancestry trace #6 stops in Chart 5R66 with Yeshua ben Yeshua (37-?), but it may be extended farther by identifying Yeshua’s parents and taking the lineage listing in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew as an authentic databank.

Several sets of siblings across the ancestry traces may be observed in Chart 5R2:

Egidia Stewart (1338-1404) and John Robert III Stewart (1337-1400)
Bartherus Von Toxandrien (210-272) and Marcomir de Toxandrie (220-281)
Fredermundus De Esposyni (394-?), Clodius V Von Franken (380-448), and Cariaric Van Morinie (427-483)
Sarah Damaris (27-?), Joses Justus ben Yeshua (33 - ?), and Yeshua ben Yeshua (37-?)

7. Hebrew Patriarchs

Chart 5R92 extends Chart 5R2 to include ancestry trace #7 to the Hebrew Patriarchs.

Chart 5R94 is a zoomed view of trace #7.

Charts 5R92 and 5R94 exhibit a direct lineage from the Hebrew Patriarchs to Sarah Damaris (ancestry trace #3) and Bricius de Pollock (my 15th great grandfather), and linkage by marriage from Yeshua ben Yeshua (ancestry trace #6) to Bricius de Pollock.

When several years ago I first read the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln (Random House, 1982), I dismissed their hypothesis as pure speculation and maybe some wishful thinking. On the basis of their research findings, Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln (BLL) shifted the focus of their research to a new hypothesis, i.e., that Jesus fathered a child with Mary Magdalene, that she and daughter along with a number of other believers escaped persecution by fleeing in a boat across the Mediterranean Sea to land on the south coast of France, and that the daughter married into a Frankish dynasty to promulgate a sacred bloodline that persists to this day. The corollary of the BLL hypothesis is that the "Holy Grail" is not a vessel that may have contained Jesus' blood and which has been an object of search through the ages, but rather it is the sacred bloodline itself. The BLL hypothesis became a central theme in Dan Brown’s 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code.

In the Franken trace (#3) of chart 5R92, the lineage descends from Antenor IV (24 - 67), King of the Franks, and wife Sarah Damaris (27 - ?) through Sicambrian, Salien, Toxandrian, and Septimanian tribes. The term “desposyni” (or “de esposyni”) appears in the sequence of eighteen names from Dagobert II De Esposyni de Sicambre Franks (300-379) to Frotbald Desposyni de Bretagne (840 - 923). (Appendix B) A passage from the website “The Nazarene Way of Essenic Studies” pertains to these names:

The term “Desposyni” (from Greek (desposunos) meaning "of or belonging to the master or lord" was a sacred name reserved for Jesus' blood relatives. The closely related word (despotes) meaning lord, master, or ship owner is commonly used of God, human slave-masters, and of Jesus in Luke 13:25. In Ebionite belief, the desposyni included his mother Mary, his father Joseph, his unnamed sisters, and his brothers James the Just, Joses, Simon and Jude; in modern mainstream Christian belief, Mary is counted as a blood relative, Joseph only as a foster father and the rest as half-brothers or cousins. If Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, a controversial belief held by Gnostic sects and which is indirectly corroborated by the apocryphal Gospel of Philip, their child or children would have been the most revered among the desposyni. (http://www.thenazareneway.com/desposyni.htm).

The Desposyni name sequence in the Franken ancestry trace implies that Franks from the 4th to the 10th centuries may have been regarded as direct descendants of Jesus.

MyHeritage smart-match ancestry records list Sarah-Tamar (Damarus) bint Yeshua (27 - ?), Josephus (Joses) Justus ben Yeshua (33 - ?). and Yeshua ben Yeshua (37 - 120) as siblings and children of Marie bat Syrus (2 - 63), a.k.a. "Mary Magdalene." Ancestry records also indicate that Marie was wife of Yeshua ben Yossef (4 BCE - 32 CE), a.k.a. "Jesus, son of Joseph," and that Yeshua ben Yossef was son of Yossef ben Jacob (circa 30 BCE - 19 CE). The ancestry trace then follows the lineage listing in the 1st chapter of the Gospel of Matthew to Solomon ben David (970 - 913 BCE) and on to Patriarch Abraham ben Terah (circa 2058 BCE - 1810 BCE) and his father Terah ben Nahor (2065 BCE - 1917 BCE). Yeshua's mother is listed in ancestry records as Myriam bat Heli (15 BCE - 60 CE), a.k.a. "Mary, the mother of Jesus." The ancestry trace in the 3rd chapter of the Gospel of Luke goes from Myriam's father, Joachim Heli ben Matthat (44 BCE - 17 CE), to Nathan ben David (circa 1039 BCE - 969 CE) and on through the Patriarchs to Adam, the first human created by God.

In charts 5R92 and 5R94, gaps in the ancestry trace from Yossef ben Jacob to Solomon ben David are intended roughly to align lifespans of that trace with those in the ancestry trace from Joachem ben Matthat to Nathan ben David. The gaps imply that it took fewer generations for the Solomon-to-Yossef lineage than it did for the Nathan-to-Joachim lineage. This might have occurred if the average life span of parties in the Solomon-to-Yossef lineage was longer than that of parties in the Nathan-to-Joachim lineage. Another possibility is that names are missing from the Solomon-to-Yossef lineage, or that extra names are included in the Nathan-to-Joachim lineage.

There is some evidence of the presence of Mary Magdalene in the south of France. According to a French tradition, after the execution of James (the son of Zebedee) in Jerusalem, Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, her sister Martha, her brother Lazarus, Maximin (one of the 72 disciples appointed by Jesus in Luke 10:1), and others escaped persecution in a boat on Mare Nostrum (the Roman name for the Mediterranean Sea). By some means the boat made its way westward across the Mediterranean and eventually landed on the south coast of France near Marsella, the Roman name of the modern city of Marseille. Mary Magdalene is reputed to have preached the gospel and lived an ascetic lifestyle in a limestone cave in the Languedoc region of the south of France until she died. Together with Mary Magdalene, Maximin began the evangelization of Aix-en-Provence, and he became the first bishop of Aix-en-Provence. Locals have venerated various sites associated with Mary Magdalene, and today there are numerous religious sites in the south of France dedicated to Mary Magdalene. (Appendix A)

What were the means by which the boat could have made its way westward across the Mediterranean to Marsella? A legend has it that the Mediterranean transit by Marie and Sarah-Tamar from Judea to Gaul may have been enabled by Myriam bat Heli’s uncle, Yossef ben Matthat (38 BCE - 45 CE, a.k.a. "Joseph of Arimathea"), the brother of Myriam bat Heli’s father, Joachim Heli ben Matthat. Yossef was a tin merchant who sailed westward across the Mediterranean to Wales to purchase tin ore. Ancestry records indicate that Yossef’s spouse was Myriam’s cousin, Anna bint Eleazar. Ancestry records indicate that their daughter, Anna Enygeus bint Yossef, known as “the Prophetess,” became Queen of the Celtic Druids when she married Beli Mawr, King of the Druids in Siluria of Cornwall, and that she died 62 CE in Cornwall or Glastonbury.

Ancestry records indicate that Sarah-Tamar’s grandson, Richemer, King of the Francs (30 – 114), married Ascylla de Bretagne (56 – 115) who was the daughter of Boadicea Victoria Mandubratus (? - ?), the granddaughter of Anna Pendardim bint Yossef, and the great granddaughter of Yossef ben Matthat. These ancestry records enable a biological ancestry link of the Celtic ancestry trace #2 to the Hebrew Patriarch ancestry trace #7, and they lend credence to the legend that Yossef ben Matthat traveled to Cornwall and could have facilitated an escape by Marie and Sarah-Tamar across the Mediterranean from Judea to Gaul.

Several assumptions underlie these ancestry records:

Yeshua ben Yossef, Marie bat Syrus, and Sarah-Tamar bint Yeshua were real (not mythical or fictitious) historical persons.
The lineage list in Matthew 1 and the ancestry trace in Luke 3 are authentic databases.
Yeshua and Maria married and had a daughter that they named Sarah-Tamar before the crucifixion.
After the crucifixion, Maria and Sarah made their way across the Mediterranean Sea to the south coast of Gaul (now France).
In Gaul, Maria had two more children, Joses Justus ben Yeshua (33 - ?) and Yeshua ben Yeshua (37 - 120, a.k.a. "Jesus the Younger").
Sarah-Tamar, with appended surname Damaris (possibly meaning "of the sea"), encountered Antenor IV, King of a Franken tribe on the south bank of the Rhine River in the north of Gaul, and married him.
Sarah-Tamar and Antenor had at least one son, Ratherius des Francs (45 - 90), whose lineage can be traced to Bricius de Pollock, my 15th great grandfather.

Assuming that Joses Justus ben Yeshua (33 - ? ) and Yeshua ben Yeshua (37 - 120) were real (not mythical or fictitious) persons and children of Mary Magdalene, i.e., assuming that they were actual desposyni, what accounts for their existence? Two possibilities: either Yeshua survived the crucifixion, recovered, and escaped with Mary Magdalene and Sarah to Gaul to father the two sons, or, after reaching Gaul, Mary Magdalene had relations with someone else who fathered the two sons who were falsely surnamed “ben Yeshua.”

These assumptions are controversial and subject to challenge. They are dismissed by most in the professional religious establishment (theologians, professors, priests, pastors, etc.). The Gini World Family Tree platform isolates the Gaul ancestry sequence and labels it as fictitious. However, there are too many indications of Magdalene veneration and descendants of Yossef ben Matthat and Sarah-Tamar in France to be ignored. If these assumptions were to be judged valid and if Egidia Stewart’s paternity could be authenticated by record matches, ancestry trace #7 would extend the Pollock ancestry to the Hebrew Patriarchs. (Appendix B)

Even if these assumptions continue to be challenged, other links that bypass Egidia Stewart enable Polk ancestry traces from Bricius de Pollock to the Hebrew Patriarchs. Celtic trace #2 includes two Hebrew spouses who link it to the Nathan-to-Joachim path in trace #7: Anna Enygeus bint Yossef (daughter of Joseph of Arimathea) who married Silurian King Beli Mawr to become queen of Siluria; and Enygeus bint Matthat, granddaughter of Joseph of Arimathea, who married Cunobeline of Britain.

Another link that bypasses Egidia Stewart may enable Polk ancestry traces to reach Marie bat Syrus. The names of the fathers of both Aminadab ap Joshua (136 – 187) in Celtic trace #2 and Aminadab [ben Josue] de Tournai (130 - 185) in Merovingian trace #6 are variations on the name "Joshua." Both of the Aminidabs married women named Eurgen. Both have sons named Catheloys. If these Aminidabs are the same person, the identity coincidence enables a biological ancestry link from Bricius de Pollock through the Viking and Celtic traces to the Merovingians and then to Yeshua ben Yeshua and Marie bat Syrus. Unexplained are the different birth and death places, Glamorgan in Wales for Aminadab ap Joshua, and what is unspecified but presumed to be in today's Belgian region of Wallonia for Aminadab de Tournai. If Aminadab’s great grandfather, Yeshua ben Yeshua, accompanied his sister Sarah-Tamar Damaris to the western bank of the Rhine River when she married Antenor IV, a possible explanation is that Aminadab may have immigrated from Wallonia to Wales (rather than the reverse).

An explanation of a large population of Jews in the vicinity of Narbonne in the 8th century may not have been lost to history as suggested by Lee Levin. The descendants of Yeshua ben Yossef, Marie bat Syrus, Sarah-Tamar Damaris, and Yeshua ben Yeshua may have populated Narbonne and the area that became the Jewish Kingdom of Septimania in the 8th century.

What of the BLL hypothesis that a Frankish dynasty promulgated a sacred bloodline that persists to this day? The possibility cannot be ruled out that a bloodline (biological lineage) can be traced from Yeshua ben Yossef to Bricius de Pollock and his descendants. Whether it would be sacred depends upon one's personal beliefs.

Questions persist in regard to the Solomon-to-Yossef lineage (Matthew 1) for four reasons:

By Israelite convention, the eligibility for one to become a king of Israel was predicated on descendance from the House of David (Ha-David). Yossef ben Jacob, the nominal father of Yeshua ben Yossef, did descend from Ha-David, but Christian belief is that Yeshua’s mother, Myriam bat Heli, was a virgin who was impregnated by God, not Yossef (some believe that Myriam remained a virgin through her entire life). Thus, Yossef ben Jacob was only the foster or adoptive father of Yeshua, not his biological or blood father. Unless descendance from Ha-David could be established by adoption, Yeshua was not of Ha-David via the Solomon-to-Yossef lineage. Descendance from David did occur in the Nathan-to-Joachim lineage, so Ha-David eligibility of Yeshua to become an Israelite king passed through the Nathan-to-Joachim lineage to his mother (Joachim’s daughter) rather than via the Solomon-to-Yossef lineage to his nominal father. (Joseph Raymond, in his 2010 book Herodian Messiah: Case for Jesus as Grandson of Herod, makes a case that the biological father of Yeshua was King Herod's son Antipater, and that his biological mother was Hasmonean princess Myriam bat Antigonus who became Myriam bat Heli when she was adopted by Joachim Heli ben Matthat. See Appendix C.)
The paternity of Solomon is uncertain. There is a possibility that Solomon was the son of Uriah the Hittite rather than David ben Jesse, in which case the Solomon-to-Yossef lineage is not of Ha-David. (See Joel Baden, The Historical David: The Real Life of an Invented Hero, HarperCollins, 2013.)
As recorded in Jeremiah 33:20-21 and affirmed in Psalm 132:11-12, God stipulated that if Israel broke his covenant with the Israelites, the throne of David would no longer be occupied by a member of the House of David. The Israelites did violate the covenant; they were sent into exile in Babylon; and Jeconiah ben Jehoiachin was the last descendant of David to occupy the throne of David. This raises the question whether Yeshua could become a king of Israel, even if he descended from the House of David via the Nathan-to-Joachim lineage.
In Matthew 22:41-46, Mark 12:35-37, and Luke 20:41-44, Jesus implicitly rejected the contention that “the Christ” had to be a “son of David.” (Raymond makes a case that Jesus may have been descended from the priestly tribe of Levi rather than the House of David in the tribe of Judah. See Appendix C.)

B. Ancestry in a Grand Tableau

Chart 91 is a grand tableau that was devised to help me understand the complexities of Scottish and English royalties. It is composed of screen shots of MyHeritage person panels that have been copied and pasted into the Chart. It includes panels descending from William the Conqueror down to our family, plus extensions of English/British royalty down to William and Harry Mountbatten. A full version of Chart 91 should be downloaded and available to the reader as the following matter is read.

Chart 91 includes many of the principal characters in Dan Jones' books, The Plantagenets and The Wars of the Roses. The chart continues to be a work-in-progress that is subject to corrections and further elaborations.

This tableau is mostly about my maternal grandmother's Polk ancestry, but for temporal reference I have included in a boxed area the Stanford ancestry to 1675 which is as far as it can be traced with confidence and adequate documentation. All person panels on the same row are roughly contemporaries. All column references (capital letters) are approximations because the person panels don't line up vertically.

Parenthetical references in subsequent sections identify the coordinates in Chart 91 where the ancestry panel for that party may be found.

In Chart 92, the Grand Tableau has been “zoned” to facilitate description of the Stanford and Polk ancestors and their stories.

Zones 1 and 2. Dick and His Immediate Family

Zones 1 and 2 in Chart 14Z21 present Dick’s immediate family including his parents, Louise, their children, their grandchildren, and their adopted canine daughter.

Alexander Rupert Stanford married Ruth Lucille Tapley in 1933. Their two children are Richard Alexander Stanford, born in 1943, and David Jon Stanford, born in 1947.

Richard Alexander Stanford married Clara Louise Williams in July 1966. Their four children and eight grandchildren are:

Mary Louise Stanford, born 1968; Mary married Geoffrey Charles Smith in 1990 (subsequently divorced); her children are:

Stanford Glen Smith, born 1995;
Jacob Charles Smith, born 1997; and
Abbey Louise Smith, born 2000.

Elizabeth Ruth Stanford McCarty, born 1970; Elizabeth married William Loring McCarty in 2000; their children are:

Caroline Elizabeth McCarty, born 2003; and
Christopher Alexander McCarty, born 2005.

Catherine Meggs Stanford James, born 1997; Catherine married John Nolan James in 2004; their daughter is:

Hannah Catherine James, born 2005.

Anne Williams Stanford Lynch, born 1976; Anne married Bernard Patrick Lynch in 2000; their children are:

Patrick Stanford Lynch, born 2003; and
Sean Williams Lynch, born 2005. ?

Zone 3, The Stanford Ancestry

Zone Z3 introduces the Stanford ancestry. We know when Robert Stanford died in 1765 and where he is buried, but we know very little else about him. We can track the intergenerational migration of his Stanford descendants as shown in Chart 14Z31.

The first settlers came to the Mecklenburg area in the late 1740s from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. Increasing numbers of settlers were attracted to the area. In 1771 Robert’s son Samuel C. and wife Elizabeth moved their family from Pennsylvania to Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, where Rebecca was born in 1777, Anne in 1781, and Moses W. in 1784. Elizabeth died in Mecklenburg County in 1793. Samuel C. had been in Mecklenburg County for a couple of decades before the early 19th century gold rush there, but he may have engaged in gold mining or mercantile activity that intensified in response to the gold rush. He died in 1822 in Mecklenburg County. Samuel C. and Elizabeth had seven children, so we are likely to have cousins in the vicinity of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

Chart 14Z32 describes the life of Samuel C. Stanford’s son, Samuel L. Stanford, as he served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, and afterward as he became a Presbyterian minister and plantation owner.

During his residence in Kenansville, Samuel L. may have acquired upwards of 4000 acres in Duplin County that were managed by his older sons as a plantation. He may have owned 20 or more slaves. Their plantation produced cotton, flax, corn, peas, and products from sheep, hogs, and cattle. Their plantation also was engaged in the principal agricultural activity of the region, timber and naval stores (pitch, tar, turpentine). Toward the end of his life, Samuel gifted his surviving sons with various amounts of land and slaves to work the land. Son Thomas Jefferson received 534 acres and acquired additional acreage from Thomas McGee whose daughter Dorothy he married in 1828.

The U.S. economy suffered a major panic in 1837 that precipitated a protracted depression for the next seven years until 1843. As commercial activity in North Carolina declined, banks collapsed, businesses failed, deflation ensued, and thousands of workers lost jobs. In North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, the panic precipitated efforts to diversify crops away from cotton. By 1840, many cotton plantations were no longer in cultivation. Cotton production may no longer have provided an adequate living for Thomas Jefferson’s family in Duplin County, North Carolina.?

In Chart 14Z33, Samuel L. Stanford’s son, Thomas Jefferson Stanford, decided to move his family from Duplin County in North Carolina to Henry County in Alabama.

Because of the isolation of the wiregrass region and its relatively poor soil, the area was sparsely settled until after the Civil War. What farming occurred before the war was mostly subsistence, and timber and naval stores were still fledgling industries. After the war, the timber industry boomed as lumbering interests rushed in to take advantage of the yellow pine trees that covered the county.

So why did Thomas Jefferson Stanford move his family in 1840 to Henry County, Alabama? The poor soil and subsistence farming in the region would not seem to have provided an attraction. However, the fledgling timber and naval stores industry and the more fertile land in the vicinity of Abbeville and along the Chattahoochee River may have attracted him to Henry County. But son Samuel McGee says that his father acquired a large tract of land along the Choctaw Creek. A modern map of Henry County shows that the Choctawhatchee Creek flows SSW in the northwestern part of Henry County, well away from the Chattahoochee River and west of Abbeville. Since Thomas Jefferson's tract lay in the subsistence farming area of Henry County, its cotton production may not have provided an adequate living for his family.?

Chart 14Z34 describes how the U.S. Civil War impacted the Thomas Jefferson Stanford family.

In 1862 John Monroe, Thomas Quincy, and William Johnathan joined the 39th Alabama Volunteer Infantry. Son Samuel McGee joined the 12th North Carolina Infantry. Thomas Quincy (“Quince”) was wounded on December 31, 1862, during the Civil War battle at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Quince died on January 1, 1863, and we know that his "manservant" collected his body and took it by mule and wagon from Murfreesboro back to Henry County for burial. After Quince was killed in the Civil War Battle of Murfreesboro, Thomas Jefferson may have abandoned the Henry County farm and returned to Duplin County, North Carolina. He died in 1870 and was buried in Kenansville. Wife Dorothy continued on in Alabama with her young grandson John Quincy and her other children (all then adults), John Monroe, William Jonathan, Samuel McGee, and Margaret Ann. At some time between 1869 and 1875, all but Samuel McGee and John Quincy immigrated to Van Zandt County, Texas, where Dorothy died in 1893.

I have checked the ancestry traces of each of the Stanford spouses, but only one of them went farther back in time than around 1500. Chart 14Z39 shows the ancestry trace of Margaret Torrans, wife of Rev. Samuel L. Stanford. This ancestry trace entails no fewer than five shifts to the ancestry of a spouse, and it reaches the earliest stage of formation of the Scottish Maxwell Clan in the 12th century. It also reveals that a friend and contemporary living in Greenville and I share an 11th great Grandfather, making us 12th cousins in the same generation.

Zone 4, The Polk Ancestry

Chart 14Z41 introduces Zone Z4 and shows the lineage listing of my maternal grandfather, Irby Parks Tapley, and the Polk family tree of my maternal grandmother, Etta Avarilla Tapley. The map included in Chart 14Z41 tacks the intergenerational migration of the Polks after immigrant Robert Bruce Pollock III and wife Magdalen Tasker landed at Dame’s Quarter in Anne Arundle County, Maryland.

Robert Bruce Pollock II (1597-1660, 19-C) was second Baron of Ireland. His son, Robert Bruce Pollock III (1625-1703, 20B) immigrated to the American Colonies around 1670. The family name changed in this transition from Pollock to Polk.

The Pollock family may have left Ireland to escape religious persecution (Robert was a Covenanter) and for the opportunities the new land afforded to practice their religion and build a home. Thomas, Robert's elder brother, inherited the family estate in Donegal, Ireland, and the opportunity to secure land of his own in the colonies may have factored into the decision to leave Ireland.

The Pollock/Polk descendants can be traced from Renfrewshire, Scotland, to Donegal, Ireland; then to Somerset, Maryland, in the American Colonies; then to Chester, Pennsylvania; then to Darlington, South Carolina; then to Lawrence County, Mississippi; then to McRae, Georgia; and finally to Jacksonville, Florida. Chart 14Z43 reveals the Polk ancestry links to two notable Americans, Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, and 11th U.S. President James Knox Polk. Alexander Hamilton is my 2nd cousin, 7 generations removed, and President Polk is my 4th cousin, 4 generations removed.

Zone 5, The Pollock Ancestry

Chart 14Z51 presents the trace of the Pollock ancestors of Robert Bruce Pollock II (1597-1660) to Bricius de Pollock (1337-1401). During the entire generational range shown in Chart 14Z511, the Pollocks resided in Renfrewshire on the south bank of the Clyde River, just to the west of the modern city of Glasgow.

The following is an edited version of descriptions by Tristan Pollock:

The old Pollock Castle’s large house survived until 1882 when it was almost entirely destroyed by a fire. In 1886, the large house was rebuilt in the Scottish Baronial style. In 1947 the estate was inherited by a nephew of the last of the Pollocks to occupy the castle, who then sold it to a developer. The developer removed most of the historical buildings by 1954. The site of the old Pollok Castle in Mearns now is a private country home with gated security.

Pollock tradition says the crest was granted by a king for having his life saved while hunting an old and wily boar that had unseated the king and was about to gore him to death. A Pollock shot the boar with and arrow and spared the king’s life. The motto on the Pollock crest translates from Latin as “boldly and earnestly” or “boldly and strongly.” Bricius de Pollock (1355-1407) married Egidia Stewart (1338-1404) of the Scottish royal House of Stewart. As depicted in Chart 14Z52, Egidia’s father was King of Scots John Robert Stewart II (1316-1390) who descended from the High Stewards of Scotland. John Robert’s father was Sir Walter Stewart (1292-1327), 6th High Steward of Scotland, who married Marjorie Bruce (1297-1316), daughter of King Robert I Bruce (1274-1329), known as “Robert, The Bruce.”

King David I of Scotland (circa 1084-1153) appointed Walter FitzAlan (1106-1177) of Brittany to serve as the 1st Steward of Scotland. King Malcolm IV (1141-1165) later confirmed the honor and made the office of Steward of Scotland hereditary in Walter's family. Eventually the title became spelled and pronounced “Stewart.” Robert II Stewart (1316-1390), Walter FitzAlan’s 4th great grandson (and Egidia’s father), was the first of the House of Stewart to become King of the Scots. Robert II’s 6th great grandson, Scottish King James Stuart VI (1566-1625), became English King James Stuart I. (https://www.tristantoday.com/home/2018/11/4/the-genealogy-of-tristan-pollock-and-clan-pollock)

Egidia was one of five Pollock spouses with surname Stewart. As seen in Chart 14Z54 The ancestries of four of them, Annabel, Dorothea, Marion, and Margaret, can be traced to Alexander Stewart of Darnley (1342-1402), making them cousins. The ancestries of all five, including Egidia, can be traced to Alexander FitzWalter Stewart (1214-1283), 4th High Steward of Scotland.

The surname “Stewart” implies that the Pollock spouses were scions of the Stuart family, the ancient royal house of Scotland. The fact that five Pollocks (Polloks) married into Scottish royalty attests to the social and political standings of the Pollock clan. The common ancestor of the Stewart spouses was Alexander FitzWalter Stewart, the 4th High Steward of Scotland (1214-1283). He was the 13th great-grandfather of Annabel, the 9th great-grandfather of Dorothea, the 7th great-grandfather of Margaret, the 6th great-grandfather of Marion, and the 2nd great-grandfather of Egidia.

In Chart 14Z56, the Pollock ancestry trace can be extended beyond Zone Z5 to Fulbert de Polloc (1073-1153), whose grandfather was Hubert Fulbert William Tanner (973-1033), Lord de Falaise, Normandy. Hubert’s daughter, Herleve Arlette de Falaise (1003-1050) had conjugal relations with Robert “the Magnificant” (999-1035), Duke of Normandy that produced a child who was named William. William became William I, the conqueror of the Anglo-Saxon King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings.

Chart 14Z58 illustrates that the further extension of the Pollock ancestry into the Viking Era reaches Ragnar Sigurdsson, a.k.a. “Lodbrok,” who inspired the dramatic television series entitled the "Vikings" that ran from 2013 to 2021 on The History Channel.

Zone 6, The Bruce Ancestry

The progenitor of the Scottish Bruce lineage was Robert Adam Le Brus (1041-1080) who came to England in 1050. When William the Conqueror invaded England, le Brus joined his army. After the conquest he received the barony of Skelton and the lordship of Cleveland as a reward for his services, map in Chart 14Z61.

Robert I de Brus, 1st Lord of Annandale (c.?1070–1141) was the first of the Bruce dynasty to hold lands in Scotland. The friendship between Robert de Brus and David FitzMalcolm (after 1124, King David I of Scotland) may have commenced at least as early as 1120 at King Henry's court. When David FitzMalcolm became king of Scotland in 1124, he settled upon his military companion and friend Robert I le Bruce (1072-1141) the lordship of Annandale. Annandale, near Dumfries, became the ancestral home of the Bruce dynasty.

The Bruce ancestry of the Pollocks followed upon the marriage of Marjorie Bruce (1297-1316) and Walter Stewart (1292-1327), 6th High Steward of Scotland. Marjorie was daughter of Robert I Bruce (1274-1329), a.k.a. Robert, “The Bruce.” Robert fought for Scottish independence. His rag-tag “army” performed guerilla operations in defeating a much larger and better equipped English army led by King Edward II at the Battle of Bannockburn, 23-24 June 1314.

After King of Scots Robert I’s defeat at the Battle of Methven in 1406, English King Edward I captured 11-year-old Marjorie Bruce and held her captive in a convent in England for about seven years. She was freed in October 1314 in exchange for Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, captured in 1413 after Edward II’s forces were defeated by Robert I at the Battle of Bannockburn. Upon the liberation of Marjorie from her long captivity in England, Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, was sent to receive her at the Anglo-Scottish border and conduct her back to the Scottish court. He fell in love with Marjorie and married her. Two years later, on 2 March 1316, Marjorie was riding in Gallowhill, Paisley, Renfrewshire, while heavily pregnant. Her horse was suddenly startled and threw her to the ground. She went into premature labor and her child was born prematurely by Caesarian section. Marjorie died soon afterward at the age of around 20. Her son succeeded his childless uncle David II of Scotland in 1371 as King Robert II of Scotland. Her descendants include the House of Stewart and all their successors on the throne of Scotland, England, and the United Kingdom.

Zone 7. The Windsor/Mountbatten Ancestry

Zones Z7 through Z9 are introduced in order to illustrate the intersection of one family ancestry by that of another. This story begins with the Windsor/Mountbatten ancestry presented in Chart 14Z71.

The first Battenbergs were a family of German counts residing in the castle of Kellerburg near Battenberg in Hesse. In 1917, Louis Alexander Battenberg (1854–1921), an English Battenberg descendant who had become an admiral in the British navy, was accorded the title Marquess of Milford Haven.

Because Great Britain was at war with Germany, in 1917 King George V requested that members of the Battenberg family who lived in England renounce the German title of "Prince of Battenberg" and adopt the English form "Mountbatten" as surname. Louis Alexander Battenberg thus became Louis Alexander Mountbatten. Louis' younger son Louis (1900-1979) served in the Royal Navy and was the last Viceroy of India. Louis's daughter Alice (1885–1969) married Prince Andrew of Greece (1882–1944). Their only son, Prince Philip (1921–2021, 29-T), took the surname Mountbatten and married George VI’s daughter Elizabeth (29-V).

Before 1917, members of the British Royal Family were known only by the name of the house or dynasty from which they descended. In 1917, King George adopted "Windsor" as surname as a result of anti-German feeling during the First World War. The name Windsor was the castle in which the royal family resided.

Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth's son Prince Charles (1948- , 30-R), now King Charles III, kept the surname Mountbatten and added Windsor to it. Their grandsons, William (31-R) and Henry (Harry) (31-V) have kept the surname Mountbatten-Windsor.

Zone 8, The Hanover Ancestry

The Windsor/Mountbatten’s ancestors are the German Hanoverians shown in Chart 14Z81.

When Catholic James II Stuart (1633-1701) died, his Anglican daughter Mary II Stuart (1662-1694) became Queen of England and co-regent with her husband, William of Orange. When she died without issue, her Anglican sister Anne Stuart (1665-1714) then became Queen, but she too died without issue. With no remaining Protestant child of James II eligible to ascend to the throne, Parliament turned to George I Ludwig Guelph (1660-1727), husband of Stuart cousin Sophia Dorothea Braunschwei (1666-1726), niece of James II and cousin to Mary II and Anne, to ascend the throne. Hanoverian George Ludwig thus became King George I of Great Britain and Ireland.

Anne and Mary’s brother, James Francis Edward Stuart (1688-1766), a Catholic, attempted to gain the throne and restore the kingdom of Charles II (1630-1685), father of James II. He became known as “The Old Pretender.” His son, Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788), likewise attempting to restore the Charles II kingdom, became known as “The Young Pretender.”

George I became the first Hanoverian monarch of Great Britain and Ireland in 1714. At Queen Victoria's death in 1901, the throne of the United Kingdom passed to her eldest son Edward VII, a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

In 1960, Queen Elizabeth II (29-V) and Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh (29-T), decided that their own direct descendants should be distinguished from the rest of the Royal Family. Henceforth, the Queen's descendants would carry the name of Mountbatten-Windsor. Their son, now King Charles III (30-R), and their grandsons, William (31-R) and Henry (Harry) (31-V) have kept the surname Mountbatten-Windsor. William and Harry are my 20th cousins, removed by three generations.

Zone 9, The Steward/Stewart Ancestry

The ancestors of the Hanovers are the Stewart/Stuart dynasty shown in Chart 14Z91.

The Stewart monarchs descended from Alan the Seneschal of Dol. His son Flaad Fitzalan (1046-1084) and his grandson Alan Fitzflaad (1078-1144) arrived in Britain at the request of Henry I, King of England. Flaad's grandson, Walter Fitzalan (1106-1177), was appointed the 1st Steward of Scotland by King David I of Scotland. King Malcolm IV of Scotland later confirmed the honor bestowed by David and made the office of Steward of Scotland hereditary in Walter's family. In the fourteenth century, Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland and 3rd great grandson of Walter Fitzalan, married Marjorie Bruce (1297-1316), daughter of King Robert I (1274-1329) of Scotland, a.k.a. “Robert, The Bruce.” Their son became King Robert II, and their descendants the royal House of Stewart.

As the office of High Steward of Scotland became hereditary to Walter Fitzalan's family, the title "Steward" became the surname "Stewart, " which in speech sounds very much like "Steward." Mary (1542-1587, 17-F), Queen of Scots and daughter of Scottish King James V Stewart (1512-1542, 16-F), revised the spelling of the family name to "Stuart."

The Stuart ancestry intersects with the Pollock ancestry at the marriage of Bricius Pollock (1337-1461) to Egidia Stewart (1338-1404) whose father was King of Scots Robert II Stewart (1316-1399).

Robert II Stewart is my 16th great grandfather. He is the 17th great grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022). Elizabeth II and I 18th cousins, removed by one generation. King Charles Mountbatten-Windsor (1948 - ) is my 19th cousin, removed by two generations.

Zone 10, The Tudor Ancestry

Chart 14Z101 displays the Tudor Dynasty in Zone 10. The link of the Stewart ancestry to the Tudor ancestry is in the marriage of King of Scots James IV Stewart (1473-1513) to Margaret Tudor (1489-1541), daughter of English King Henry VII Tudor (1457-1509) and sister of Henry VIII Tudor (1491-1547).

The House of Tudor descended from the Welsh Tudors of Penmynydd. Tudor kings reigned from 1485 until 1603, with six monarchs in that period: Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Jane, Mary I and Elizabeth I. The Tudors succeeded the House of Plantagenet as rulers of the Kingdom of England and were succeeded by the House of Stuart.

Catherine of Valois (1401-1437, 12-G), widow of King Henry V (1387-1422, 12-I), married a servant in her household, Owen Tudor (1400-1461, 12-F). They had two sons, Jasper (1431-1485, 13-M) and Edmund (1431-1456, 13-O). Edmund married Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509, 13-P), great-granddaughter of Lancastrian John of Gaunt (1340-1399). Their son Henry captured the throne after the death of Richard III (1452-1485, 14-K) to become Henry VII (1487-1509, 15-O), the first Tudor monarch of England.

The Tudor family rose to power in the wake of the Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), which left the Tudor-aligned House of Lancaster extinct in the male line. Henry VII married Elizabeth of York (1466-1503, 15-Q) to merge the houses of Lancaster and York, thus bringing an end to the Wars of the Roses. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Tudor)

Zone 11, The Plantagenet Lancaster and York Ancestries

Chart 14Z111 displays the ancestries of the participants of “The Wars of the Roses” between the Lancaster and the York factions of the Plantagenet dynasty.

John of Gaunt (1340-1399), Duke of Lancaster and son of English King Edward III (1312-1377), is thought of as the progenitor of the Lancaster faction whose name panels in Chart 14Z11 lie mostly to the left side. Richard of York (1411-1460), 3rd Duke of York and 3rd great grandson of Edward III, was the progenitor of the York faction. His name panel in Chart 14Z111 is at the right side. Richard of York aspired to but never achieved the English throne, but his son, Edward IV (1442-1483), succeeded in gaining the throne from Lancastrian Henry V (1387-1422). At Edward IV’s death, his brother Richard III (1452-1485) machinated to sidestep Edward’s young sons and capture the throne of England. A persistent rumor is that Richard killed (or arranged to have killed) the two princes as they were held captive in the Tower of London.

The forces of Lancastrian Henry VII Tudor (1457-1509) succeeded in defeating those of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 during which Richard III was killed and Henry VII took the English throne. Henry married Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth Woodville's daughter by Richard’s brother Edward IV, to bring an end to the Wars of the Roses.

Edmund Tudor married Margaret Beaufort, 2nd great granddaughter of Edward III. Edmund and Margaret's son Henry became King Henry VII, 3rd great grandson of Edward III. It is on this thread that hangs the legitimacy of the Tudor claim to the English throne.

Zone 12, The Plantagenet Edward Ancestry

Chart 14Z121 displays the ancestry panels of the Edward Plantagenets.

The Lancasters and Yorks were Plantagenet descendants of English King Edward III (1312-1377).

Edward I of Westminster ("Longshanks"), King of England (1239 – 1307) was son of English King Henry III and Eleanor of Provence. His wife was Eleanor of Castile, Queen consort of England. He was temperamental. This along with his height made him an intimidating man, and he often instilled fear in his contemporaries. Nevertheless, he held the respect of his subjects for the way he embodied the medieval ideal of kingship, as a soldier, an administrator, and a man of faith.

Edward II, King of England (1284 – 1327) was son of Edward I "Longshanks" and husband of Isabella of France, Queen consort of England. Between the strong reigns of his father Edward I and son Edward III, the reign of Edward II was considered to be disastrous for England, marked by incompetence, political squabbling, and military defeats. Edward II was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in January 1327. His large and well-equipped English army was defeated by a rag-tag Scottish guerilla faction led by King of Scots Robert I “The Bruce” at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

Edward III, King of England (1312 - 1377) was son of Edward II and Isabella of France, Queen consort of England. Edward III is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II. Edward III transformed the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe. The English parliament evolved during his reign.

John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (1340 - 1399), was son of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault, Queen Consort of England. His first wife was Blanche of Lancaster. He is thought of as the progenitor of the Lancastrian faction in “The Wars of the Roses.” He was called "John of Gaunt" because he was born in Ghent, then rendered in English as Gaunt. As a younger brother of Edward, Prince of Wales (Edward, the Black Prince), John exercised great influence over the English throne during the minority of his nephew, Richard II, and during the ensuing periods of political strife. John of Gaunt was father of King Henry IV (Bolingbroke) (1366-1413).

Zone 13, The Plantagenet Henry Ancestry

Chart 14Z131 presents the Henry Plantagenet ancestry.

Henry II ("Curtmantle"), King of England (1133 - 1189) was son of Geoffrey V (1113-1151), Count of Anjou, and Empress Matilda (1101-1167). Henry succeeded his father in 1151 as Duke of Normandy and became Duke of Aquitaine by right of his marriage to Eleanor d’Aquitaine in 1152. He landed in England in Jan 1153 where King Stephen acknowledged him as his heir. He became Henry II, King of England, after the death of King Stephen in 1154. Their sons included Henry, the Young King (1155-1183), Richard I, a.k.a “Coer de Llion” (1157-1199), and John of England, a.k.a “Lackland” (1166-1216).

John I ("Lackland"), King of England (1166 - 1216) was youngest son of Henry II "Curtmantle and Eleanor d'Aquitaine. He was husband of Isabella of Angoulême and father of King Henry III (1207-1272). He was known as “Lackland” because he did not share with his older siblings in Henry II’s inheritance. John’s reign saw renewal of war with Phillip II Augustus of France to whom he has lost several continental possessions including Normandy. He came into conflict with his Barons and was forced to sign the Magna Carta. His later repudiation of the charter led to the first barons war 1215-17 during which he died.

Henry III, King of England (1207 - 1272) was son of John I "Lackland" and Isabella of Angoulême. His was husband of Eleanor of Provence and father of Edward I "Longshanks." Henry was only nine when his father died in 1216 and he became King of a rebellious nation. A series of regencies ruled in his place until 1234, when Henry assumed power. Order had been restored during the regency, based on the acceptance of Magna Carta which had curtailed the King’s power over his nobles. In 1230 and 1242 Henry’s misguided attempts to win back territory in France that had been lost by his father ended in failure. Eventually he was forced to sign away Normandy, Maine, Poitou, Touraine, and Anjou.

Henry's reign was marked by civil strife, as the English barons demanded more say in the running of the kingdom. Henry renounced provisions to the Magna Carta in 1262 and civil war broke out. The barons, under the leadership of the King’s brother-in-law, Simon de Montfort, forced Henry to accept a program of reform. The struggle with his nobles eventually led to the Battle of Lewes in 1264 where the king and his son, Prince Edward Longshanks, were captured and imprisoned. In May 1265 Longshanks, escaped captivity and rallied his forces, defeating and killing de Montfort at Evesham before taking control of government from his father. Royal authority was restored in 1267 when the king promised to uphold the provisions of the Magna Carta. The rest of Henry’s reign was occupied by resolving the civil problems created by the rebellion.

Zone 14, The Plantagenet William Ancestry

Chart 14Z141 shows the beginning of the Plantagenet lineage starting with William I “The Conqueror” (1028-1087).

William "the Conqueror" FitzRobert, Duke of Normandy, King of England (1024 - 1087), was son of Robert I "the Magnificent," Duke of Normandy, and Herleva Arlette of Falaise (1003-1050). He was husband of Matilda of Flanders (1031-1083) and father of Robert II "Curthose" (1054-1134), Duke of Normandy, and King William II "Rufus" (1056-1100). William I was the illegitimate son of Robert “the Magnificent” and Herleve Arlette, the daughter of Fullbert, a tanner of Falaise. Before history renamed him “the Conqueror” he was more commonly known to his contemporaries as William the Bastard. In 1035 on his father's death, William was recognized by his family as the heir, an exception to the general rule that illegitimacy barred succession. His overlord, King Henry I of France, knighted him at the age of 15. He invaded England in the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066 and was crowned King William I of England on 25 December at Westminster Abbey. He died in the Siege of Mantes in September 1087.

Henry I ("Beauclerc"), King of England (1068 - 1135), was son of William "the Conqueror" and Matilda of Flanders. He was husband of Matilda of Scotland and brother of King William II "Rufus. Henry's only son William Adeline (1103-1120) died in what is known as the White Ship Disaster after which ensued the period known as the Anarchy. The White Ship disaster had left Henry I with only one in-wedlock child, a second daughter named Matilda. Although Henry I had forced his barons to swear an oath to support Matilda as his heir on several occasions, a woman had never ruled in England in her own right. Matilda was also unpopular because she was married to Geoffrey V (1113-1151), Count of Anjou, a traditional enemy of England's Norman nobles. Upon Henry's death in 1135, the English barons were reluctant to accept Matilda as queen regnant. Stephen of Blois (1097-1154), the king's nephew by his sister Adela, usurped Matilda to become king. After Henry I's death, Matilda and her husband Geoffrey of Anjou, the founder of the Plantagenet dynasty, launched a long and devastating war against Stephen and his allies for control of the English throne. The Anarchy dragged from 1135 to 1153 with devastating effect, especially in southern England.

Matilda of Anjou (1102 - 1167) was daughter of Henry I "Beauclerc", King of England, and Matilda of Scotland. She was wife of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, and Geoffrey V (1113-1151), Count of Anjou. On the death of her brother and intended heir William Adeline, Matilda was nominated by her father as his successor. However, when Henry I died, the clerical council considered a woman unfit to rule and offered the throne to Stephen of Blois (1097-1154), Henry’s nephew. Matilda mustered forces in 1139 to invade England and fought to wrest rule from the usurping Stephen. After Stephen's capture in April 1141, a clerical council proclaimed Matilda "Lady of the English." She entered London but made cash demands that provoked Londoners to expel her before a coronation. On Stephen's release, she suffered defeats and eventually left England for Normandy, then controlled by her husband, Geoffrey V. Matilda failed to secure the English throne, and the cause of her death is obscure. Matilda and Geoffrey’s son, Henry Curtmantle, succeeded to the English throne and founded the Plantagenet dynasty to which Geoffrey gave his nickname.

Since William I is the grandson of my 24th great grandfather, Fulbert William Tanner, Lord de Falaise (973-1017), it may be presumed that Plantagenet descendants of William I are related, however remotely, to my ancestors, the Pollocks of Renfrewshire, and their descendants.

Appendix A. The Mary Magdalene Conundrum

Ancestry records indicate Yeshuah Ben Yossef’s wife to be one Marie bat Syrus (born about 2 AD) whom we know as Mary Magdalene. As to whether the Stanfords might be descended from Yeshuah and Marie bat Syrus, and begging the question of the divinity/humanity of Yeshuah, there are at least four questions, none of which can be answered definitively.

1. Did Jesus marry Mary Magdalene and father a child with her? If Jesus was born around 4 BC, he was nearly 40 years old when he was crucified in 32 or 33 AD. Life expectancy in Palestine during the first century AD was probably less than 50 years, so Yeshuah was past early manhood and heading toward old age. By that age, most Jewish men would have married and fathered most of their children. Assuming that Jesus was at least partially human and reasonably virile, it is not unreasonable to presume that he may have experienced normal human urges, engaged in typical male human activity, married his most devoted female follower, and fathered a child with her. Legends suggest the possibility, but there is no incontrovertible evidence that he did so. So, we just don't know.

2. Did Mary Magdalene and daughter make their way to the south of France to escape persecution in Jerusalem? There are two competing traditions about where Mary Magdalene went after the crucifixion of Jesus, but there is no documentary evidence that supports either tradition.

In what I shall refer to as the “Ephesus tradition,” while on the cross Jesus said to the disciple “whom he loved,” presumably John, “Here is your mother.” The passage continues, “From that time on, this disciple took her into his home” (John 19:27). Tradition has it that John took Mary with him to Ephesus and built a stone house for her on a hillside overlooking Ephesus. A house in that region was identified as Mary’s in 1881 by Abbé Gouyet, a French priest, following directions in a vision by Anne Catherine Emmerich, a bedridden Augustinian nun in Germany (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_the_Virgin_Mary). The tradition also maintains either that Mary Magdalene accompanied Mary to Ephesus (no mention of a daughter) or that Mary Magdalene retired to Ephesus to live in Mary’s house after Mary died. In either case, according to tradition, Mary Magdalene lived out her years and died there (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Magdalene#Speculations). Locals in Ephesus have venerated the site through the ages.

In the “Marsella tradition,” Jesus' followers were persecuted for several years following the crucifixion. After the execution of James (the son of Zebedee) in Jerusalem, Mary Magdalene (conflated by some with Mary of Bethany), Mary of Bethany, her sister Martha, her brother Lazarus, Maximin (one of the 72 disciples appointed by Jesus in Luke 10:1), and others escaped persecution in a boat on Mare Nostrum (the Roman name for the Mediterranean Sea). A version of this story is that Pagans towed them out to sea in a rudderless boat without sail, oars, or supplies to die at sea (http://www.magdalenepublishing.org/about/). By some means the boat made its way westward across the Mediterranean and eventually landed on the south coast of France near Marsella, the Roman name of the modern city of Marseille. According to French tradition, Mary Magdalene preached the gospel and lived an ascetic lifestyle in a limestone cave in the Languedoc region of the south of France until she died. Maximin began the evangelization of Aix-en-Provence together with Mary Magdalene and became the first bishop of Aix-en-Provence (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximinus_of_Aix). Locals have venerated various sites associated with Mary Magdalene, and today there are numerous religious sites in the south of France dedicated to Mary Magdalene. (See Appendix A.)

Tradition has it that Mary Magdalene was accompanied by her daughter who was named Sarah Damaris. “Sarah,” a Hebrew name, was unusual in the south of France. In Latin, “maris,” the genitive case of “mare,” translates into English as "belonging to the sea." In French, “de Marie” translates into English as “of Mary.” Either might fit the name “Damaris.”

Biblical scholars generally favor the Ephesus tradition, probably because it meshes with the John 19:27 passage. They reject the Marsella tradition for lack of any scriptural or early church history references to it. While locals in the south of France may have venerated purported Magdalene sites for centuries, the tradition came to prominence only around the middle of the eleventh century when two monks at Vézelay in Burgundy claimed to have discovered Mary’s skeleton (https:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Magdalene). How the boat got from Palestine to Marsella is unknown, and the story about the group being towed out to sea in a rudderless boat without sail or oars, and somehow making it to the south coast of France is suspect. The “St. Mary Magdalene” entry in the on-line edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica says that “French tradition spuriously claims that she evangelized Provence (now southeastern France) and spent her last 30 years in an Alpine cavern.” (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Mary-Magdalene).

Today, Magdalene veneration and religious sites dedicated to her in the south of France are extensive. And ancestry records indicating that a “Sarah Damaris” married a member of the Frank nobility and would seem to support the Marsella tradition. An old adage may apply: “where there’s smoke there must be fire,” or a variation, “there are too many cinders for there to have been no fire.” Did Mary Magdalene die at Ephesus (in modern Turkey) or bring a daughter with her to France? Again, we just don't know on either count.

3. If a daughter accompanied Mary Magdalene to the south of France, did she marry into a Frankish dynasty? Several ancestry records indicate that Antenor IV, King of the Francs in the Sicambri region of western Germany, married a Sarah Damaris of Nazareth. How Antenor IV, king of a tribe on the east bank of the Rhine River, might have encountered Sarah Damaris whose mother evangelized a region in the south of France is unknown. Other ancestry records indicate that Antenor's wife is unknown; one indicates that he married "Sarah France (born de Marsella)" (https://www.myheritage.com/names/antenor_france). “Sarah” is a Jewish name; “Damaris” may be either Latin or French. "Marsella" is the Roman name of today's French port Marseille. Jugeals-Nazareth today is a commune in the Corrèze department in central France (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugeals-Nazareth), but we don't know if it existed prior to Sarah Damaris' birth, or if it came into existence in response to Mary Magdalene's presence and activities. We simply can't know for certain where Sarah Damaris was born or whether she was the daughter of Mary Magdalene.

4. If Sarah Damaris indeed was the daughter of Mary Magdalene and Yeshuah (Jesus), and if she indeed married Antenor IV, does Antenor IV's ancestry line stretch to us? When I have mentioned to other people that I have traced my ancestry to Mary Magdaline, and through her possibly to Jesus, I usually get a “Yeah, right!” or “So you think you are related to Jesus?” Some roll their eyes, laugh, and think that I am either delusional or suffering visions of grandeur (or maybe divinity). The most skeptical, of course, are my minister friends and theology colleagues because the idea of an ancestry connection to a human Yeshuah lies outside the orthodox perception of a divine Jesus. Edgar McKnight, in his book Jesus Christ Today, asserts that the reader of scripture can be an active participant in the interpretation of the meaning of scriptural texts. McKnight concludes that Jesus can mean whatever the reader of scripture needs for him to mean. The skeptics seem to prefer the perception of a detached, mystical Christ Jesus who is remote in time, space, and divinity rather than a Yeshuah Jesus with whom humans today may have actual ancestry connection.

It cannot be ruled out that the Stanfords may be related to Mary Magdalene and Yeshuah ben Yossef, but there is no way to confirm this with confidence. But even if we are confident that we are so related, does that mean that the bloodline from Yeshuah to us is sacred as implied in Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln's book Holy Blood, Holy Grail? This turns entirely on one's belief in the divinity of Yeshuah ben Yossef.

Appendix B explores the possibility that Marie bat Syrus and daughter Sarah Damaris made their way from Palestine to Marsella in Gaul, and then northward to encounter Antenor IV, King of the Salien Franks west of the lower Rhine River.

Return to Magdalene.

Return to Contents.

Appendix B. Franco-Germanic Tribes in the Stanford-Polk Ancestry

One can use the MyHeritage ancestry system to trace the names of ancestors and provide some basic information about titles, birth, and death dates, but little is known otherwise about individual names. Given their titles in the MyHeritage records, some information can be found about the tribal regions in which they lived. Information about individuals is included below when available.

Lineage "descends" from an earlier party to a current party. Ancestry tracing "ascends" from a current party back in time to earlier parties. It was not possible to start in the MyHeritage (or any) ancestry system with Yeshua Ben Yossef and work my way "down" the lineage (forward in time) to "find" the ancestry record for myself. I started with my own ancestry record and worked my way "back" in time and arrived, fortuitously, at the ancestry record of Antenor IV. I then shifted the trace to the maternal ancestry of Antenor IV's wife Sarah Damaris and to the ancestry records of her mother Mary Magdalene and her father Yeshua Ben Yossef.

The following listing is in order of lineage descending from Yeshua to Richard. This is a straight listing without divisions, labels, or commentary:

Yeshuah Ben Yossef, (4BC - 32AD)

Marie bat Syrus, "Magdalene" (2 - 63) (f) ---^

Sarah Damaris (27 - 65) (f)

Antenor Iv, Roy des Francs (24 - 67) ---^

Richemer, Roi des Francs (ca 65 - 114)

Odomar des Francs (ca 84 - 128)

Marcomir Iv des Francs (105 - 149)

Chlodomir Iv des Francs (104 - 162)

Farabert of the Sicambrian Francs (122 - 186)

Summo Manuel Hunno des Francs (182 - 213)

Childéric of the Saliens Franks (200 - 253)

Bartherus von Toxandrien (219 - 272)

Chlodius Iii von Toxandrien, King Of Sicambrian Franks (210 - 289)

Gauthier von Franken, King of Sicambrian Franks (306 - ?)

Dagobert I of the Sicambrian Franks (ca 230 - 317)

Genebaud I of the Sicambrian Franks (280 - 358)

Dagobert Ii, King of The East Franks (ca 300 - 379)

Clodius IV, King of The East Franks "Clodius the Merovingian" (324 - 389)

Marcomir V of East Franks, Duke of East Franks (347 - 404)

Pharamound De Esposyni of Franks, King of The East Franks (370 - 430)

Fredmundus De Esposyni of Septimania (ca 380 - ?)

Nascien I Desposyni of Septimania (ca 400 - ?)

Celedoin Desposyni of Septimania (ca 420 - ?)

Nascien Ii Desposyni of Septimania (434 - ?)

Galains Desposyni of Septimania (490 -560)

Johaans Desposyni de Bretagne (505 – 550)

Lancelot Desposyni de Bretagne (520 - ?)

Bors Desposyni De Bretagne (ca 600 - ?)

Lionel Desposyni de Bretagne (630 - ca 700)

Alain Desposyni de Bretagne (660-?)

Froamidus Desposyni de Bretagne (690 - 762)

Frodaldus Desposyni de Bretagne (710 - 762)

Frotmund Desposyni de Bretagne (735 - ?)

Frotharius Desposyni de Bretagne (780 - ?)

Adelrad Desposyni de Bretagne (810 - ?)

Frotbald Desposyni de Bretagne (840 - 923)

Aliard de Bretagne (870 - 950)

Frotmund Vetules, de Dol et Bretagne (910 - 985)

Fretaldus Vetules (930 - 1008)

Frotmundus Vetules, de Bretagne (955 - 1052)

Flaald Fratmaldus, of Dol (995 - 1064)

Alan Dapifer Fitzflaald (1020 - 1097)

Alan Fitzflaald, Senescal of Dol (1046 - 1084)

Sir Alan Fitzflaad, of Lochabar (1078 - 1144)

Walter FitzAlan, 1st High Steward of Scotland (1106 - 1177)

Alan FitzWalter, 2nd High Steward of Scotland (1150 - 1204)

Walter Stewart, of Dundonald, 3rd High Steward of Scotland (1170 - 1241)

Sir Alexander Thomas Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland (1214 - 1283)

James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland (1243 - 1309)

Sir Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland (1292 - 1327)

Robert Ii Stewart, of Scotland (1316 - 1390)

John Robert Iii Stewart, Earl of Carrick (1320 - 1406)

Egidia Stewart (1338 - 1404) (f)

Bricius de Pollock (1337-1401) ---^

John de Pollock (1378-1445)

Charles de Pollock (1420-1490)

David de Pollock (1463-1543)

John Pollock of that Ilk (1494-1564)

Robert Bruce Pollock I (1559-1625)

Robert Bruce Pollock II (1595-1640)

Robert Bruce Pollock III (1625-1703)

Robert Bruce Polk (1672-1727)

Thomas Luke Polk (1703-1781)

Thomas Luke Polk, Jr (1737-1799)

Joseph Isaac Polk (1780-1859)

Joseph Travis Polk (1818-1898)

Wade Polk (1850-1925)

Etta Avarilla Polk (1884-1966) (f)

Irby Tapley (1879-1930) ---^

Ruth Lucille Tapley (1910-1997) (f)

Richard Alexander Stanford (1943- )

Return to desposyni.

In the following, the lineage listing has been divided by geographical regions, and commentary has been imported from various sources as indicated:

Judea to Gaul

Yeshua Ben Yossef, (4BC - 32AD)

Marie bat Syrus, "Magdalene" (2 - 63) (f) ---^

Sarah Damaris (27 - 65) (f)

According to a legend, Mary Magdalene may have traveled from Palestine across the Mediterranean Sea to Gaul. Jesus’ followers were persecuted for several years following the crucifixion. Following the execution of James (the son of Zebedee) in Jerusalem, Mary Magdalene, a daughter named Sarah, Mary of Bethany, her sister Martha, her brother Lazarus, Maximin (one of the 72 disciples appointed by Jesus in Luke 10:1), and others escaped persecution in a boat on Mare Nostrum (the Roman name for the Mediterranean Sea). By some means the boat made its way westward across the Mediterranean and eventually landed on the south coast of France near Marsella (the Roman name of the modern port city of Marseille). According to French tradition, Mary and Maximin began the evangelization of Aix-en-Provence, and Maximin became the first bishop of Aix-en-Provence (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximinus_of_Aix). Mary Magdalene preached the gospel and lived an ascetic lifestyle in a limestone cave in the Languedoc region in the south of France until she died. Locals have venerated various sites associated with Mary Magdalene, and today there are numerous religious sites in the south of France dedicated to Mary Magdalene.

A variation on this story is that Mary Magdalene’s uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, a tin merchant who sourced his ores as far to the west as Brittany, Cornwall, and Wales, may have been instrumental in arranging transport of the Magdalene party to Marsella enroute to Cornwall.

It should be noted that the Gini World Family Tree ancestry platform isolates this ancestry sequence and classifies it as “fictitious.”

The Franks

Sarah Damaris (27 - 65) (f)

Antenor Iv, Roi des Salien Francs (24 - 67) ---^

Richemer, Roi des Francs (ca 65 - 114)

Odomar des Francs (ca 84 - 128)

Marcomir Iv des Francs (105 - 149)

Chlodomir Iv des Francs (104 - 162)

The Franks were Germanic-speaking peoples that were divided into three groups: the Salians, the Ripuarians, and the Chatti or Hessians. These branches were related to each other by language and custom, but politically they were independent tribes.

The Chatti were an ancient Germanic tribe who lived in central and northern Hesse and southern Lower Saxony along the upper reaches of the Chatti River. According to The Histories by Tacitus, an internal quarrel drove the Chatti to leave their homeland and take up new residence at the mouth of the Rhine River. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatti) Ripuarian, a variation of a Latin term meaning “of the river,” was the name applied to the tribes who settled in the Roman territory with its capital at Cologne on the right bank of the Rhine river. Their western neighbors were the Salii, or Salian Franks. The name may have derived from the name of the Ussel River, formerly called Hisloa or Hisla, and in ancient times, Sala, which may have been the Salians' original residence. The Salians settled with imperial permission within the Roman Empire on the left bank of the Rhine in what today is the southern part of the Netherlands and Belgium. Subsequently they expanded into the northern part of France above the Loire River. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripuarian_Franks)

According to old Germanic practice, the realm frequently was divided among the sons of a leader upon the leader's death, so multiple Frankish kings ruled different territories. As inheritance traditions changed over time, the divisions of Francia (the lands of the Franks) started to become kingdoms that were more permanent. West Francia formed the heart of what became the Kingdom of France; East Francia evolved into the Kingdom of Germany; and Middle Francia become the Kingdom of Lotharingia in the north, the Kingdom of Italy in the south, and the Kingdom of Provence in the west. Middle Francia eventually became divided between West and East Francia. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Frankish_kings)

In 481/482 Clovis I succeeded his father, Childeric of the House of Merovech, as the ruler of the Salian Franks. In the following years Clovis compelled the other Salian and Ripuarian tribes to submit to his authority. He then took advantage of the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire and led the united Franks in a series of campaigns that brought all of northern Gaul under his rule by 494.

Under Clovis’s successors, the Merovingians were able to extend Frankish power east of the Rhine. The Merovingian dynasty ruled the Frankish territories until they were displaced by the Carolingian family in the 8th century. The Kingdom of the West Franks refers to the western part of the Frankish Empire established by Charlemagne. It represents the earliest stage of the Kingdom of France, lasting from 840 until 987.

MyHeritage smart-match ancestry records indicate that Antenor Iv, King of the Salien Francs, married a young Hebrew girl named Sarah Damaris (possibly meaning “of the sea”), reputed to be the daughter of Marie bat Syrus, a.k.a. "Mary Magdalene." How Sarah Damaris arrived in the south of Gaul (modern France) and then made her way north to the Frankish tribal regions along the Rhine River is unknown. Also unknown is how king Antenor Iv, King of the Salien Franks, encountered and acquired a Hebrew wife who may have been a novelty at that time in the Rhine River region.

Sicambria

Farabert of the Sicambrian Francs (122 - 186)

Summo Manuel Hunno des Francs (182 - 213)

Childéric of the Saliens Franks (200 - 253)

Bartherus von Toxandrien (219 - 272)

Chlodius Iii von Toxandrien, King Of Sicambrian Franks (210 - 289)

Gauthier von Franken, King of Sicambrian Franks (306 - ?)

Dagobert I of the Sicambrian Franks (ca 230 - 317)

Genebaud I of the Sicambrian Franks (280 - 358)

The Sicambri, also known as the Sugambri or Sicambrians, were a Germanic people who during Roman times lived on the east bank of the Rhine River in what now is Germany near the border with the Netherlands. They were first reported by Julius Caesar, who described them as Germanic. By the 3rd century, the region in which they and their neighbors had lived had become part of the territory of the Franks, which was a new name that possibly represented a new alliance of older tribes including the Sicambri. In Roman and Merovingian times, Romans were often called Trojans, and Franks were called Sicambri. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicambri)

The Texandri (later Toxandri) were a Germanic people living between the Scheldt and Rhine rivers in the 1st century CE. They are associated with a region mentioned in the late 4th century as Texandria (also Toxiandria), a name which survived into the 8th–12th centuries. In the 380s, the Salian Franks, after being defeated by Julian ca. 358, were given permission by Rome to settle in Toxiandria. In the middle of the 4th century, the area of Texandri was exposed to constant raiding from tribes across the Rhine, among the worst of whom were the Salian Franks. ((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texandri)

East Franks

Dagobert Ii, King of the East Franks (ca 300 - 379)

Clodius IV, King of the East Franks "Clodius the Merovingian" (324 - 389)

Marcomir V of the East Franks, Duke of East Franks (347 - 404)

Pharamound De Esposyni of Franks, King of the Franks (370 - 430)

West Francia formed the heart of what was to become the Kingdom of France. East Francia evolved into the Kingdom of Germany. In the mid-3rd century the East Franks tried unsuccessfully to expand westward across the Rhine into Roman-held Gaul. In the mid-4th century the East Franks again attempted to invade Gaul, and in 358 Rome abandoned the area between the Meuse and Scheldt rivers (now in Belgium) to the Salian Franks. During the course of these drawn-out struggles the Franks gradually were influenced by Roman civilization. Some Frankish leaders became Roman allies (foederati) in the defense of the Roman frontier, and many Franks served as auxiliary soldiers in the Roman army. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Frank-people)

Septimania

Fredmundus De Esposyni of Septimania (ca 380 - ?)

Nascien I Desposyni of Septimania (ca 400 - ?)

Celedoin Desposyni of Septimania (ca 420 - ?)

Nascien Ii Desposyni of Septimania (434 - ?)

Galains Desposyni of Septimania (490 -560)

The name Septimania likely derives from the fact that many veterans of the Roman Seventh Legion (Septimanii) settled along the Mediterranean coast when they retired. Septimania referred to the western part of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed to the control of the Visigoths in 462 when Septimania was ceded to their king, Theodoric II. Septimania was conquered by the Muslims in the 8th century and became known as Arbuna. It passed briefly to the Emirate of Córdoba, which had been expanding from the south during the eighth century before its subsequent conquest by the Franks, who by the end of the ninth century termed it Gothia or the Gothic March (Marca Gothica). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimania)

Historian Lee Levin notes that for reasons lost to history the western Mediterranean coast of France had a large Jewish population, particularly in the seaport city of Narbonne. Levin recounts the eighth century negotiation by Franken King Pepin III (House of Vermandois) with the Jewish population of Narbonne to open the city gates so that Pepin's troops could enter and drive the Moors out of southern France and Spain. The reward to the citizens of Narbonne for opening their city gates was the creation of the Jewish Kingdom of Septimania, with stipulation that its king must be of royal blood descended from King David. Natronai ben Zabinai, a direct descendant of David, was brought from Babylonia to become the Jewish king of Septimania. Natronai took the Hebrew name of Machir. Upon Pepin's death in 768, his son Charlemagne demanded that the Jewish Machir marry his Catholic aunt Alda. Somehow overcoming the prohibition of marriage between Jewish and Catholic parties, the marriage produced a legitimate son through whom royal Jewish blood intermingled with that of the Carolingian kings of France. After 140 years, the Jewish Kingdom of Septimania disappeared when the last king of the Machiri dynasty died without a male heir. (http://jewishmag.com/175mag/septimania_jewish_kingdom/septimania_jewish_kingdom.htm) Why there was a large Jewish population along the western Mediterranean cost of Gaul may not have been “lost to history” as asserted by Levin, If the Magdalene legend is true, the descendants of Maria bat Syrus, Sarah Damaris, and others accompanying them may have populated that region.

Bretagne

Johaans Desposyni de Bretagne (505 – 550)

Lancelot Desposyni de Bretagne (520 - ?)

Bors Desposyni De Bretagne (ca 600 - ?)

Lionel Desposyni de Bretagne (630 - ca 700)

Alain Desposyni de Bretagne (660-?)

Froamidus Desposyni de Bretagne (690 - 762)

Frodaldus Desposyni de Bretagne (710 - 762)

Frotmund Desposyni de Bretagne (735 - ?)

Frotharius Desposyni de Bretagne (780 - ?)

Adelrad Desposyni de Bretagne (810 - ?)

Frotbald Desposyni de Bretagne (840 - 923)

Aliard de Bretagne (870 - 950)

Frotmund Vetules, de Dol et Bretagne (910 - 985)

Fretaldus Vetules (930 - 1008)

Frotmundus Vetules, de Bretagne (955 - 1052)

Flaald Fratmaldus, of Dol (995 - 1064)

Alan Dapifer Fitzflaald (1020 - 1097)

Alan Fitzflaald, Senescal of Dol (1046 - 1084)

The earliest Celtic ancestor that can be identified is Brutus "the Dardanian" who immigrated from the Balkans to western Briton (now known as Wales) at some time between 600 and 500 BCE. By 450 BCE his descendants had immigrated to central Briton, now England, and eventually to the Cornwall region on the southwest coast. The Celts then moved back and forth between Cornwall and Wales until around 350 CE when their descendants immigrated to the northwest cost of France to settle in Bretagne, now Brittany, in the vicinity of Dol in the modern French Department of Ille-et-Vilaine.

The early history of the Breton peninsula includes Celtic tribal territories that existed before Roman rule. After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, large scale migration from the British Isles led to the foundation of British colonies linked initially to homelands in tin-mining areas of Cornwall, Devon, and Wales. In the course of its protohistory which began around the middle of the third century BCE, a subsoil rich in tin allowed the development of an industry in bronze objects, which led to commercial routes for export to other regions of Europe. It was inhabited by Gallic peoples in the first centuries BCE before these territories were conquered by Julius Caesar in 57 BCE, and progressively Romanized. Following the Gallo-Roman period, Brittany developed an important maritime trade network near the ports of Nantes, Vannes, and Alet, as well as salting factories along its coasts. Various independent petty Breton states later developed into a Kingdom and then a Duchy of Brittany, before it was unified with France to become a province. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Brittany)

In late medieval and early modern France, the seneschal originally was a royal steward overseeing the entire country but developed into an agent of the crown charged with administration of a seneschalty, one of the districts of the crown lands in Languedoc and Normandy. The seneschals also served as the chief justice of the royal courts in their areas. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneschal)

During the 9th to 11th centuries, Danish Vikings began to exert themselves in Bretagne, Normandy, and England. In addition to raiding and trading, Danish Vikings established settlements, which at first may have served mainly as winter quarters while abroad. The Danes moved primarily to the eastern part of England that came to be called the Danelaw; this region stretched from the River Thames north through what became known as Yorkshire. The other major areas of Danish Viking settlement were in Bretagne and Normandy. In 911 the Viking leader Rollo became the first duke of Normandy as a vassal of Charles III of France. Most of his followers were Danes, many from the Danelaw area. Various contenders fought for the throne of England until the question of the succession was settled in 1066 by one of Rollo’s descendants, William I (the Conqueror), who led the Norman forces to victory over the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, Harold II, at the Battle of Hastings. (https://www.britannica.com/place/Denmark/The-Viking-era)

Desposyni

A passage from the website “The Nazarene Way of Essenic Studies” pertains to several names in the Franken trace (#3) of charts 5R2 and 5R92:

Scotland

Sir Alan FitzFlaad, of Lochabar (1078 - 1144)

Walter FitzAlan, 1st High Steward of Scotland (1106 - 1177)

Alan FitzWalter, 2nd High Steward of Scotland (1150 - 1204)

Walter Stewart, of Dundonald, 3rd High Steward of Scotland (1170 - 1241)

Sir Alexander Thomas Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland (1214 - 1283)

James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland (1243 - 1309)

Sir Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland (1292 - 1327)

Robert Ii Stewart, 7th High Steward of Scotland, King of Scotland (1316 - 1390)

John Robert Iii Stewart, Earl of Carrick (1320 - 1406)

Egidia Stewart (1355 - 1407) (f)

In the 12th century King David I of Scotland gave the title "Steward" to Walter FitzAlan, a nobleman from Brittany, whose descendants adopted the surname "Steward," later "Stewart," and later founded the royal House of Stewart. A junior branch of the Stewart family descended from the younger son of Alexander Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland (d.1283), namely "Stewart of Darnley," paternal ancestors of King James I & VI, lived for several generations in France, when the names became spelled in the French manner "Stuart" and "Dernelé." In 1371 Robert Stewart, 7th High Steward of Scotland inherited the throne of Scotland via his mother and became King Robert II of Scotland, when the title or office of High Steward of Scotland merged into the crown. However, it was re-granted by the monarch to his elder son and heir apparent, together with the titles Duke of Rothesay (created 1398) and Baron of Renfrew (created 1404).

The following passage is from the Wikipedia entry on Dol de Bretagne:

Dol-de-Bretagne is reputed to be the origin of the royal House of Stewart who became the monarchs of Scotland and later England and Ireland; a plaque in Dol commemorates that origin. The Stewart monarchs descend from Alan, the Seneschal of the Bishop of Dol. His son, Flaad FitzAlan and his son Alan, arrived in Britain at the request of Henry I, King of England. Flaad's grandson, Walter FitzAlan, was appointed the 1st Steward of Scotland by David I of Scotland. Malcolm IV of Scotland later confirmed the honor bestowed by David and made the office of Steward of Scotland hereditary in Walter's family. In the fourteenth century, Walter Stewart (so named for his family's hereditary possession of the office of High Steward of Scotland), a descendant of Walter FitzAlan, married Marjorie Bruce, daughter of King Robert I of Scotland. Their son became King Robert II, and their descendants the royal House of Stewart. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dol-de-Bretagne)

As the office of High Steward of Scotland became hereditary to Walter FitzAlan's family, the title "Steward" transliterated into the surname "Stewart, " which in speech sounds very much like "Steward." Mary (1542-1587, 17-F), daughter of Scottish King James V Stewart (1512-1542, 16-F), revised the spelling of the family name to "Stuart."

The Pollocks of Scotland

Egidia Stewart, daughter of John Robert Iii Stewart, married Bricius de Pollock.

Bricius de Pollock (1337-1401) ---^

John de Pollock (1378-1445)

Charles de Pollock (1420-1490)

David de Pollock (1463-1543)

John Pollock of that Ilk (1494-1564)

Robert Bruce Pollock I (1559-1625), First Baron of Ireland

Robert Bruce Pollock II (1595-1640), Second Baron of Ireland

Clan Pollock is a Scottish clan whose origin lies in a grant of land on the southern bank of the River Clyde, courtesy of King David I, to the sons of Fulbert from Walter FitzAlan, the 1st High Steward of Scotland, in the 12th century. It is among the oldest recorded surnames in Scotland. The clan, a sept of Clan Maxwell, can trace its origin to Fulbert "the Saxon," a vassal knight of Walter FitzAlan from Oswestry, Shropshire, England. Fulbert came to Scotland with Walter FitzAlan in about 1136 and fought for Scotland at the Battle of the Standard at Northallerton in 1138. Fulbert's sons were granted land in Renfrewshire for the service of their father, a knight to Walter FitzAlan, reconfirmed in a charter in 1157 by Malcolm IV. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Pollock

Immigration to the American Colonies

Robert Bruce Pollock III (1625-1703), Donegal, Ireland; Anne Arundel, Maryland

Robert Bruce Polk (1672-1727), Dorchester, Maryland; Chester, Pennsylvania

Thomas Luke Polk (1703-1781), Chester, Pennsylvania; Darlington, South Carolina

Thomas Luke Polk, Jr (1737-1799), Darlington, South Carolina

Joseph Isaac Polk (1780-1859), Darlington, South Carolina; Lawrence, Mississippi

Joseph Travis Polk (1818-1898), Lawrence County, Mississippi

Wade Polk (1850-1925), Lawrence County, Mississippi

Etta Avarilla Polk (1884-1966) (f), Oak Vale, Lawrence, Mississippi; McRae, Georgia

Irby Tapley (1879-1930) ---^, McRae, Georgia

Ruth Lucille Tapley (1910-1997) (f), Jacksonville, Florida

Richard Alexander Stanford (1943- ), Jacksonville, Florida; Greenville, South Carolina

King James II of Scotland (13-D) conveyed a large tract of land in Ireland to John de Pollock (1378-1445, 13-A) in a charter dated December 12, 1439. His 3rd-great grandson, Robert Bruce I Pollock (1559-1625, 18-A), was born in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Around 1608, he received from King James I of England (18-I) a large grant of land at Coleraine in County Derry, Ireland, which he developed as his "Plantation of Ulster." His son, Robert Bruce II Pollock (1597-1660, 19-C), was born in Londonderry, Ulster. He inherited the title from his father as 2nd Baron of Ireland along with the vast estate in Ireland of “New Scotland” that had come to the family in 1439 from James II of Scotland. The estate and title were inherited by Robert Bruce II's elder son Thomas. After the Cromwell land confiscation and ensuing famine in Ireland in the 1650s, Robert Bruce II’s younger son Robert Bruce III (1624-1703) decided to leave the famine in Ireland and seek opportunity in the American Colonies. When Robert and other Protestant Irish immigrated to the American Colonies, they became known as the Scotch-Irish, many of whom settled in the southeast.

The Scottish Pollocks become American Polks when Robert Bruce Pollock III immigrated from Donegal to the Maryland shore. When a Scotsman says the name "Pollock," he emphasizes the first syllable with a long "o" and swallows the second syllable. The story is told, whether true or not, that when the Pollock immigrants arrived in Maryland, a Colonial official prompted for the name and heard "Polk," which he wrote on an immigration document. The Scottish Pollocks were American Polks from that time onward. The Pollock/Polk descendants can be traced from Renfrewshire, Scotland, to Donegal, Ireland; then to Somerset, Maryland, in the American Colonies; then to Chester, Pennsylvania; then to Darlington, South Carolina; then to Lawrence County, Mississippi; then to McRae, Georgia; and finally to Jacksonville, Florida, and Greenville, South Carolina.

Inferences:

The Gini World Family Tree ancestry platform isolates the early ancestry sequence beginning with Antenor Iv until the early third century and classifies most of the names in this sequence as “fictitious.” But if the early ancestry sequence as represented in the MyHeritage ancestry system can be regarded as valid, a few inferences may be drawn.

Beyond the Bretons in the ancestry listing are members of various Franco-Germanic tribes. It is apparent from the lineage listing that there was a great deal of contact between and engagement among the various Frankish tribes in the vicinity of the Rhine River. The tribes may not have been as separate or isolated as implied in titles of the ancestors and tribal descriptive matter, and they may have been able to coexist with one another without much overt hostility.

The so-called "tribes" may have been more like "houses of families" (in the sense of later Scottish and English history, e.g., the House of York) within the larger specification of Salien Francs (to distinguish them from Ripuarian Francs). The heads of houses served as de facto chiefs of their tribes or households. They may have been regarded as "kings" in a modern sense, but this is a term that may have been transliterated from later English and Scottish history.

For example, the Salien Francs occupied the upper Rhine delta that today comprises Belgium and the Netherlands. Antenor Iv is described as "king of the Salien Francs." Other Frankish tribes or houses may have resided in various regions (or "neighborhoods") known as Sicambria, Toxandria, etc., on one side or the other of the Rhine River, some toward the coastal northwest (the "lower Rhine"), others inland to the southeast (the "upper Rhine"). Dagobert Ii is identified as "King of The East Franks."

Others in the descent listing are described with the prepositions "of" (English), "des" (French), or "von" (German) a particular tribe (or household) rather than as "king" of the tribe. In any case, it appears that the descendants of Antenor Iv were members of various tribal neighborhoods or houses rather than a single tribe. This suggests that the term "Franks" may have applied to all of the Franco-Germanic tribes collectively.

Assuming that the names listed in the lineage are biological descendants, mobility must have been possible from one tribal region (neighborhood) to another, whether peacefully or by invasion. For example, in order for Dagobert Ii, King of The East Franks (ca 300 - 379), to be the biological son of Genebaud I of the Sicambrian Franks (280 - 358), one or both of them must have migrated from Sicambria to East Francia.

In another example, for Fredmundus of Septimania (ca 380 - ?) to be the biological grandson of Marcomir V, Duke of East Franks (347 - 404), either Marcomir V or his son Pharamound (370 - 430) must have moved from the East Francia to Septimania in the coastal region of Gaul where Mary Magdalene had evangelized a couple of centuries earlier. Their descendants then may have relocated to Aquitania in the southeastern region of Gaul.

Little can be gleaned from available sources about specific Bretons other than that some functioned in civil administrative capacities in towns of Bretagne. We may surmise that others were engaged in trade or activities associated with tin mining and bronze working. It should be noted that Mary Magdalene’s uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, was a tin merchant who may have sourced ore from mines in Bretagne and as far west in England as Cornwall and Wales. It has been speculated that Joseph may have arranged ship transport of Mary Magdalene, Sarah Damaris, and others in their party from Palestine or Alexandria to the south coast of Gaul (France).

Migration Paths:

Mary Magdalene and daughter Sarah Damaris traveled from Palestine and landed on the south coast of Gaul. In some unknown way, Sarah made her way northward along the path illustrated in red on the following map to become wife of Antenor Iv, King of the Salien Franks on the west bank of the Rhine. The approximate migration path that descendants of Sarah Damaris and Antenor Iv followed is illustrated in black.

Beginning with the Salien Franks on the west bank of the Rhine River where Antenor Iv was king, by around 150 AD Chlodomir Iv or his son Farabert crossed to the east bank of the Rhine in the vicinity of Cologne (Koln) where the Sicambrian Franks lived.

Around 250 Childéric of the Salien Franks or his son Bartherus crossed the Rhine to Toxandri between the Scheldt and Rhein rivers. While in Toxandri, around 280 Chlodius Iii became King of the Sicambrian Franks.

From Toxandri the Sicambrian Genebaud I crossed the Rhine to the east where around 350 his son Dagobert Ii became King of the East Franks.

From there Pharamound of the East Franks or his son Nascien I headed south around 420 to Septimania along the western Mediterranean coast of Gaul. Around 450 Nascien Ii traveled north to settle in Aquitaine.

The migration path then routes northward around 620 from Aquitaine as Bors De Esposyni moved to Bretagne (Brittany).

After a dozen generations in Bretagne, the migration route skips across the English Channel (a.k.a. “Pas de Calais”) and England to Scotland where Scottish King David I in the 12th century appointed Walter FitzAlan to serve as the 1st High Steward of Scotland.

Conclusion

The tortured path of the apparent migration does not inspire confidence in the lineage from Antenor Iv to the High Stewards of Scotland. Nor does the inclusion of Arthurian legendary characters in the lineage sequence. And questions persist about the validity of Mary Magdalene's voyage across the Mediterranean and arrival in Marsella, Sarah Damaris' transit northward to the region of the Salien Francs on the west bank of the Rhine River, and the first and second century lineage descent from Sarah and Antenor Iv that the Gini World Family Tree ancestry system has labeled fictitious. These questions render less than certain the likelihood that I am in fact descended from Yeshua ben Yossef.

In order for me to be judged a true descendant of Yeshua ben Yossef, a number of conditions must be met:

Mary Magdalene must have had a daughter with Yeshua that they named Sarah.
Mary Magdalene and daughter Sarah must have escaped Palestine and traveled across the Mediterranean Sea to Marsella in the Roman province of Gaul; Sarah became known as “Damaris” meaning “of the sea.”
Sarah Damaris must have traveled northward to the region of the Salien Franks on the west bank of the Rhine River to encounter King Antenor Iv of the Salien Franks who married her (or Antenor traveled south to encounter Sarah).
Sarah and Antenor must have produced offspring that initiated the lineage of descent to Richard A. Stanford.
The descendants of Sarah and Antenor must have migrated along the tortuous path illustrated in the map above.
King David I of Scotland must have appointed Breton Walter FitzAlan to serve as 1st High Steward of Scotland.
Egidia Stewart must have been the 5th great granddaughter of Walter FitzAlan, and she must have married Bricius de Pollock.

Questions persist about the verity of many of these conditions. If any one of these conditions is not met, the contention that I am a descendant of Jesus, Son of Joseph, fails.

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Appendix C: A Levite

Joseph Raymond, in his 2010 book, Herodian Messiah: Case for Jesus as Grandson of Herod (https://www.amazon.com/Herodian-Messiah-Jesus-Grandson-Herod/dp/0615355080), makes a case that Jesus may have been descended from the priestly tribe of Levi rather than the House of David in the tribe of Judah.

Raymond argues that the biological father of Jesus was King Herod's son Antipater, and that his biological mother was a Hasmonean princess, Myriam bat Antigonus. Raymond refers to Jesus by his Hebrew name, Yeshua. To get the sense of Raymond's argument, we take up the story in the 4th century BCE.

By the middle of the fourth century BCE, the Macedonian Philip II and his son Alexander had conquered Greece, Egypt, and territories to the east as far as the Indus River. After Alexander ("the Great") died in 323 BCE, the ensuing war between his generals divided the Macedonian Empire. General Ptolemy took Egypt and north Africa, and General Seleucus Nicator established the Seleucid Empire spanning Alexander's eastern territories, including Israel. The Selucid overlords imposed Hellenistic culture and religious practices in Israel. But by the second century BCE the Seleucid Empire was experiencing pressures from the Romans to the west and the Parthians to the East. After Hasmonean brothers Judas and Simon Maccabeus led a Jewish revolt against the Seleucids in 142 BCE, Simon ruled as high priest and ethnarch of Judea and was succeeded by Hasmonean priest-kings over the course of a century.

In 63 BCE Judea was conquered by Roman forces under General Gnaeus Pompey "the Great." But by 39 BCE the Parthians had pushed the Romans out of Judea and appointed a Hasmonean, Antigonus Mattathias, as puppet king of Judea. Antigonus ruled for three years during which he led the Jewish struggle for independence against the Romans.

Antipater the Idumean was an Edomite who had converted to Judaism. In 38 BCE, his son Herod recaptured Jerusalem and was appointed Roman client king of Judea. Herod bribed Roman general Marc Antony to end a hundred years of Hasmonean rule of Judea by executing all known high royals of the Hasmonean dynasty who posed threats to what would become the Herodian dynasty.

Raymond notes that in Antiquities, Jewish historian Josephus referred to an unnamed daughter of Antigonus who survived the massacre. Raymond speculates that this daughter was rescued from Herod's palace by a Temple priest named Joachim Heli ben Matthat, and that Joachim and his wife Anna raised her in the Temple precincts. Her birth name was Myriam bat Antigonus. Her adoptive name became Myriam bat Heli.

Around 4 BC, Herod's eldest surviving son Antipater married Myriam bat Heli, known to be the Hasmonean princess Myriam bat Antigonus, and she soon became pregnant. But Herod suspected Antipater and his mother Doris of plotting to kill him and so had Antipater and Doris executed just five days before the very ill Herod himself died. Raymond speculates that Jaochim Heli ben Matthat again rescued his adopted daughter Myriam from Herod's palace, this time to avert her assassination. He then negotiated the betrothal of Myriam to an unmarried Temple priest named Yossef ben Jacob of the House of David.

Betrothal contracts often were negotiated without the parties ever having met or even seen each other. Yossef may have been unaware of Myriam's condition, and with some reluctance he accepted the betrothal contract. After their marriage and on a trip to Bethlehem to register for taxation, Myriam delivered a male child whom they named Yeshua ben Yossef.

Upon the death of Herod, sons Archelaus and Antipas sailed for Rome to participate in the adjudication of Herod's will by Caesar Augustus, leaving the kingdom in charge of brother Philip. Suspecting that his father's Hasmonean daughter-in-law had escaped execution and may have birthed a child by his half-brother Antipater, Philip decreed that all male children recently born in Bethlehem should be killed. Raymond speculates that Yossef and Myriam fled with baby Yeshua to the Therapeudae commune near Alexandria in Egypt.

Raymond argues that Yeshua ben Yossef thus was the son of Antipater ben Herod and the grandson of two kings, Antigonus Mattathias, a Hasmonean of the Levi tribe, and Herod the Great whose father was an Edomite. Yeshua's Edomite-Herodian ancestry may have made him eligible to ascend the Herodian throne, but it would not qualify him by Jewish convention to become a King of Israel. However, his Levite ancestry would so qualify him. After Yeshua's cousin John ("the Baptist") was executed, Yeshua took up John's mission and began to preach John's message. The Romans became concerned about the rantings of this itinerant Jewish preacher because they had become aware of his Herodian and Hasmonean ancestry. This made him a threat both to the Herodians and to their Roman overlords.

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