SBMH - Story

Story behind the creation of this site

Introduction to the story of possible South Baltic Expansion

A first big breakthrough comes via the 'Viking DNA Project'
May 2013 Doug meets Adrian who starts an L11*P310* FB group
Which hot-spot could be the L11*/P310* Point-of-Origin ?

Lombards (Long Beards) origin in Skaane (above Bornholm)
Burgundians origin related to South Baltic Island Bornholm
How might L11*/P310* have reached the English Midlands ?

South Baltic emerges as the probable origin of L11*/P310*
King Canute assembled his Danish invasion force in Skaane
How might L11*/P310* have got to Devon (i.e. Marker family)
King Canute sends warriors to the Cornish Marks (Marches)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
An introduction to this story of a possible South Baltic Origin

2018: As more detail has become available the story has been updated. The core theme has been left as it was but new data has been added where it fits in.

This SBMH story was developed by Doug Marker currently living in Sydney Australia. . Doug grew up in several countries including New Zealand, Australia, Southern England. This resulted in attending several schools in these three countres. Doug finished his formal school years in Surrey England.

In his working career, Doug did much travel to the USA and later repeatedly travelled through South East Asia plus China, Korea, Japan and also SriLanka and India. This career travel was while employed by a large multinational corporation and included a key role that introduced significant new computer technology into the SE Asian group of these countries.

It is now while doing DNA research that much of the early travel is paying handsome dividends in a deep familiarity with the UK & Middle European cultures and attitudes. Living in that region at the time was an interesting experience.

Doug's Y-DNA was 1st listed as 'unknown' back in 2012, then later as R1b-P310*, then as R1b-P311*, then later as R1b-L11*, then as CTS4528. Now, since 2015, it is listed as S1194 (the actual parent haplogroup of DF100 & CTS4528 & S1200).

This history story seeks to explain how Doug came to the conclusion of a South Baltic Expansion of his Y-DNA. Prior to DNA testing Doug had learned his family line came from Devon England and were most likely decendants of the so called 'Anglo/Saxon' migrations into England from Jutland & what is now German Schleswig/Holstien. The Germans call the lower part of Jutland Schleswig-Holstein. The Danes call their part of Jutland (above the town of Flensburg) 'South Jutland' (DK: Sonderjylland). In this area, the old Danish Dutchy of Slesvig (Schleswig) was split in two after a 1920 plebiscite where the southern part of Schleswig voted to remain part of Germany and the northern part sought to be reunited with Denmark (now Sth Jutland). The new border was drawn just above the town of Flensburg.

In 2012 Doug did ftDNA Y-DNA & mtDNA testing expecting his Y-DNA to be classified 'anglo-saxon', a classification that has been somewhat tipped on its head by recent DNA research. The outcome of that test changed his family history view. His discoveries about his Y-DNA path eventually led back to Eastern Denmark / Baltic.

The following history may be strengthened or weakened as more data emerges and even deeper DNA analysis done. However, at this time, Doug is more than satisfied the conclusions are reasonable given the known data.

Most of us S1194 (DF100/CTS4528/S1200) people in the UK have had their autosomal DNA diluted by 100s of years of mixing with the local peoples (so called Celts & Anglo-Saxons-Frisians) so a typical reference population as given in NatGeo2, is going to be wherever the family was located for the longest part of the family's more recent (6 generations) history. i.e. If you had a Danish DNA line of S1194 (DF100/CTS4528/S1200) that arrived in England in 1018AD and later ended up in Ireland, or Wales or Scotland, then your autosomal DNA (Natgeo2 1st reference population) is most likely going to reflect the area the family was living in. To maintain a Danish autosomal reference, a family would have to have been among other peoples who retained much Danish DNA, which is reasonable if they come from in or around York. They would have less chance of their autosomal DNA line being diluted as has clearly happened to most of us living in the older non-Danish parts of the UK. What will be very interesting is if other people from around York in England who show up in the future with S1194 (DF100/CTS4528/S1200) and also show as having a Danish reference population per the Natgeo2 definitions.

It is obvious that not all S1194 (DF100/CTS4528/S1200) people will have a similar history. There is far too much evidence showing that Scandinavian & Germanic tribes from around the Sth Baltic, migrated to the lower parts of Germany and as far as Italy (as the Langobardi or Lombards). It is logical to expect that some S1194 (DF100/CTS4528/S1200) DNA will have migrated to those places as part of those migrations. (EDIT: This was proven in 2020 when Y-DNA of 5 S1194 burials from the 5th century were identified in a Lombard cemetery in Collengno Itlay).

In recent times the Internet has allowed people to share previously hidden documents, hidden by language and location that is. One very interesting set of records emerging from Scandinavia are the sagas written by the Norse and the Danes. Many have been translated and placed on-line so can be read by people who 10 or 20 years ago may never even have known they existed.

Doug started out imagining his Y line would lead back to being decended from 'Anglo-Saxon' whose forbears fought as part of King Alfred the Great's people to expell the Danes from Wessex and England around 950 AD. The emerging data tends to place Doug's Y-DNA line at the forefront of the Danish invaders and among King Canute's chosen warriors set up to defend the then 3 English borders (aka Marks or Marches) upon Canute's final conquest of England in 1018 AD.

 
A first & major breakthrough comes from the 'Viking DNA Project'

In 2012 Doug did a 67-marker Family Tree DNA (ftDNA) test. His results came back in late 2012 as 'unknown', then a bit later as Hg (Haplogroup) R-P310, then later as R-L11*. Doug also joined the ftDNA Devon DNA Project which proved a very helpful move as it is one of the best administered name projects at ftDNA. It is administered by an excellent researcher named Debbie Kennett.

The R-P310 classification sat just above the then rapidly expanding P312 'Celtic' and U106 'Germanic/Frisian' haplogroups (those names have changed since then but for now those older names are useful).

In 2012 ftDNA would tell R-L11 people that in order to learn more they needed to do a 'deep-clade' test (i.e. to find out if one is P312 or U106 and what their 'terminal SNP' was). Also in late 2012, increasing numbers of people were being tested with the new National Genographic Genome 2 test (Natgeo Geno2). That particular test told the applicant a lot more detail than we were getting from ftDNA including what L11 sub-clade they belonged to (ftDNA have since rectified this by offering the massive Big-Y test). But even at Natgeo Geno2 there were a few applicants being told they were L11 and nothing more (no U106 or P312 sub-clades etc:). Doug opted to stay with ftDNA and ordered the deep-clade test but shortly after, got his uncle to do the Natgeo Geno2 test thus double checking his research with an alternate source.

In early 2013 Doug was looking at locations of Norse Viking presence (Norwegian) in the UK to compare it to known Danish areas in the north of England. He came across a presentation by a DNA project team from Sheffield and Nottingham universities. They had produced a book called 'Viking DNA' and had a website here about their research. At another related site Doug found a link to a presentation of their project and book here, in this on-line version, the authors had included information from another DNA study that was done by an international team of researchers led by N.Myres. The Myres et al report can be found here. In it are maps of various haplogroups and their geographical concentrations. The Viking DNA project team chose to use some of the Myres et al diagrams. There was one map of L11* people that they copied but had added very interesting comments to it. The map (included just below) shows where L11*/P310* people are located in Europe. This modified version of the Myres et al map, extracted from the Viking DNA presentation, is the map shown below. Aspects of this data have changed since first published (i.e. Doug's DNA is no longer just L11* but is now a part of the new R1b=>L151=>S1194 sub-clade with an sub SNP of CTS4528) but back at that time the original L11*/P310* hot-spots stood out like a beacon.

This map shows 3 main 'hot-spots' for L11*/P310* DNA. These being ...
1) The South Baltic,
2) England and
3) The Southern Alps (around Southern Switzerland, Western Austria & Northern Italy).

It seemed a fundamentally logical conclusion that if we accept these hot-spots, then one of the three locations was the point of origin and that L11*/P310* people had moved to the other two from it. So, this map find was a flying start for Doug's research.

 

 

Doug contacted the 'Viking DNA' authors and asked them why the map that was in their on-line version, was not actually in their book (Doug had purchased a copy). They stated that the Myres et al final study had not become available to them at the time their book had gone to be published.

Doug had then searched for the above linked publication by N.Myres et al and confirmed the details of the 'L11*' map plus the information used to create it. He needed to be very confident the work was scholarly and widely accepted. It didn't have to be perfect, just good enough to back his lines of investigation.

Having the original Myres et al L11* map and that the researchers of the Viking DNA project had chosen to add it to their work became an important aspect for the L11*/P310* research. The Myres et al paper was at the time quoted by other respected investigators such as Busby et al in 2012. The Myres et al team included 20 researchers from 11 research institutes and as such appeared a sound basis for viewing the nominated hot-spots as a best indicator of where we L11*/P310* folk originated. Before it we had nothing at all.

As previously mentioned, prior to the above map emerging, the L11*/P310* haplotype was listed as 'under investigation' and could be anything from distant Armenian origin, to descendants of Roman auxilliaries etc:. Perhaps even Anatolian. A very vague and confused picture.


 

 
May 2013 Doug meets Adrian who starts an L11*P310* FB group

The original group began in May 2013 when Adrian Ballard instigated a Facebook group named 'R-L11* (P310*) or L11+ U106- P312-' to discuss the as then little understood L11*/P310* Haplogroup which back then was written at the Family Tree DNA (ftDNA) website as P310(P312-,U106-). Adrian and Doug had met here on the 'World Families' forum in May 2013 where both were discussing their newly discovered P310(P312-,U106-) status.

For Doug it had taken ftDNA 5 months (from Oct 2012 to Mar 2013) to advise that he was neither U106 or P312. Doug's Y-DNA line was from Devon and there are records of use of the Marker family name that reach back to the early 1200s in Exeter and nearby Totnes.

The administrator of the ftDNA Devon names project, Debbie Kennett, commented that to be L11*/P310* in Devon was very rare and quite unique. To Doug it was being told his male line didn't seem to belong there and no one knew how or why they had appeared in Devon. Devon and Somerset are unique in England as it is home to many of the oldest traces of habitation in the UK (e.g. Cheddar Man). Just after learning of the mystery L11*/P310* classification Doug joined Adrian Ballard's FB group in May 2013. At the time there were about 4 or so members.


 
Which hot-spot could be the L11*/P310* Point-of-Origin ?

Adrian had traced his own L11*/P310* line back to Lombardy Italy and had determined his Ballard family name was a variant of the word Lombard. Lombard itself is a morph of the Italian words 'Lango Bardi' or 'Long Beards', an allusion to the appearance of this tribe.

For Doug, his origin trail started when Doug had looked at the Myres/Viking DNA modified map, he was 'wowed' immediately by the label pointing to the Danish island of Bornholm in the South Baltic. It was listed as having the highest relative density of L11*/P310* DNA in the South Baltic. Doug had learned many years before from an American ancestry contact named Denis Marker, that the biggest density of people in the world with the family name Marker, came and still come from Danish Bornholm.

The statistics for Marker are repeated when the name Marcher is searched. Again Bornholm has the densest numbers of Marchers in the world and in fact the fpm (freq per million) is slightly higher for Marcher than Marker on the Island. And yet again the same pattern emerges with a third spelling variant Marcker. Once more dominant in Bornholm but far smaller than Marker/Marcher.

At the time it seemed to Doug quite improbable but not impossible that his ancestors would have travelled from Bornholm to Devon UK where the Marker name in Devon can be traced back reliably there to the early 1200s if not earlier. Today Doug sees it more as an extraordinary coincidence. But, if any Marker people on Bornholm prove to have CTS4528 DNA then this discovery will be a remarkable one. Doug has a Marker name project with Family Tree DNA, to explore the name and DNA similarity. He also has registered 'Marker' with the the Guild of One Name Studies . Adrian had also started a Family Tree DNA name project for 'Ballard'.

So making the assumption that the South Baltic was the more likely point of origin for L11*/P310* and that these people moved to the other two hot-spots, Doug and Adrian set about finding historical evidence that backed up this South Balic origin 'theory'. This evidence came up almost immediately and proved compelling and with multiple, verifiable historical sources. It was also at this time that Doug expressed the hope they would be able to establish a 'South Baltic Modal Haplotype'. That hope may or may not be realised. Doug still thinks it has merit.


 
Lombards (Long Beards) origin in Skaane (above Bornholm)

Web search on the history of the Lombards here showed them as a Germanic tribe from the region of Skaane (also called Scania and located at the bottom of Sweden & formerly Danish territory until 1648 AD). The tribe migrated over some 100s of years until they settled in Nth Italy where the name Long Beard (Lango Bardi) morphed into Lombards. Lombardy at one time sat just to the right of the Southern Alps L11*/P310* 'hot-spot'. Both Adrian and Doug did further research to confirm this migration and both agreed it was very well documented and as factual as one might hope. All things being equal, Adrian's DNA appears to offer a modern proof.

 
 


 
Burgundians origin related to South Baltic Island Bornholm

Doug then looked deeper into Bornholm and its history and discovered that the Burgundians are claimed to have been named after the island.

Quote: The Burgundians (Latin: Burgundiones, Burgundi; Old Norse: Burgundar; Old English: Burgendas) were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the Baltic island of Bornholm, and from there to the Vistula basin, in middle modern Poland.

This account here also seems probable.

Quote: In Old Norse the island was known as Borgundarholm, and in ancient Danish especially the island's name was Borghand or Borghund; these names were related to Old Norse borg "height" and bjarg/berg "mountain, rock", as it is an island that rises high from the sea. Many histories tie the name of Bornholm to the origins of the Burgundian tribe.

 
 

So why does this issue of the Burgundians matter ?, mostly because for a notable period of history both Burgundy and Lombardy were adjacent to each other and the L11*/P310* 'hot-spot' in the Southern Alps is where they joined. And, that the Lombard and Burgundian tribes started out from the same approximate locations in the South Baltic region.

Adrian Ballard's L11*/P310* DNA seems good additional evidence of a likely origin in the South Baltic for the Ballards of Lombardy, then there is an equally good second trail to the Southern Alps via Burgundy, and there are now L11*/P310* people emerging in modern Switzerland and South Germany in what was the north of old Burgundy.

The area called Pomerania sits directly below Bornholm and is today part of Nth Poland & Baltic Nth Germany. In approx 4th century, the Burgundians appear to have split into two groups with one group remaining on Bornholm but another migrating over time to the area that became the kingdom of Burgundy which in very early times was adjacent to Lombardy and just to the left of the Southern Alps L11*/P310* 'hot-spot'.

A Historical tribal migration map.

Here is an image of very helpful tribal migration map that sums up much of what is said about both the Lombards and the Burgundians. (click here for a larger version). It is excellent for showing the migrations from Scandinavia. It shows them at each of the major locations they migrated through.

 
 


 
How might L11*/P310* have reached the England ?

Even this question already had a kind of an answer back in the map extracted from the Viking DNA project. On that map those researchers wrote this question (L11*) 'More unique signature than U106 or I1 for Danes in England ?'. That was a conclusion that Doug had also come to. Doug did extensive research into Danes in England and especially Devon. One notable and highly detailed history that covers Exeter and other parts of Devon is here.

The history of the area in England known as the Danelaw (the Midlands) is well know. Danes were in the region after occupying it from 850 AD up to 1035 AD. Below is a map of the '5 burgs of the Danelaw'. While the Myres et al L11*/P310* 'hot-spot' in England is shown in the middle, that is only because N.Myres et al, used a GPS point in the middle of England to paint a picture of L11* density there. In fact, the bulk of CTS4528 in the UK shows in the old border regions that include the Cornish Marche, the Welsh Marche and the Scottish Marche.
King Alfred had entered into a peace arrangement with the Danish leader known as Guthrum that allowed the Danes to stay in the area that was the 'Danelaw'.

Kings of England from around 970 AD (including King Alfred) paid the Danes to keep the peace. The payment was known as the Dangeld. These payments were maintained right through King Canute's rule up to 1035AD.

 
 


 
South Baltic emerges as the probable origin of L11*/P310*

During 2013, Adrian and Doug began looking at all possibilities starting with Armenia as at that time all L11*/P310* people were being told to join the ftDNA R-HT35 group . Ht35 was known as the Armenian Modal Haplotype. All options were looked at from the possibility that L11*/P310* in Devon, may have got there via Roman auxiliaries. But there was never enough evidence to make a believable case (i.e. the Armenian Cohorts of the Roman Legions were never deployed anywhere near Britain). Rome was said to have Frisian auxiliaries and it is believed they were used in Britain.

The problem with most suggestions was they were simply speculation with no backing of historical documents or recognised stories. Again at this time no one knew where to look for L11*/P310* other than Armenia and some suggestions in regard to Anatolia. Both Doug and Adrian did a lot of research into tribal groups from the Armenia/Anatolia region and how they may have got to Western Europe. As already mentioned Adrian had a trail for his own family ancestry that put them in Lombardy Italy even though he comes from England.

Also as mentioned Doug decided to get his uncle's DNA analysed via a Natgeo Geno2 test as this would provide a number of counter-checks to his own analyses. One significant benefit would be obtaining the mtDNA of his grandmother (via uncles Natgeo Geno2 test). His uncle's DNA came back as R1b=>P310=>CTS4528 (now reclassified as R1b=>P311=>S1194=>CTS4528).

It was in late 2013 that the new SNP DF100/S1203 emerged and positioned by some as a new sub-clade of L11/P310. The 1st known person to be identified as DF100 was listed as a descendant of the 2nd US President, John Adams, and their line is said (by the Adams family today) to be traceable back to the 1500s in Somerset (next to Devon). They include Samuel Adams (author of the US Declaration of Independence) and the 6th US President John Quincy Adams (son of John Adams).

Doug's test results (he purchased a DF100 test from ftDNA) placed him with both DF100 and CTS4528. Adrian Ballard later came back positive for the DF100 SNP. Doug was on of the 1st people to take the new ftDNA BigY test in 2014. It confirmed he was CTS4528. Later Adrian also took the BigY ftDNA test and he too was confirmed as CTS4528. As of today, all people who have the CTS4528 SNP also have the DF100 SNP.

In 2015 ISOGG added CTS4528 to their Y-Tree then in late 2016, ISOGG further added S1194 as the parent SNP of CTS4528. This happened when a further brother SNP to CTS4528 was identified and accepted. The new CTS4528 brother=A8039. (R1b=>P311=>S1194=>CTS4528 & R1b=>P311=>S1194=>A8039).

Restating CTS4528 status, as of Feb 2017, CTS4528 is shown as a sub-clade of S1194 which in turn is a sub-clade of P311. The other 'brother clades', below P311 now showing in the 2017 ISOGG tree are: S1194, U106, P312 and A8051. U106 being 'Germanic' and P312 being Celtic. S1194 might be characterised as Baltic-Germanic. A8051 is less obvious. Doug's investigations keep showing that some U106 (the Northern sub-clades) and CTS4528, appear in the same hotspots alongside each other (Sth Alps and England). Doug has hypothesised that this links the two closely in their early history. i.e. CTS4528 is *not* showing up in Dutch Friesland which is the epicenter for U106-L48 (southern U106). But CTS4528 and U106 (the non L48 clades) do show up alongside each other in Sth Alps and also in the border regions (circa 1020AD) of old England.
Another potential clue is that most CTS4528 people have a particular dominant STR marker that is common to mos northern U106 people (i.e. differing from southern U106 people). By Northern U106 we are talking about U106 people from Lithuania, Nth Poland, Beloaruss & Pomerania (Pomerania today is Baltic Germany as well as Baltic Poland).

 
 


 

King Canute assembled his Danish invasion force in Skaane

In late 2013 Doug came across another very interesting document called the Knytlinga Saga In section 8 it mentions Skaane (which is the bottom of today's Sweden and was part of Denmark up until 1658 - see Treaty of Roskilde 1658). But as a minor word of caution, Skaane in the context of the Knytlinga Saga might possibly mean 'Scania' which in the contemporary era of the saga, could perhaps mean the larger area that encompasses today's Skaane & Sjaelland (Zealand), Lolland & Bornholm ....

Quote 1:
Loth to, flee, the Jutes joined you the generous sea-rover armed his soldiers, assembled them in Skaane
sage one, the sail stretched above you as westward your prow pointed to win prowess.

As an interesting side note, in section 12 the chronicler specifically identifies Edmund (King AEthelred's son was named Edmund Ironside) and his kin as 'the Frisians'. This is a very interesting observation. Frisians are part of Hg U106 (actually U106-L48). U106-L48 is 20% of England and dominant in the Eastern half of England and lowland Scotland. U106-L48 strength diminishes from east England to West England.

Quote 2:
Shield smasher, the Frisians you flattened ,
no friendship when you crushed the castle and their cottages at Brenford.
Cruel the cuts suffered by the kinsman of Edmund, as Danish spears showered down on the shambles.

King Canute later did a deal with Edmund Ironside to share England after Edmund's father King AEthelred died. Edmund kept Wessex but it is believed that King Canute had Edmund murdered because that allowed him to take over Wessex and become King of all England.


 
How might L11*/P310* (CTS4528) have got to Devon as the Marker family

Doug always understood that his family name Marker was related to borders. This has been family 'lore' since childhood: "Where does your name come from?", "We were Border Markers in England". As a child, Doug used to wonder how family members actually 'marked the border' ?. Doug had also believed his family came from Dorset, but whilst it was true his paternal great-grandfather was born in Piddlehinton Dorset, the family moved to Dorset from Ottery St Mary in Devon. Ottery St Mary and surrounding villages have a wealth of Marker families and the name can be traced back to the early 1200s if not earlier. Ottery St Mary is 20kms from Exeter. Exeter is the main hub of Marker families in Devon. Exeter was the last main city in England before Cornwall and was a well defended city with a military garrison. Its history as the bastion between England and the Duchy of Cornwall is well documented.

Doug's adult years of research confirmed in detail how Marker is a derivative of 'Mark / Marche' (historically both were pronounced the same way, the 'h' being silent). A Mark or March/Marche is defined as a defensible and fortified border area as distinct from a boundary line such as a border between one county/state and another. Definition of Mark (March/Marche) here.

Quote 1:
A march or mark refers to a militarised border region similar to a frontier, such as the Welsh Marches, the borderland between England and Wales.

Quote 2:
The Frankish word marka and the Old English word mearc both come from Proto-Germanic *marko (Old Norse moerk "borderland, forest"[1] and derived form merki "boundary, sign"[2]), denoting a borderland between two centres of power. The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia took its name from West Saxon mearc "marches", which in this instance referred explicitly to the territory's position on the Anglo-Saxon frontier with the Romano-British to the west. It seems that in Old English "mark" meant "boundary" or "sign of a boundary", and the meaning later evolved into "sign in general", "impression or trace forming a sign".

A link that includes a list of Marks (Marches). Note the confusion of pronunciation of the original work Mark vs the later English/Norman tendency to use the Marche spelling and pronounce it like Marsh vs what may originally have sounded as Marc(h)e with the h sounded as a brief rush of air. Anyone familiar with how the highland Scots say 'braw, bricht, moonlicht nicht' will understand this.

In the research on Canute's invasion, Doug went looking for any evidence that could tie his Devon family background to 1) The South Baltic and 2) A border or Mark. Doug knew of the Welsh Marks (Marches) and despite intensive research on them could never find any serious evidence connecting his Devon Marker family to them even though he was able to find small pockets of people named Marker in several locations in England. There is one small pocket in the old Danelaw area but too small to be relevant (see map below).

Doug then reasoned that if there were so many people named Marker around Exeter, then there had to be a 'Mark' there too and concluded (knowing of Cornish stories of independence) this had to be a ' Cornish Mark', overall it took him 18 months of searching to finally locate a document (linked further down) that stated that indeed there was a Cornish Mark, and, to Doug's great surprise this same document states that it was King Canute who sent warriors to defend the Cornish Mark (Marches) in 1018 AD. The Cornish Mark remained in place right through King Canute's reign from 1018 AD to 1035 AD.

 
 

The word Mark was in common use by Germanic language speakers including the Danes. A warrior sent to a Mark was thus called a Marker (Marc'h'er). In fact, the explanation for so many people named Marker (and Marcher) on Bornholm is that Bornholm was a fortified boundary of Denmark. People named Marker in Denmark do not have the customary 'sen' appended to their name (i.e. as in Markersen), the name is simply 'Marker' and is one of the oldest fixed family names on record in Denmark. In can be considered an occupational name vs a locational or family extension name (i.e. Olafsen, son of Olaf). The name Denmark contains a variant use of the word Mark. The Mark of the Danes. A defended area. There are many 'Marks/Marches' in history throughout Europe.


 
King Canute sends warriors to the Cornish Marks (Marches)

It is not widely known that in 1013 AD when king Canute invaded and took control of England, his English Kingdom did not include Cornwall. It was independant like Wales and Scotland were. Cornwall did not become properly integrated into England until 1066 when William the Conqueror invaded and took over. The historical England Cornwall boundary was set along the river Tamar. Canute annexes Wessex but not Cornwall

Quote:
In 1013AD Sweyn annexed Wessex to his Viking empire, which included Denmark and Norway. He did not annex Cornwall, Wales and Scotland, but instead allowed the three "client nations" self government in return for an annual payment or "danegeld". His successor, King Canute the Great, continued this arrangement until 1035AD. Image showing Canute's (Knut) realm minus Cornwall

Most English people have heard of the Welsh Marks (Marches), only some have heard of the Scottish Marks (Marches) very few have heard of the Cornish Marks (Marches), but they existed at the time of king Canute. In 1018AD after 3 years of battles, King Canute sent his invading army back home. That army had been assembled in Skaane. Of them all he kept 3000 elite warriors in England and divided them into groups. Canute actually had to defend England against both the Norse vikings and rogue Danish raiders. Some historical records claim that the warriors kept behind in England included a group of Jomsvikings led by Thorkil the tall. That could very well have been. But, it would be hard to find difinitive proof. Here is a link to information on the Jomsvikings who appear to be the forrunner of the English housecarls: Click here to read about The Jomsvikings

Many of the Jomsvikings became Canutes 'Huscarls' (Housecarls). Link = Click here for Wikipedia on Housecarls
Click here for 'Harold, Housecarls and Battle of Hastings'

Canute sent groups of warriors to the three Marks (Scotish, Welsh and Cornish) as well as maintaining a 'navy' on the east coast of England. It most probable that the warriors sent to defend the Cornish Marks were sent to Exeter in Devon which was the largest defended city in the region at the time and that was close enough to the Cornish Mark to defend it quickly.

Canute the Great Link (extracts below)

Quote 1: Confirming the existing system, Canute's first act as king was to divide the kingdom into four great earldoms. While Eric, Eadric, and Thorkil held the above-mentioned positions, Canute held Wessex for himself, developing a division of power and land that would later provide a base for resistance by other such nobles against future kings. In addition to this system, Canute established a series of lesser earldoms along the Scottish, Welsh, and Cornish marches to protect those regions from raiders.

Quote 2: During 1018, Canute sent most of his Scandinavian host back to Denmark. With the remaining 3,000 men, he established an elite bodyguard, which became the core of his army, and stationed these soldiers at strategic points around the kingdom. The defense of the peace against both English offenders and Danish raiders rested upon this force. In the summer his brother Harald died without heirs. Then in October, Archbishop Wulfstan drafted a law code for Canute; it reinforced the idea that Canute was ruling as an English successor to the line of Alfred of Wessex, thus making his rule more palatable to his English subjects.

Doug Marker believes this is where his family name originates and having L11*/P310*(CTS4528) DNA is a good indicator that both the name and DNA orginated at that time with the Danes. The single biggest concentration and orgins for people named Marker in England, is around Exeter in Devon. The city of Plymouth just nearby in Cornwall also has a strong presence of people named Marker today. But the greater Exeter area had many more than any other part of England and this appears to be the case going back to the 1500s when church records started. There aren't many Marker people listed in the old Danelaw area.

The latest DNA evidence for CTS4528 DNA in the UK is that it does show up around the border areas (Marches). In fact todate there are more people with R1b-CTS4528 DNA in those areas than are showing up in the other parts of England and this is important as CTS4528 is not showing up in the traditional Anglo-Saxon areas (Wessex and the East Coast).

It is of note that a number of former Canute warriors perished in the battle of Hastings in 1066. This link here covers this aspect.

Quote:
After having defeated the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, King Harold Godwinson, with his retinue and war host, had to march southwards in order to meet the invasion force of William the Conqueror in the Battle of Hastings.[9] The huscarl and retinue of the King fought to the last man, despite Harold's mortal wounding and the eventual routing of the fyrd, against William's Normans, who were also of Scandinavian stock.[9]

Another aspect is that in the period 1069-1070 (only 35 or so years after Canute's rule ended), William the Conqueror sent a large army to smash resistance to the Normans in the north. This resistance came from both 'Anglo-Saxons' and Danish warriors. The Norman actions in the North became known historically as 'The Harrying of the North'. Things got so bad with the Norman scorched-earth policy that most of the northern warrior class of Anglo-Saxons and Danes left England rather than stay. A well documented story tells of how some 4000 or so Anglo-Saxon and Danish warriors with families, under pressure from the Normans, left England and travelled to Constantinole to become the new backbone of the Varangian Guard that were employed to defend the Byzantine empire.

This story here explains in great detail about these Anglo-Saxons and Danes going to Constantinople to get away from the Normans in England. There should still be remanants of L11*/P310* DNA there.

Quote:
According to the recently discovered Chronicon universale anonymi Laudunensis, a group of English notables immigrated to Byzantium in 235 ships, reaching Constantinople in 1075. Some 4350 of the emigrants and their families remained in Constantinople in imperial service, while a majority of the refugees sailed to a place called Domapia, six days journey from Byzantium, conquered it and renamed it Nova Anglia (New England).[28]

Another link here reinforces this story and specifically mentions Danes from the north (Danelaw) ...

Quote:
Nonetheless, warriors with a different origin began to arrive on the scene. After the Normans had conquered England in 1066, many of the established families preferred to seek their fortune in foreign lands. At first it seems that most of these exiles from England had Danish origins from the so-called Danelaw, and they subsequently followed the footsteps of their Danish cousins to Byzantium. But soon many Anglo-Saxons followed also, often making up the majority of the Guard. A chronicler at this point distinguishes between "Inglinoi", "Rhos" and "Vrangoi", ie between Anglo-Saxons, Russians and Scandinavians.

Yet another link here addresses the issue of warriors departing England for Constantinople ...

Quote:
In fact most historical sources and most historians suggest that the first wave of English refugees from the Norman yoke left England after the defeat of Hereward's resistance in Ely in 1072, and arrived in Byzantium in about 1074 in time to help a previous emperor, Michael Doukas, repel a barbarian siege. The earliest Byzantine mention of their presence in the Varangian Guard (which hitherto had comprised Scandinavians and Kiev Rus) is in 1080 when 'Angli' were listed as forming a part of the Guard. It is quite possible that in 1080/1 English 'reinforcements' had joined the earlier refugees.

The Anglo-Saxons and Danish warriors in the South West counties of England appear to have mostly accepted the Normans as overlords and done quite well under them. However, there was some warring in 1069 when sons of the defeated King Harold, tried to forment a rebellion at Exeter against the Normans, but it appears to have been minor and wrapped up quickly.

Final Summary:

The above research presents a lot of historically well known and readily verifiable information that helps explain how people with L11*/P310* (CTS4528) DNA *could* have migrated to the other two major hot-spots from the South Baltic.

On the accuracy of the stories, we have to judge the evidence for ourselves. Until better evidence comes along (and it is always possible) the South Baltic is our choice. The evidence for migrations / invasions going in the other directions is either highly speculative or currently very very weak and not well supported. Some have speculated that the L11*/P310* in England got there via trade activities but can never produce any specific evidence that in any way stands up better than that information presented above.

It is understood and accepted that much of the above can and should be open to challenge, but only if better evidence becomes available. As with any research, we examine what we can find and build stories around that detail, but if more and better evidence becomes available, the stories have to change with the best evidence. At this point in time the above appears to the authors to be based on best evidence as available in the 1st qtr of 2014.


 
 

What can be learned from this research

  • 2010 N.Myres et al study helped pinpoint homes for L11*/P310*
  • The South Baltic could be the point-of-origin of L11*/P310*
  • Skaane once part of Denmark but now Sweden features strongly
  • The Danish Isle of Bornholm in the South Baltic features strongly
  • The area later called Pomerania (Nth Poland) features strongly
  • English Midlands hot-spot coincides with the historic Danelaw
  • Danish invasion of England in 1015 AD was assembled in Skaane
  • Danish 1015 AD invaders referred to their foes as 'the Frisians'
  • Cornwall remained an independant Dukedom during Canute's reign
  • A defended Mark (Marche) existed between Cornwall & Devon
  • Canute sent warriors to protect the 'Cornish Marches' in 1018 AD
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Definitions of some terms used

  • Hg = Haplogroup (defined by SNPs), Ht = Haplotype (defined by STRs).
  • Hg R-P310 means Haplogroup R and clade = P310.
  • Hg R-L11 means Haplogroup R and clade L11 (same as P310, but from diff lab)
  • Writing L11/P310 covers both names together (to try to minimise confusion)
  • L11/P310 without an * or +, is a generic name as in a Haplogroup
  • L11*/P310* with an '*' means no known sub-clades
  • L11* and/or P310* can also be referred to as a 'terminal SNP'
  • L11+/P310+ with a '+' means there are known sub-clades
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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