The Magna Charta Sureties, 1215: The Barons Named in the Magna Charta, 1215, and Some of Their Descendants Who Settled in America During the Early Colonial Years

Excellent historical resource. Thank you, Amazon Prime!

Dr Stephen KnouseThe Magna Charta Sureties, 1215 by Frederick Lewis WeisIn the Middle Ages, the winning side of a war demanded money, relatives and valuables to secure the peace. For the Magna Charta In 1215 there was a large surety composed of 25 bishops and the Grand Master of the Knights Templar. In addition, there were 25 nobles including the kings of France and Scotland. The size of the sureties was due to both friends and foes. King John of England could not be trusted.In terms of genealogy there is a wealth of information that can be mined. There is a lot of missing data when you are constructing data over 30 generations. Another major problem is a lack of references. The author explains this as the sources believing they could trust each other to be accurate. All in all, the book would be a contribution to your library.

This book is well organized with Preface to this 5th edition and an introduction to the Magna Charter. It then lists the 25 sureties, followed by Persons named who served as advisors of King John. There is a list of Nobles involved and then a list of the colonists whose ancestry is discussed. Th.is list gives colonists name, the colony he is from and the line that you will find him on. This list does is not divided by page numbers where you can find each person but is divided by the ancestral line 1 thru line 165. The next list is Abbreviations used through out the book. There is an every name index at the back of the book. Here you will find names not listed in the colonists list but people associated with the colonists. There are many names here and they are the main stay of the book.This is an excellent book but has been published many times with many errors. For this reason you should not fail to read the Preface and the Introduction. Colonists from Massachusetts are the main ones listed, but there are a good many Virginia colonists listed as well as a few from other colonies. It would be nice if someone would publish a complete list of the Virginia colonists..

This scholarly, definitive book by Dr. Frederick L. Weiss, a dean of the American genealogy community, is an essential reference for genealogists seeking to find and document a family's descent from the historic noblemen who forced King John to sign the Magna Charta, England's "Great Charter" of legal and political rights, on June 15, 1215. Well organized and comprehensively indexed, "The Magna Charta Sureties" lists each of the grim Medieval barons who braced, hands on sword hilts, in the meadow at Runnymede, and documents their children through approximately fifteen generations to a number of certified American "Gateway Ancestors." Identifying a "Gateway" establishes the researcher's blood relation to a particular baron. Dr. Weiss makes finding or dismissing a connection easy, by listing the names of Americans related to these English immigrants.Today the descendants of England's first freedom fighters number over one-million people. "The Magna Charta Sureties" belongs in every old-line American family's library, and on the shelves of local historical and genealogical societies throughout the land.

Has good info on lots of families. Useful resource.

Anyone researching their ancestors who came to the colonies early on. Although some information isn't expanded with records or later documents, it gives a starting point to look for information.

Perfect aid to genealogy research

The price is a bit high for a paper back book, but the information is what I needed.

If you are interested in ancestral lines from the Magna Carta surety barons to American colonists, you will want this book. It is not as comprehensive as the works of Douglas Richardson, but is good value.

Excellent book.

Excellent resource