David Noel Lynch Featured Connections

Ancestors

Chlodio Merovingian, 47th great grandfather: also known as Chlodio the Cutter, ordered the massacre of the Thuringians and the destruction of their capital city.

Edward Plantagenet, 20th great grandfather: Edward Plantagenet’s brutal colonization and oppression of Wales may have embedded the seeds of authoritarian domination and cultural genocide in my deep ancestral memory.

Simon V de Montfort, 26th great grandfather: Simon de Montfort’s religious extremism and merciless persecution of dissent with the Albigensian Crusade may have encoded tendencies toward zealous righteousness at the expense of open-minded inquiry.

Alexios I Komnenos, 27th great grandfather: Alexios Komnenos’ cunning Byzantine politics marked by deception, betrayal, and ends-justify-means machinations may have ingrained a proclivity toward manipulation, deception, and realpolitik detached from moral principles.

Alfred the Great of Wessex, 32nd great grandfather: Alfred the Great’s relentless power grabs and authoritarianism may have instilled instincts toward control and dominance that could slide toward demagoguery or autocracy if left unchecked by wisdom.

Stephen-Henry de Blois, 26th great grandfather: Stephen of Blois’ opportunistic usurpation of the English crown may have seeded tendencies toward impulsiveness, reckless ambition, and disregard for lawful order that could rationalize unethical disruption.

Afonso I Portugal, 25th great grandfather: Afonso of Portugal’s bloody campaigns of conquest in Morocco may have imparted an imprint of cultural imperialism, Christian supremacy, and ends-justify-means mentalities.

Harald Gormsson "Bluetooth", 32nd great grandfather: Harald Bluetooth’s forced Christianization of Norway could predispose me toward spiritual coercion and repression of conscience.

Henry II Plantagenet, 23rd great grandfather: Henry II Plantagenet’s antagonistic conflicts with Thomas Becket may have encoded a tendency to view authority figures and institutions as above conscience or accountability.

Constantine I MacAlpin King of Picts, 33rd great grandfather: Constantine MacAlpin’s bloody path to power through war and usurpation may have imparted an instinct toward violence as a means of control and dominance.

Charlemagne Carolingian, 34th great grandfather: Charlemagne’s wars of imperialist expansion could foster self-aggrandizement, authoritarianism and belief in spreading values by the sword.

Brian Boru mac Cennetig, 30th great grandfather: Brian Boru’s zenith of Irish battlefield victories after a lifetime of tribal warfare may have deeply etched cycles of violence as means of resolving conflicts.

Louis (Capet) de France (1187 - 1226) , 22nd great grandfather: Louis of France’s fervent Catholic orthodoxy and repression of dissent may have encoded tendencies toward dogmatism, closemindedness, and persecution of differences.

Welf I von Bayern, 34th great grandfather: Welf of Bavaria’s repeated rebellions and conflicts with authority may engender reckless individualism and anti-social dissent heedless of greater community bonds and order.

John Plantagenet, 22nd great granduncle: John Plantagenet’s scheming and betrayals in plotting against family members may foster a legacy of ethical expediency, deception and toxic political maneuvering.

Aymer de Valence. 20th great granduncle: And Aymer de Valence’s role oppressing Scottish independence and self-determination may perpetuate in me an oppressor consciousness and rationalization of injustice as political necessity.

Cousins

Robert the Bruce, second cousins 22 times removed: Robert the Bruce's resorting to guerilla warfare and ends-justify-means tactics in the struggle for Scottish independence may have imparted an imprint of belief in radical or violent means being justified for righteous ends.

Erling (Ormsson) Skakke, third cousins 28 ties removed: Erling Skakke's opportunistic political maneuvers and shifting allegiances during Norway's civil wars may have encoded a legacy of ethical expediency, political betrayal and incitement of conflicts for self-interest.

Magnus Erlingsson, second cousins 26 times removed: Magnus Erlingsson's entitled insistence on claiming Norway's throne and prosecuting civil war to reclaim power may have engrained instincts toward egoistic tyranny, authoritarianism and belief in hereditary prerogatives.

Ernesto "Che" Guevara, 20th cousin once removed: Che Guevara's Marxist-Leninist radicalism prosecuted through violent class struggle without regard for human costs may have imparted a fervent idealism lacking in compassionate pragmatism.

Nicholas II Romanov

Jimmy Carter

Nathaniel Bacon

Elvis Presley

Taylor Hawkins

Muhammad Ali

Helen Keller

Abe Lincoln

Thomas Jefferson

Barrack Obama

Conn O'Neill

Johann Wolfgang Goethe

Georgia O'Keeffe

John Steinbeck

Laura Ingalls

Napoléon I Bonaparte