Marescal History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Scotland
Ireland

The name Marescal came to England with the ancestors of the Marescal family in the Norman Conquest in 1066. The surname Marescal is for a blacksmith or a person who tended horses deriving its origin from the Old English word marshal, which meant blacksmith. In medieval England, blacksmiths were extremely important because they were employed by the nobility to look after the horses. 1

John Marshal (d. 1164?), the English warrior, was "son and heir of Gilbert Marshal, who was unsuccessfully impleaded with him in the court of Henry I by Robert de Venoiz and William de Hastings for the office of master of the king's marshalsea (Rot. Chart. p. 46), from which the family took its name. In the 'Pipe Roll' of 1130 he is found paying for succession to his father's lands and office (p. 18) and in possession of an estate in Wiltshire (p. 23). In 1138 he fortified Marlborough and Ludgershall (Ann. Wint.), probably as one of the rebels of that year, for Stephen was besieging him in Marlborough when the empress landed, in 1139 (Cont. Flor. Wig. p. 117). In 1140 he was approached by Robert FitzHubert, who had seized Devizes Castle, and who hoped to secure Marlborough; but John, overreaching him, made him his prisoner, and then sold him to the Earl of Gloucester." 2

William Marshal first Earl of Pembroke and Striguil of the Marshal line (d. 1219), "Regent of England, was second son of John Marshal (d. 1164?) [q. v.], by his second wife, Sibyl, sister of Patrick, earl of Salisbury. He is represented as describing himself as over eighty years of age in 1216, but his father and mother were not married till 1141, and 1146 is a more likely date for his birth. When Stephen besieged John Marshal at Newbury in 1152, the young William was given as hostage for a truce and the surrender of the castle. John Marshal refused to keep the terms, and his son's life would have been sacrificed had not Stephen, attracted by the child's bold spirit and pretty ways, protected him." 2

Early Origins of the Marescal family

The surname Marescal was first found in various counties in England including Cambridgeshire, Somerset and Oxfordshire where William le Marechal, Gunnilda le Marescall and Robert Marescallus were all recorded respectively in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273. Later, the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 lists Willelmus de Scheplay, marciall, and Johannes Mareschall. 3

"Distributed over England, its great home being in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, whilst there are less important homes in Northumberland in the north and in Somerset in the south. The name is of foreign origin. It was originally "Marechal," or "Mare - schalks," the old name for a horse - groom or farrier, in which sense it is still used in France. The post became dignified. The name has extended from the north of England into central and southern Scotland." 4

Early History of the Marescal family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Marescal research. Another 103 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1084, 1170, 1235, 1535, 1540, 1554, 1578, 1594, 1621, 1626, 1628, 1629, 1631, 1632, 1637, 1644, 1654, 1655, 1662, 1664, 1670, 1672, 1675, 1678, 1680, 1685, 1698 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Marescal History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Marescal Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names are characterized by a multitude of spelling variations. When the Normans became the ruling people of England in the 11th century, they introduced a new language into a society where the main languages of Old and later Middle English had no definite spelling rules. These languages were more often spoken than written, so they blended freely with one another. Contributing to this mixing of tongues was the fact that medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, ensuring that a person's name would appear differently in nearly every document in which it was recorded. The name has been spelled Marshall, Marshal, Marescal, Marshale and others.

Early Notables of the Marescal family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was John Marshal (1170-1235) of Higham, first Baron Marshal; Henry Marshal, Bishop of Exeter; William Marshal, first Earl of Pembroke and regent of England; William Marshall (died c. 1540), an English Protestant reformer, printer, and translator, one of Thomas Cromwell's confidential agents in 1535; Stephen Marshall (c.1594-1655), an English...
Another 55 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Marescal Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Marescal family to Ireland

Some of the Marescal family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 102 words (7 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Marescal family

For many English families, the political and religious disarray that plagued their homeland made the frontiers of the New World an attractive prospect. Thousands migrated, aboard cramped disease-ridden ships. They arrived sick, poor, and hungry, but were welcomed in many cases with far greater opportunity than at home in England. Many of these hardy settlers went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Among early immigrants bearing the name Marescal or a variant listed above were: Edward Marshall, who arrived in Virginia in 1621; Charle Marshall, who arrived in Virginia in 1623; Ffrancis Marshall, who arrived in New England in 1634 aboard the ".

Citations +

Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.