Henri II de Rohan, duc de Rohan (1579 – 1638) Prince of Léon, Peer of France, Soldier, Huguenot Leader, Author

The House of Rohan traces its original roots in France back in time to Conan Meriadoc (305 – 367), the Welshman who conquered Dumnonia (now Brittany) during the 4th century A.D. In recognition of that fact, they traditionally held the title of prince étranger, a high rank at the French royal court of the Ancien Régime.

Prior to Henri’s advent as the first duc de Rohan, his ancestors were viscounts and counts. Alain “le Noir” de Rohan (1084–1147), the 1st Viscount de Rohan and Viscount of Castelnoec, was the first to use Rohan as a surname. Henri was also a Pair de France (Peer of France), which was the greatest and highest distinction accorded to French nobility prior to the extinction of the title after the Revolution.

Henri’s memoirs and the other books he wrote mainly deal with military matters, and are considered of the best quality French literature produced during the 16th and 17th centuries. His famous book on the history and art of war, Le Parfait Capitaine concerns military lessons learned from Julius Caesar‘s campaigns in Gaul.

Many books have been written about his life. He was an especially important historical figure during his era in France as a leader of the Huguenot movement.

Josselin de Rohan is the 14th duc de Rohan. A civil administrator and politician since graduating from ENA in 1965, he served as a French senator from 1983 to 2010. His main residence is Josselin Castle, the first iteration of which was built by his forebear Guéthénoc during the 11th century. Château de Pontivy was Henri’s primary residence after his marriage to Marguerite de Béthune, duc de Sully‘s eldest daughter.

Henri toured Britain during his late teens and early twenties. While in Scotland, he was the godfather at the christening of the future King of England Charles I Stuart. The ill-fated Charles was the father of King James II. While in England, he befriended Queen Elizabeth who called him her knight.

He was an agnatic descendant of Conan Meriadoc ap Gereint (305 – 367) King of Dumnonia, 1st Duke of Brittany and Guéthénoc, 1st vicomte of Porhoët, Rohan and Guéméné (990 – 1040) .

In J.R.R. Tolkien‘s Lord of the Rings , Rohan is the name of the “Middle-Earth” realm ruled by the Kings of Rohan.

By Steven Wood Collins

I spent most of my life unaware of my ancestral heritage. Sure, I knew of the personal history of my more immediate relatives; but beyond that, I never had any inkling as to my ancestral heritage. Then one day many years ago my sister said to me, “I sometimes wonder about our family background.” And so my quest to discover our genealogical roots commenced.

I started building my family tree with the very basic relationships, going back in time from my grandparents, one ancestor at a time. That initial effort proved to be the hardest part of the pursuit, mainly due to my lack of expertise as a novice genealogical researcher. As I gained familiarity with the databases and how to efficiently mine them, my progress gained ever-increasing momentum. Today, The Patricians! tree (Ancestry.com) contains nearly 120,000 individuals, stretching over 135 generations, 5,800 of which are my direct ancestors in a genealogical sense.

During this trek back in time, I encountered fascinating figures in both history and obscurity. This blog contains many stories about their genealogical relationship to me (and many of you). By far and away, as a student of history, the historically obscure individuals are of particular interest to me. I cite Baron “Blue Beard” Montmorency-Laval de Rais (1405 – 1440) as an example of a historically maligned personage whose real contribution to history, as both a playwright and hero of France, has yet to be properly recognized. Another example is Earl Edward de Vere (1550 – 1604), who’s yet to gain widespread recognition as the actual author of the body of literary work wrongly ascribed to William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616).

My life-long interest in international economics and finance continues unabated. I primarily demonstrate this professional involvement as a contributor to the Long Room, the members-only international finance professionals' forum hosted by the Financial Times of London.

I'm an avid recreational scuba diver who enjoys traveling to exotic dive sites. My love of the sea and marine life gives me an unbounded appreciation and support of “green” issues, especially those devoted to the conservation of endangered species and coral reefs.

He continually posts results of his personal genealogical research to his Goodreads Authors Blog. Entitled The Patricians - The Ancestral Heritage of Steven Wood Collins, the work represents thousand of hours of his research efforts and related commentary.

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