Who is the oldest known person from your nationality?

10 comments

1. Spain: Maria Branyas, 115 years.

   Not as old but my gran will turn 98 in a month 🙂 She is incredibly strong.

2. I think of the currently alive, it’s a woman of around 112 years old.

   Of all time, certified…Emma Morano,who lived to 117.She died a few years ago.

   She was also the oldest certified person in the world for a short period.

3. Our nation was pretty much born from the 80 years war, so anyone alive at that time I guess. Willem van Oranje would be the obvious pick.

4. That’s tricky since you have to define “nation” and be certain of its existence. Since Spain didn’t exist (legally) until the 1715 (decreto de nuava planta), you could argue Felipe V was the first with legal Spanish nationality.

   Before that, I doubt Trajan or Hadrian, Roman emperors, ever though of themselves as Spanish and not Romans. And equally for the many recorded people before them.

   The oldest sources remaining are of Greek origin, recording peoples and some specific personalities.

   However, the most ancient person mentioned, bordering legend though, is in the Irish “Book of Invasions”, and the honor goes to Breogan, which incidentally is our “national” hero in Galicia, not Spain as a whole, mentioned in our hymn (“nation of Breogan”).

5. That is an interesting question as it relates to out notion of identity.

   The first Portuguese would have to be our first king, Afonso Henriques of Burgundy, but he and everyone else on the kingdom became Portuguese at the same time when the kingdom broke off from Leon (now a part of Spain).

   Some people have linked present time Portugal to pre-Roman Lusitanians, namely their leader Viriato (180-139 BC) that fought the Roman legions taking over Hispania. I don’t think present time Portuguese can claim any heritage from the Lusitanians, different language, religion, culture, etc. so in my opinion the answer to your question is Afonso Henriques in 1129.

6. Technically lineage of the Yngling dynasty was recorded in history by 12th century Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, even if modern historians don’t consider it a historical fact.

   The first Swede was either Odin who emigrated to Sweden from his castle Ásaheimr in Asgard somewhere in Asia or Yngve-Frej who founded the temple of Uppsala.

   There are no dates in Ynglingatal, but it would have been around year 1 CE.

7. Who do you consider to be Dutch? When does the Netherlands start according to you? Do for example the Batavi, Caninefates and Frisi count? And even if they do it will be confusing and not exactly clear, because the tribes from that time didn’t exactly keep to our current borders, and thus somebody who was from a tribe that lived in the Netherlands may in actuality be German, Belgian, French, Luxembourgian or even Danish or Italian.

8. I think Kenneth MacAlpine (Cinéad Mac Ailpin/Coinneach Mac Ailpein) who united Scotland as it is now but there’s many more regionally before him

9. It’s quite hard to say due to the enigmatic nature of our nationality, however recorded legend states that the first English kingdom was formed by Hengist and Horsa (Steed and Horse in modern English) these are almost certainly not real names however they are likely based on some individuals. The legend of these two were recorded by Bede in the Dark Ages in the Historia Ecclesiastica gentis anglorum or “The ecclesiastical history of the English People”. If there are any history experts here please correct me if I’m wrong.

10. I think the first man most would consider to be English is Alfred the Great, who was born in 848

    I suppose it depends on how you view the many Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and the Britons before them – and if even Alfred counts considering how our nation changes after the Normans arrive

    But yeah, in terms of what most people would say it’s Alfred the Great