Can any old European families legitimately trace their ancestry to the ancient Roman Empire?

Answer 1

There are a handful of legitimate genealogies that do go back to the Roman Empire with credible information (most being in Italy proper and based on land records), but during the times of Constantine and the Merovingian rule, the records relied upon by genealogists were being "tweaked" for personal benefit and get murky. The only records I would personally rely upon come from the empirical evidence of historians of the day where the records have second and third tier verification. We've found that there are former senators and citizens who did have repeated mention in historical records, and their children are likewise mentioned. But those are few and far between. The farther you get from the city of Rome, the more "tweaking" and "creative record-keeping" we find. Stop when you see mention of Christ having three kids and one of them being the ancestor of Charlemagne.

Answer 2

Short Answer: No.

Long Answer: Whilst it is a statistical likelihood that most, if not all, peoples whose ancestry traces back to the former roman empire (which includes far more than just Europe, BTW) is descendant from citizens of Rome, it's just not provable through genealogy.

Records of common folk go back to about 1500, at the most. Records of nobility go back further, but even amongst royalty, you have few to any legitimate records that enter the dark ages, and as important, the records of the ruling classes that would exist (however dubious) tend to be those of the new 'barbarian' masses, not the romanized persons who were conquered. Roman records would have generally ceased to exist by 400, 450 at the latest. That's about a 1000 year gap (give or take a couple hundred years, if you're lucky).

Answer 3

Your addition of the word "legitimately" is key. I think that it's certainly possible that old family lines can have ties as far back as the Roman Empire, but it's unlikely to be able to definitively *PROVE* those ties.

There is a discontinuity in the Dark Ages (500 - 1000 AD) that is going to trip up most geneology traces, as well as the huge plagues that swept through Europe in the 1400's. During those times, many records were lost, as well as whole families. The best records would of course be kept about and by the wealthy, but the dark ages and the plagues crossed all of those boundaries.

With the technology making forgery even more easy to accomplish, you can establish a pedigree back to day one, and have documents that stand up to testing to validate your false claim. Sad but true.

Answer 4

As others have said genealogy requires proven sources. They just didn't keep good records once upon a time and even if they did...... a son could have been adopted and declared legitimate.

DNA is producing surprising results in the world and further on down they may be able to tie things in further but for now..... any claims pre 1500, and then if lucky are suspect as the world was a different place.

Answer 5

James VI claimed he could trace his ancestry back to Noah.

Answer 6

I can probably since the Roman Empire was in two other continents! lol ur silly

Answer 7

No.