Progenitor


In genealogy, the progenitor is the – sometimes legendary – founder of a family, line of descent, clan or tribe, noble house or people group. Genealogy understands a progenitor to be the earliest recorded ancestor of a consanguineous family group of descendants.
Progenitors are sometimes used to describe the status of a genealogical research project, or in order to compare the availability of genealogical data in different times and places. Often, progenitors are implied to be patrilineal. If a patrilineal dynasty is considered, each such dynasty has exactly one progenitor.
Aristocratic and dynastic families often look back to an ancestor who is seen as the founder and progenitor of their house. Even the old Roman legal concept of agnates was based on the idea of the unbroken family line of a progenitor, but only includes male members of the family, whilst the women were referred to as "cognatic".
It is rarely possible to confirm biological parenthood, however, in the case of ancient family lines. In addition, the progenitor is often a distant ancestor, only known as a result of oral tradition. Where people groups and communities rely solely on a patrilinear family line, their common ancestor often became the subject of a legend surrounding the origin of the family. By contrast, families and peoples with a matrilinear history trace themselves back to an original female progenitrix. Matrilinear rules of descent are found in about 200 of the 1300 known indigenous peoples and ethnic groups worldwide, whilst around 600 have patrilineal rules of descent.
In the mythological beliefs of the Romans the god of war, Mars, was viewed as the progenitor of the Romans; which is why the Mars symbol, is used to refer to the male sex. Besides cities and countries, people groups may also have a progenitor in their mythologies, for example, the Hellenistic Greeks look back to Hellen as their progenitor. In Indian Hinduism Manu is the progenitor of all mankind. In the Abrahamic religions, Adam, Noah, Abraham and others are described as progenitors.
In archaeogenetics, a human Y-chromosomal Adam has been named as the most recent common ancestor from whom all currently living people are descended patrilinearly. This Adam lived in Africa at a time variously estimated from 60,000 to 338,000 years ago.

Examples of patrilineal top ancestors

subjectdynastytop ancestordate of top ancestor's death
Queen Elizabeth II of the United KingdomWettinDietrich I of Wettinca. 976
King Albert II of the BelgiansWettinDietrich I of Wettinca. 976
CharlemagneCarolingianBishop Arnulf of Metz640
Queen Victoria of the United KingdomEsteOtbert I, Count Palatine of Italy975
Queen Margrethe II of DenmarkOldenburgElimar I, Count of Oldenburg1112
King Harald V of NorwayOldenburgElimar I, Count of Oldenburg1112
Charles, Prince of WalesOldenburgElimar I, Count of Oldenburg1112
King Felipe VI of SpainRobertians/CapetiansRobert of Hesbayeca. 807