Across the centuries, the great families of society understood something that modern genealogy has largely forgotten. A family's history was not merely a matter of records and dates but a living narrative that embodied who they were and what they stood for.
Noble and aristocratic houses did not limit themselves to legal documents or parish registers. They called upon chroniclers, antiquarians, and court historians to tie their lineage into the broader story of history itself, connecting their bloodlines to ancient heroes, famous dynasties, and figures of legend. What some mistook as acts of vanity were methods of claiming an identity, which was then passed down across generations as one of the most prized possessions a family could hold. The most distinguished houses of the world still carry such narratives today.
This tradition has not survived into the modern age. Genealogy, as we now practise it, has become a nearly exclusively scientific matter of databases and DNA. Now overly precise, it has largely been stripped of the grandeur that once made a family's history feel like something worth inheriting.
At Wheaton Aston, we restore what has been lost.
We are chroniclers in the tradition of those who served the great houses of the medieval and Renaissance world. For each client, we produce a single, bespoke work: a dynastic chronicle that places your family at the heart of its age. Drawing on deep historical research into the eras, lands, and events that define your lineage, we craft a narrative of genuine literary ambition that speaks of the virtues, deeds, and legacy of those who came before you.
Our chronicles are works of historical art rather than documentary record. They are composed, as the finest family histories always have been, to illuminate what is most true about a lineage rather than merely what is most provable. This has always been the higher purpose of such writing, and it remains ours.
Each commission is unique. Each is undertaken with the full involvement of the client, from the first consultation to the final page. And each is produced to endure.
To learn more about what your chronicle will contain, and how the commission is undertaken, read on below.
Elements of the Chronicle
The finest family histories have always served a purpose beyond simple record-keeping. They are arguments. A chronicle commissioned by a merchant family might work to insist upon the virtues of industriousness and wise stewardship, including tales of ancestors whose shrewdness built them commercial success. An history for a family of distinguished churchmen might have in its pages stories of compassion and devotion, with the occasional sermon or reflection drawn from the tradition they upheld. A family of warriors and rulers would do well to have remembered their ancestors' justice, their battlefield victories, with the sound legitimacy of their claims set down plainly for any reader to judge. Your chronicle will be shaped around the identity you wish to assert, laying out the virtues, values, and qualities that define your family as you understand it.
A dynastic chronicle is not a novel, but a document of record in the tradition of the great historical compilations and it is furnished accordingly. Your commission will include a considered selection of supplementary material drawn from the world of your chronicle: depictions of heraldry and family devices, charters and decrees, claims to lands and titles, accounts of battles and ceremonies such as knightings or investitures, devotional and ceremonial texts, and artistic portrayals of figures and places significant to your lineage. Each is included with the intent of reinforcing your legacy.
The most enduring family histories reach beyond the realm of history and into that of legend. The Merovingian kings of Francia traced their descent from a supernatural sea creature. This was a claim that set their bloodline apart from ordinary men without needing to speak so much as a word of their deeds. The royal houses of Anglo-Saxon England numbered Odin himself among their ancestors, while simultaneously working in the lineage of Adam and Noah to unite both pagan and Christian figures in a single genealogy. Such artistic expression of lineage is in truth the oldest and, perhaps, most prestigious form of self-definition a family can undertake, to assert that one's blood carries something worth tracing even to the furthest reaches of time. Your chronicle may include an extended genealogy reaching beyond the principal narrative period that will connect your lineage to whatever founding figures, whether mythological, historical, or scriptural, you wish to claim as your own. This section will be composed with the same care and literary seriousness as the rest of the work.
Your chronicle will be written in your choice of Early Modern or Contemporary English. We counsel strongly in favour of the former. The Early Modern tongue carries an authority and gravity that no modern prose can quite replicate. Your chronicle may be produced to resemble a facsimile of a manuscript from the period itself, providing the opportunity for the volume and language thereof to be chronistic. To hear how it sounds, consider these lines as they appeared in the King James Bible of 1611: 'In the beginning God created the Heauen, and the Earth. And the earth was without forme, and voyd, and darkenesse was vpon the face of the deepe: and the Spirit of God mooued vpon the face of the waters.'' 'For God so loued þe world, that he gaue his only begotten Sonne: that whosoeuer beleeueth in him, should not perish, but haue euerlasting life.'' We believe the texture, cadence, and slight unfamiliarity, lend a chronicle its sense of having survived the centuries. For those who prefer the clarity of Contemporary English, that option remains fully available without any compromise to the depth of the work.
A work of this nature deserves a form equal to its contents. Your finished commission will be produced as a bound volume designed to carry the appearance of age and permanence that reads as an historical document in its own right. Binding, paper stock, typeface, illumination, and presentation are all determined in consultation with you during the design phase of your commission. The result is an object that is meant to be read, kept, displayed, and passed on.
Read a Sample Chronicle
For an idea of what a chronicle looks like, we invite you to read a digital rendering of the sample pages from a chronicle made for the Mercer family of Bristol, England, with some details altered for privacy.
Vita Ricardi Mercari,
or,
The Life of Richard the Mercer,
Written in the Engliſh Tongue & ſubſcribed by William Mercer,
the Fourth Baron Filton,
vpon the ſeuenth day of Iuly, in the yeare of our Lord
Sixteene Hundred & Sixtie & Foure.
Printed at London.
How a Chronicle Is Made
Hover over a step to learn more
- I.
Discovery Talk
We begin with a long conversation to understand why your story matters, who it's for, and what it means to them so that we can properly understand your desire for a Dynastic Chronicle.
- II.
Content Exploration
We then meet to draw out the substance of your legend by deciding on its principal settings, the themes and virtues your lineage embodies, and whatever else speaks to your family's identity.
- III.
Creative Brief
We return with a sampling of structured narrative directions for your chronicle. You'll select one that resonates with you, revise it with us, and approve the direction you wish for your narrative to take; no production beigns without your full authorization.
- IV.
Design Consultation
We work with you to determine the physical form of your chronicle by determining typesetting, binding, illustrations, and more, all to ensure your legend has the appearance of a proper heirloom.
- V.
Production
At roughly the midpoint of your chronicle's assembly, we'll share a completed chapter for review to enure it remains faithful to your vision. Upon completion, your volume will be delivered bound, sealed, and ready to be enjoyed.
Compose
Build Your Chronicle
Configure the volume to your taste. Every commission begins from a base of $18,500, which includes consultations, research, writing, and a single full copy.
Length
IncludedThe estimated word count of the finished volume.
Binding
IncludedThe covering of the boards, sewn by hand on linen tapes.
Spine & Tooling
IncludedThe finishing of the spine and boards.
Plates & Photographs
IncludedDocuments and photographs scanned, restored, and tipped in.
Cartography
IncludedHand-drawn maps of the family's principal geographies.
Slipcase
IncludedThe protective case in which the volume is delivered.
Additional Copies
NoneFurther hand-bound copies for siblings, children, or the family archive — $2,200 each.
A commission generally takes between twelve and eighteen months.