Tarzan, which means white skin in the language of the apelike Mangani who raised him, was the son of John Clayton and Alice Rutherford Clayton of England. A British lord and lady. Clayton, in the service of the English government, excepted a work-related assignment located in southwest Africa. Departing Greystoke Castle the Clayton's made their way to Dover, England, and sailed to Freetown capital of Sierra Leone, on the northwest coast of Africa. From there the British couple chartered another ship, the Fuwalda, to complete the second half of their long journey. Unfortunately for the two, the barkentine was mutined on the way to their unnamed destination. Black Michael, the new leader of the mutineers spared the young couple's lives. The mutineers put the pair, along with provisions, on shore. The location was ten degrees south latitude which is Portuguese Angola.
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| Fred J. Arting |
Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. Still no rescue. The newlyweds had to survive by their own means. That included the birth of their son John Clayton II. The baby was born healthy, but the birth took a toll on Lady Alice. Months of stressful living conditions finally took their toll during the birth. Afterward, the young mother never fully recovered physically or mentally.
One year to the day after her baby's birth, the delicate Lady Alice passed. While John Cayton I, mourned Alice's death, a group of apelike Mangani burst into the cabin. The group leader Kercheck killed Clayton, and a female named Kala snatched the one-year-old human baby out of his crib and dashed toward the safety of the forest.
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| Vincent |
When the jungle lord was twenty-two he married Jane Porter of Baltimore, Maryland. It was then he accepted his family heritage and became John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke.
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| Jean-Paul Goude |
Outside the Tarzan cannon, The Outlaw of Torn also written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, notes the Greystoke family of the middle 1200s. Below is a chronology of Prince Richard, aka Norman of Torn.
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| J. Allen St. John |
Date: 1240
Event: Prince Richard, the second son of King Henry III and Eleanor, was born.
Source: We know this because Prince Richard was kidnapped at age three. ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Date: June 1243
Event: King Henry III insulted Sir Jules de Vac, a Freeman and the royal master of fence.
Source: "June 1243," ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Event: King Henry III insulted Sir Jules de Vac, a Freeman and the royal master of fence.
Source: "June 1243," ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Date: 1243 through 1246
Event: The two moved to the old castle of Torn in the Derby Hills.
Source: "about six years of age" ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Event: The two hid out for three years in an attic apartment in London. De Vac began teaching Prince Richard French, swordsmanship, and hatred of all things English.
Source: "For three years following the disappearance of Prince Richard a bent old woman lived in the heart of London Within a stone throw of the King's palace. In a small back room she lived, high up in the attic of an old building." ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Date: 1246
Source: "about six years of age" ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Date: Wednesday, May 1246
Event: The battle of Lewes.
Date: Saturday, May 1246
Event: It is discovered that Norman of Torn is actually Prince Richard, son of King Henry III.
Source: "three days after the battle of Lewes".ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Source: "May morning in the year 1264".ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn. "on that bloody Wednesday". ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Date: Saturday, May 1246
Event: It is discovered that Norman of Torn is actually Prince Richard, son of King Henry III.
Source: "three days after the battle of Lewes".ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Date: 1250
Event: By age ten Prince Richard had forgotten all about his past, and horsemanship and English were added to his studies.
Source: "he was ten years old," ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.Date: 1255
Event: At fifteen Prince Richard was a magnificent swordsman and horseman. He kills Paul of Merely, Beauchamp, and Greystoke. He takes the name of Norman of Torn.
Source: "at age fifteen".ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.Date: 1256
Event: By age sixteen, even de Vac was a novice compared to Prince Richard.
Source: "by the time the youth had turned sixteen".ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Event: By age sixteen, even de Vac was a novice compared to Prince Richard.
Source: "by the time the youth had turned sixteen".ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Date: 1258
Event: By the time Prince Richard was eighteen he was rich in loot and had a price on his head.
Source: "he had scarce turned eighteen" ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.Date: 1259
Event: De Vac and Prince Richard halted sword practice with each other.
Event: De Vac and Prince Richard halted sword practice with each other.
Source: At the beheading of Peter of Colfax it is stated, "for five years he had not crossed foils with Norman of Torn." ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Date: 1260
Event: King Henry III nicknamed Prince Richard, Norman the Devil, and his reputation was known throughout England. The first sacking of the castle of Baron Peter of Colfax occurs.
Source: "By the time he was twenty," ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn. When Prince Richard rescued Lady Bertrade at Colfax it is stated, "As he had sacked this castle some two years since," ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Date: March 1262
Event: Prince Richard rampaged the castle of John de Stutevill of Derby.
Date: May 1262
Date: end of May or early June 1262
Date: end of May or early June 1262
Event: Prince Richard rampaged the castle of John de Stutevill of Derby.
Source: When Prince Richard meets Lady Bertrade the statement is made, "scarce sixty days had elapsed since he had reduced the stronghold". ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Date: May 1262
Event: Prince Richard meets the nineteen-year-old Lady Bertrade de Montfort, daughter of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and Princess Eleanor, sister of King Henry III.
Source: "May 1262".ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.Date: end of May or early June 1262
Event: While Lady Bertrade is visiting Lady Mary de Stutevill of Derby Prince Richard is busy sacking the castle of Baron John de Grey for hanging two of his men.
Source: "For three weeks after his meeting with Bertrade de Montfort and his sojourn at the castle of John de Stutevill, Norman of Torn was busy with his wild horde in reducing and sacking the castle of John de Grey." ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Event: Lady Bertrade is kidnapped by de Vac and given to Baron Peter of Colfax. She is then rescued by Prince Richard.
Source: "Three weeks had passed since Roger de Coude' had ridden out from the portals of Stutevill," ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Date: summer of 1263
Date: July 1263
Date: winter 1263
Event: Prince Richard spends the entire winter at Torn.
Event: Prince Richard rescued Lady Joan de Tany from the castle of John de Fulm, Earl of Buckingham.
Source: "summer of 1263" ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.Date: July 1263
Event: Prince Richard killed John de Fulm at the castle of Baron Roger Leybourn. He rescues his mother Queen Eleanor the next day.
Source: It is stated during the battle of Lewes that Prince Richard rescued his mother the Queen "the preceding July." ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Date: winter 1263
Event: Prince Richard spends the entire winter at Torn.
Source: "Until the following spring Norman of Torn continued to occupy himself with occasional pillages against the royalists of the surrounding counties" ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Date: summer of 1263
Date: July 1263
Date: winter 1263
Event: Prince Richard rescued Lady Joan de Tany from the castle of John de Fulm, Earl of Buckingham.
Source: "summer of 1263" ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.Date: July 1263
Event: Prince Richard killed John de Fulm at the castle of Baron Roger Leybourn. He rescues his mother Queen Eleanor the next day.
Source: It is stated during the battle of Lewes that Prince Richard rescued his mother the Queen "the preceding July".ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Date: winter 1263
Event: Prince Richard spends the entire winter at Torn.
Source: "Until the following spring Norman of Torn continued to occupy himself with occasional pillages against the royalists of the surrounding counties" ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Date: Wednesday, May 1264
Event: The battle of Lewes.
Date: Saturday, May 1264
Event: It is discovered that Norman of Torn is actually Prince Richard, son of King Henry III.
Source: "three days after the battle of Lewes" ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Event: The battle of Lewes.
Source: "May morning in the year 1264". ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn. "on that bloody Wednesday". ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
Date: Saturday, May 1264
Event: It is discovered that Norman of Torn is actually Prince Richard, son of King Henry III.
Source: "three days after the battle of Lewes" ERB-The Outlaw Of Torn.
When yours truly constructed the 1872 Chronology of the Greystoke family, I chose to use the approach that Tarzan was a human being born on the planet Earth as we know it. Therefore, by mixing fiction with reality, the jungle lord would be related to the real-life Greystokes of England. You can find out a lot about their family chronology through church and government
records.
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| Greystoke Coat Of Arms In 1400s |
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines over forty-five years. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled, Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There the researcher chronologies the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory) instead of the more accepted date, May 1888.
James Michael Moody is also the author of the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022, and Swordsman On Unium published on July 15, 2024.
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