Knights

Knights were once elite warriors with high social status whose lives were dedicated to fighting. Knights were part of the ruling class in Europe. They were considered nobles and eventually land holding became a requirement to be a knight. Estates were often castles which gave the lineage its surname and it became the unit of social power.

The first family member on record according to my research was not a Brereton at all. His name was Gilbert de Venables because in those early days people were identified by the place they were from. The word de in the french language means "of". Gilbert de Venables was from the town of Venables in France. He changed his name to Gilbert de Brereton when he took over the land during the Norman Conquest in England.

The family name is therefore derived from a place and not a person. When doing searches on the family name for genealogical purposes it is important to remember that some people with the last name de Brereton are not actually from the same family tree but are actually people who just lived in Brereton.

Knights were often rewarded for their service through the granting of more land known as a fief. The knights were known for their bravery, honor, loyalty and service to women known as chivalry which attracted the aristocracy into also defining themselves as knights by the late 1200’s. Even kings began to refer to themselves as knights and by the 1300’s had founded a formal order of knighthood.

These changes raised the cost of becoming a knight as well as the social and military obligations causing the decline of the knights by the 1500’s. The Brereton family had knights in the family following this period which was indicative of great wealth. I have an account of the land holdings recorded in a will of one of the Brereton family members which I will share with you at a later date to give you some sense of their wealth. The family held thousands of acres of land in England and other parts of the United Kingdom.

A true knight had to also be a good Christian. Part of the knight’s education involved learning to read Latin. The knights were often called upon to read the liturgy at church. The Brereton family motto is “Opitulante Deo” which means “God Assisting Us” or “With the aid of God”.

The Christian roots have remained in the family. The lost branch of the Brereton family had several generations of Reverends. One of the members of this branch also went on to influence great Christian men like A.W. Tozer and set up a camp for pastors in the United States in the early 1800's.

I have given several clues through this blog and if you follow the blog closely you may be able to figure out the members of the lost branch.

Knights of the Shire

Knights of the Shire for the County of Chester Under each Monarch at the time.

King Richard I
Sir Ranulphus or Radulphus Brereton, of Brereton was one of the knights of the Crusades

King Henvry VII
Sir Randolph Brereton

King Henry VIII
Sir William Brereton of Malpas Groom of the privy chamber
Sir Urian Brereton of Handford Groom of the privy chamber (William's younger brother)
Two other brothers were also in royal service. I have not been able to find their names yet.

After Sir William Brereton was beheaded by the king the king placed his younger brother Urian in the same positions at his court as William had held. Anne Boleyn's daughter Queen Elizabeth took special interest in the family because she knew what William had done to support her mother. It is said that she laid the foundation stone of Brereton Hall. To see pictures of Brereton Hall and to get more information go to www.brereton.org.

Queen Elizabeth
William Brereton, of Brereton, esq.

James I
William Brereton, of Brereton, knight William Brereton, of Ashley, esq

Charles I
Sir William Brereton, of Handford, bart.

Charles II
Lord William Brereton of Leighlin

Barons of the Exchequer of Chester
Owen Salusbury Brereton, of Shotwick, esq.

Royal Lineage

According to Ormerod's pedigree of the Breretons the family are royal blood descendants from the maternal side back to Kenneth the first Celtic King of Scotland A.D. 850, and to Egbert, the first Saxon King of England, and are also related to William the Conqueror's sister Margaret .

Many of the Brereton family members also held high offices in the courts of Henry VII, Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth, James the I, Charles I and Charles II. Probably the most well known of the family members serving the royal family would be William Brereton. The reason he is best known is because he was beheaded after being accused of having an affair with King Henry VIII's second wife Anne Boleyn. Later someone discovered that the affair had been an impossibility because Anne had been sequestered following the birth of her daughter. Unfortunately, the punishment couldn't be reversed. The television show "The Tudors" has brought recent notoriety to William Brereton in North America.

The most interesting thing about William Brereton is he held the office of groomsmen of the privy chamber of King Henry VIII. He was responsible for presenting all financial matters to the King. He kept careful letters and journals. After the beheading all of his papers were archived and offer to us today some valuable insight into the politics and handling of royal matters at the time. His journals offer more history on the Tudors than any other writings available for that time period. I am fortunate to hold a copy of his journals.


The details of Williams trial are also held in the archives for England. In the documents his name is spelled two different ways. Brereton as the English form and Bryerton as the Latin form.

Keep following this blog and you will discover some of the contents of his journal and discover the lost branch of the family.

In the summer of 1941 my grandmother traveled by steamship to visit her uncle in Cleveland who was in upper management with the book publisher Grolier. During the course of her journey she kept a journal of her travels. When I discovered the journal I thought it would make a fascinating story. As I began to write the story I began to ask myself questions about the family history.

This led me to explore the family history further back. I never imagined that I would end up back in the year 1066. How I got that far back in history is a story for another day. Still I have questions some I still don’t have answers for but maybe together we can figure out the mysteries that still remain hidden.

Welcome

November 8, 2009 by thelostbrereton

Two years ago I began to research my grandmother’s maiden name for a book I planned to write. A month ago through some divine intervention I discovered the surname had been changed from its original form because of the lack of standardized language in the early history of the United Kingdom.
Follow my blog as I reveal some of the research I am doing for my book and discover one of the richest family histories available in the world. Keep checking back frequently and you will discover how the lost Brereton’s resemble their ancestors. I will uncover where the relatives of William Brereton who was beheaded with Anne Boleyn ended up and what genetic traits continued through the lost history? The answers might surprise and amaze you.