We picked the wrong King, and now we’re broke.

Dad spent the pandemic doing family research. He spent a lot of time and money on it. There have been lots of stories and characters.

One story tells the price of a wrong choice. My family were land owning nobility forced to flee England from the newly arrived a Normans. Malcolm III of Scotland received us and gave us land in the lowlands as our own fief. All was rosey being a powerful noble family for a few hundred years until we supported John Balliol’s claim to the throne of Scotland. Robert The Bruce didn’t take this too well and confiscated our lands and titles when he was crowned instead. After that we hung around for a bit making strategic marriages and keeping with the local clans. But time wasn’t kind and instead of a wealthy nobleman I’m the humble peasant you see before you today.🙂

Oh well, what could have been…

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ElwoodBlues · M

My last name, and my paternal descent, is from a castle owning titled family in the UK (privacy concerns prevent me from naming names).

But because we aren't on the line of firstborn sons, we are peasants like you. Even if your ancestors had backed Bruce instead of Balliol, odds are you wouldn't be the ones living on the giant estate. Odds are some distant cousin would have the keys to the castle.

Miram · 31-35, F

Your ancestor should have slept with Robert The Bruce's wife. You would have been born into that family, preserved the wealth and made that man raise someone else's offspring.

WintaTheAngle · 41-45, M

@Miram They we’re Scots, not Greeks. That sort of thing did go down so well in that point in time.

JustNik · 51-55, F

Fascinating though! How wonderful to know so much of your history!

WintaTheAngle · 41-45, M

@JustNik Yes. It’s a nice idea.

I enjoyed the stories about my relatives who fought the the last two world wars. They fought hard, and saved lives, but few came home.

SweetMae · 70-79, F

It us great to learn about our ancestors.

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