Marc Yes, some are affiliated with the Plantagenet family, some aren't. In the case of the Lords of Bamburgh, any descendant of John of Gaunt, Richard II, or Henry V, is also a descendant of these early Angle warlords. Also, the later Stewart Kings of Scotland and England have Plantagenet ancestry. Apparently I'm not the only one here with as many or more Scottish (by the way, Scotch is a drink) ancestors than English, though. How do you tell which you have more of? I guess you could count, but that only reflects how many who you can find records for. The rule of thumb for me is how many lined up on each side at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. In my case I have a couple of dozen ancestors who I know were with the Scots while only a few (again, that I know of) were with the English. But I can trace more English branches back further than I can many of my Scottish families so I probably have a lot more ancestors through my Plantagenet connections. The Red Douglases (the Earls of Angus) and the Black Douglases (The Earls of Douglas) were two principal branches of the same family, both descended from different sons of Sir William 'le Hardi' Douglas, Lord of Douglas. The senior branch, the Black Douglases, were so named for being descended from Sir James 'the Black' Douglas, Lord of Douglas, who was the constant companion of Robert the Bruce (called Sir James 'the Good' by Scottish historians). Jim Marc Sanders wrote: Jim Are any of these families connected to the Plantagenet family? They seem more Scottish than English, although I don't know how you tell if you're more Scotch than English. And I'll bite what is the difference between the Red Douglases and the Black Douglases? Marc.