Next week there will be no posts to the blog because
I will be going on pilgrimage to Lourdes. I will meet there with thousands of
brothers and sisters in the faith.
But any topic is good to talk about genealogy and
this time we will talk about Portuguese genealogy. There is a story recorded on
the “Livro Velho” that mentions that an Armenian princess was going to Santiago
de Compostela on pilgrimage. On the way
there Mendo Alam was captivated by her beauty and married her (some
other say the Portuguese prince abducted her). The word used in the "Livro
Velho" is "filhou" literally "made son" what means he
took the princess to him not necessarily by force.
There has been many discussions about the characters
of this legend but most historians believe it is true. For the genealogical
reconstruction I will follow Francisco Doria’s proposal. The mentioned Mendo
Alam, born about 965 AD was
son of Alain de Nantes and a princess from Asturias, who was son of Guerech I Count
of Nantes, son of Alan II Duke of Brittany, etc. The Armenian princess would be daughter of Senek'erim
Hovhannes Artsrouni, king of Vaspourakan (1018), who’s kingdom was annexed by
the Byzantine empire in 1021. The
deposed Armenian king was married to Kouschkousch Bagratid, daughter of Gagik I
and had several sons and daughters, the majority later assassinated. Gagik I
King of Armenia, was son of Ashot III, son of Abas I, son of Simbat I, etc (all
king of Armenia).
The House of Braganza descends on the female line from this union, and
this lineage later became the royal house of the Kingdom of Portugal from 1640
to 1910. In 1822 a branch of the house proclaimed independence of a colony of
Brazil, founding the Empire of Brazil.
A pilgrimage brought Armenian blood to a noble
linage in the Galician / Portuguese border that many generations later were
Kings of Portugal and Emperors of Brazil. The Caucasian monarchies (Armenia and
Georgia) offer the best possibility for a connection with the ancient
genealogies (Persians, Ancient Greeks and Egyptians, Babylonians, etc.). That is a genealogical discipline known as
“Descendant from Antiquity” and we will discuss that possibility in a future
article.
