genealogy

genealogy, the study of ancestry and family descent, is an indispensable handmaiden of history. Its development reflects a gradual process of democratization as interest moved down the social scale. In post-Roman Britain, it was important for monarchs to claim impressive credentials, however unlikely. Bede insisted that Hengist and Horsa were descended from Woden: Nennius traced Britain back to Aeneas through Brutus. Neither claim was closely argued. In the Middle Ages, genealogy was related to heraldry and of concern largely to the monarchy and nobility, to whom the tracing of the succession, estates, and titles was of great importance. As the status of the gentry improved, their own interest in genealogy kindled. Richard III established the College of Arms in 1484 and from the 15th cent. to 1688 the heralds conducted visitations to confirm or deny claims. The 17th cent. produced in Camden, Dugdale, Ashmole, and Cotton distinguished genealogists and antiquarians. Authors of county histories devoted much space to pedigrees of families, since this would induce the gentry to subscribe to their volumes. Status, rank, and patronage opportunities had rarely been of greater importance and even remote family connections could be of real use. Genealogical investigation was also a powerful motive behind the foundation of many 19th-cent. local history societies, with their libraries and card indexes. The Society of Genealogists was founded in 1911. In the later 20th cent. there was a remarkable growth of interest in tracing family history among ordinary people, using record offices and reference libraries, and assisted by many books and manuals on the subject. As society grew increasingly incoherent and urban life became ever more impersonal, the desire to relate to the past and rediscover one's ancestry grew stronger. See also heraldry.

J. A. Cannon