Other

Not the son of Gherado Gheradini, {Fictional}

Spoiler alert:

Otho (recte: Other) was the common ancestor of the FitzGeralds and Windsors. If I'm not mistaken, he was Lord of Stanwell (or else, his holdings are unknown). It was his son Walter Fitz Other who served as Castellan of Windsor, and established the connection there. "Domesday does not state that his lands have been held by his father, but, on the contrary, proves them to have belonged to forfeited Englishmen."

The form "Other" points away from Tuscany and toward Scandinavia: it is cognate with Old English "Ohthere" (as in the 9th century Norwegian traveler who visited King Alfred's court) and Old Norse "Óttarr" (as in the semi-legendary Swedish king Óttarr Vendelkraka, fl. 6th century). "[The] name can be reconstructed as Proto-Norse *Ōhta-harjaz or *Ōhtu-harjaz. The harjaz element is common in Germanic names and has a meaning of "warrior, army" (whence English harry); by contrast, the oht element is less frequent, and has been tentatively interpreted as "fearsome, feared"." (Derived from Peterson, Lena. Lexikon över urnnordiska personnamn PDF Archived 2006-09-15 at the Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20060911004005/http://www.sofi.se/image... ) Norse elements in Norman names are well attested: https://opendomesday.org/name/

[DISCUSSION ON PARENTAGE - PRO AND CON]

PRO: The genealogy to a Gheradini family origin is very likely true. English kings did indeed recruit many continental knights and warriors for the conquest of Ireland, who were given noble seats as their reward. In our modern era we see written record of one of the brothers Maurizio Gheradini as a knight in the invasion. However this genealogy was incorrectly placed in doubt because they thought an Irish priest would not know, but those in Florence would know. Why would those in Florence know the history of their ancient kinsmen who left for Ireland a 500 years earlier? It is the Irish priest who would know about those ex-pat Florentines in Ireland, as they had the records of births, death, marriages and history-- not the Florentines. The priest was was more likely correct, the Italian nay-sayers incorrect. How would they know? Yet, there are records of FitzGeralds corresponding with Florentines indicating this ancient connection. There are many noble families of Ireland who descend from warriors who participated in the invasion of Ireland. Another one was William le Hore who supported Strongbow and was given the seat of Pole Hore as his reward. "Le Hore" can be taken to mean "the outsider". He was a Saxon knight who helped in the invasion, certainly not Irish. The noble families of Ireland are packed with outsiders who helped in the invasion, that is why the Irish rebelled against them for centuries. They aren't irish in origin. The noble families of Ireland were largely English and other outsiders. Yet, people today assume that irish noble families have all Irish origin. No, they do not. Again, that is why the Irish rebelled against these Irish noble houses-- they were not Irish in origin in many cases. Furthermore, the Gheradini did indeed exist in Florence before it was a republic. The Gheradini lost power when it was made into a republic. The Victorians were vehemently prejudiced against all things Irish but loved all things Florentine. Thus they sneered that a Gheradini lineage could not be in Ireland. They said Gheradino was not a Cosimo, because that was the term used during the republican era. However, before Florence was a republic, of course they had local noblemen: effectively dukes, counts, barons, whatever language you wish to use, such as the Gheradini who were local pre-republican noblemen of Florence. The Geradini represent the pre-republican era before the word "Cosimo" was adopted. However the Gheradini were effectively the equivalent role as the Florentines "Cosimos" before the Medici adopted the term Cosimo for the ruler of Florence.

CON: Unfortunately, Other's descent from the Gherardini was claimed a fantasy, debunked by a Victorian writer [specifically, by J. Horace Round, one of the earliest of the "just the facts, ma'am" genealogists]. In one version of the story, he was a son of Otho di Gherardini, grandson of Gerald Dias Lopez, and great grandson of Lopez of Florence. His supposed wife Sancha de la Cerda is also a fantasy.

"The story given above is traced to an Irish priest 'called Maurice, who was of the family of the Gherardini settled in that is island,' and who, passing through Florence in1413, claimed the local Gherardini as his kinsmen."

http://www.geraldini.com/new/fitzgerald_uk_1.asp

Legendary Genealogy

BIOGRAPHY of the family of Gerardini of Tuscanny. Came to England and Wales at the time of Edward the Confessor.

Gerald was the ancestor the the Fitzgeralds, Fitzmaurices, Carews, Redmonds and Keatings of Ireland, among others. Otho was so powerful that his favor with the King was greatly resented by the native Norman nobles. He possessed three lordships in Surrey, Three in Buckinghamshire, Two in Berkshire, Four in Middlesex, nine in Wiltshire, Two in Hampshire, three in Dorset, and one in Somerset. With him, the family name was changed to Geraldini. Otho's son, Walter FitzOtho Geraldini, was treated as a fellow countryman by the Normans after the conquest of England in 1066. He succeeded to all of Otho's estates and his name is shown in the Domesday Book of 1087 that listed all the landholders in England. Windsor Castle, a great gray pile overlooking the Thames, had just been built amid the forests of Berkshire, and Walter was appointed it's first castellan, as well as warden of the forest. He was, it is clear, one of the most Norman of the Normans--a race renowned for it's adaptability, no less than for it's valor and ferocity.

About Windsor Castle & Berkshire, England

Windsor Castle continued as a baronage for Otho's descendants for centuries, until it passed out of existence due to lack of male heirs in the direct line. An interesting footnote is the story of how the current English Royal Family, the House of Windsor, took their name from this vacated baronage. During the First World War, there was enormous anti-german sentiment in England and the King wanted to distance himself from the German House of Hanover, their name at the time. Since the Gherardini family can be traced as the founders of the House of Hanover, it was very convenient that Gerald deWinsor, baron of England, was related both to the English Royal Family and the Florentine Gheradinis, hence the House of Hanover. This provided justification ( after much research ) for the German House of Hanover to become the more politically correct English House of Windsor, which they remain to this day.

WINDSOR CASTLE, WINDSOR, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor,_Berkshire Windsor is on the Berkshire side of the River Thames and Eton is on the Buckinghamshire side. Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family.

The repeated investment in the castle brought London merchants (goldsmiths, vintners, spicers and mercers) to the town and provided much employment for townsmen. The development of the castle under Edward III (1350–68), for example, was the largest secular building project in England of the Middle Ages, and many Windsor people worked in the castle on this building project. Henry III, a hundred years earlier, had spent more on Windsor Castle than on any other royal building project, save the rebuilding of Westminster Abbey.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkshire The Royal county of Berkshire  is one of the oldest in England. It may date from the 840s, the probable period of the unification of "Sunningum" (East Berkshire) and "Ashdown" (the Berkshire Downs, probably including the Kennet Valley). The county is first mentioned by name in 860. According to Asser, it takes its name from a large forest of box trees that was called Bearroc (believed, in turn, to be a Celtic word meaning "hilly"). 

Sources

• http://www.grantonline.com/grant-family-genealogy/Normans-in-Irelan...
•  http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=gsreid&id...