Dec. 31. 1850.
_Genealogy of the Talbots._--In some of the printed genealogies of the
Talbots, to whose ancestry you have lately made several references, descent
is claimed for that noble family from the emperors of the East, through
Anne, wife of Henry I., King of France, and daughter of Iaroslaf, or
Georges, King of Russia, whose father, the great Vladimir, married Anne,
sister of Basilius, Emperor of Byzantium.
Now that excellent authority, _L'Art de Vérifier les Dates_, gives the date
of 988 for the conquest of the Chersonese by Vladimir and his marriage with
the emperor's sister, and that of 978 for the birth of Iaroslaf, who must,
therefore, be a son of one of the many concubines mentioned in that work as
preceding his wife Anne.
Can the rare honour of descent from the Eastern emperors be substantiated
by the correspondents who appear to take interest in the pedigree of this
house?
I may add, that _L'Art de Vérifier les Dates_, though seldom incorrect,
seems to err when it asserts Enguerherde, wife of the above-named Iaroslaf,
to be {40} the daughter of Olaus, or Olaf, "King of _Norway_, and not of
_Sweden_," as the _Heims Kringla_ of Snorro Sturleson gives a long account
of the betrothal of Ingigerd or Enguerherde, daughter of Olaf Ericson, King
of _Sweden_, to St. Olaf, King of _Norway_, and of her subsequent marriage
to Iaroslaf, or Jarislief, King of Russia.
Can you say where the best pedigree of the early kings of Sweden is to be
found?