Project: European Royals and Aristocrats

Categories: European Royals and Aristocrats Project

New members welcome.

Proper Spelling of Surnames
Name Fields/Standards
EuroAristo Categories

Contents

European Royals and Aristocrats

This project encompasses people that were royals, aristocrats, nobles, and gentry throughout Europe. In situations where there are 'location' projects (such as England, France, Ireland), those projects are in charge of overseeing all but the royals.

THE PROJECT IS CURRENTLY BEING REORGANIZED AND IS NOT ACCEPTING NEW MEMBERS AT THIS TIME. WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU JOIN A COUNTRY PROJECT (ENGLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, ET AL).

Project Contacts and Participants

Are you interested in the Project?
You may also want to check out our older discussions on the Google Group. We use G2G for discussions now, but the archives are still very useful.

This Project is a forum for WikiTreers interested in improving the profiles of the European royalty, aristocrats and nobility and their descendants.

It's important to remember that these ancestors are massively common--that is, thousands of WikiTree members share them; working on their profiles can be tricky and requires a high degree both of genealogical knowledge and of familiarity with WikiTree procedures. This is the era when thousands of people connect with hundreds of thousands of royal and other aristocratic lineages.

In an effort to maintain the integrity of profiles, WikiTree is going to require you first take and pass a pre-1700 certification test, which is available here.

This will be required for:

  • Creating a new profile for someone born in the 1600s or earlier.
  • Editing an existing profile of someone born in the 1600s or earlier.
If you have an interest in profiles in the pre-1500 period, you must apply for Pre-1500 certification. Wikitree is striving to maintain and improve these historically significant and medieval profiles. To receive the certification, you must have made contributions to pre-1700 or project-protected profiles that demonstrate a practical understanding of the principles behind our Honor Code and Pre-1700 Self-Certification, especially regarding sources and collaboration in high-conflict areas. You can find a link to read about and apply for the pre-1500 certification here. This is required to:
  • Create new profiles for people born prior to 1500.
  • Edit existing profiles of those born prior to 1500.

For the naming standards, see Name Fields for European Aristocrats as well as the section located further down on this page. All users are encouraged to also read WikiTree's guidelines on Name Fields. If you have a question with regard to what to enter where, ask before doing by clicking here. Be sure to use the EuroAristo tag. You also should feel free to contact John Atkinson or Darlene.

Profile Improvement Checklist

  1. Add sources. Many of the sources listed on the Magna Carta project resource page are excellent sources for medieval profiles. See this list of resources here.
  2. Create and/or edit the Biography with footnotes, using either narrative or timeline styles.
  3. Add Coat of arms image if available; check box "set as primary photo"; add source and copyright in the Comment Box below the image (add the blazon if you have it).
  4. Add images of castles, effigy, etc. as appropriate, being sure to include source and copyright information in the Comment box under the image.
  5. Tips on labeling images: scroll down in edit mode on the image until you see the title in the edit box and delete or replace 'image 1' 'image 2' etc. Then scroll to the end of the page and click save. Save the comment box first, and then "save as thumbnail" if it is a coat of arms, and last save the image title.
  6. Place either a sticker or project box on the profile, according to what it needs.

Last Name at Birth

LNAB: Last Name At Birth should be one word

EuroAristo project members decided that Fitz- names should be written with mid-caps, that is, a capital letter for the father's name. For example, write FitzAlan, FitzGeoffrey, FitzGerald, etc. This is the same pattern as used in names with Mac-: MacMurray, MacDonald, etc. Do not include a space. As Wikitree users encounter these names, we request that they change the capitalization for consistency.

For the LNABs that have been established, see Proper Spelling of LNABs. For others, ask on the G2G forum, remembering to tag your post with euroaristo.

Some of the other projects, such as Cymru Welsh and Irish Roots, have developed their own naming standards. Be sure to check with the other projects (easiest done with a post on the G2G forum with a tag for the project) for their preferences.

Prefixes, Suffixes, Titles

  1. PREFIX FIELD: This is for a title such as 'Sir' or 'Reverend'. A man who was knighted was called Sir. DO NOT USE this field for long titles, such as 'Earl of Angus'. Titles such as that belong in the 'Other Nickname' field.
  2. PREFIXES IN LAST NAME AT BIRTH FIELD: in cases like de Quincy, prefixes go with the surname in the Current Last Name field, EXCEPT when they are the last name at birth (LNAB) like St John. "St" is a prefix which stays with the surname; that is, "St John" goes in the LNAB field, and St is not dropped nor separated out into the prefix field.
  3. The common "de" before a surname does NOT go in the LNAB field; it goes with the surname in the Current Last Name field while the surname, ONE word, goes in the LNAB. Example: Last name at birth: "Villefort", Current Last Name: "de Villefort". The exceptions to this are de Vere and de la Mare. Members of these families should have both/all words in the LNAB field. Some of the other projects, such as Cymru Welsh and Irish Roots, have developed their own naming standards. Be sure to check with the other projects (easiest done with a post on the G2G forum with a tag for the project) for their preferences.
  4. PUNCTUATION: The correct style is to NOT use a period after a prefix such as Rev or Capt and this includes the prefix "St" (Saint).
  5. There is NO leeway on the rules for prefixes and suffixes; that is, those fields cannot be used for anything else.
  6. SUFFIXES IN LAST NAME: Jr, Sr, III, for moderns, and occasional KG or KB for medieval profiles go in the suffix field. NOTHING else goes in the suffix field.
  7. TITLES: Titles DO NOT go in prefix or suffix fields. They go in the biography. However, what people were called (King of England, Duc d'Angoulême, Lord Mountbatten, the Fat) belongs in the OTHER NICKNAMES field.
  8. ALTERNATE SPELLING OF LAST NAME: alternate spellings go in "Other Last Names"
  9. PATRONYMICS: Patronymics are middle names, (unless nothing else is available)
  10. WELSH NAMES: Welsh names are a muddle. Write a question on the G2G forum and get input from other before proceeding.
  11. We use the native language of the person within reason. Wikipedia is very good about translations.

Numerals in a Name

If there is a numeral, such as Henry III of England, his name at birth is Henry, preferred name is Henry III, Last Name At Birth is Plantagenet, Current Last Name is of England.

Merging Profiles

When merging always select the lowest correct LNAB. To understand the importance of this please see the page on project protection and the Supervisor page on project protecting and merging.

Sources, Project Box and Templates for Profiles

The project box below should be added to profiles that fall within the project and will need project protection and management by adding {{European Royals and Aristocrats}} to the biography of the profile. At the same time, be sure to add the project (WikiTree-25) as a PM (profile manager). If you aren't authorized to do this, then contact one of the project managers to do this.

European Aristocracy
... ... ... was a member of aristocracy in Europe.
Join: European Royals and Aristocrats Project
Discuss: euroaristo
European Aristocracy
... ... ... was a member of the aristocracy in Castilla.

If the profile will not require project management, you can use a sticker: {{EuroAristo Sticker|place=Castilla}} will give you:

Useful Links

England and the U.K. have five Peerages:

  • The Peerage of England — all titles created by the Kings and Queens of England before the Act of Union in 1707: Peerage of England
  • The Peerage of Scotland — all titles created by the Kings and Queens of Scotland before 1707: Peerage of Scotland
  • The Peerage of Ireland — titles created for the Kingdom of Ireland before the Act of Union of 1801, and some titles created later: Peerage of Ireland
  • The Peerage of Great Britain — titles created for the Kingdom of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801: Peerage of Great Britain
  • The Peerage of the United Kingdom — most titles created since 1801: Peerage of U.K.


This page was last modified 01:31, 6 August 2023. This page has been accessed 47,880 times.