I am still in shock after discovering my family were probably frogs from Normandy.
I was feeling oppressed so I did some family history stuff to see how many of my family were oppressed serfs, who were lashed and starved to feed the fat bellies of their Norman over lords.
I was hoping to find a few Hung, Drawn, and Quartered or at least hung, No luck, Gentry in South Wales.
So now I can feel oppressed by being descended from oppressors, it really sucks being a Blue eyed devil.
Normans aren’t quite “frogs,” lol. They’re Norsemen (Vikings) mixed with Frankish (French). If you’re Norman your people likely go back to at least the tenth century in England, and as they more or less introduced the practice of using surnames in England to individuals other than nobility, you may actually be able to find them. Nevermind the Frenchified “de-This” and “de-That,” most dropped the use of it over time.
Mine were on the other side at Hastings. Got one by what is presumed to be my surname on the Roll of Battle Abbey and one by a maternal surname. Not really any way to prove relation, though. The plague years, resulting poor records, people moving around. The trail went cold long ago, 1400’s is as far back as I’ve ever been able to prove with any of them.