Why

Catastrophic events often lead to the question of why.  For most folks extreme misfortune, to utter overthrow or ruin, will cause such a question.  To the philosopher a better questions may be "why not", or to the stoic "because", but to a bishop from North Africa it was "The City of God".

 For over a thousand years Rome had been the ruler of the known world.  When Alaric and his Goths sacked the city of Rome in 410 AD, the city that most felt would stand forever, lost most of its glory.  Lots of folks wanted to know why. 

Of course all sorts of reasons were given among the various groups looking for a scapegoat on which to blame the events. [Sound like today?]  One such explanation was given to the Christian community by this fellow from Hippo. [Modern name of city is Bona.]

It is not an easy read!  Written some three years after Rome first collapsed, it is a detailed analysis of the reason Rome fell. [Written from a particular point of view.]  It is basically a theology of history from the point of view of the existing churches of the day.  Thirteen years in the making, it was an attempt to explain Christianity versus the official religion of imperial Rome.  It was to answer the question why as to the fall of the city of Rome.

My copy, published 1950 by Random House, is a translation by Marcus Dods, with an introduction by Thomas Merton.  For those who have the guts to read this text will need to stick it out.  Why?  Why not?

Roman Britain and Early England

Few writers left their marks during the period following the fall of the Roman Empire.  Written records during this time are few [55 BC - 871 AD], and the events of the day are not well understood.  Peter Hunter Blair provides a brief and very readable account of this early period in the history of the people that occupied the Island after Rome pulled out.

In my growing up days, it was generally known as "The Dark Ages".  It took me some time to realize that the same sun shown brightly on these folks that gave the light to my own Kentucky home. [You know, the sun shines bright...on my "old Kentucky Home".]  Anyway, the book was published in 1966 by the Norton Library, and its major view is to present the rise of Anglo-Saxon England.  Of course those of us with Welsh, Irish, and Scottish lineage will have to dig a little deeper. [There is a good discussion of Offa's Dyke at Llanfair, Shropshire staring p. 229]

Knowledge and understanding of this period in the family tree is one foundation to our JONES surname.  This book provides an avenue to the window of time for the time traveler.

The Church and The State

Immense social, political, economic and religious changes had been occurring during the last two centuries of the Roman world.  The Emperor Constantine [ 324 AD onward ] saw to it that the Christian religion was legal in the empire, and began a series of changes that were to place the "State" and the "Church" together in a cauldron that would forever change the western world as we have come to know it.

An intimate friend of Constantine was a Greek Bishop named Eusebius. (263 AD - 339 AD)  He wrote a history of the Christian Church, leaving a personal account of this period in time.

His work, translated by G.A. Williamson, and published 1965, by Dorset Press, is a very readable version.  It provides the reader a clear insight into the mind of Eusebius who has been called the "Christian Herodotus".

For those who need an understanding of the religious beliefs that were to bring the name of  "JOHN" into common usage among the people of the world, this would be it.  It was the name "JOHN" that was to become the surname "JONES".  It is a source of fascinating information for the genealogist and time traveler.

Later Roman Britain

As the foundations of the Roman world began to unravel, the geographic locations farthest from the center at Rome, began their own attempts at survival.  Being at "the end of the world",  this Celtic island had its own way of trying to deal with the events of the day. 

A small book entitled "Later Roman Britain" by Stephen Johnson", presents a clear account of this period in what was to become the very difficult times following the withdrawal of Roman rule.

For me, the most important aspect was the fact that the "Anglo-Saxon world" had made itself known to this "British Roman world" much before the "Celtic world" would tell their stories.  Saxon raiding parties had caused a series of defensive forts to be built along the eastern coastline.   This interaction had produced a long history of contact between these folks long before old Vortigern was accused of letting these folks get their foot in the door.

Lots of maps and lots of pictures make this read a neat book to gaze upon.  First published 1982 by Paladin, Grafton Books , it has been reprinted in 1986.  Later Roman Britain, a bridge to the past.

Picture Books

Books with lots of pictures and maps have always been a help to me in my tree climbing experience.  Any book with the word "Atlas" included in the title would catch my attention.  An "Atlas" of Roman Britain is such a book.

Of course, one of the authors having the surname JONES would certainly require my examination.  Over 270 maps, figures, plans, and site photographs help make this book a fun place to spend some time.

First published by Blackwell Publishers in 1990, it was reprinted by Oxbow Books in 2002.  It gives a lot of attention to the physical characteristics of Roman Britain including such things a mining, metallurgy, pottery and the growth of trade.  My interest in Celtic tribal society and the like was detailed in maps of the iron age settlements in Wales.  Maps, maps, and more maps...my kind of book.

Historians

Genealogy offers all kinds of opportunities to learn about different things.  Ancestral roots being one.  For those of Celtic origins, the first writers to record their views of this world were the Roman historians.  They of course had their own views of the world, and how it was to be, but they did write about this Celtic world.  The following text gives a collection of these early historians, edited by Ronald Mellor, published 1998, Routledge, NY.

A fellow named Tacitus [ca. 55 - 117 AD] seems to be the most quoted.  In his writings titled, "The Life of Agricola" he states:

"The geography and inhabitants of Britain, already described by many writers, I will speak of, not that my research and ability may be compared with theirs, but because the country was then for the first time thoroughly subdued.  And so matters, which as being still not accurately known my predecessor embellished with their eloquence, shall now be related on the evidence of facts." [p.398]

Thus it would seem that old Tacitus felt he had the goods on those "inhabitants of Britain".  He even quotes a Celtic leader named Calgacus, who is recorded as stating:

        "Nature has willed that every man's children and kindred should be his dearest objects." [p.408]

In a nutshell this summarizes the basic social structure of this Celtic race as view by Tacitus.  Children and kindred, that's genealogy!  Likewise, genealogy is being a family historian.

For those interested, other text which have proved helpful for old Tacitus:

The Annals of Imperial Rome, Tacitus, Dorset Press, 1984.
Tacitus Annals I-VI, W.F. Allen, Ginn and Co., Boston, 1890.

Hadrian

Time travel offers the genealogist a chance to view the world as it existed.  One's ancestors help provide a window to the understanding of who we are, and from where did we [our family] begin this life process.  The Celtic gene pool begins the roots of my own family tree, and it is the Romans who were the first to write down what they saw.   Getting to know one of those "Romans" has been a special treat among my own JONES surname tree climbing.

Hadrian was his name.  He wrote an account of his life and travels in a series called "memoirs".  I had to chuckle many times because he seemed to express many of the same thoughts I share.  The text is:

                                      "Memoirs of Hadrian" by Marguerite Yourcenar.

This translation was first published in French 1951, and first translated into English 1954.  Hadrian begins his life story visiting his doctor. [Being a physician perked my attention.]  He states:

        "It is difficult to remain an emperor in presence of a physician, and difficult even to keep one's essential quality as man." (p.3)  What a thought it is.

He goes on to say:

      "This morning it occurred to me for the first time that my body, my faithful companion and friend, truer and better known to me than my own soul, may be after all only a sly beast who will end by devouring his master." (p.3)  Wow, lots of truth here I thought.

My favorite words are:

     "One part of our ills comes from the fact that too many men are shamefully rich and too many desperately poor." (p. 119)  [Not much has changed here!]

The following is a picture of two of my daughters standing on a section of what remains of Hadrian's Wall.

Built in or about 122 AD, a Roman biographer states: "{Hadrian} reformed many things, and, the first [to do so], erected a wall over a length of 80 miles, which was to force apart the Romans and barbarians".*  Well Hadrian....here are some of those "barbarians" standing upon your wall.  Getting to know you a little bit, I thought you might get a chuckle out of this picture.

* The notes are taken from "Hadrian's Wall History & Guide" by Guy de la Bedoyere, p. 13.