About us
Based on SNP testing, we know that some of the
Brug(ge)mans from the Province of Zuid Holland in The Netherlands come from Y-DNA haplogroup I. The I, I1, and I1a Y-DNA lineages are nearly completely restricted to northwestern Europe. These would most likely have been common within Viking populations that rampaged through Europe in the dark ages.
The following is a brief history of the Vikings in The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany obtained from the following website:
http://www.missgien.net/vikings/index.html
The Vikings were adventurous seafarers and raiders from Scandinavia who spread through Europe and the North Atlantic in the period of the vigorous Scandinavian expansion (800-1100 CE) known as the Viking Age. From Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, they appeared as traders, conquerors, and settlers in Finland, Russia, Byzantium, France, England, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
For many centuries before the year 800, such scandinavian tribes as the Cimbrians, Goths, Vandals, Burgundians, and Angles had been wandering out of Scandinavia and conquering large areas of Europe. The Vikings were different because they were sea warriors and they carried with them a civilization that was in some ways more developed than those of the lands they "visited."
Expansion by the Vikings was propelled by the search for new trading opportunities and new areas in which to settle their growing population. By the end of the 8th century, Swedish Vikings were already settling the lands around the Gulf of Finland, while Danish Vikings had settled along the Dutch coast, and Norwegian Vikings had colonized the Orkney and Shetland Islands.
During the last years of the reign of Charles the Great (768-814), the Emperor took measures against the danger of Viking raids. He stationed fleets in the major rivers and organised coastal defense.
After 820, the defense system in the northern part of the Carolingian state collapsed. Between 834 and 837, the City of Dorestad (near the present Wijk bij Duurstede) was destroyed four times. Without much resistance, Walcheren in Zeeland was taken in 837.
The central figure in this period of Dutch history was Rorik, a follower of King Harald of Denmark. He was a member of an important Danish family and for a large part of his adult life was involved in a battle for the crown of Denmark.
Harald was the King of Denmark in 812-813, as well as from 819-827. In 828, he was run off by fellow kings. From that time onwards, he spent his days gathering wealth raided from the Frisians. Dorestad was Harald's favourite target, as well as of his follower Rorik. In 841, Emperor Lothar handed Harald the region of Walcheren in Zeeland as a loan. Walcheren's important trading centre, Domburg, was part of the package.
In 850, Lothar saw no other option than to give Dorestad and all of its lands north of the river Maas in loan to Rorik. The Frankish kings just gave the Vikings whatever they wanted to stop their raiding. Rorik had just ended a very successfull campaign in the north of the Lowlands and the Emperor had no power to stop him.
In Flanders, from 851 until 864, the Vikings regularly sailed up the river Schelde and attacked the city of Gent and the districts of Mempiscus and Terwaan. After 864, the low countries were relatively spared from Viking raids; probably because the Danes (most Viking raiding of the low countries came from Denmark) shifted their attention to England.
Harald died in 852 and his son Godfried took over. He travelled, with Rorik, back to Denmark to reclaim the crown in the war of 854. After they failed, they started their own empire in Frisia and extended their territory. In 863, Dorestad was raided for the last time: the city simply ceased to exist.
The Frisian kings did not take a consistant stance in dealing with the Vikings. Ubbo, a Frisian warlord, fought on the side of the Danes in Northumbria; but, in that same year, Rorik was thrown out of Frisia after a successful revolt. Rorik returned to Denmark for a short period only to become a great statesman. He made a treaty with Charles the Bold, King of the West-Frankisch Empire, and at the same time kept good contacts with Louis the German of the East-Frankish Empire. In 870, he returned to Frisia, more powerfull than ever.
Until 873 there are regular reports of Viking raids. Bishop Hunger of Utrecht fled in 858 to Roermond and later to Deventer. In 873, the Normans were defeated in Oostergoo, Frisia (Friesland) by an army led ironically by an immigrant Viking.
After the victory of Alfred the Great of Wessex in 878, the Vikings returned to the low countries. This time they also fought as land forces and cavalry. Flanders, in particular, took heavy blows (Gent, Terwaan, Atrecht, Kamerijk).
In 881, the Vikings returned to Flanders and Dutch Limburg. From Asselt (north of Roermond), they raided towns in Germany (Cologne, Bonn) and Limburg (Liege and Tongeren). In their attack on Trier they were resisted by Bishops Wala and Bertulf of Trier and by Count Adelhard of Metz. Following the Trier example, other cities began to defend themselves more effectively.
In 882, Godfried the Sea-King (whether or not he was Rorik's cousin is not certain) officially became the heir to Rorik's possessions. However, he died in 885 under suspicious circumstances; probably at the hands of one of his warlords, named Gerulf. This Gerulf would later become the archfather of the Dutch counts who would rule much of the low countries for centuries.
The new Emperor, Charles the Fat, sent an army to Asselt. The two Viking leaders, Godfried and Siegfried negotiated. Godfried choose to stay. He became a vassal of the emperor and, after being baptized, married Gisela, daughter of Lothar II, the first King of Lorraine. Godfried was later assassinated by Charles. On the other hand, the wiser Siegfried was paid off with 2,000 pounds of silver and gold and sailed north with 200 ships.
In September 891, the Vikings lost a battle at the river Dijle, near Leuven, against King Arnulf of Carinthia. The bad harvest of 892 and the threat of famine, made the Vikings turn north again. After 892, their role in the low countries was limited to occasional raids (notably on Nijmegen, Groningen, Stavoren, Tiel and Utrecht). After 1010, the raids came to an end altogether. After all, many Vikings had already settled all over Europe and the raiders began facing serious opposition from their former countrymen and women.
Given the above, it is little wonder that Viking DNA can be found in those areas of The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, from which we believe our surname to originate.
Based on the Recent Ethnic Origins Database from FTDNA, our results match most closely (in order)with people with ancestors from Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland.
Brug(ge)mans from the Province of Zuid Holland in The Netherlands come from Y-DNA haplogroup I. The I, I1, and I1a Y-DNA lineages are nearly completely restricted to northwestern Europe. These would most likely have been common within Viking populations that rampaged through Europe in the dark ages.
The following is a brief history of the Vikings in The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany obtained from the following website:
http://www.missgien.net/vikings/index.html
The Vikings were adventurous seafarers and raiders from Scandinavia who spread through Europe and the North Atlantic in the period of the vigorous Scandinavian expansion (800-1100 CE) known as the Viking Age. From Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, they appeared as traders, conquerors, and settlers in Finland, Russia, Byzantium, France, England, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
For many centuries before the year 800, such scandinavian tribes as the Cimbrians, Goths, Vandals, Burgundians, and Angles had been wandering out of Scandinavia and conquering large areas of Europe. The Vikings were different because they were sea warriors and they carried with them a civilization that was in some ways more developed than those of the lands they "visited."
Expansion by the Vikings was propelled by the search for new trading opportunities and new areas in which to settle their growing population. By the end of the 8th century, Swedish Vikings were already settling the lands around the Gulf of Finland, while Danish Vikings had settled along the Dutch coast, and Norwegian Vikings had colonized the Orkney and Shetland Islands.
During the last years of the reign of Charles the Great (768-814), the Emperor took measures against the danger of Viking raids. He stationed fleets in the major rivers and organised coastal defense.
After 820, the defense system in the northern part of the Carolingian state collapsed. Between 834 and 837, the City of Dorestad (near the present Wijk bij Duurstede) was destroyed four times. Without much resistance, Walcheren in Zeeland was taken in 837.
The central figure in this period of Dutch history was Rorik, a follower of King Harald of Denmark. He was a member of an important Danish family and for a large part of his adult life was involved in a battle for the crown of Denmark.
Harald was the King of Denmark in 812-813, as well as from 819-827. In 828, he was run off by fellow kings. From that time onwards, he spent his days gathering wealth raided from the Frisians. Dorestad was Harald's favourite target, as well as of his follower Rorik. In 841, Emperor Lothar handed Harald the region of Walcheren in Zeeland as a loan. Walcheren's important trading centre, Domburg, was part of the package.
In 850, Lothar saw no other option than to give Dorestad and all of its lands north of the river Maas in loan to Rorik. The Frankish kings just gave the Vikings whatever they wanted to stop their raiding. Rorik had just ended a very successfull campaign in the north of the Lowlands and the Emperor had no power to stop him.
In Flanders, from 851 until 864, the Vikings regularly sailed up the river Schelde and attacked the city of Gent and the districts of Mempiscus and Terwaan. After 864, the low countries were relatively spared from Viking raids; probably because the Danes (most Viking raiding of the low countries came from Denmark) shifted their attention to England.
Harald died in 852 and his son Godfried took over. He travelled, with Rorik, back to Denmark to reclaim the crown in the war of 854. After they failed, they started their own empire in Frisia and extended their territory. In 863, Dorestad was raided for the last time: the city simply ceased to exist.
The Frisian kings did not take a consistant stance in dealing with the Vikings. Ubbo, a Frisian warlord, fought on the side of the Danes in Northumbria; but, in that same year, Rorik was thrown out of Frisia after a successful revolt. Rorik returned to Denmark for a short period only to become a great statesman. He made a treaty with Charles the Bold, King of the West-Frankisch Empire, and at the same time kept good contacts with Louis the German of the East-Frankish Empire. In 870, he returned to Frisia, more powerfull than ever.
Until 873 there are regular reports of Viking raids. Bishop Hunger of Utrecht fled in 858 to Roermond and later to Deventer. In 873, the Normans were defeated in Oostergoo, Frisia (Friesland) by an army led ironically by an immigrant Viking.
After the victory of Alfred the Great of Wessex in 878, the Vikings returned to the low countries. This time they also fought as land forces and cavalry. Flanders, in particular, took heavy blows (Gent, Terwaan, Atrecht, Kamerijk).
In 881, the Vikings returned to Flanders and Dutch Limburg. From Asselt (north of Roermond), they raided towns in Germany (Cologne, Bonn) and Limburg (Liege and Tongeren). In their attack on Trier they were resisted by Bishops Wala and Bertulf of Trier and by Count Adelhard of Metz. Following the Trier example, other cities began to defend themselves more effectively.
In 882, Godfried the Sea-King (whether or not he was Rorik's cousin is not certain) officially became the heir to Rorik's possessions. However, he died in 885 under suspicious circumstances; probably at the hands of one of his warlords, named Gerulf. This Gerulf would later become the archfather of the Dutch counts who would rule much of the low countries for centuries.
The new Emperor, Charles the Fat, sent an army to Asselt. The two Viking leaders, Godfried and Siegfried negotiated. Godfried choose to stay. He became a vassal of the emperor and, after being baptized, married Gisela, daughter of Lothar II, the first King of Lorraine. Godfried was later assassinated by Charles. On the other hand, the wiser Siegfried was paid off with 2,000 pounds of silver and gold and sailed north with 200 ships.
In September 891, the Vikings lost a battle at the river Dijle, near Leuven, against King Arnulf of Carinthia. The bad harvest of 892 and the threat of famine, made the Vikings turn north again. After 892, their role in the low countries was limited to occasional raids (notably on Nijmegen, Groningen, Stavoren, Tiel and Utrecht). After 1010, the raids came to an end altogether. After all, many Vikings had already settled all over Europe and the raiders began facing serious opposition from their former countrymen and women.
Given the above, it is little wonder that Viking DNA can be found in those areas of The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, from which we believe our surname to originate.
Based on the Recent Ethnic Origins Database from FTDNA, our results match most closely (in order)with people with ancestors from Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland.