Egmond

Lamoral, Count of Egmont, Prince of Gavere (November 18, 1522 – June 5, 1568) was a general and statesman in Flanders just before the start of the Eighty Years' War, whose execution helped spark the national uprising that eventually led to the independence of the Netherlands.

Read : http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=550086850153535260.

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Somewhere in the (very) distant past we have common ancestors. Lamoral and myself I mean. I haven't formalised the link ; that does not particularly interest me, but I know for sure that have a couple of links to the de Gavere family.

Everybody knows there is a major "watershed" in genealogical research. From the late 16th, early 17th century on, you can theoretically find all your ancestors ; that is, if the parish priest has done his job correctly, if the registers have not been lost through theft, fire, war, carelessness, rats and mice  and what else do I know.

But once you can link some of your  ancestors as recorded in the parish registers to some historical figures, the sky can be the limit for certain lines in your research. And you necessarilly land in "higher" spheres because simple, ordinary  people were not recorded in history.

On the other side, if you cannot make a link between church registers and recorded history for the period before the council of Trente, your exercise is over.

But let us not forget that the overwhelming  majortity of our ancestry lines disappear in the mist of history. The few historical lines which you can follow are but a very feeble trickle besided a totally unmeasurable and uncharted river.

And let's not forget that the people in the trickle, the ones who are recorded in history, could only survive on the sweat, blood and tears of the mighty river of undocumented ancestors. They were not necessarily nice characters !