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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 2004-04 > 1080911292


From: "John Steele Gordon" <>
Subject: Re: Medieval ancestry for James Fowke/Fowkes of Accomac County, Virginia?
Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 13:08:12 GMT
References: <942d5b80.0404011408.37fa1c48@posting.google.com> <30ac04994c.tim@south-frm.demon.co.uk>


"Tim Powys-Lybbe" <> wrote in message
news:...
> In message of 1 Apr, (John Brandon) wrote:
>
> > Gerard Fowke of Virginia is known to have been of gentle ancestry
>
> I wonder what this meant?
>
> My guess is that it came from the latin 'gens' meaning a race or a kind.
> And the other feature of much medieval and post-medieval was that of
> assiduously tracing one's ancestry to the Companions of the Conqueror.
> In other words the race of the conquerors.
>
> So was Gerard Fowke a racist?

Perhaps you should try a dictionary for purposes of enlightenment rather
than attitude.

You are right that it comes, eventually, from "gens," but meaning "clan" or
"nation" rather than "race" (which is basically a modern concept).

The first definition of "gentle" in Merriam-Webster is "belonging to a
family of high social standing," exactly the sense in which John Brandon
used it.

For an example from another writer:

For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

If the word is good enough for Shakespeare, in one of the most famous
speeches ever put into the mouth of an actor, perhaps it is good enough for
you?

JSG


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