LOWRY ANCESTORS
THE GOOD
THE GOOD
• Alaric I of the Visigoths (died 410; 50th GGF of Tom Lowry) Sacked
the city of Rome in 410, the first step of the barbarian conquest of
the Roman Empire
• Braut Onund Ingvarsson (died 660; 37th GGF of Tom Lowry) Known
as the 'Land Clearer' for clearing trees in Sweden, he died in a
landslide
• Halfdan the Black of Norway (died 800; 34th GGF of Tom Lowry)
Drowned when his sleigh broke through ice weakened by cow dung
• Alfred the Great (died 899; 35th GGF of Tom Lowry)
• St Wenceslaus of Czechoslovakia (born 935; 35th great-granduncle
of Tom Lowry) Murdered on his way to church by his brother,
Boleslaw the Cruel (Good King Wenceslaus)
THE GOOD
• Henry I the Fowler (died 936; 31st GGF of Tom Lowry) King of
Germany, founder of the Saxon dynasty
• Hucbald II von Dillingen (died 939; 37th GGF of Tom Lowry) Father of
Pope Leo IX
• William I Longsword, Duke of Normandy (died 942; 33rd GGF of Tom
Lowry) He was lured to a peace conference with Arnulf I of
Flanders, who then murdered him
• Harald 'Bluetooth' Gormsson (died 987; 29th GGF of Tom Lowry)
Viking King of Denmark. Eriksson electronics named their wireless
devices after him, and the logo for Bluetooth devices is the Nordic
rune for his initials, H and B. The name was chosen because of the
way Harald united the tribes of Denmark into one network. Had the
Jelling Stones of Denmark erected in honor of his parents, Gorm the
Old and Thyra V
THE GOOD
• Brian Boru, High King of Ireland (died 1014; 27th GGF of Tom
Lowry) Ended Viking domination of Ireland at the Battle of
Clontarf, in which he was killed
• Olaf II Eriksson of Norway (died 1022; 31st GGF of Tom Lowry)
Martyred in Stockholm for refusing to worship the pagan
Nordic gods after converting to Christianity
• St Olaf of Norway (died 1030; 32nd GGF of Tom Lowry) The last
saint to be venerated by both the Eastern and Western
Catholic Churches before the schism
• Basil (Vasul) the Blind of Hungary (died 1037; 35th GGF of Tom
Lowry) Had his eyes gouged out and his ears filled with
molten lead for conspiring to kill King Stephen
THE GOOD
• Robert II Montgomery (died 1037; 31st GGF of Tom Lowry)
Archbishop of Rouen, Normandy
• Duncan I of Scotland (died 1040; 30th GGF of Tom Lowry)
Killed by the followers of Macbeth
• Lady Godiva of Coventry (died 1067; 29th GGM of Tom Lowry)
Rode naked through the streets of Coventry to protest taxes
imposed by her husband
• Mabel of Belleme (died 1079; 25th GGM of Tom Lowry)
Beheaded while sleeping in Shrewsbury Castle
• William I de Bourgogne (died 1087; 31st GGF of Tom Lowry)
Father of Pope Callistus II
THE GOOD
• William Longespee, Earl of Salisbury (died 1226; 24th GGF of Ethel
Maud Smith) Died mysteriously during the First Barons' War. When
his casket was opened in 1798 the carcass of a rat was found in his
skull. The rat tested positive for arsenic, confirming that William
died of arsenic poisoning. The rat is now on display in a museum in
Salisbury
• Bela II the Blind of Hungary (died 1141; 30th GGF of Tom Lowry)
Blinded by his uncle so he would not become king of Hungary
• Fulk V D Anjou (died 1144; 29th GGF of Tom Lowry) Was King of
Jerusalem during the Crusades
• Matilda (Maud) Beauclerc (died 1167; 27th GGM of Tom Lowry)
Became the first female ruler of England (Empress Maud)
THE GOOD
• Richard FitzGilbert de Clare (Strongbow) (died 1176; 28th GGF of
Tom Lowry) Led the English invasion of Ireland in 1169
• Walter FitzAlan (died 1177; 24th GGF of Tom Lowry) First hereditary
High Steward of Scotland
• Alan FitzWalter (died 1204; 23rd GGF of Tom Lowry) Knights Templar
during the Crusade, he is credited with expanding the Knights
Templar in Scotland
• Eleanor of Aquitaine (died 1204; 27th GGM of Tom Lowry) Was the
Queen of France and the Queen of England; imprisoned by her
husband for 16 years
• William VI de Braose (died 1210; 21st GGM of Ethel Maud Smith)
William and his mother, Maud de St Valery, were imprisoned at
Corfe Castle by King John I. They were walled alive in the dungeon
and starved to death
THE GOOD
• Simon de Montfort (died 1265; 23rd GGF of Ethel Maud Smith)
Crusader, killed by a stone thrown from the tower in the siege of
Toulouse. Known for burning the citizens of cities he captured, or
gouging out their eyes and cutting off their lips, noses and ears
• Robert FitzWalter (died 1235; 25th GGF of Tom Lowry) Led the
barons opposing King John in the First Barons' War
• Henry II The Pious of Silesia (died 1241; 32nd GGF of Tom Lowry)
Killed battling the Mongols at Legnica, his body so badly mutilated
that he could only be identified by the six toes on his left foot
• Conrad IV Hohenstaufen (died 1254; 25th GGF of Ethel Maud Smith)
King of Jerusalem during the Crusades
THE GOOD
• Haakon IV Haakonsson, King of Norway (died 1263; 22nd GGF
of Tom Lowry) Rescued from assassins as a child, his rescuers
carried him on skis to safety, an event still celebrated in
Norway as the Birkebeiner ski race
• Fulk FitzWarin (died 1264; 23rd GGF of Ethel Maud Smith)
Raised in the court of Henry II, a friend of the young King
John. In adulthood he became an outlaw, and is thought to
be the person who inspired the story of Robin Hood
• Alfonso X of Spain (died 1284; 21st GGF of Tom Lowry) Has a
Lunar crater named after him
• Rudolf I Habsburg (died 1291; 22nd GGF of Ethel Maud Smith)
First of the Habsburg rulers of Austria
THE GOOD
• John de Graham (died 1298; 17th GGF of Tom Lowry) Rescued
William Wallace (Braveheart) at Queensbury, later killed at the
Battle of Falkirk
• William Douglas the Hardy (died 1298; 20th GGF of Tom Lowry) The
first Scottish nobleman to support William Wallace (Braveheart),
died a prisoner in the Tower of London
• Alexander Scrymgeor (died 1306; 19th GGF of Tom Lowry) Captured
by the English in the Scottish Wars of Independence and hanged in
Newcastle
• John Strathbogie (died 1306; 19th GGF of Tom Lowry) Captured by
the English at the Battle of Methvin, he was hung at the Tower of
London, beheaded, his head hung from the London Bridge
THE GOOD
• Joan of Acre (died 1307; 23rd GGM of Tom Lowry) Her grave at Clare
Priory, Suffolk England, has been the site of many reported miracles
• Christopher Seton (died 1307; 21st GGF of Tom Lowry) At the battle
of Methvin Robert the Bruce was unhorsed and captured by the
English. Seton slew Bruce's captor and freed him to escape; later
captured and executed at Dumfires
• Angus Og, Lord of the Isles (died 1316; 17th GGF of Tom Lowry)
After his coronation as King of Scotland, Robert the Bruce entrusted
the Stone of Scone to Angus to keep it from Edward I
• Robert de Clermont (died 1317; 21st GGF of Ethel Maud Smith)
Founder of the House of Bourbon in France (son of Louis IX)
• Robert the Bruce (died 1329; 19th GGF of Tom Lowry) At his death
his heart was removed and carried on a Crusade
THE GOOD
• James Douglas (died 1330: 19th GGF of Tom Lowry) Captured
Roxburgh Castle during the Scottish Wars of Independence with a
handful of men by disguising them as cattle. Carried the heart of
Robert the Bruce on Crusade, where he himself was killed
• Malcolm Drummond (died 1346; 18th GGF of Tom Lowry)
Developed the Caltraps, an iron device with four spikes, which
stopped the English cavalry at the Battle of Bannockburn
• Christina Bruce (died 1357; 21st GGM of Tom Lowry) Successfully
defended Kildrummy Castle against the English with a handful of
servants during the Scottish Wars of Independence
• John de Montgomerie (died 1361; 16th GGF of Tom Lowry) Captured
Henry de Percy (Hotspurs) at the Battle of the Otterburn
THE GOOD
• Miles Stapleton (died 1364; 19th GGF of Ethel Maud Smith)
Founded the Order of the Garter, the highest order of
knighthood in England
• Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick (died 1369; 17th GGF
of Ethel Maud Smith) Commanded the English forces at the
victories of Crecy and Poitiers in the Hundred Years' War
• James Douglas (died 1388; 16th GGF of Tom Lowry) Led the
Scottish forces at the Battle of Otterburn. Douglas was killed
early in the battle, his body hidden so the Scottish troops
would not retreat. The battle became known as the battle
won by a dead general. The ghosts of Douglas' army still
haunt the roads around Otterburn
THE GOOD
• Archibald Douglas (died 1426; 16th GGF of Tom Lowry) Lost an
eye at the Battle of Halidon Hill and a testicle at the Battle of
Shrewsbury
• Lady Margaret Beaufort (died 1433; 15th GGM of Ethel Maud
Smith ) Established the Lady Margaret's Professorship of
Divinity at the University of Oxford
• Owen Meredith Tudor (died 1461; 16th GGF of Ethel Maud
Smith) Led the York forces at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross
against Edward, Earl of the March. He was defeated,
captured, and executed by decapitation
THE GOOD
• Thomas Wyatt (died 1542; 12th GGF of Ethel Maud Smith) English
poet who introduced the sonnet to England; negotiated with the
Pope for the divorce of Henry VIII
• Haute Wyatt (died 1638; 9th GGF of Ethel Maud Smith) Minister of
the Jamestown Colony from 1621 to 1624, during the great
massacre of 1622
• James Avery (died 1700; 7th GGF of Ethel Maud Smith) Rescued the
Mohican Uncas from the Naragansetts (Last of the Mohicans)
• Samuel Doak III (died 1831; 3rd GGF of Tom Lowry) Prayed for the
Over the Mountain Boys before their victory at King's Mountain in
the Revolutionary War; founded three colleges and 4 churches