The Murder List
Somehow, the bloodiest deaths are always the most interesting.
* Maud (Matilda) de Braose de Saint-Valery: (c. 1155 - 1210). Lady of Bramber, Abergavenny, Gower, Builth, Radnor, Kington, Limerick, Skenfrith, Grosmont and Whitecastle Castles, aka the Lady of la Haie and to the Welsh as Moll Walbee. Married William de Braose, the "Ogre of Abergavenny"; defended Pain's Castle when it was the Welsh laid siege to it which earned it the name "Matilda's Castle". Considered a supernatural character; reported to have built Hay Castle by herself in one night; threw an extra nine foot high stone three miles away across the River Wye at Llowesin to St Meilig's churchyard. King John requested her son William as a hostage in 1208; she refused, causing her imprisonment in Windsor Castle where she starved to death with her son; her husband, stripped of all his lands, died the following year in exile in France. My 28th great grandmother on my mother's father's side, my 27th great grandmother on my father's father's side.
* Duncan "the Gracious" of Scotland, I: (c. 1010 - August 14, 1040). King of Scotland, November 25, 1034 - 1040, King of Strathclyde. Murdered by MacBeth (as in Shakespeare's play) in Bothganowan, Elgin, Scotland. Buried on the Isle of Iona, Scotland. My 32nd great grandfather through my mother's father.
* Edmund "The Magnificent", I: (921 - May 26, 946). King of England, 939 - 946. Murdered by an outlaw named Leolf, who stabbed him to death at a banquet in honor of St. Augustine. My 36th great grandfather through my mother's father's side.
* Edmund "Ironside", II: (989 - November 30, 1016). King of England (Apr-Nov 1016). Murdered at the instigation of his brother-in-law Edric. My 33rd great grandfather on my mother's father's side and through my father's father.
* Malcolm MacKenneth of Scotland, II: (c. 954 - November 25, 1034). King of Scotland, Alba, and Strathclyde, 1005 - 1034. Killed by his kinsman at Glamis Castle, Angusshire/Forfarshire, Scotland. My 32nd great grandfather through my father's father. My 36th great grandfather through my mother's father's line.
* Sir Henry de Greene: (c. 1352 - September 02, 1399). Beheaded in England for his loyalty to King Richard II. My 17th and 18th great grandfather through my father's father.
* Johannes Van Eps: (c. 1650 - 1690). Killed with two of his children in the Schenectady Massacre of 1690 when Indians attacked and burned what is now the Stockade Section of Schenectady. My 9th great grandfather through my mother's father.
* Berenger of Friaul, I: (850 - April 7, 924). Margrave and King of Italy, 888-894. Emperor, 915-924. Murdered in Verona, Italy. My 36th great grandfather through my mother's father.
* Herbert de Vermandois, I: (c. 848 - 902). 1st Count of Vermandois, France, Seigneur of Senlis, Peronne, & St. Quentin. Few details. My 38th great grandfather through my father's father, and 39th great grandfather through my mother's father.
* Floris of Holland, I: (c. 1017 - June 28, 1061). Count of Holland, 1049 - 1061. Murdered near Nederhemert, Gelderland, Netherlands. My 32nd great grandfather through my father's father; my 31st great grandfather through my mother's father.
* Aimery de Thouars, IV: (c. 1015 - 1093). Murdered at La Cheze, Bourgogne, France. Again, few details. My 31st, 32nd and 33rd great grandfather through my mother's father, my 33rd great grandfather through my father's father.
* Raimund Berenger of Barcelona, III: (c. 1035 - December 05, 1082). Count of Barcelona. Murdered, few details. My 31st great grandfather on my mother's father's side.
* Sancho "el Mayor" de Navarre, III: (c. 991 - October 18, 1035). King of Navarre/Pamplona, 1004 - 1035. Count of Aragon, Ribagorza, Sobrarbe. My 33rd great grandfather through my mother's father.
* Almodis de la Haute-Marche: (c. 1010 - November 16, 1071). Murdered, probably in Toulouse, France. Few details on her, too. My 33rd great grandmother through my father's father and 32nd great grandmother through my mother's father.
* Constantine of Alba of Scotland, I: (c. 836 - 877). King of Alba, King of Scotland, 863 - 877, King of Picts and Scots. Beheaded at Inverdovat, Forgan, Fifeshire, Scotland; possibly died in battle against the Danes. My 36th great grandfather through my father's father. My 40th great grandfather through my mother's father.
* Thomas Plantagenet: (January 07, 1355/56 - Bet. September 09 - 15, 1397). Prince of England, Duke of Gloucester, Duke of Aumale, Earl of Buckingham and Earl of Essex. Murdered (smothered) at Prince's Inn, Calais, Normandy, France. Brother of my 21st great grandfather, John "of Gaunt" Plantagenet (March 1340/41 - February 03, 1398/99) through my mother's father.
* Edmund "of Woodstock" Plantagenet: (August 05, 1301 - March 19, 1330). Earl of Arundel and first Earl of Kent, 1321 - 1330. Executed by beheading at Winchester, Hampshire, England. Buried at Westminster Abbey, London, England. Half-brother of Edward Plantagenet, II, King of England 1307 - 1327 (see above), who was my 22nd great grandfather through my mother's father, and of Elizabeth Plantagenet, (August 07, 1282 - May 23, 1316), who was my 22nd great grandmother through my mother's father.