the oldest son of Anacher, the Great Forrester

aunt minerva collection
The Foster Family by W.T. Foster, cont.


The oldest son of Anacher, the Great Forrester became Count of Flanders and the Great Forrester. These Forresters were also given the title names of Baldwin I,II,III, etc. Being counts under the King of France made them governors of Flanders, while, as the Great Forrester, they had charge of the forrests and wild animals of France. As governors they were commanders of the armies of Flanders. The son of Anacher was also called "Iron Arm." His father alos, having been of great physical strength, the family was granted its first coat of arms with a strong right arm, carrying a spear, as its crest. About the same time the second coat of arms was granted the family with a stag as the crest. See coats of arms herein. This Baldwin I took the family name of Forrrester but Anacher's other children took the family name of anacher. This was the rule. But when an heir, not born to a title, later received a title, like Baldwin IV or George IV, they then changed the family name of that individual to the new title.
Baldwin I married Princess Judith, daughter of Charles, the Bald, King of rance, who was the son of Louis, the Pious, King of France was the son of the great Charlemagne, King of France and Emperor of Rome. In his younger days Charlemagne was King of Franks, his father was Pepin the Short, King of the Franks adn his fatehr was Charles Martel, Duke of Austrasians, a great general, who conquered Newstria and formed the Frankish French Kingdom. He is said to be the savior of Christendon by his defeat of the Saracens. He was the founder of the Charlemagne line of French Kings. All these were among our ancestors on the side of the women whom our Foster ancestors married.
Now let me caution the reader. I do not claim anything because I am a descendant of Kings, queens, counts, dukes, and of one Roman Emperor. Perhaps it is not best for me to record these facts, because in America there is great prejudice against royalty. But I must be truthful, even tho the truth does hurt. There is one advantage, however, in being a descendant of the great, of the best minds, of the best civilization the world has produced, of the very best blood. Evidently those ancestors were the greatest generals of their time, they were the best educated of their time, of all the people, they could marry only into the best families and they have produced among the greatest scholars, generals, lawyers, scientists, statesmen, jurists that have been produced in the past 1100 years. Therefore we cliam that we are the descendants of good blood. Bad blood does not succeed. I propose to accept my ancestors from first to last, to take them as they come, good or bad, and average the lot. As an average I do not believe they stand at the foot. My mother oft repeated:-"Every tub must stand on its own bottom." Shakespear said:-"Act well your part, therein all the honors lie." Therefore we can not lean on our ancestors.
If the individual is a failure great ancestors will be of no advantage to the failure. But we should try to be an honor to all our good and great ancestors and not a disgrace to them adn to our descendants. Families are rapidly disappearing from the earth because of bad blood. The Foster family is here to stay because its ancestors were of good blood. The descendants of Anacher, the grey-eyed, athlete and Danis Noble, will soon be greater in numbers, and in every other way, than the descendants of Abraham ever were or ever will be. God will bless all those families that were of good blood. There is a half million of Anacher's descendants now living.
The cyclopediass say. "The real nucleus of Flanders was a Noble family whose possessions were grouped about Bruges and Slavs. That was the Foster family. In 862 the King of France changed the title of the head of that family from Forrester to Count. The first recipent of that honor was Baldwin I, the "Iron Arm", who was likewise invested with the maratime region of northeast France, on condition that he defended it against the Normans. He built castles at Bruges and Ghent for that purpose. He died at Arras, capitol of Flanders, 877 and was succeeded by his oldest son who became Baldwin II, the Great Forrester. He married Princess Alfrith, daughter of Alfred the Great, King of England. She was claimed to be the most perfect character in history. Her father was the Saxon King of England who defeated the Danes after they had overrun England, made him a fugitive, causing him to hid in the swamps and live on "burnt cakes", furnished him by an humble poor family. That gives us another illustrious line of ancestors and makes us akin to the blue-eyed Saxons. Baldwin the II died 919 and was succeeded by his son Arnulf, of Flanders. He was called "Of the Handsome Beard."
His titles were Baldwin III, The Great Forester,. It will be noted that one r is dropped from Forrester. He was also Count of Flanders and married the daughter of the Count of Luxemborg, an independent grand-duchy, hemmed in by France, Prussia and Belgiam. Luxemborg figured largely in the European war beginning August 1914. (deb's note: this has to be a typo...but this is what it says.) I have not learned the nationality of the wife of Baldwin the III but as she was daughter of a count she was of a noted family and that gives us another illustrious line of ancestry. Baldwin III was a great general and successfully defended Flanders against the united forces of Henry, who was Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, and against Robert, King of France and the Duke of Normandy. Conditions had changed. Flanders was compelled to withstand all these forces and as it did so, argues that Count Forester was an able general. He died in 1034 and was succeeded by his son.
Baldwin IV, The Great Forester. He was called "Le Debonaire" which means excellence, of good descent, courteous, of good appearance and good manners. He married the Princess Adelia, daughter of Robert, King of France and was the last of our ancestors who held the title of Flanders-Baldwin and Great Forester. Note that he defeated His father-in-law, Robert, King of France, and all his allies in a great war. I have not been able to trace King Roberts ancestors nor to learn much about his history. But he was King of France and whatever his record, his daughter, Princess Adelia, being one of our ancestors, adds antoher noted line to our family tree.