(Incomplete) List of Crusader Ancestors of George W. Bush

copyright © 2004 by Nathaniel Lane Taylor

back to Crusader Ancestors of President George W. Bush

Like all US Presidents, Mr. Bush’s ancestry has been well traced by competent genealogists (see for example William Addams Reitwiesner's Ahnentafel of Bush). He has a typical handful of early English or Scottish immigrant ancestors through whom descents from medieval nobility may be traced. Having several descents from Edward I, he represents a sort of middle ground among modern American descendants of colonial gateway immigrants, and his ancestry will include a stream but not necessarily a flood of crusader ancestors. (Descendants of Edward III will have more crusader ancestors; some will have a large clutch of Fourth-Crusade and Crusader-Kingdom ancestors whose lines come into Britain through such continentals as Jacquetta de Luxembourg.)

I have here noted and given descent lines for only a small sample of Bush's crusader ancestors. Others, supplied by s.g.m. correspondent John Ravilious, are listed below the first set, without descent lines. I have grouped these crusaders by specific campaigns.

Bush Crusader Ancestors: an Incomplete List

I. First Crusade

1. Hugh, Count of Vermandois: brother of the king of France, and one of the original leaders of the First Crusade. He was shipwrecked while crossing the Adriatic with is cohort in 1096, but reunited with the other leaders at Constantinople. He went with the main host to Antioch, but returned to Constantinople, then to France after the conquest of Antioch in 1098. Returning to the Holy Land in 1101 with a fresh force to support the new kingdom of Jerusalem, he was defeated in a battle in Asia Minor, and died of his wounds at Tarsus, 18 October 1101. Line:

Hugh, brother to Philip I of France = Adelaide, countess of Vermandois
Isabel de Vermandois = Sir Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester
Sir Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester = Amice de Montfort
Sir Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester = Pernel de Grandmesnil
Margaret de Beaumont = Saher de Quency, 1st Earl of Winchester
Roger de Quency, 2nd Earl of Winchester = Helen of Galloway
Elizabeth de Quency = Alexander Comyn, 2nd Earl of Buchan
Elizabeth Comyn = Gilbert de Umfreville, 1st Earl of Angus
Robert de Umfreville, 2nd Earl of Angus = Lucy de Kyme
Elizabeth Umfreville = Gilbert de Boroughdon
Eleanor de Boroughdon, Baroness Kyme = Henry Talboys
Walter Talboys, Baron Kyme = Margaret ____
Sir John Talboys = Agnes Cokefield
John Talboys = Katherine Cibthorpe
Margaret Talboys = John Ayscough
Elizabeth Ayscough = William Booth
John Booth = Anne Thimbleby
Eleanor Booth = Edward Hamby
William Hamby = Margaret Blewitt
Robert Hamby = Elizabeth Arnold
Katherine Hamby = Edward Hutchinson
Elisha Hutchinson = Elizabeth Clarke
Hannah Hutchinson = John Ruck
Hannah Ruck = Theophilus Lillie
John Lillie = Abigail Breck
Anna Lillie = Samuel Howard
Harriet Howard = Samuel Prescott Phillips Fay
Samuel Howard Fay = Susan Shellman
Harriet Eleanor Fay = James Smith Bush
Samuel Prescott Bush = Flora Sheldon
Prescott Sheldon Bush = Dorothy Walker
George Herbert Walker Bush = Barbara Pierce
George Walker Bush

2. Stephen, Count of Blois: another of the original leaders of the First Crusade. Stephen gave up and went home during the long siege of Antioch in 1097-1098, for which he was roundly reviled. He returned to the Holy Land in 1101, but was killed by the Fatimids at Ramleh in 1102. Some of his letters home survive, and make interesting reading about the whole endeavor. Line:

Stephen, Count of Blois = Adela (dau. Wm. the Conqueror)
Stephen, K. of England = Maud of Boulogne
Marie of Blois = Matthew, C. of Boulogne
Maud of Boulogne = Henry I, Duke of Brabant
Henry II, Duke of Brabant = Maria von Hohenstaufen
Matilda of Brabant = Robert, Count of Artois (brother of Saint Louis)
Blanche of Artois = Edmund 'Crouchback', Earl of Lancaster
Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster = Maud de Chaworth
Eleanor of Lancaster = Richard FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel
Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel = Elizabeth de Bohun
Elizabeth Fitzalan = Sir Robert Goushill of Everingham
Elizabeth Goushill = Sir Robert Wingfield of Leveringham
Elizabeth Wingfield = Sir William Brandon of Wangford
Eleanor Brandon = John Glemham, of Glemham, Suffolk
Anne Glemham = Henry Palgrave
Thomas Palgrave = Alice Gunton
Rev. Edward Palgrave = NN
Dr. Richard Palgrave = Anna ?
Mary Palgrave = Roger Wellington
Benjamin Wellington = Elizabeth Sweetman
Elizabeth Wellington = John Fay
John Fay = Hannah Child
Jonathan Fay = Joanna Phillips
Jonathan Fay = Lucy Prescott
Samuel Prescott Phillips Fay = Harriet Howard
Samuel Howard Fay = Susan Shellman
Harriet Eleanor Fay = James Smith Bush
Samuel Prescott Bush = Flora Sheldon
Prescott Sheldon Bush = Dorothy Walker
George Herbert Walker Bush = Barbara Pierce
George Walker Bush

II. Second Crusade

3. Louis VII, K. of France:Led the second Crusade, 1147-48, which ended with the politically ill-considered and tactically botched attempt to take Damascus. Line:

Louis VII, K. of France = Alix of Blois / Champagne
Philip II Augustus, K. of France = Isabelle of Flanders
Louis VIII, K. of France = Blanche of Castile
Robert, Count of Artois = Matilda of Brabant (see above, no. 2)

4. Eleanor of Aquitaine: married to Louis VII, but a Bush ancestor via her second husband Henry II of England. She accompanied Louis and is blamed by William of Tyre for indirectly dooming the campaign. Line:

Eleanor of Aquitaine = Henry II, K. of England
John, K. of England = Isabel of Angoulême
Henry III, K. of England = Eleanor of Provence
Edward I, K. of England = Eleanor of Castile
Joan 'of Acre' = Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hereford
Eleanor de Clare = Hugh le Despencer, 1st Baron Despencer
Isabel Despencer = Richard FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel
Isabel FitzAlan = John le Strange, 4th Baron Strange of Blackmere
Ankeret le Strange = Richard Talbot, 4th Baron Talbot
Mary Talbot = Sir Thomas Greene
Sir Thomas Greene = Philippa Ferrers
Elizabeth Greene = William Raleigh
Sir Edward Raleigh = Margaret Verney
Edward Raleigh = Anne Chamberlayne
Bridget Raleigh = Sir John Cope
Elizabeth Cope = John Dryden
Bridget Dryden = Francis Marbury
Anne Marbury = William Hutchinson
Edward Hutchinson = Katherine Hamby (see above, no. 1)

5. Affonso Henriques, conqueror of Lisbon, 1147. A Portuguese force with some Flemish and English volunteers, with papal privileges, besieged and took Lisbon (in the process slaughtering its resident Christian bishop). Line:

Affonso Henriques, 1st K. of Portugal = Matilda de Savoie
Urraca of Portugal = Fernando II, K. of LeÛn
Alfonso IX, K. of LeÛn = Berengaria of Castile
Fernando III, K. of Castile / LeÛn = Jeanne de Dammartin
Eleanor of Castile = Edward I, K. of England (see above, no. 4)

III. Third Crusade

6 . Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor. He led the German force of the Third Crusade in 1190, but drowned while crossing a river in Asia Minor en route to Palestine, before any major engagements with the enemy. Line:

Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor = Beatrice de Bourgogne
Philip, King of the Romans = Eirene Angelina
Maria von Hohenstaufen = Henry II, Duke of Brabant (see above, no. 3)

7. Philip Augustus, K. of France. Led the French contingent on the Third Crusade. Philip and Richard Lion-heart were famously allies and rivals in the siege and reconquest of Acre in the spring of 1191. After the capitulation of Acre, Philip Augustus went home (line, see above, no. 3).

V. Fifth Crusade (Damietta, 1219)

8. Hugues 'le Brun', Count of La Marche. One of the second tier of nobles in the Fifth Crusade. He was killed at some point in the assault and occupation of Damietta, 1218-19. Line:

Hugues 'le Brun' de Lusignan, Count of La Marche = Agathe de Preuilly
Hugues X de Lusignan, Count of La Marche = Isabella of Angouleme
Alix de Lusignan = John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey
William de Warenne = Joane de Vere
Alice de Warenne = Edmund FitzAlan, 8th Earl of Arundel
Richard FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel (see above, no. 2)

VI. Albigensian Crusade (1209-1226, etc.)

9. Louis VIII, K. of France. Led the second great wave of assault on Toulouse and environs in the 'Albigensian Crusade' (a war of enforcement of orthodoxy and French annexation of hitherto autonomous Languedoc). Died of dysentery in the Auvergne on his return northward from Toulouse, 1226. (Line, see above, no. 3).

VII. First Crusade of Saint Louis (Damietta, 1248-50, Acre 1250-54)

10. Robert of Artois. Brother of Saint Louis and his companion on this crusade, Robert of Artois led the crusaders in a disastrous assault on Mansourah that turned into a massacre, in which he and a great many others died (including a large English contingent--any Bush ancestors there?), February 1250. (Line, see above, no. 2).

11. Hugues X de Lusignan, Count of La Marche, d. 1249 at Damietta. Also, as a young man, had accompanied his father on the fifth crusade. Like his father, Hugh X was killed or died of wounds in this campaign. (Line, see above, no. 8.)

VIII. The 'Lord Edward's Crusade' (Acre, 1271-1272)

12. Edward I (future) K. of England. The Lord Edward, with about 1000 English knights, sailed to Acre (bypassing the crusade which had evaporated with Saint Louis' death at Tunis), where he spent a year strengthening the city and negotiating peace with the Mamluk sultan Baybars. His daughter Joan, from whom Bush descends, was born at Acre in 1272 (line, see above, no. 4).

13. Edmund 'Crouchback', Earl of Lancaster, brother of no. 12& accompanied him. Line, see above, no. 2.

Additional Crusaders (only slightly adapted from a list posted to s.g.m. 19 Jan 2004 by John P. Ravilious)

1. First Crusade

a. Stephen, Count of Aumale (d. 1127)
b. Welf IV, Duke of Bavaria (d. Cyprus, Nov. 1101)

c. Eudes I 'the Red', Duke of Burgundy (d. 1102)
d. Enguerrand, sieur de Coucy (d. 1118)
e. Thomas de Marle, son of Enguerrand de Coucy
f. Leopold 'II', markgraf of Austria (d. 12 Oct 1102)
g. Ida von Formbach, "the Margravine Ida", d. at Heraclea, 1101 (basis of the European princess-in-harem legend)
h. Gerard de Gournay, of Caister, Norfolk, and seigneur de Gournay-en-Bray
i. Hugh 'VI' de Lusignan (slain at Ramleh with Stephen of Blois, 18 May 1102)
j. Stephen, Count of Burgundy (also slain at Ramleh, 18 May 1102)
k. Guy II de Montlhery, Comte de Rochefort (d. 1108)
l. Geoffrey III de Preuilly, seigneur de Preuilly et de la Roche-Posay (also slain at Ramleh, 18 May 1102)
m. Walter de St.-Valery, advocatus of St.-Valery
n. Bernard de St.-Valery, son of Walter

1a. Interim participants:

a. Simon de St. Liz, Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton (d. ca.1112 en route)

2. Second Crusade

a. Thierry, Count of Alsace d. 1168 (4 visits/crusades to Palestine, 1139 to 1164)
b. Roger de Mowbray (d. 1188)
c. Geoffrey de Rancon, seigneur de Taillebourg
d. Amadeus III, Count of Savoy (d. Nicosia, 1148)

2a. Interim participants:

a. Hugh VIII de Lusignan, d. ca. 1173 (fought and captured at Battle of Artah, 10 Aug 1164)
b. William III, marquis of Montferrat, d.1191 (captured at Hattin 4 July 1187)
c. Roger de Mowbray (see 2.b. above), returned to Palestine 1186 - fought and captured at Hattin, 4 July 1187 - ransomed by the Knights Templar)
d. Reginald de St.-Valery, of Tetbury, co. Glocs., seneschal of Normandy (fought at the siege of Caesarea, 1158; given
custody of the castle of Harenc by King Baldwin

3. Third Crusade:

a. Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester (d. Durazzo, 1190)
b. Hugh III, Duke of Burgundy (d. at Tyre, 1192)
c. William de Ferrers, (3rd) Earl of Derby (d. Acre, 1190)
d. Ralph de Gael, former Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk - at siege of Nicaea, 1096 - death place unknown....
e. Gerard de Furnival, of Munden Furnivall, co. Essex
f. Hugh V de Gournay, of Mapledurham, Oxon., and Caister, Norfolk
g. Raoul d'Exoudun, comte d'Eu
h. Nigel de Mowbray (d. 1191 at Acre)
i. William de Mowbray, son of Nigel (with Richard at Speyer, 1194)
j. Robert de Quincy, of Long Buckby, co. Northants. d. bef 1198 - younger son of Saier de Quincy, father of Saier 'IV'
k. Osmund de Stuteville, of Cowesby, Kepwith, East Ness and Newsham, co. Yorks. (d. Jaffa, before 1194)
l. Bertram de Verdun, of of Farnham Royal, co. Bucks. - charged by Richard I with oversight at Acre, 1191; d. 24 Aug 1192 at Jaffa, according to Paul Reed

4. Fifth Crusade (1219 - Damietta):

a. William d'Aubigny, Earl of Arundel (fought at siege of Damietta, Nov 1219. Died en route home in Italy, near Rome)
b. John de Lacy, Constable of Chester and Earl of Lincoln (d. 1240)
c. Saier 'IV' de Quincy, Earl of Winchester (d. at Damietta 1219)
d. Roger de Quincy, Earl of Winchester (d. 1264) - son of Saier, with his father at Damietta

5. First Crusade of Saint Louis (1248-54):

a. Patrick de Dunbar, Earl of March (d. aft 14 Apr 1248 at Marseilles, en route to Palestine)
b. Hugh X de Lusignan (d. ca. 1249, probably in Palestine)

Additional notes: I would be interested to learn of crusaders in these lines from other campaigns, especially some of the later ones. What about the English knights on the campaign of Richard, Earl of Cornwall (brother of King Henry III), in 1240-42? (For that matter, Bush may well have a descent from Richard himself which is not remarked here.) Or the crusade of Peter, King of Cyprus, which sacked Alexandria in 1365, a campaign which had many English knights?

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