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Published: March 30th 2024
At the end of my blog at
Finding my Swedish Viking Ancestors and "Posssibly the Best Beer in the World", where I recounted my travels to the burial mounds of my Swedish Viking ancestors, I indicated where the trail of ancestors would lead me next. By using geni.com to follow the trees of both Mary of Egmond and Guelders, Queen Consort of King James II of Scotland (our 17th great grandparents (ggps)) and Margaret von Oldenburg, Queen Consort of King James III Stewart (our 16th ggps) as far back a millennium ago I found a treasure trove of the Emperors and Dukes of the Holy Roman Empire (Germany, etc.), the Kings of Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Serbia, and the Emperors of Byzantium. Shortly after returning from Sweden I visited the B&N bookstore where I found the historical fiction book "The Last Crown" by Polish author Elzbieta Cherwezinska, which links all these ancestors together. This was a fortuitous beginning of my research into Linda and my Central European ancestors.
This book tells the story of Queen "The Haughty" Świętosława (known in Sweden as "Sigrid" and in Denmark as "Gunhilda") Mieszkówna of the Piast Dynasty (28th great grandmother (ggm). She was the sister of King Boleslaw "The Brave" Chrobry, the first king of Poland
(28th ggf).
Firstly, Queen "The Haughty" Świętosława married King Eric "The Victorious" of Sweden (26th ggf), with whom she had a son, King Olaf III "The Treasurer" of Sweden (25th ggf). When King Eric died early in their marriage, she had several minor royal suitors, including King Harald Grenske of Grenland...not Greenland. These minor king suitors went to Sweden to woo her. She scorned them as being beneath her station, and had them assemble in a hall, which she then burnt to the ground! King Harald Grenske (25th ggf) was the father of King/Saint Olaf II Haraldsson, King of Norway (24nd ggf). His widowed mother Queen Åsta Gudbrandsdóttir remarried King Sigurd Syr ("Sow") Halvdansson by whom she had another son named Harald "Hardrata" Sigurdsson, who later became King Harald III of Norway (24th ggf). The Haughty Queen's son by her first husband, King Olaf III Ericson (The Treasurer) of Sweden, had two daughters; Princess Ingegerd who married Prince Yaroslav "The Wise" Vladimirovich of Kievian Rus (26th ggf) and Princess Astrid who married King/Saint Olaf II Haraldsson of Norway. So Queen "The Haughty" Świętosława granddaughter Astrid married the son of the suitor she murdered.
King Olaf II, in his
youth participated in Viking raids upon England. When attacking London held by the Danes, the Norwegian Vikings needed to destroy the bridge across the Thames. Olaf suggested using the long ships to pull the wooden piles. This destroyed the bridge and all the defenders on it. This may have been the origin of the nursery rhyme "London Bridges Falling Down." He later became a Christian and as king sought to Christianize Norway, which irritated the Jarls (Earls) who along with their people clung to their Norse gods. As a consequence he had to flee to the safety of his brother-in-law Prince Yaroslav "The Wise"'s court in Kievian Rus, who offered him any position he wished. However, he decided to return to Norway where he reclaimed the kingship, which was contested by King Cnut "The Great" Sweynsson of England. Denmark, Sweden and Norway (27th ggu). King Cnut had the allegiance of the disgruntled Jarls. King Olaf II was killed in the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030. His life story is recounted in "The Greatest Viking" by Desmond Seward.
King Olaf II's younger half-brother King Harald III "Hardrata", known as "The Last Viking" was wounded fighting by King Olaf II's side.
He escaped to Kiev where he was welcomed by his cousin Prince Yaroslav "The Wise." He then traveled to Constantinople where he was commander of the Varangian Guard who protected the Byzantine Emperor. He returned to Norway after 16 years during which he accumulated great wealth where he was crowned king. In 1066 King Harald III "Hardrata" was killed in the Battle of Stamford Bridge by the army of King Harold II Godwinsson of England (29th ggf), who himself was killed in the Battle of Hastings by William the Conqueror (26th ggf) a couple weeks later. His story is recounted in "The Last Viking" by Don Holloway.
Secondly, Queen Świętosława married King Sven "Forkbeard" of Denmark, Norway, and England (28th ggf), the son of King Harald "Bluetooth" Gornsson of Denmark (29th ggf), with whom she had two sons. The oldest, Harald II, became King of Denmark and Norway. The younger son was Cnut. She told Cnut that if he wanted to be a king, he would have to conqueror another country. So, he invaded England. He became King Canute "The Great" of England. With the passing of his brother Harald II, he also became King of Denmark and Norway,
a position contested by King Olaf II in the Battle of Stiklestad. So, Polish Świętosława was the Queen or Queen Mother of four countries, but not Poland itself!
Now back to Queen Świętosława's brother King Boleslaw "The Brave." His granddaughter Richeza married Béla I Arpad (26th ggps), a Magyar who was the first King of Hungary and progenitor of the Arpad dynasty. Béla I's son was Saint/King Ladislaus I of Hungary (25th ggf). Their grandson Prince Álmos Arpad married Princess Predslava Sviatopolkovna Rurik of Kiev (24th ggps), the daughter of Prince Svyatopolk II Izyaslavich of Kiev, Grand Prince of Kiev (25th ggf). Their son King Bela II "The Blind" married Princess Jelena Urošević (24th ggps) who was the daughter of King Uroš I Petrislavić of Serbia and Queen Anna Diogenissa (25th ggps), the daughter of Emperor Constantine Diogenes and Empress Theodora Komnene of the Byzantine Empire (26th ggps). Emperor Constantine was the son of Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes and Empress Anna of Bulgaria (27th ggps). Last, but not least, we are related to Köten Khan of the Cumans (23rd ggf), a nomadic tribe from the steppes who decided to settle down in Hungary, as did the Magyar Arpads. His
great granddaughter Erzsébet of the Cumans married King/Saint Steven V of Hungary (21st ggps). As you can see, relationships between European royalty are intertwined, complex, and spanned the continent of Europe. I had "fun" untangling the relationships!
As with my trip to Scotland and Sweden, I wanted to visit their countries, but didn't think I would be able to find castles as I did in Scotland. I roughed out an itinerary of where they were born or died,
but this didn't help as many were obscure villages or battlefields. Then I saw a picture of a statue in one of the towns, and the light bulb came on...kings have statues! I have previously taken pictures of kings who I found out later were my ancestors, including King Olav II of Norway (my 24th ggf) at
My St. Olavsleden Pilgrimage and King Robert the Bruce (19th ggf) at
Scottish Ancestral Visitations in Sterlingshire, Fife, Perth and Kinrosshire, Angus, and Aberdeenshire. So I did a Google search of images and found that towns/cities where these kings reigned and are commemorated with statues. This informed our itinerary.
The next blog covers our time in Poland and Slovakia where we will start in Krakow, the capital of King Boleslaw "The Brave." Then we will visit Haczow,
Poland where Linda's paternal grandmother' parents embarked for Pennsylvania in 1870. We will then cross the Tatras Mountains to Nižné Repaše, Slovakia from where her maternal grandparents emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1918.
In the following blog we will visit Hungary and Romania before returning to Krakow for our flight home. At least that is Plan A. Lord willing, if my legs hold out, we will be able to stick to that plan.
As I mentioned in my last blog (see
2024 Caribbean Cruise to my 100th Country...and beyond) this trip is the last one on my current bucket list. As mentioned in my previous blog, Linda wants to cruise around South America and from Dubai, UAE down the Indian Ocean to Cape Town, South Africa. But having accomplish my goal of visiting 100 countries I have less priority for visiting those that are difficult to get to...long flights do not interest me!
As for ancestors, most of our remaining ancestors came from within the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire, where we lived from 1977 to 1995, so I'm thinking I may just edit my earlier blogs to notate if any ancestors came from there without my knowing about it at the time.
I also have a few scattered ancestors around the periphery of the Mediterranean. I recently discovered that Musa Nusair al-Bekir (45th ggf) conquered North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula for Mohammad. His father Nusair ibn ʻAbd al-Rahman al-Bekir (46th ggf) was suspected of being a spy and was executed by Mohammad. I also have ancestors who were kings of Armenia (e.g. Ashot I "the Great," (38th ggf), Smbat I "the Martyr, " (37th ggf), Ashot III" the Peaceful," (36th ggf), Abas I (35th ggf), and Gagik I "the Great" (34th ggf) who ruled a thousand years ago. But I think these regions are too dangerous to visit now.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Family History
Bob, I always find your energy for tracking the family roots awesome. I worked on that a few years ago but didn't stick with it. I enjoy your stories.