One of the benefits
of genetic genealogy is the ability to dig deeper into your past. In my case, I
already discovered through my Y-DNA that I descend from Pedro Gomez Duran y
Chaves – the progenitor of the New Mexico Chavez family.
Pedro Gomez
Duran y Chaves was born about 1560 in the southern Spanish village of Valverde
de Llerenes. Thanks to DNA, I can trace my genealogy before the time of Christ
– and further north of the Iberian Peninsula to Nordic lands of Northwestern
Europe.
My Y-DNA, which
traces my male lineage, confirms that I am part of the “I” haplogroup, specifically
the I1 sub-haplogroup. That sub-haplogroup helped genetic researcher Angel
Cervantes to match me with other descendants of the New Mexico Chaves family. Just
as important, the sub-haplogroup suggests that I descend from gothic ancestors,
mostly likely the Visigoths.
When Cervantes
told me about the Visigoth connection, I was embarrassed to admit that I was
ignorant of the history of this East Germanic tribe. I felt a little better
when nobody else was the wiser during a recent lecture that Cervantes gave in
Albuquerque.
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| Visigoth Migration |
Long before
arriving in Iberia, which is now called Spain, the Visigoths’ ancient homeland
was Gutthiuda, or Gothland, in what is modern-day Sweden, according to
Cervantes. They were one of two main branches of the Goths; the other was the
Ostrogoths. The Visigoths were one of the first to live their ancient homeland,
between the time of Christ and about 300, and migrate southeast to the Balkans,
where they were considered by the Roman Empire to be one of several barbarian
tribes. The Visigoths participated in several wars with the Roman Empire. They
eventually made their way to Italy and sacked Rome in 410.
Around the same
time, two other tribes, the Vandals and the Suebi, took control of the Iberian
Peninsula. They would rule the peninsula for nearly 100 years, before the
Visigoths moved west from Italy and eventually displaced the older tribes in
Iberia. The Visigoths eventually lost territory in Gaul to the Franks. So, in
1507, the Visigoths’ kingdom was limited primarily to the Iberian Peninsula.
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| Visigoth Tremisses |
Interestingly,
more than 1,500 years later, about 13 percent of modern-day Spaniards are
thought to have descended from one of these three Nordic tribes – the Suebi,
Vandals or the Visigoths.
One unexpected
remnant of the Visigoths that I inherited, albeit unknowingly, is my given
name. The Spanish translation of my name is Gilberto, which to my surprise, is
one of several names that originate from the now-extinct, ancient East Germanic
language of the Visigoths, according to Cervantes. He said many names date back
the language, including those ending in “o”, such as Rodrigo, Ricardo, and
Fernando; and those ending in “ildo” or “ilda,” such as Hermenegildo, Regildo,
Hilda and Gilda. Some surnames, such as Guzman, Gutierrez and Valdez, also
originate from the language of the Visigoths.
The modern-day
Germans and Dutch speak a language that originates from an ancient Western
Germanic language.
The Visigoths
and the Vandals were both Arian Christians, and they did not believe in the
Trinity. Interestingly, the Visigoths were the only non-Roman-Greco people with
a bible written in their own language, with their own alphabet, according to
Cervantes. The Visigoths eventually embraced Catholicism in Iberia toward the
end of the 6th Century.
I’m sure that,
over time, I’ll learn more and appreciate more about the history of my
ancestors during ancient times – the good, the bad and the ugly. One thing I’m
learning is how my ancestors were persecuted and the persecutors in history.
For example, the Visigoths were considered barbarians and persecuted by the Roman
Empire. More than 1,000 years later, the Spanish descendants of the Visigoths
and many others, persecuted indigenous Indian tribes of the New World,
including my maternal ancestors, the Chichimeca Indians north of Mexico City
that were also considered to be barbarians.
