Part III
A Gallery of Notable Figures
The people in my story most worth knowing, with their dates, what they are remembered for, and how they stand to me. “Direct” = a direct ancestor; “cousin / collateral” = a relative off the direct line; “tradition / context” = a legendary or framing figure.
| Person | Dates | Noted for | Relationship to me |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sir Roger d’Amory | d. 1322 | Favourite of Edward II; fought at Bannockburn; m. Elizabeth de Clare; arms in Tewkesbury Abbey | Family tradition for the name; and now documented kin by marriage: he married Elizabeth de Clare, first cousin of my ancestress Margaret de Clare |
| Sir Richard d’Amory | fl. 1300–40 | Steward of the Household to Edward II; the male line ran on through him to the Damer Earls | Family tradition (likely root of the name) |
| Charlemagne | 748–814 | Emperor of the Romans; reached by two roads, Flanders and Vermandois; his father Pepin the Short stands above him | Direct: 36× great-grandfather |
| Kenneth MacAlpin | d. 858 | Reckoned the first King of Scots; the king-lists kept note-only above him | Direct: 36× great-grandfather |
| Rhodri Mawr | d. 878 | King of Gwynedd and Wales, who united the country against the Norse | Direct: 33× great-grandfather |
| Alfred the Great | d. 899 | King of Wessex; his daughter married into Flanders | Direct: 34× great-grandfather |
| Rollo | d. c.930 | The Viking who became Normandy; the ducal line above the Conqueror now runs to him | Direct: 32× great-grandfather |
| Hugh Capet | c.939–996 | King of France, founder of the Capetian dynasty that reigned for eight centuries | Direct: 29× great-grandfather |
| Hywel Dda | d. 950 | King of the Britons, the lawgiver of Wales; his law-books ran a country for centuries | Direct: 31× great-grandfather |
| Vladimir the Great | c.958–1015 | Grand Prince of Kiev, who took the Rus into christendom at the Dnieper in 988 | Direct: 29× great-grandfather |
| Robert II 'the Pious' | 972–1031 | King of France, of the Capetian house, son of Hugh Capet | Direct: 29× great-grandfather |
| Yaroslav the Wise | c.978–1054 | Grand Prince of Kiev at its golden height; his daughters married half the kings of Europe | Direct: 28× great-grandfather |
| Brian Boru | d. 1014 | High King of Ireland; Chief of the Dál gCais; broke the Norse power and fell at Clontarf; the O'Briens of Thomond descend from him | Direct: 30× great-grandfather |
| Anne of Kiev | c.1030–1075 | Rus princess and Queen of France; signed her name when the French court marked crosses | Direct: 27× great-grandmother |
| Walter Giffard | fl. 1066 | Lord of Longueville; named by William of Poitiers at the battle of Hastings | Direct: 27× great-grandfather |
| Matilda of Flanders | d. 1083 | Queen of England; her line climbs to Alfred and Charlemagne | Direct: 27× great-grandmother |
| William the Conqueror | d. 1087 | King of England 1066, Duke of Normandy; reached through an acknowledged son of Henry I | Direct: 27× great-grandfather |
| Richard FitzGilbert de Clare | d. c.1090 | Domesday tenant-in-chief of ~170 lordships; joint Justiciar of England; the uncautioned anchor at 1086 | Direct: 26× great-grandfather |
| St Margaret of Wessex | d. 1093 | Queen of Scots and saint; granddaughter of Edmund Ironside; brings the old Wessex royal line in a second way | Direct: 28× great-grandmother |
| Nest ferch Rhys | fl. 1100 | Princess of Deheubarth, 'the Helen of Wales'; mother of Maurice FitzGerald the Invader; the Welsh royal line enters here | Direct: 25× great-grandmother |
| The Empress Matilda | 1102–1167 | Lady of the English; her war for the crown put her son Henry II on the throne; Henry I's lawful line into this family | Direct: 26× great-grandmother |
| Eleanor of Aquitaine | c.1122–1204 | Queen of France, then Queen of England; the most remarkable woman of the twelfth century | Direct: 25× great-grandmother |
| Isabel de Vermandois | d. 1131 | Carried three royal streams at once, Capetian, Carolingian and Kievan, into the English baronage and so to the de Veres | Direct: 25× great-grandmother |
| King Henry I | d. 1135 | King of England, youngest son of the Conqueror; the royal line passes through his acknowledged son Robert of Gloucester | Direct: 26× great-grandfather |
| Aubrey de Vere | d. 1141 | Master-Chamberlain of England; slain in a London riot; father of the 1st Earl of Oxford | Direct: via Jane Vere |
| Robert of Gloucester | d. 1147 | Acknowledged son of King Henry I, created Earl of Gloucester; the Empress Matilda's champion | Direct: 25× great-grandfather |
| Aoife MacMurrough | fl. 1170 | 'Eva' of Leinster; married Strongbow at Waterford; the Irish royal line enters here | Direct: 24× great-grandmother |
| Diarmait Mac Murchada | d. 1171 | King of Leinster, 'Diarmait na nGall'; brought the Normans into Ireland; father of Aoife | Direct: 25× great-grandfather |
| Strongbow (Richard de Clare) | d. 1176 | 2nd Earl of Pembroke; led the Norman invasion of Ireland 1170 | Direct: 24× great-grandfather |
| Donal Mór O'Brien | d. 1194 | The last King of North Munster; founded the cathedral on the Rock of Cashel; married Órlaith, daughter of Diarmait of Leinster | Direct: 25× great-grandfather |
| William Marshal | d. 1219 | 1st Earl of Pembroke; 'the greatest knight that ever lived'; Regent of England; reissued Magna Carta | Direct: 23× great-grandfather |
| Robert FitzWalter | d. 1235 | Leader of the barons who forced Magna Carta, 'Marshal of the Army of God'; one of eight sureties in the direct line | Direct: 22× great-grandfather |
| Edward I 'Longshanks' | 1239–1307 | King of England, the Plantagenets; reached by his daughter Elizabeth and the Butler Earls of Ormond, while the descent from his grandson Edward III stays disproven | Direct: 22× great-grandfather |
| Elizabeth de Clare | 1295–1360 | Foundress of Clare College, Cambridge; married Roger d'Amory; first cousin of my ancestress Margaret de Clare | Cousin (and the exact link to the d'Amory legend) |
| Margaret de Clare | d. 1333 | Barred Queen Isabella from Leeds Castle 1321; reputedly the first woman jailed in the Tower | Direct: 19× great-grandmother |
| Richard de Vere, 11th Earl of Oxford | 1385–1417 | Commander at Agincourt, K.G.; tomb at Earls Colne | Direct: via Jane Vere |
| Thomas, Lord Camoys | d. 1421 | Commander of the left wing at Agincourt; the second Agincourt ancestor | Direct: via Elizabeth Trussell |
| Margaret FitzGerald, Countess of Ormond | d. 1542 | 'The Great Countess'; daughter of the Great Earl of Kildare; the FitzGerald and Butler doors meet in her marriage | Direct: 14× great-grandmother |
| Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford | 1550–1604 | The Shakespeare-authorship candidate; first cousin of my ancestor Jane Vere | Cousin |
| Edmund Spenser | c.1552–1599 | Poet of The Faerie Queene; seated at Kilcolman, Co. Cork | Brother of my 10× great-grandmother |
| Robert Freke | d. 1592 | Auditor of the Exchequer under Henry VIII & Elizabeth I | Direct: 11× great-grandfather |
| Dr Henry Jones, Bishop of Meath | 1605–1682 | Cromwellian scoutmaster-general; gave the Book of Kells to Trinity College | Direct: via the Piers baronets |
| Adam Loftus | d. 1605 | Archbishop of Dublin, Lord Chancellor, first Provost of Trinity; built Rathfarnham Castle | Direct: via Gertrude Berkeley |
| Dr George Ryves | d. 1613 | Warden of New College and one of the King James Bible translators | Cousin |
| Ambrose Wright | 1617–1689 | Earliest Suffolk yeoman ancestor, of Lawshall | Direct: 8× great-grandfather |
| John Travers | d. 1618 | Settler at Ballynamona; m. the poet Spenser’s sister | Direct: 10× great-grandfather |
| Col. Richard Townsend | 1618–1692 | Cromwellian officer; commanded at Knocknanuss; founder of the Castletownshend Townsends | Direct: 8× great-grandfather |
| Elizabeth Freke | 1641–1714 | The celebrated diarist of Rathbarry | Cousin (collateral) |
| Sir Robert Travers | d. 1647 | Knighted 1625; MP Clonakilty; killed at Knocknanuss | Direct: 9× great-grandfather |
| Francis Bernard | d. 1659 | Settler who bought Castle Mahon (1639); ancestor of the Earls of Bandon | Direct: 9× great-grandfather |
| Francis Beamish | d. 1679 | Garrisoned Kilmalooda in 1641; of the Elizabethan Beamish | Direct: 8× great-grandfather |
| Jane Lane | d. 1689 | Carried the fugitive Charles II from Bentley to Bristol after Worcester, 1651; pensioned and honoured at the Restoration | Claimed kin: sister of the man my Lanes said was theirs (unproven, see Ch. 12) |
| Simon White | Mayor 1696 | Mayor of Limerick; head of the White line | Direct: 8× great-grandfather |
| William Beamish & Co. | 1760–1828 | Founded Beamish & Crawford, long Ireland’s largest brewery | Cousin branch |
| Rev. Hugh Brady Huleatt | 1783–1867 | Rector of Ballyvaughan; source of the “Hugh Brady” name | Direct: 4× great-grandfather |
| Rev. William Hickey, "Martin Doyle" | 1787 - 1875 | Celebrated agricultural writer and improver (DIB); brother of Anne Hickey | Direct connection: 4× great-uncle |
| Ambrose Lane | c. 1791–1853 | Soldier, then judge and executive councillor, Prince Edward Island | Direct: brother of Anne Hamilton Lane |
| Joseph Damer, Earl of Dorchester | d. 1798 | Earl of Dorchester (title extinct 1808); documented male-line d’Amory | Tradition (same kindred) |
| Earls of Bandon | 1800 → | Created Earls of Bandon; share Francis Bernard as ancestor | Cousins |
| Hugh Brady White | 1847–1884 | Army surgeon; died of cholera at Madras | Direct: 2× great-grandfather |
| Carin Göring (née Fock) | 1888–1931 | First wife of Hermann Göring; of the brewing Beamishes | Very distant collateral |
| Diana, Princess of Wales | 1961–1997 | Linked through the Spenser/Althorp tradition; see Chapter 14 | Family tradition (not proven) |
| Justin Trudeau | b. 1971 | Prime Minister of Canada 2015–25; descends from the Bernards of Castle Mahon | Cousin: via the Bernards (Ch. 6) |
| Elizabeth Hastings & Sir John Donne | fl. 1470s | Kneel opposite each other in Memling's Donne Triptych, National Gallery | Direct: via Elizabeth Trussell |
This gallery opens with the two d'Amory figures the family surname has always pointed at, then runs in time from the deepest crown to the present. Many of the figures below the d'Amorys arrived with the deep ancestry proven in July 2026; their full stories are in Chapters 18 to 24 of the living edition. It is kept current on the website; the printed 2026 book holds its own roll.