Parish records, early Holy Cross Book Canterbury

We sometimes think of all the information that is available to us today. Thanks in part to the standardization of recorded information and record books required by past governments. A series of mandates in the sixteenth century required clergy to compile records of baptisms, marriages, and burials within each parish. As the clergy were also obliged to send an annual copy to the bishop (called Bishops Transcripts) there are many parish records from this time.

The following is available thanks to Ancestry and Kent, England, Tyler Index to Parish Registers, 1538-1874. This collection contains 340 books of extractions of baptism, marriages and burials from parish registers in East Kent, compiled by Frank Watt Tyler. The collection is held by the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies (IHGS) and thereat known as "The Tyler Collection".

Angevin empire and the Count of Anjou and Duchy of Aquitaine

Pepin or Pippin the Short First King of the Franks of the Carolingian dynasty. First King of the Franks. That is something.

He was also, according to my family tree on Ancestry, my 15th great-grandfather of wife of husband of 3rd cousin 25x removed. Born 715 in Austrasia, France and died 18 September 768 at St Denis, Paris, Ile-de-France, France. 

 Pepin the Short, also called the Younger (German: Pippin der Jüngere, French: Pépin le Bref, c. 714 – 24 September 768) was King of the Franks from 751 until his death in 768.

Pepin the Short grandfather was Pepin II De Heristal, Mayor Of The Palace. He was born in 635 in Liège, Liege, Belgium. 

Pepin the Short's father, was Charles Martel.

Charles Martel (c. 688 – 22 October 741) was a Frankish statesman and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his death. He was a son of the Frankish statesman Pepin of Herstal and Pepin's mistress, a noblewoman named Alpaida. Charles, also known as "The Hammer" (in Old French, Martel), successfully asserted his claims to power as successor to his father as the power behind the throne in Frankish politics. Continuing and building on his father's work, he restored centralized government in Francia and began the series of military campaigns that re-established the Franks as the undisputed masters of all Gaul.

Scarlet Fever hits Family

According to 'The Bignells and the Pomeroy's of Broadwindsor',  Charles Pomeroy, born on 9 July 1867 at Church Lane Farnham was {Page 4 note 35} 'The first of a succession of childhood deaths in the family resulting from an epidemic of scarlet fever}. He died at the same place on 11 September 1869. About 14 months old. The information does not explicitly state which Farnham.

William Bailey Pomeroy, b 1864 in Farnham had died a few days earlier on 29 August 1868. A mear fortnight between them, but not specifically mentioned as being Scarlet Fever.

Battle of Hastings

The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman conquest of England. It took place approximately 7 miles (11 kilometres) northwest of Hastings, close to the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex, and was a decisive Norman victory.

However, it was not just a stroppy Frenchman trying his luck on the shores of England. Not surprisingly it goes back much further and is just a little bit complicated.

Lets go back to a Viking called Rollo and latterly Gaange Rolf. He was a pagen who lived between 860 and 930, or thereabouts. His Scandinavian name Rolf was extended to Gaange Rolf because he became too heavy as an adult for a horse to carry, therefore he had to walk.