USING A LDS FAMILY HISTORY CENTER #10 MEDIEVAL RECORDS ID UNIT revised Sept 1997 So you say you can trace you ancestry back to Charlemagne? Or better yet, Adam and Eve? Well, if that is the case, you will need to become aware of the activities of a small, select group of individuals working in the MEDIEVAL RECORDS ID Unit, a part of the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Experienced researchers are aware that there are no reliable records before the systematic reporting of church activities in parish records or Bishop's transcripts for areas such as England, Western Europe, and the Americas. The MEDIEVAL RECORDS ID UNIT formerly called the Royalty ID Unit, evaluates records from the pre1500 AD time period. We know these records are spotty at best, and contain many errors, due to purposeful human error, and illegability from years of wear and tear. Salt Lake does not permit the submission of names in this time period, as the MRIU is working these lines as completely as possible with their expert training. What do I mean by purposeful human error? Well, many early genealogy type records were based on an individuals desire to be related to land holding gentry. So reports to the authorities were willfully misrepresented. You can access the completed work of the Medieval Records ID Unit using the ANCESTRAL FILE (tm) on FamilySearch (tm) equipped computer systems. All this adds mystery and intrigue. Just remember that if you can push EACH line back to the 1500's, we'll sign you off, and you can QUIT researching! The Medieval Records ID Unit will take it from there for you! Additional Reading: 1. Everton's Publishing offers a concise explanation of the medieval time period: <A HREF="http://www.everton.com/oe1-15/gen-med.htm">http://www.everton.com/oe1 -15/gen-med.htm</A> 2. There is a newsgroup on the internet devoted entirely to the genealogy of the medieval time period. Its known as: soc.genealogy.medieval Reported to us by John Fuller , [email protected] GEN-MEDIEVAL. Gatewayed with the soc.genealogy.medieval newsgroup for genealogy and family history discussion among people researching individuals living during medieval times (loosely defined as the period from the breakup of the (Western) Roman Empire until the time public records relating to the general population began to be kept and extending roughly from AD 500 to AD 1600). Mailing address for postings is [email protected] To subscribe send "subscribe" (without the quotes) as the only text in the body of a message to: [email protected] (mail mode), [email protected] (digest mode), or [email protected] (index mode). 3. Check out Cyndi's List of Medieval Genealogy Sites on the Internet at: <A HREF="http://www.oz.net/~cyndihow/medieval.htm">http://www.oz.net/~cyndihow /medieval.htm</A>