Genealogy Of The Royal House Of Aragon

The Royal House of Aragon was founded by James I of Aragon ("The Conqueror") who reigned as King of Aragon 1213 - 1276. The Kingdom of Aragon was one of the small Christian states which arose in the Iberian peninsula following the gradual expulsion of the Moors, who had held sway in the area in the wake of their conquest of the old Visigothic realm of Spain in the eighth century.

Peter III succeeded his father James I to the throne in 1276, and for many years the succession continued without problems. But when King Martin I (the Humanist) of Aragon died in 1410 he had no children to succeed him, and he had not named any successor. The only written law of succession was the Will of James I which confirmed the principle of male primogeniture, but this was not followed. Six claimants to the throne stepped forward. Through intrigues and political gerrymandering the law of succession was set aside, and a group of nine electors was put together todecide upon the respective claims. They met at Caspe in Aragon in 1412, and by the very composition of the group a decision for one of the claimants, Ferdinand of Antequera, was assured in advance. He thus came to power in a manner similar to a coup in conflict with the prevailing order of succession.

This point is also stressed by T.N. Bisson, who for many years was professor of medieval history at Harvard University. When discussing the ?compromise? of Caspe in his book ?The medieval crown of Aragon? he points out that ? ? the issue was (or became) political rather than simply legal, a utilitarian question of which candidate with some dynastic claim would make the best king?(op. cit., pp. 135-6).

When James Count of Urgel, who should have inherited the throne after Martin I, died in captivity in 1433 the legitimate line passed to the Duke of Gandia who died without heir in 1454. The lawful succession thus passed in 1454 to the House of Ayerbe where the Princes of Cassano were heads of the House until their line became extinct with the death of Joseph the last Prince of Cassano.

The succession thence passed to the cadet branch of the House of Ayerbe, the line from Peter, the younger son of King James the Conqueror in his third marriage. Peter first Baron of Ayerbe had a son Michael who in turn sired a boy, Giovanni the Elder born in 1347 and who in 1398 became Vicar General of the Kingdom of Sicily. Giovanni married Sibilla Spadafora and from that union descends unbroken the line of the House of Patern?.

Over the centuries the descent had thrown off numerous branches, many of which have intermarried. Thus, when the last Prince of Cassano died, it was not clear who precisely held the dynastic right to the jus majestatis of the Lands of the Crown of Aragon and it became urgently necessary that the question be answered.

A family conclave, on the initiative of the 7th Duke of Carcaci Don Francesco Patern? Castello e Sammartino, was called on 14th June 1853, and held in Palermo in the palace of the Marquis of Spedalotto, head of one of the more senior branches of the family. After a review of the relevant evidence and a wide-ranging discussion, it was the finding of the conclave that the royal rights, which had been the subject of the debate, should be confirmed as belonging to Don Mario, son of the Duke of Carcaci's younger brother Don Giovanni and his wife Donna Eleonora Guttadauro of Emmanuel Riburdone, the heiress of the House of Guttadauro. This conclusion which had received the assent of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies was reached on the recognition that Don Mario alone had the royal blood of Aragon in his veins from two sources, through the separate descents of both his mother and his father from King James the Conqueror.

A family pact was then signed and registered on 16 June 1853in the Chamber of Seals and Royal Registers of the Kingdomof the Two Sicilies. It was decreed that during the minority of Don Mario, his father Don Giovanni should be Regent.

The sealing of the family pact was but one of a series ofevents following the death of the last Prince of Cassanowhich determined and confirmed the dynastic rights of the House of Patern? Castello Guttadauro. The final endorsement came on 2nd February 1860 when the Royal Commission for Titles of Nobility recommended to the new king Francis II that a petition by ?Ecc?mo Sig. Don Mario Patern? Castello Guttadauro dei Duchi di Carcaci be granted. The petition was that the Prince should receive all confirmation of the Sovereign's assent for those "chivalrous distinctions" which he wished to bestow. On 11th February 1860 the king approved the recommendation of the Royal Commission and directed the Secretary of State for Sicilian Affairs to give effect to his approval.

In 1996, following the abdication of his father, H.R.H. Don Francesco became Head of the Royal House of Aragon, Majorca and Sicily as Prince of Emanuel and Duke of Perpignan.

Jan-Olov von Wowern lives in Stockholm, and is active in European charitable and nobiliary work. He is the author of several book and articles on genealogical issues. Further information about the Royal House of Aragon is available at MocTerraNordica.org

MLM Genealogy Leads

When you are trying to build your successful MLM business, you will want to find the best leads to help.  Most people start out by building their business through friends, family, and acquaintances, but often those groups are limited.  MLM genealogy leads are an excellent way to take your business to a whole new level.  Most MLM professionals know just how beneficial these leads can be, but they need to be taken advantage of quickly to be the most useful.

MLM genealogy leads are the names of people who were once a part of a company that is no longer in business.  MLM genealogy leads are some of the best leads for building your downline, because they are people who were formerly in the business and know how to work the business with little training or effort.  They also have a lot of connections, and when one joins others soon follow.

However, getting good MLM genealogy leads is not always easy.  When many lead generation companies get a list of these leads, they often sell them to a lot of buyers.  Their money is in a fresh lead, so they sell them quickly.  It may mean that you will need a lot of patience and persistence to turn those leads into your downline, because several MLM companies are calling those leads right away.  If you are lucky, you may be able to get the MLM genealogy leads directly from the previous company.

Still, just because you may not be the only one with that list does not mean that the list is useless.  Sometimes patience is your best asset when working your MLM genealogy leads.  Some MLM marketers will wait six months to a year before working the list again.  Often this will reap success, because some of those people on the list may be reconsidering the offer to rejoin the MLM world or may not like their current MLM company.

Do not forget to check your MLM genealogy list against the Do Not Call Registry.  This will prevent you from getting into any trouble by calling people who have registered to prevent any ?sales? calls.  Sometimes over one-third of a list can be in the Do Not Call Registry.  Some lead generating companies will do this for you, but be sure you can trust the claim.

One you have the MLM genealogy leads, you need to plan how you will use them.  Develop a script of what you are going to say when you call people.  While some people choose to go ?off the cuff,? most people find success when they plan ahead for what to say.  Rehearse it a few times. 

Rehearsing what you are going to say to your MLM genealogy leads is not necessarily enough to be prepared.  Troubleshoot the answers to your scripted questions.  Rehearse what to say if someone turns you down or voices concerns.  While there are some pre-written scripts available, make sure that you add your own flair to make the script your own.  Also, be flexible.  If after a few phone calls you do not see any success, then maybe ?tweak? your script a bit to make it more effective.

Read the rest of the article here - MLM Genealogy Leads.

Six-Figure Income Earner Charles Fuchs Shows How to Explode your Income and Make Huge Amounts of Money, even with no experience. Visit our Profitable Home Based Business website and receive the Best Make Money Online ideas, valuable tips, strategies, and techniques designed to grow a very successful Home Based Business.

Color Your Genealogy

If you're doing your family's genealogy, you're probably familiar with the charts and the family trees, fan charts, lineage charts, etc., with all the names and dates of your ancestors. Your charts may go back 5, 10 or 15 generations, with all the documented dates of birth, marriage, death. But how much do you really know about those people? Try to add a little "color" to your ancestors, by giving a fuller picture of each person. Do you have any photos of them, any of their belongings, or stories about them? Granted, the longer they have been gone, the less chance you have of finding any of their things. However, you can try to document as many of the more recent ones as possible.

Photographs are good to show us what they looked like. If you're lucky enough to find photos of someone from childhood through adulthood, you will have a pretty good idea of what they looked like, as well as possibly what other members of the family looked like. You may get an inkling of their income level from the clothes they wore or other items in the picture. Remember, though, that they very well could be dressed in their best clothes, whether for the photo, or because of the occasion. If the photo was taken by a professional photographer, any other items in the photo may very well be the photographer's props.

Diaries, journals and letters can give a good insight into what was important to the person writing them. They may also speak of other family members and relatives, as well as friends. This may help you to better piece the family together, or even locate them in census records, since oftentimes family members and neighbors would move to a new area together or join family and friends who migrated earlier.

Books that a person owned (or even wrote) may tell you what his interests were, or how well-educated he was, be it formal education or not. Any stories or poems they wrote would reflect their interests and feelings. Cook books may have been hand-written, in which case they might have been that cook's favorites, or family favorites written for a new bride. Or printed cookbooks with notes written in, or pages marked, might also be an indication of well-used recipes.

Tools might tell you more about a person's occupation, or merely a hobby. You may have to do some detective work to find out what unusual-looking tools were and how they were used.

Textiles and needlework may reflect the interests of the women in the family. There are many different types of needlework that are used by someone at any time. However, there are some forms that were more prominent during a particular time period. Quilts, comforters, embroidered sheets and pillowcases, tatted collars, needlework samplers, Berlin work, lace making, tambour work, trapunto, all had their periods of popularity. Identifying what type of work it was may help narrow down the time period in which it was made, which, in turn, may narrow down the women who might have made it.

Sometimes there are items passed down through the family. They may be furniture pieces, clocks, a special vase, china sets, family Bible, military ribbons, quilts, wedding or christening gown, jewelry, or any number of things. It's important that the stories that come with these items are recorded and preserved.

Don't forget to document the stories. Write down the ones you recall hearing years ago. (Double-check for accuracy with other family members.) You might even do some oral history, sitting down with older family members and recording their memories of family, growing up, school, church, jobs, etc. Wouldn't it be interesting to find out that that serious-looking man in the photo was your great-grandfather, and that he actually had a sense of humor and loved jokes? Oral history is best collected with the use of tape recorders. These tapes should then be transcribed into a format easy to store and share with other relatives.

Lastly, don't forget the living! Family trees start with a living person and work backwards. When a future family member starts their tree, you may not be around anymore to answer questions, so be sure to include photos, stories, and documents about yourself and other living relatives. Make your family tree truly a living and long-lasting tree.

By paying attention to these types of sources as you do your genealogy, you can easily turn some of your "Black & White" ancestors into "Full Color" people.

MLM Genealogy Lists - Are they Better Than Warm and Cold Market Recruiting?

There is a lot of talk about what is the best way to recruit. I am going to discuss the differences, pros, and cons about recruiting from Genealogy Lists, your Warm Market, and your Cold Market. I have personally tried all 3 methods. I will start by explaining each a little bit.

Genealogy lists are lists of current or past MLMer's involved in a company, leadership program, or other MLM program. The reason some say to recruit from genealogy lists is that you don't have to "sell" people on the concept of MLM/Network Marketing. If they are dissatisfied with their current or past company, they might be interested in joining yours. The good thing about this method is that you don't always have to worry about people being afraid of MLM being a pyramid scheme because they have already done it at least once. Also, usually most people are either closed or open to looking at your opportunity because they know about what network marketing is and are usually interested in a new possibly better company, or they are sick of MLM. Another good aspect is that you can really work from home by just calling people on the phone, giving them a number or website to check out, and doing a 3-way call or whatever is next. Also, if you teach the method to your downline, they can recruit as fast as you. There's less emotional response to rejection from these prospects because you don't know them. If they give you a "no," its not like your best friend saying "no," and telling you that you're an idiot for getting into some pyramid thingy.

The downside is that it is basically cold-calling, so you have to make a connection with the people, otherwise they will hang up on you like they will a telemarketer. Also, MLMer's range from leaders, to groupies, to dead's(people that got involved and never did anything). Now, that is not to say that groupies are bad, and dead's might "come alive," or that none of the people on the lists are leaders. But just because people are already sold on the concept of MLM/NWM, it doesn't mean they are good at it. Also, its not that efficient. It might take 100-200 dials to recruit 1 person.

For warm market recruiting, a lot can be said. This would be the method of creating a list of 100+ people, "exposing" them, having home meetings, etc. This method is a lot more efficient than calling MLM leads because you might recruit 2-5 of your 100 people rather than 1 out of 100. Also, you might be able to make money with friends that you know and like.

The downside to this is that you might know a lot of people that are flakey, not leaders, young, and especially for a new person, that flaking and negativity can kill new people and make them quit. Also, if you don't know how to work through your warm market's warm market, you will quickly run out of prospects. I find that this method can cost a lot more money, if you are buying all the dvd's, flip charts, and other stuff to give to your prospects.

Another method is cold market recruiting. By this, I mean going to a mall or talking to people when you're out at the gas station, and things like that. The good thing about this method, is that you won't ever run out of prospects. Some people might find rejection from strangers easier than rejection for family and friends.

The bad things are that you have no connection with these prospects. Neither by the fact that they are a friend or family member nor that they have been in MLM/NWM and understand it. They have no reason to believe you, and might think that if they do get involved with you and your company, that they will have to pass out magazines and give out DVD's at the mall.

My preference is to recruit from Genealogy lists, and from SOME of my warm market. I usually just ask the business minded or successful/leader people that I know. I don't believe in making all of my family and friends hate me because, well, they just don't get how good this business is. I like the genealogy lists because it only takes 1-2 hours to make 100-150 calls. 5 days a week of calling can enroll some people quickly and in large numbers.

I personally suggest that you go to Ultimate Success CDs, and listen to Tracy Biller, the first real expert on recruiting other networkers. Also, Myron Golden has some great scripts I've ever used for recruiting leads, warm, or cold market. For more information, check out his Speedy Sponsor Program.

The author has been involved in MLM for several years and has built in 3 different companies.