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We will finish the month as we started it, with John of Gaunt's descendants. While Blythe Gifford wrote about the Beauforts, the side of the family born on the wrong side of the blanket, I'll cover the Lancasters, the legitimate heirs who became kings.
I love this painting of John of Gaunt. Hot and dangerous, wouldn't you say? And he liked poetry too. What a man.
John of Gaunt (1340-1399) played an important role in government during the minority of his nephew, Richard II. He also became perhaps the wealthiest man in England.
Richard II turned out to be a poor king who lacked the military skills of his father, the famous Black Prince. When John of Gaunt died, Richard made the fatal mistake of disinheriting John's son Henry Bolingbroke and taking the Lancaster lands for the crown. Bolingbroke, who was in exile in France, landed in Northumberland allegedly to take back his inheritance. As he rolled across England, disgruntled nobles joined his cause. He took the crown from his cousin to become Henry IV, the first Lancaster king.
Henry IV (1367–1413)
When Henry Bolingbroke challenged Richard II for the crown, Richard took Bolingbroke's eleven-year-old heir hostage. The boy was not his father's favorite; Bolingbroke did not even pause. Fortunately, Richard had grown fond of the boy and spared his life. His cousin was not so merciful. The deposed king died in imprisonment...some say of starvation.
Henry IV spent much of his reign foiling conspiracies and putting down rebellions. Apparently, usurping the throne weakened the perception that the king held the throne by divine right. The king began to see plots everywhere. He was jealous of his son, Prince Harry, who was popular with the people and lauded for his military victories.
Henry V (1386/87–1422). Apparently this diligent king was too busy leading armies and running the kingdom to sit for a better portrait.
Henry V is the "king" in my series, "All the King's Men," and an important secondary character in the first two books. While many other royals seemed to put their personal welfare above their kingdom's, Henry V appears to have devoted every waking hour to his duties. He was the best of the Lancasters and a king for the ages.
In my first book, KNIGHT OF DESIRE, he is still Prince Harry, he is in command of the English army charged with putting down the Welsh rebellion. In my new release, he is king and at the height of his powers. He has returned two Normandy two years after his great victory at Agincourt to reclaim the lands his predecessors lost to France.
The painting, below, is of the famous Battle of Agincourt, in which a young King Henry V defeated the French against overwhelming odds. So many French nobles were killed in the battle that it is often said the "cream of French chivalry" died at Agincourt.
Henry V eventually laid claim not only to Normandy, but to the French crown. Under the pressure of the English king's military successes, Charles VI of France, agreed to marry his daughter to Henry. Henry allowed the ailing French king to keep his crown, so long as the French king disinherited his own son and named Henry as his heir.
Henry needed better lawyers, however, for no one seems to have anticipated that he might die before his father-in-law. Who knows what the map of Europe would look like today if Henry had not only inherited the French crown but lived to be an old man? Instead, he died at the age of thirty-five, probably of dysentery, a soldier's illness. His father-in-law died a few weeks later. With their deaths, Henry's nine-month-old babe was heir to two kingdoms.
Henry VI (1421–1471) King of England 1422–1461 and 1470-1471.
Not surprisingly, Henry VI's claim to the French throne was challenged early-on by the dauphin, Charles VI's disinherited heir. Eventually, Joan of Arc would be instrumental in turning the tide against the English.
Henry VI's right to the English crown might never have been challenged, however, if he had been a strong and skilled king like his father. A loyal cadre of Lancaster and Beaufort men made sure England was ruled competently during his minority. Once Henry VI ruled in his own right, however, he proved to be poorly suited to the task. Later, he suffered from bouts of severe mental illness, probably inherited from his French grandfather, "mad" King Charles. As was the case with Richard II, his disastrous rule opened the door to a challenge. And so began the War of the Roses....
Long before Jonathan Rhys Meyers declined to wear body padding to play Henry VIII, the real Tudors provided enough drama, passion, conflict and spectacle that some Tudor aficionados contend that the HBO series didn't have to change a thing to provide an entertaining tale. From Henry VII to his granddaughter, Elizabeth I, the Tudor dynasty has long been a favorite among writers such as Jean Plaidy, Bertrice Small and Philippa Gregory, not to mention the feast for the eyes in numerous films set in this era. As supporting players or leads, the Tudors left their stamp on everything they touched.
Henry VII came to power at the end of the Wars of the Roses in 1485. Henry, aligned with the house of Lancaster on his mother's side, united both factions by marrying Elizabeth Plantagenet of York, the niece of the defeated Richard III. The Tudor rose symbol pays homage to union of York and Lancaster. Henry and Elizabeth may have thought the united houses' future well secured with four surviving children, Arthur, Henry, Margaret and Mary.
Both girls married well, Mary to Louis VII of France and Margaret to James IV of Scotland. Arthur's marriage to Catherine of Aragon provided an alliance with the Spanish crown, and had Arthur survived, we might have seen history play out in far different fashion.
After only four months of marriage, Arthur died. Henry VII secured a papal dispensation to allow Prince Henry to marry Arthur's widow, Catherine. By the time the marriage took place, Henry VII had died and Henry VIII made Catherine his queen. Another point where history might have taken a vastly different turn; Henry and Catherine endured a string of stillbirths and infant deaths, including a son, Henry, Duke of Cornwall, who died at an age of less than two months. Only one daughter, Mary, survived, and Henry's desire to preserve his dynasty through the birth of sons only grew. Attempts to obtain a divorce within the Catholic church failed time and again.
What's a desperate monarch to do?
In Henry's case, break with Catholicism and form the Church of England, with the king as the head of church as well as head of state. Henry's appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, allowed for the dissolution of Henry's marriage to Catherine. Now single, Henry made his mistress, Anne Boleyn, his wife and new queen. Perhaps if their daughter, Elizabeth, called by many one of England's greatest monarchs, had been a male, Henry would have been satisfied, but fate was once again keeping the desired son out of his reach.
Anne would no longer suffice, and Henry was faced once again with getting rid of a wife he no longer wanted. Accusations of witchcraft, incest and high treason leveled upon Anne and though the validity of several accusations are widely contested among historians, it was enough to send Anne to her death. She was beheaded in 1536, after which Henry remarried, this time to Jane Seymour.
It was Jane at last who provided Henry with a son, Edward, though she died soon after his birth, leaving Henry distraught at her loss. Not distraught enough to put him off marriage, as he took a fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, his reluctance overcome when he saw a portrait of her painted by Hans Holbein the younger. The real Anne, however, did not suit him. Nor, apparently, did he suit her, as she agreed to an annulment, and was known thereafter as My Lady, the King's Sister. Henry had Thomas Cromwell, who had proposed the marriage, executed.
Henry was nothing if not determined. He married Catherine Howard, a cousin of the Duke of Norfolk. The marriage was doomed. Catherine, more than three decades Henry's junior, conducted an affair with one of Henry's favorites, Thomas Culpeper, and as one might guess, this did not go over well. Catherine was executed in 1542.
By 1543, Henry was back at the altar with Catherine Parr, who survived him upon his death in 1547...which is where things really get interesting. His will had restored Mary, his daughter by Catherine of Aragon and Elizabeth, his daughter by Anne Boleyn, to the line of succession. It did not, however legitimize them, as annulled marriage legally never occurred, so both girls were still legally illegitimate. Edward VI ascended the throne at the age of nine.
Had the boy king, a religious reformer even at his young age, survived, again, we might have a far different tale to tell, but Edward became ill in 1553, and the issue of Edward's successor came into play. Edward changed his father's will to allow his cousin, Jane Grey to succeed him upon his death. There's no telling what England might have been under Jane's rule, as she did not want the throne, and indeed did not technically have it, and her reign lasted only nine days before she was dethroned.
Henry's older daughter, Mary, became queen, and Jane, along with her husband, Guilford Dudley, were executed. Mary, who desired to make England a Catholic nation once more, married Prince Philip of Spain, a distant relative. Mary, however, inherited her father's bad luck with marriage, as Philip preferred to spend his time away from Mary. Though there were several reputed pregnancies, Mary produced no offspring. Though she could not produce a Catholic heir, her actions as eliminating Protestants earned her the name of "Bloody Mary." She died without issue in 1558, her half-sister Elizabeth as her heir.
Elizabeth has been known as the Virgin Queen, though there have been speculations about her relationship with Robert Dudley, her Master of the Horse and constant companion. Elizabeth never married, knowing that a woman's power and assets would go to her husband and preferred to remain in control of her own life and country. Politician, fashionista, poet, diplomat and true Renaissance woman, Elizabeth left her mark on the age that bears her name. Her speech at Tilbury on the eve of the Spanish Armada still inspires many to hold fast in the face of danger. Her court is synonymous with splendor and intrigue, and Elizabeth is as famed for her temper as her fashion sense.
If Elizabeth had accepted any of the many applicants for her hand, again, we'd have a very different history, but the Virgin Queen remained married only to England, and upon her death in 1603 unmarried and without issue, the sun set on the Tudor dynasty. Elizabeth was succeeded by her cousin, James VI of Scotland who became the first English king of that name, beginning a new age...but that's another story.
Sometimes it is just not a wise idea to marry your cousin.
For centuries the Hapsburg name has been synonymous with dynasties, and like any, they rise and fall. Presiding over the first global empire, they ruled Spain from 1516 to 1700, but the beasts that brought them down...were kissing cousins. Generations of intermarriage has been blamed for the fall of this particular part of the Hapsburg reign. As we know other reigns went on and on. Fanatical about the fashion of preserving heritage yielded a monarch for the Spanish Hapsburgs so inbred he was incapable of providing an heir, thus leaving the door open for power to pass to the French Bourbons.
According to a report published this year, scientists extensively examined a branch of the family tree of the Spanish Hapsburgs, in particular the lineage of King Charles II. The discovery was eye-opening to say the least. A victim of repeated marriages to close relatives, studies claimed him to be almost as inbred as if he were the offspring of an incestuous relationship between brothers and sisters or fathers and daughters.
The consequences? Infant mortality was high, with only half the Hapsburg kin living to see their first birthday. On top of that were rare recessive genetic illnesses and deformities like the now famous Hapsburg Jaw. Charles II was plagued with it so severely, eating was difficult and his tongue was said to be too big for his mouth, resulting in a drooling and incoherent monarch. Add to this the hallucinations, convulsive episodes, and edemas and you have a melting pot of problems stemming from marriages that, over 200 years, were often between first cousins or uncles and nieces.
The quest for power was all important in this day, but the need to keep blood as pure as possible was ultimately poison.
The Moors were Islamic people of Arabian and Negro heritage, who invaded the Iberian Peninsula, beginning in the eighth century. They called the conquered land al-jazirat al-Andalus. The last dynasty to rule al-Andalus were the Nasrids.
With the Reconquista, Spanish Christians were determined to drive out the Moors. By the thirteenth century, only one Moorish kingdom remained, the Nasrid Sultanate of Gharnatah, nestled in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The family came to Spain during the very early stages of Moorish rule, claiming descent from a contemporary of the Prophet Muhammad. They settled in the Arjuno region of southern Spain (modern Jaen province), serving in the armies of the Umayyad Caliphate, distinguishing themselves in their military leadership as officers and generals.
The first Nasrid Sultan, Muhammad I, was born in Arjuno in 1191, first of four brothers. Moorish Spain was confined to the lower half of the peninsula where a loose confederation of emirates, known as the Tai'fa states, evolved after the collapse of the Almohade Empire. A rival family, the Hud, controlled the south, but Muhammad was determined to overthrow them. In 1231, he became governor of his home region and soon conquered other principal cities, including Guadix in 1232, Granada in 1237, Almeria the following year, and Malaga by 1239. He had the help of powerful allies, the Ashqilula family.
In 1238 CE, Muhammad I began construction on his palace in the capital of Granada, which has since become one of the finest examples of Islamic architecture in the West, the Alhambra. As the Spanish Catholics encroached on Moorish territory, Muhammad submitted to a period of vassalage to the kings of Castile and in 1248, helped them conquer Muslim Seville. Muhammad had four sons, the eldest of whom he chose to rule after him. But that was contrary to the interests of his allies, the Ashqilula. A brutal civil war erupted that divided Spain for several years after Muhammad's death in 1273. Then, the dynasty began a slow decline.
The Nasrid rule was a tumultuous end to the reign of Moors in Europe. At least fourteen of Muhammad I's descendants were dethroned or murdered, often by members of their own family. Muhammad III poisoned his father, Muhammad II. Nasr I dethroned his half-brother Muhammad III, eventually blinding and killing him. Muhammad II's grandson Isma`il was stabbed to death by his cousin in a quarrel over a slave girl, and two of Isma`il’s sons, Muhammad IV and Yusuf I, also met violent deaths. When Yusuf's son Muhammad V came to power, his stepmother, half-sister, and her husband conspired to drive him into exile in Morocco. Muhammad V recovered his throne, but his descendants rarely held it for very long. His grandson Muhammad IX lost and regained the Alhambra at least four times during a span of thirty-five years. Also, the jealous mother of Muhammad XI encouraged her son to rebel against his father, Abu'l-Hasan Ali, because the ruler favored his second wife and her children.
The repeated incidents of patricide and fratricide through the Nasrid history weakened a dynasty that was already on a slippery slope to disintegration, almost from its beginnings. When the Reconquista culminated in the defeat and surrender of the last heir of Muhammad I, on January 1, 1492 CE, the Nasrid dynasty collapsed completely. Its final ruler, Muhammad XI, went into exile in Morocco, and never returned to his birthplace.
When one thinks of the Romanov Dynasty of Imperial Russia, one usually thinks of Nicholas II, the last tsar. A weak ruler, his claim to fame was his revolutionary capture and subsequent death. More importantly to the Romanov name in the 20th century were the rumors about his daughter, Anastasia, and whether she survived. More movies were made about her than about Nicholas II who, at the time of his death, ruled over 1/2 the world and is worth US $881 million (1916) and today: $290.7 billion.
But who were the Romanovs? How did they become so powerful? Where did they come from?
Technically Nicholas II was of the Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov Dynasty, a descendant of German born Catherine II of the House of Anhalt-Zerbst and either Peter III, grandson of Peter the Great (the most likely), or Serge Saltykov, one of Catherine's lovers (probably a rumor started by her to anger Peter).
Peter III, in turn, was the son of Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (nephew of the childless Charles XII of Sweden) and Anna Petrovna, a daughter of Emperor Peter the Great of Russia and his second wife, Catherine I of Russia. He claimed both the Russian throne and the Swedish one, and had his aunt, Elizabeth I, not declared him her heir, would have become Sweden's king.
Traveling father back in time, the original Romanov Dynasty began with Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina-Yurieva's marriage to Ivan the Terrible. Anastasia's brother took the surname Romanov (from his father, Roman or his patronymic Romanovich) when her son, Fyodor I, died. Though forced into a monastery, his son, 16-year-old son Mikhail Romanov was elected tsar.
Allan Pinkerton didn't seem to intend to be America's chief spy, not by a long shot. He left Britain in 1842, disappointed with his unfruitful work with the Chartists, a reformist movement focused on obtaining votes for all men whether they own property or not. He arrived in the US with his wife and set up shop as a cooper--a barrel maker.
One day, out looking for wood to make his barrels, he stumbled across signs of habitation on what was supposed to be an abandoned island. He put what he saw together with reports of counterfeiters in the area. Teaming up with the local sheriff, he helped arrest the criminals. (Doesn't that sound like a refreshingly American story, full of half-luck and half-skill? Makes me wonder what else was really going on.)
Pinkerton served first as Deputy Sheriff, and then as Chicago's first Official Detective. By 1850, he'd gone on to found the North-West Detective Agency with Edward Rucker, a Chicago attorney. The North-West eventually became the Pinkerton Detective Agency.
Initially, the Pinks were the bomb. They patrolled the Wild West, stopping bank robberies, counterfeiters, and pretty much any law-breaking you can think of. A Pinkerton agent, Frank Geyer, helped crack the case of H.H. Holmes, the serial killer who haunted the 1899 Chicago World's Fair. Pinkerton himself pioneered many of the detective techniques that CSI and White Collar make use of now--tailing suspects, and undercover work included. As if that weren't enough, Pinkerton took a turn as the Union's spy-master general during the Civil War and put those techniques to work on the Confederates. He even foiled an assassination plot against Abraham Lincoln.
The Pinkertons were everywhere. Their name became synonymous with private detectives. But every good dynasty eventually comes to the point of collapse.
The Pinkertons' demise began when they were repeatedly used to protect strike-breakers by anti-union industrialists in the late 1890s. Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick hired them to break the Homestead Strike, resulting in the death of a Pinkerton agent by sniper fire. Franklin B. Gowen, a district attorney in Pennsylvania, hired them to help break the "Molly Maguires," a secretive Irish-based group of coalminers in Pennsylvania. Pinkerton agent James Ford Rhodes went undercover with the Molly Maguires, and while his detective work eventually led to the end of the Maguires, it happened amidst bloodshed. A vigilante group was formed that killed several, including one man's wife. Rhodes attempted to resign over the situation, but the damage was done. The Pinkerton name was blemished.
Despite that, the Pinks are still going strong. Yeah, I know, it surprised me too. They're now owned by a Swedish company and do business under a couple names, including the Pinkerton Government Services. From a cursory examination, they look like they're pretty much just gate guards now. Kinda sad, considering their impressive history (which, by the way, isn't even mentioned on their website. Seriously?)
There were 31 dynasties in ancient Egypt but the 18th Dynasty (1550-1292BC) is probably the most written about when it comes to fiction. It was the dynasty that gave us some of the most colourful pharaohs including Hatshepsut, Akhenaten and Tutankhamun.
I like to call it the Egyptian renaissance.
The founder of this dynasty was Ahmose I who is less well known than some but unquestionably of major importance to Egyptian history. During his reign Egypt was finally and completely liberated from the Hyksos. Various scholars attribute different dates to his reign, but he probably became ruler of Egypt around 1550 BC at 10 years old, and ruled for a period of about 25 years.
During his early reign, little was accomplished and perhaps the Hyksos may have even gained some ground, recapturing Heliopolis. By the end of his first decade in power, we know from a naval officer that he laid siege on Avaris. This was a long battle interrupted by the need to put down insurrections in already liberated territories. He later attacked the southwest Palestinian fortress of Sharuhen in a six year siege that would finally put an end to Hyksos control of Egypt.
Amunhotep I (Amenophis) was the son of Ahmose I and his queen Ahmose-Nefertari, and ruled from 1546 to 1526. He undertook military campaigns in Libya and Nubia using boats on the Nile to transport his army. He extended his empire by establishing a vice-royalty in Nubia.
Once on the throne, Amunhotep I had to defend Egypt's borders because the Libyans had taken the opportunity of Ahmose I's death to launch an invasion in Egypt's delta. He led an army to the Western border and defeated the Libyans and their allies. Next came a rebellion by Nubia. This time, he led an army to the southern border and quickly restored order. Amunhotep I had an interest in art and architecture and initiated elaborate building projects such as the Karnak temple complex at Karnak.
Amunhotep II was the seventh king of the 18th dynasty. He continued the military exploits of his father, particularly in Syria, where he crushed an uprising and demanded oaths of loyalty from local rulers.
A great sportsman, his greatest feat was shooting copper targets with arrows, while driving a chariot with the reins tied round his waist. Amunhotep II inherited a vast empire, which he did not intend to lose easily. Any rebellions were severely dealt with and a series of campaigns were made into Syria. Inscriptions detail how Amunhotep II sought to fight in hand-to-hand combat and led the Egyptian troops into battle with howls of rage. He is regarded as the most bloodthirsty pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty.
Not so Akhetaten, formerly Amunhotep IV, who together with queen Nefertiti and their six daughters fostered new styles in art and literature. The confiscation of the wealth of the Amun temples wreaked havoc on its priesthood. Akhenaten used these riches to strengthen royal control over the army and his officialdom. His concentration on internal affairs brought about the loss of some of the Egyptian possessions in Canaan and Syria and of the Egyptian naval dominance, when Aziru defected to the Hittites with his fleet.
Akhenaten's religious reforms didn't survive his reign and monotheism in its pure form was forgotten in Egypt, even though it found a new expression in the trinity of Re, Ptah and Amun. The Aten temples were demolished, and Akhenaten came to be called "the Enemy."
Tutankhamun (1361-1352 BC),the son-in-law of Akhenaten, succeeded his brother Smenkhkare when he was only nine years old. His vizier Ay restored the traditional polytheistic religion, abandoning the monotheistic cult of Akhenaten. He left el Amarna (Akhetaten) and returned to the capital Thebes. By reviving the state god Amun he strengthened the position of Amun's priesthood. The pharaoh changed his name Tutankhaten, (living image of Aten to Tutankhamun, (living image of Amun).
Jean Adams' latest novel, ETERNAL HEARTS, available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, is set in the 18th Dynasty, during the reign of Akhenaten. You can watch the book video here.
One of the problems with researching the early Vikings is that so much is shrouded in myth and mystery. Various sources mention the Ynglings as an early Norse dynasty, but how real were they? And do they still exist today?
The Ynglings are known as semi-legendary because scholars are fairly certain they existed; they are mentioned in a number of independent sources that appeared shortly appeared after the Age of Migration finished in around 700 AD. The problem with the Age of Migration or the Dark Ages is very few primary sources exist for the tribes who were migrating around Europe. The Ynglings are mentioned in Saxo Germanicus, Beowolf (in Beowolf, they are referred to as Scyling), and in the Ynglinga saga and a shorter work by Snorri Sturulson.
Yngling means "descendant of Frey" and they supposedly subdued most of Sweden between the 500-700 AD. Sturluson also mentions that they may have been descended from a man called Skelfir, and thus were more properly called Skalfings.
One of the most famous of the Ynglings, Ottarr or Ohthere, refused to pay tribute to the Danish king Frodi (and yes, you do have the Anglican version, Frodo, used by Tolkien--encountering Tolkien is a slight hazard when researching the early Vikings!), and freed his part of Sweden from the tribute. He and his sons are mentioned in Beowolf and Saxo Germanicus. The details are vaguely given which leads some scholars to conclude that the story was so well known that the skalds did not have to relate the full details.
The last Yngling king in Sweden was Ingjald Ill-Ruler who enlarged his kingdom with the simple expedient of burning the other kings inside his hall. His daughter Asa was considered to be devious. One of his sons, Olof Tratalga, who was the last true Yngling, ruled part of Norway for awhile but proved such a bad ruler that he was eventually burnt to death in his long house. The remains of burnt long house dating from this time and roughly in the correct area have been found.
Later, the descendants of Harald Finehair (so called because he refused to cut or comb his hair until after a certain princess, Gyda, married him, something she refused to do until he became king of all Norway) claimed to be part of the Yngling dynasty in order to give Finehair's unification of Norway some legitimacy in the early 9th century. The Finehair dynasty (or at least claims to have been descended from him) ruled Norway until about the 14th century. If you do various twists and turns and leaps of faith, the current Norwegian kings are related.
So real or not, it is interesting that some in Norway would still claim descent from the Ynglings.
Before Manifest Destiny, when Americans poured into California in the early 1800s--trappers, explorers, backwoodsmen, whalers, and merchants who stumbled into the area prior to the 1848 annexation of the area by the United States and the unprecedented migration of the 1849 gold rush--the "Californios" ruled the state of Upper California.
A few of the gente de razón or upper class Californios were descendants of Spanish soldiers sent up from Mexico and spoke the pure Castilian language. There was an aristocracy, the ones of straight Spanish blood with clear brunette complexions who never intermarried with natives. The least drop of Spanish blood was sufficient to raise one from the rank of slave, entitle the wearing of fancy clothing, and the right hold property. These gente de razón were all pretty much related to each other. From the upper class down, a regular gradation was indicated by skin color, growing darker until reaching the hue and features of the pure Indian.
Even the commoners, to American ears, they appeared to speak elegant Spanish. A messenger on horseback spoke like an ambassador. They had no credit system, no banking, no way of earning money other than the cattle raised on their enormous ranchos, employing elegant vaqueros whose skills at horsemanship were unsurpassed in the continent. They had no money except for hides, which sailors called "California bank notes."
They dressed in steeple-crowned sombreros, serapés of fiery colors, and velvet pantaloons with buttons and gold lace. Their spurs were immense in size, as befitted the gaudy trappings of their horses. They were magnificent horsemen and skilled handlers of cattle. Bancroft wrote in his massive History of California:
If going any distance no matter how short they mounted a horse. Few could read or write. They were inveterate gamblers and drunkenness was so common it was rare to meet one without his bottle. Like Indians, they made women do all the work, and even in management of stock and the lasso it was not uncommon to find women more skillful than men.
The big amusements, not surprisingly, were large fandangos held at each other's ranchos that got pretty wild and lasted for days. They also enjoyed horse racing (risking hundreds of cattle upon the speed of the horse), bull- and bear-baiting, and Monte gambling. They gambled with a passion but paid their losses punctually and with little concern. Monte games were conducted with great decorum by American standards--the loud swearing and other "turbulent demonstrations" of losers only came from "foreigners." While Californios bore their losses with indifference, Americans raised the roof down.
They were given enormous land grants by Mexico. The greatest Californio of all, General Mariano Vallejo, owned Rancho Petaluma: 67,000 acres of what is now the entire "wine country" of the Sonoma valley. During the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt, a few enterprising (some said addled) Americans took over Vallejo's rancho in Sonoma in a bloodless coup, arrested him, and sent him to Sutter's Fort, although Vallejo himself was a proponent of annexation by the United States. Little by little, as Americans encroached and California became one of the United States, these huge ranchos were whittled away by squatters, sale, or the 1862 Homestead Act that parceled the land out to American settlers.
Richard Henry Dana, a sailor and later novelist who visited California in 1834, wrote:
Californios are idle thriftless people, and can make nothing for themselves. The country abounds in grapes, yet they buy bad wine made in Boston and bought round by us at an immense price...They buy shoes from us (and like as not made of their own hides, which have been carried twice round Cape Horn) at fifteen dollars apiece. Things sell on an average at nearly three hundred percent upon Boston prices.
Yet up until the time the Mexican regime ceased, Californios had a custom of never charging for anything--entertainment, food, or use of horses. Travelers brought their own blankets and knives, and could always count on receiving a plate of beef and beans at any rancho, giving the hostess back her plate with a "Muchas gracias, señora," to which the hostess would have replied, "Buen provecho": May it do you much good.
And really, how am I going to manage to stretch this into a dynasty post? Aw, come on, think of the money in NASCAR. That's power with a capital P, right?
Moonshiners are those people who make alcohol in illegal stills. They get their name because their work is often done by the light of the moon.
They didn't start out as lawbreakers. Originally, they were farmers who converted their excess crops to booze. It was easier to transport than in grain form, and could often be used as a form of currency in the barter system.
But when the newly-formed government of the United States needed a way to pay for their war bills, they taxed whiskey producers in 1791--and they taxed the small time producers at a significantly higher rate than large producers. Considering that many of them made whiskey precisely because they were low on cash, the farmers weren't at all stoked about it. Hence the Whiskey Rebellion began, and had to be put down by President George Washington himself.
Though the tax that started the Whiskey Rebellion was repealed in 1801, others soon followed. And mountain men and others kept brewing their own white lightning in rural areas, the best to stay out of sight of the revenuers.
When the United State's ban on alcohol began in 1920, moonshiners were in a prime position. All they had to do was step up production, and they'd make oodles of cash. One problem--how to get their product from the rural production areas to the cities, where it sold for the most money?
The answer? Fast cars, naturally, the better to outrun Prohibition agents. Moonshine runners took their normal cars and made the engines bigger and badder, at the same time they tried to lighten the rest of the car and make more room for the booze.
And we all know how men are, right? My--ahem--engine is bigger than your engine. It wasn't enough to race law enforcement. They started racing each other. The wide, hard packed beach at Daytona made a great track, down A1A highway a couple miles, out onto the beach and back again.
It wouldn't be until 1948 that NASCAR was formally founded, but it has roots solidly embedded in moonshining, which didn't end with the repeal of Prohibition either. There were still those pesky IRS Agents to elude.
Junior Johnson is often considered one of the best NASCAR drivers ever, with a total of 53 races won as a driver (and 132 as an owner). Where'd he get his skills? Running moonshine on back-mountain roads for his family! In fact, 1955 was his first NASCAR season, but in 1956 he was convicted of moonshining after he was busted at his father's still. (They never did catch him driving!)
Nowadays NASCAR is huge business, raking in billions of dollars a year. Racing fans like to claim it's the biggest sport in the US, but I can't find the stats to back that up. One thing's for sure: it's popular enough for Harlequin to have an entire line of NASCAR oriented books. If you ever get a chance to see a live race, give it a shot. There's a good chance the speed might bite you, same as it did the moonshiners.
Not all dynasties are created by a family, not a genetic one anyway. Some are created by "The Family."
In order to be the head of the Mafia, you must be Sicilian, and contrary to popular belief, Al Capone was not and could never be the head because of his lack of foresight. He was born in New York, after all, to non-Sicilian parents. But Al didn't let something as simple as an accident of birth prevent him from becoming one of the most powerful men in America.
Before there was Al Capone, there was "Big Jim" Colosimo. Big Jim was the undisputed boss of Chicago in 1902. He owned a string of gambling dens and brothels. He was ruthless and powerful, but like anyone else, he had his Achilles heel--or, in Jim's case, two of them. His head was turned by a pretty young thing. Eventually he left his wife and, in 1920, married his latest crush. Like many men with a new trophy wife, Big Jim lost interest in the day to day running of his empire and started turning much of his power over to underlings.
The second thing, which, combined with his new wife, resulted in his downfall was Big Jim's refusal to see a golden opportunity to expand his kingdom and make a lot of money for a lot of people. When Prohibition began in 1920, any entrepreneur willing to ignore that nasty 18th Amendment was destined to make a whole lot of money with bootleg liquor. When Big Jim's second in command, Johnny Torrio, presented him with his new business plan, Big Jim didn't see the need to expand his financial horizons, satisfied with the profits being made by gambling and prostitution. Besides, starting up a new branch of business would take away precious time he'd rather spend with his new wife.
Not one to take no for an answer, the charming Mr. Torrio took matters into his own hands. Torrio informed Colosimo of a shipment being delivered to one of his cafes. While Big Jim was there awaiting delivery, he was shot and killed, presumably by Frankie Yale, an associate of Torrio's, though neither was ever convicted.
In order to promote peace in the city, Big Jim had attempted to divide Chicago up between its various gangs, each outfit taking a section of the city for their own business purposes and leaving the other sections alone. Johnny Torrio wasn't a big fan of this plan, and when he took over upon Big Jim's death, bitter squabbles between the different factions erupted, elevating into full out gang wars.
To help him strong arm control of the city, Torrio called on his good friend from New York, Alphonse Capone, to lend him a hand.
Al was an ambitious young man and soon made himself indispensable to Johnny Torrio. Soon Al had a grasp of Chicago gangland politics, which worked to his advantage when, just a few years after Al arrived in Chicago, Johnny Torrio suffered an assassination attempt by a rival gang. Though Torrio survived, he was shaken enough to turn over the reins of his empire to Capone. Johnny became one of those rarities, a gangster who died of old age. He lived quietly in Europe for five years before returning to the U.S. to become somewhat of an elder statesman for the U.S. Underworld. He died in 1957 at the age of 75 after suffering a heart attack.
Which brings us back to Al. He finally got what he so desperately worked for all those years--control. His control became absolute when he took power over the mafia. Though he could not be its head, as was stated earlier, he could and did, place a puppet leader at its helm. Al Capone was now at the top of the world and his empire complete.
In 1931, Al was convicted of tax evasion and sent to prison. Though a successor took his place as leader of Chicago, with the ending of Prohibition, along with the concerns of the Great Depression, the time of the celebrity mobster was over. Soon they were replaced by the likes of Bonnie and Clyde and John Dillinger, loners with no obvious gangland ties. Though the mob is still going strong today, it tends to lay low and doesn't flagrantly flaunt the law out in the open as their predecessors did. When Capone fell, his kingdom went with him.
While most people know that the United States has had two presidents named Roosevelt, very few can identify how they were related.
"Roosevelt" means "Rose of the Fields" in Dutch. The first Roosevelt, a Dutchman named Claes van Rosevelt, arrived in Nieuw Amsterdam in the middle of the 17th century. He bought a twenty-acre farm in mid-town Manhattan, including the site of the Empire State Building. By the 18th century, however, the family divided into two branches: Johannes Roosevelt (1689-1750) founded the clan in Oyster Bay, New York, while his younger brother, James Jacobus Roosevelt (1692-1776), founded the Hyde Park branch.
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, was born in 1858. A sickly child, he learned all about the natural sciences and history before applying himself toward growing physically strong. He became an avid boxer when he attended Harvard. After serving as a Lieutenant Colonel in the US military during the Spanish-American War, he was elected vice president. William McKinley was assassinated in 1901, which made Roosevelt the youngest man ever to assume the presidency. He was 42.
Theodore's brother Elliott was two years his junior. Elliott sired three daughters, one of whom was Anna Eleanor Roosevelt. Her Uncle Teddy, while he was still president, gave Eleanor away when she married Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the Hyde Park Roosevelts. Their marriage not only solidified a political dynasty but reunited the families. (Here they're pictured courting in 1903.)
If you do the math, Theodore and Franklin were fifth cousins, which meant they were more closely related by marriage than by blood.
Franklin Roosevelt, of course, went on to set his own records as the 32nd President of the United States. He was elected to more terms (four) and served more years in office (twelve) than any other leader, and presided over two monumental crises in US history: the Great Depression and World War II. He remained a Democrat, in keeping with the rest of the Hyde Park branch, but his left-wing policies single-handedly shifted the political spectrum so that "Democrat" came to mean "liberal."
The Roosevelts' children did not shirk service to their country just because of their influential fathers. Teddy's son, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., went on to become a brigadier general. He and his brothers Kermit and Archibald served in both world wars. Their youngest brother, Quentin, was killed in action over France in 1918. All four of FDR's sons served during WWII: James in the Marine Corps, Franklin Jr. and John in the Navy, and Elliott in the US Army Air Corps.
While Teddy's and FDR's offspring have not achieved the stellar successes of their forebears, there are plenty of Roosevelts to tip the odds of future achievement in their favor. For example, Teddy Roosevelt sired six children by two wives, who then bore 11 grandchildren. Not bad, but FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt had them beat. To quote Wikipedia, their five surviving children produced among them "...nineteen marriages, fifteen divorces, and twenty-nine children."
We can assume that the Roosevelts will be a part of American life for generations to come--if not in prominent political placements, then in the myriad towns (at least ten), schools (six institutes of higher learning, plus countless grade schools), streets, buildings, and public works named after these two incredibly influential leaders.
For most writers of historical romance, the "mother of all dynasties" is the English royal family. Many of us have a vague notion of the medieval segment of the story: the Plantagenets, Lancaster, York, and the War of the Roses, the Tudors, and finally, the Stuarts/Stewarts from Scotland after Queen Elizabeth died childless.
The official family tree is hard to follow, but if you study the genealogy, you will discover that the Lancasters, the Yorks, the Tudors, and the Stewarts all have a direct and clear line of inheritance back to the Beauforts, the children of one of the Middle Ages' most romantic couples: Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.
Many readers are familiar with Katherine Swynford because of Anya Seton's Katherine, published in 1954 and still in print today. It fictionalizes the love story of Katherine and John, who was a younger son of Edward III. (Now Katherine has finally gotten her due as two biographies have recently been published: Mistress of the Monarchy by Alison Wier, and Katherine Swynford: The History of a Medieval Mistress by Jeanne Lucraft.)
Among the facts we know is that John and Katherine were lovers for many years, she bore him four children, and the two finally married very late in life. After their marriage, their children, called the "Beauforts" after a French castle John claimed but did not hold, were legitimized. (It is a myth that the children were born there. Neither John nor Katherine ever set foot in the castle.)
Katherine was governess to Gaunt's children by his first two wives and most evidence suggests the siblings of the blended families (her children by her first husband, his children by his previous wives, and their bastard children) got on well.
John's son with his first wife, Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster, became Henry IV of England and the founder of the Lancaster faction in the later War of the Roses. John and Katherine's second son, Henry Beaufort, held the post of Chancellor of England under Henry IV for a time, and subsequently served as Chancellor for his son and grandson, Henry V and Henry VI.
John, the eldest Beaufort son, held the title of Marquess and Earl of Somerset. Somerset served Henry IV, his half-brother, on several diplomatic and military missions. (His shield is pictured above.) Along with him, he often took Thomas Swynford, Katherine's son with her first husband.
The other two first generation Beaufort children were Thomas, who became Duke of Exeter, and Jean, whose second husband was Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland. The Yorkist kings descended from the Neville family, who have been known by history as "Kingmakers."
So the legitimized children took their rightful, active places in the power structure of England. But in 1407, new words were inserted into the Parliamentary document that had legitimized the them ten years before. The addition read that the Beauforts had all rights excepta dignitate regali, that is, all except the royal rights of succession.
Depending on which biography you read, these words were added by Henry IV or by his Council, but regardless, because the change was never ratified by Parliament, they were conveniently forgotten, or ignored, in the years to come.
The full story of the Beaufort family is too long to recount here. They were in and out of favor over the years, but when you follow Katherine and John's descendants, the path of royal succession is clear and direct.
-- From John's son by his first wife Blanche, Henry IV, comes the line of Lancaster (Red Rose) kings. Through Blanche, John held the title of the Duke of Lancaster.
-- From Katherine and John's daughter, Jean, you have a direct line to two Yorkist Kings: Edward IV and Richard III, both of whom were Katherine and John's great-grandsons. Their great-great-granddaughter, Elizabeth of York, was the first Tudor queen.
-- From Katherine and John's oldest Beaufort son, John, you have a direct line to the first Tudor King, Henry VII. So the founders of the Tudor line, Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, were both great-great-grandchildren of John and Katherine! In fact, this was clearly recognized at the time and because of consanguinity, the two had to get papal dispensation to marry.
-- Joan, who was John and Katherine's granddaughter, married James I of the Scottish Stewart kings. So when James VI of Scotland became James I of England many years later, it was, again, a direct Beaufort descendant who took the throne.
So today's English royal family name might more accurately be not Windsor, but Beaufort!
By Margaret Mallory
I love this painting of John of Gaunt. Hot and dangerous, wouldn't you say? And he liked poetry too. What a man.
Henry IV (1367–1413)
Henry IV spent much of his reign foiling conspiracies and putting down rebellions. Apparently, usurping the throne weakened the perception that the king held the throne by divine right. The king began to see plots everywhere. He was jealous of his son, Prince Harry, who was popular with the people and lauded for his military victories.
Henry V (1386/87–1422). Apparently this diligent king was too busy leading armies and running the kingdom to sit for a better portrait. 
Henry V eventually laid claim not only to Normandy, but to the French crown. Under the pressure of the English king's military successes, Charles VI of France, agreed to marry his daughter to Henry. Henry allowed the ailing French king to keep his crown, so long as the French king disinherited his own son and named Henry as his heir.
