I'm part Welsh, but I also have Scottish lineage. Justin has Irish and Scottish. But, this blood isn't really all that prevalent in either of our bodies. Our Celtic blood is about 5% or so of our makeup. But, Rhys (which is a Welsh name!!) would have blood of the Celts (as well as the invading Danes and vikings from me and the even worse invading Normans from Justin--hence the French-English last name "Morrell", which means "moor" or "darkskinned"--we are still confused on that--did Justin have a really tan ancestor during William I's reign?)
Well, as Mormons, we are also huge into family history. The LDS Church hosts familysearch.com (as well as ancestry.com). During the Sunday School hour, sometimes we like to go t the family history center and do family history. One day, we got to looking to see how far back our family trees go...mine only a few hundred years. But, Justin found a branch that kept going, and going, and going, and going....
Until he saw these names, which sounded familiar, and Welsh to him, so he showed me. And, I freaked out in joy!!!
Justin's lineage comes through Mordred, the son of King Arthur that led to the downfall of Camelot and Arthur's death! Now, before you say Arthur doesn't exist, remember, I'm a historian...a medieval/Dark Ages historian. There is plenty of proof that "an" Arthur existed in Wales. He was a Welsh king/general that fought off the Saxons, that united the Britons after the Romans left, etc., etc. Now, whether or not he had the strength of a bear, had a wizard full of magic as an adviser, had a magical sword, and all that other mythical stuff is to be taken with a grain of salt. But, the fact remains, these are still remnants of historical figures.
I was so thrilled to know that although I may not be a descendant of Arthur and my Celtic blood runs stronger through my body than Justin's does and rules me more, my son, my baby boy, my first born, Rhys (and the rest of my posterity) would be related to King Arthur! I couldn't ask for anything more for my children!
I clicked on Uther's (Arthur's father) lineage to look farther, and I started seeing Welsh legendary kings that I researched in Welsh prophetic poetry for my bachelor's capstone paper!
We decided to explore this Celtic genealogy of Justin's a bit more. We found a lot of Irish dark age royalty, Saxon/Danish royalty, Scottish royalty (including King Duncan from Macbeth--and again, those were real people as it is a history that Shakespeare embellished), and more Welsh people, including nobles. Under his belt, Justin was the descendant of Welsh Kings, the King of Anglesey, the King of the Isle of Man, Scottish Kings, and Irish Kings, as well as even being related to Norman-English nobility (which makes sense since the first ancestors he has with the last name of Morrell appear in England around 1066).
So, all the stories I was going to raise Rhys with of Welsh heroes and princes, Arthur's court, and other medieval and dark age figures have an even stronger meaning now, since Rhys is their descendant. And, based on all the prophetic poetry of the Welsh (and Merlin and dark age/medieval historians), one of ancient Celtic royalty will one day rise up with the Britons need him the most and reunite them under his crown....
Who knows? That could be my baby boy's destiny *wink wink* #ifonly #butreally #iknewtherewasareasonimarriedmyhusband
