Hello, I live in England, and my family name is BROAD; I have been told that there is a family legend that we are descended from a Danish Guard named BROD, who fought in Ireland in 1690 on the side of William of Orange. The story includes that the Dane received an emerald cloak fastener from King William in recognition of an act of bravery.
All of my family history research goes back Wiltshire, England in the early 1700s - a few years later -which may just be a coincidence.
So far, I have not been able to find any records of any named Danish Guards and wonder if anyone can suggest where I might go to check this story out.
I will be most grateful for any advice, Thank You, Stephen
Hello Stephen
I can give you a couple of hints.
1. Google "Jordsand 1689". You will find more links, but the pages are in danish, however most important to you, there are some contact possibilities. I'm sure they are able to explain a lot about the subject.
e.g: http://dengang.dk/artikler/1877
2. Contact our National Archive (Rigsarkivet) in Copenhagen and ask them to search:
"Landetaten:
Krigskancelliet, indkomne sager Okt-Nov (577-579).
Krigskancelliet, andre Bøger og Akter forretningsgangen vedkommende Pk. Mrk. Etater, Reglementer, Tabeller og Beregninger 1681-1690."
The contents of above is a lot of information about the danish troops including list of commissioned officers and ordinary soldiers and perhaps also your family name.
I wish you good luck.
Regards
Per
Hi Stephen,
A Danish regiment from Fyn (Funen) - the Island in the middle of Denmark, took part in the battle at Boyne in 1690.Wilhelm of Oranje (Wiiliam) was the the of the troop og 36.000 soldiers from The Nedelnads, Germany, England, Franche and Denmark.
Many regards
Ib
Hi,
This article doesn't mention your ancestor specifically, but it has some interesting information about the Danish Regiments.
http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/danish%20force%20at%20limk,%201690.pdf
Having had a quick search on Ancestry, though, Brod doesn't appear to be solely a Danish name. There are several examples from the late 1600's who share the surname Brod - Swedish, Germans, English...so I wish you luck!
Regards, BB