Back to basics

A bit of work yesterday with a surprise find of a Roger de Pencombe in the early 1300s at  Bondleigh Devon which is south of the North Molton area near Crediton. That does change the picture perhaps although it is the only record of Roger de Pencombe that I do find in Devon but I also located a Roger de Pencombe in Herefordshire Archives records. Is he related to Eustache de Pencombe and part of the family mentioned in yesterday's post (Turstin Flandrensis (of Flanders)) mentioned in the records of the Convent of St Peter and the monks at Gloucester?

Should I continue this trip back through time when I do not have positive proof that the de Pencombe family of Herefordshire is the Pencombe family found at North Devon on the 1524 Lay Subsidy? Probably I am early in this book and thinking of how James Sanders looked at earlier material and recorded it I am probably not amiss to continue in this vein until I find a reason not to do so. 

Up early today, sun not yet risen; the Psalms of Ian White playing softly as I begin another day in God's world. I think the watershed of COVID is still working its way through the lives of the people of the world. There is a violent element in the world that was missing before COVID; we were more reluctant to get involved in anything that "smelled" like war skirting around the possibility rather than actually looking into the dark eyes of the Devil sort of thing. Is Putin the Devil? looks like it actually. He is unable to control his most base instincts to commit murder in order to get what he wants - the war in Ukraine is the best example for sure but even his own people can not escape his wrath nor the volunteers from East Asia either who are put in harm's way to save the Russian troops. What makes a person like that? Greed mostly I think. As we (NATO) face off against this tyrant one wonders what the end will look like. My mother used to say that - during the Second World War people talked about what the end of all of that would look like. There is a companionship in war time that just isn't there in peace time; in peace time everyone is too busy catching up on what they could not do in war time. Praying for peace but preparing for war was a truth that I grew up with and it is still pertinent today in this world covered by the clouds of pollution both physical and mental. 

This is a Blake day actually and I am looking at the le Blak family chapter still. I did write to suggest that the original Blake wills should be kept because of a possible connection with the Royal Family as the Andover Blake line is one of the ancestors of Diana, Princess of Wales in her 12th generation. It is about 800 wills for Blake in total which would be a box full and probably they could be thinned out as I would say as many as half of them are easily assigned to particular Blake lines without much effort. The remaining though could be carefully catalogued as an historical collection for her Fonds. Diana brought a great deal to her position as the wife of the Prince of Wales but forgot that the role itself was the job and although beloved by the British people unlike most females in Britain she had to take second place to her husband as he was the one who would have to bear the responsibility of being King as he is doing most effectively. Perhaps the biggest gift that Diana has given to the world is her son William who, like his father, fits perfectly into the role which she too helped to prepare him for as a child. He too will be an exceptional King I think. 

Onto the day I have managed to put in half of an hour thinking about the books that I am writing mostly. I think I can dawdle in the deep past for a month or so and then make a decision on whether that is the best route or just move on. 

Teatime.