General Notes

BIOGRAPHY: of the family of Gerardini, Tuscanny. Came to England & Wales at time of Edward the Confessor.

BIOGRAPHY: Gerald was the ancestor of the Fitzgeralds, Fitzmaurices, Carews, Redmonds and Keatings of Ireland, among others. Otho was so powerful that his favor with the King was greatly resented by the native Norman nobles. He possessed three lordships in Surrey, three in Buckinghamshire, two in Berkshire, four in Middlesex, nine in Wiltshire, two in Hampshire,three in Dorset, and one in Somerset. With him, the family name was changed toGeraldini. Otho's son, Walter fitz-Otho Geraldini, was treated as a fellow countryman by the Normans after the conquest of England in 1066. He succeeded to all of Otho's estates and his name is shown in the Domesday Book of 1087 that listed all the landholders of England. Windsor Castle, a great gray pile overlooking the Thames, had just been built amid the forests of Berkshire, and Walter was appointed its first castellan, as well as warden of the forests. He was, it is clear, one of the most Norman of the Normans -- a race renowned for its adaptability, no less than for its valor and ferocity.

BIOGRAPHY: Windsor Castlecontinued as a baronage for Otho's descendants for centuries, until it passedout of existence due to lack of male heirs in the direct line. An interesting footnote is the story of how the current English royal family, the House of Windsor, took their name from this vacated baronage. During the First World War, there was enormous anti-German sentiment in England, and the king wanted to distance himself from the German House of Hanover, their name at the time. Since theGherardini family can be traced as the founders of the House of Hanover, it was very convenient that Gerald de Windsor, baron of England, was related both tothe English royal family and the Florentine Gheradinis, and hence the House ofHanover (see above). This provided justification (after much research) for theGerman House of Hanover to become the more politically-correct English House of Windsor, which they remain to this day.