About us
Welcome to the Crispo Y-DNA Project.
The aim of this Project is to determine whether there is a common Y-DNA signature for all the Crispo's and whether that signature resembles, potentially, that of any paternal line descendants of the dukes of Normandy, relations and/or family sphere of influence.
Through a private collection and not yet in public light, but confirmed to me verbally, the Desira's (de Sira's) of Malta, are paternal Crispo sons of Duke Giovanni III Crispo of Naxos, indicating we derive from the Aegean island of Sira (Syros) and our Castle of the Sovereign Dukes of Naxos, arriving in Malta in the mid 16th century possibly from the Island of Rhodes.
Giorgio Crispo de Sira (de Syra), was a leader and Official of the Order of the Hospitaller Knight's of St. John of Jerusalem, and of Rhodes and of Malta, was in command of the galley, the 'San Giovanni', arrived and settled in Birgu - Vittoriosa, Malta, in the mid 16th century, and whose paternal Grandfather was Duke Giovanni III Crispo of Naxos and the archipelago 1480-1494. * Note: My direct paternal forefather.
Giorgio Crispo de Sira (de Syra), was a leader and Official of the Order of the Hospitaller Knight's of St. John of Jerusalem, and of Rhodes and of Malta, was in command of the galley, the 'San Giovanni', arrived and settled in Birgu - Vittoriosa, Malta, in the mid 16th century, and whose paternal Grandfather was Duke Giovanni III Crispo of Naxos and the archipelago 1480-1494. * Note: My direct paternal forefather.
The Ducal Crispo dynasty began in 1383 and lasted until 1566, the patriarch was Francesco I Crispo, born circa 1340 in Verona, know as 'Franguli' and the 'Lombard adventurer', became Baron of Negroponte or Chalkis, on the island of Euboea, Greece, which had become a crusader state.
The most Serene Republic of Venice, 'La Serinissima', recognised Crispo as a duke, regarding him as an active man, who could defend the dukedom against the Turks, married to Fiorenza Sanudo of the Duchy of Naxos and the archipelago.
Regent and Lord of Syros, Nicholas Crispo, 1447-50, married the daughter of Emperor of Constantinople Alexios IV Komnenos, Princess Eudokia Megas Valenza Komnenos of the Trebizond.
Robert Crispin (French: Crépin, died 1071), called Frankopoulos, was a Norman mercenary and the leader of a corps of his countrymen stationed at Edessa under the command of the Byzantine general Issac Komnenos, in the 1060s. He fought against the invading Seljuk Turks and was supposedly poisoned shortly after the Battle of Manzikert.
Gilbert (or Giselbert) de Brionne), 2nd Count of Eu., 2nd Count of Brionne (1000 – 1040), was an influential Norman Nobleman in the Duchy of Normandy in Northern France. He was one of the early guardians of Duke William II in his minority. If Lord Brionne would have survived his murder the senior house of de Clare would have probably been known as de Brionne. Lord Brionne was the first to be known by the cognomen Crispin because of his hair style which stood up like the branches of a pine tree.
John of Brienne ( 1170 – 27 March 1237), also known as John I, was King of Jerusalem from 1210 to 1225 and Latin Emperor of Constantinople from 1229 to 1237. He was the youngest son of Erard II of Brienne, a wealthy nobleman in Champagne John, originally destined for an ecclesiastical career, became a knight and owned small estates in Champagne around 1200. After the death of his brother, Walter III, he ruled the Count of Brienne on behalf of his minor nephew Walter IV (who lived in southern Italy).
William I (c. 1028 – 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman King of England reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. A descendant of Rollo, he was Duke of Normandy (as Duke William II) from 1035 onward.
Milo Crispin (d. 1149?) was cantor of the Benedictine Abbey of Bec.
He came of the noble race of Crispin descended from the Neustrian, Giselbert, who first received the name Crispin because of his erect curly hair.
Gilbert Crispin ( 1055 – 1117) was a Christian author and Anglo-Norman monk, appointed by Archbishop Lanfranc in 1085 to be the abbot, proctor and servant of Westminster Abbey, England. Gilbert became the third Norman Abbott of Westminster appointed after the Norman Conquest, succeeding Abbot Vitalis of Bernay.