The October Ancestry Challenge 2013 is 23 posts in 23 days  about 23 ancestors.

Ancestor #9 – Sir Thomas Culpeper of Hardreshull, Bayhall, and Exton

***** or *****

We’re All Connected, but Don’t Tell My Trophy Husband!

I’ve studied genealogy since I was a teenager, and am constantly stunned that my trophy husband only knows his grandparents and great grandparents and doesn’t care to know any more than that. He said his great grandfather came over from England and for reasons unknown, took the surname Dallas (photo). He told me, “You’ll never trace my family because no one knows who Grandpa Dallas really was.”

Well, I take that as a direct challenge.

A day later I asked him, “Would you like to know who your Dallas really was? Yes, I found him. His name was Stanley and he was the son of Captain Edmund Stanley.”

As a side note, I’ve spent years and years tossing it in his face that I come from Nobility. I have Lords and Sirs all over my family tree and there’s even a good chance I descend from King Charlemagne himself.

So anyway, I traced the Stanleys way back and found my trophy husband’s 16th great grandfather was Sir Thomas Culpeper of Hardreshull, Bayhall, and Exton. WAIT! SIR THOMAS WAS MY GRANDFATHER, TOO…he’s my 17th great. So, hubby and I are related waaaayyy back when. That’s cool.

But do I stop there? No! …I should have stopped there.

I found that Sir Thomas had two wives. I descend from the second wife Joyce Baynard, and trophy hubby descends from the first wife, Lady Alianora de Greene.

Sir Thomas and Lady Alianora had a daughter also named Alianora (Eleanor) who married Sir Reginald 3rd Lord Cobham.

(photos are Alianora and Sir Reginald, Church of St Peter and St Paul in Surrey)

Alianora and Sir Reginald had a daughter, Elizabeth Cobham who married Richard LeStrange. These LeStrange guys are all Barons. For you “Cousin’s War” fans, are any of these names starting to ring a bell yet? Ok, we’ll continue.

Elizabeth and Richard had a son named John LeStrange who married Jacquetta Wydeville. I’m sure THAT name rings a bell.

Jacquetta’s mom was Jacquetta de Luxembourg. Her first husband was John of Lancaster Duke of Bedford (photo), who was King Henry V’s brother. Jacquetta was a cousin of the Holy Roman Emperor and the marriage was meant to strengthen ties between England and the Holy Roman Empire. When the Yorks defeated the Lancastrians in 1461, both Jacquetta’s husband, John of Lancaster, and King Henry V were killed in the battle. Edward IV of York became king.

Jacquetta de Luxembourg soon married Sir Richard Wydeville Baron Rivers (photo) and went from being a Duke’s wife to being a Baron’s wife. I don’t know if that’s a step up or a step down. They had 14 children including the young Jacquetta Wydeville.

Their eldest daughter Elizabeth Wydeville (photo) soon married King Edward IV(photo) and became Queen of England, giving birth to the Tudor era, as she was the grandmother of King Henry VIII.

So, seeing that Jacquetta of Luxembourg and Sir Richard Wydeville are my trophy husband’s 13th great grandparents, I guess he actually has more blue blood than I do. But, please, please, don’t tell him.