Cantillo History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Ireland
England

The Anglo-Norman Conquest of Ireland lead by Strongbow introduced the first non-Gaelic elements into Irish nomenclature. These Anglo-Normans brought some traditions to Ireland that were not readily found within Gaelic system of hereditary surnames. One of the best examples of this is the local surname. Local surnames, such as Cantillo, were taken from the name of a place or a geographical feature where the person lived, held land, or was born. These surnames were very common in England, but were almost non-existent within Ireland previous to the conquest. The earliest surnames of this type came from Normandy, but as the Normans moved, they often created names in reference to where they actually resided. Therefore, some settlers eventually took names from Irish places. Originally, these place names were prefixed by de, which means from in French. This type of prefix was eventually either made a part of the surname, if the place name began with a vowel, or was eliminated entirely. The Cantillo family originally lived in the place called Cauntelo in Northern France. Early medieval deeds record the surname Cantillo as de Cantelupo, the Latin equivalent of the Norman name de Cauntelo. Before their migration to Ireland, the Cantillo family spent a long period in England. The shrine of St. Thomas de Cantelupe, who was the last English saint canonized prior to the Reformation, is in Hereford Cathedral.

Early Origins of the Cantillo family

The surname Cantillo was first found in County Kerry (Irish:Ciarraí) part of the former County Desmond (14th-17th centuries), located in Southwestern Ireland, in Munster province, where they held a family seat at Ballyheige where they had been granted lands after the Norman invasion in 1172 by Strongbow.

As one would expect, not all of the family moved to Ireland. Bingley in the West Riding of Yorkshire was an ancient family seat. "This place is one of the thirty two lordships granted by the Conqueror to Erneis de Berun, from whose descendants it was conveyed to the Paganells and the Gants, and afterwards to the Cantilupe family." 1

On the infamous side, Fulk de Cantelo, Canteleo, Cantelupe, Cantilupe (fl. 1209), "is mentioned by Wendover as one of John's evil counsellors. After the election of Stephen Langton as archbishop he was sent by John to expel the Canterbury monks, and the lands of the see were put under his charge." 2

Roger de Cantelupe (fl. 1248), legist, son of Roger de Cantelupe, was hanged for treason in 1225. 2

George de Cantelupe (d. 1273), was son of William, the third Baron Cantelupe (d. 1254), is styled Baron of Bergavenny. He was knighted by Henry III in 1272, on the occasion of the marriage of Edmund of Cornwall. He was put into possession of his lands on 23 April 1273, but died the following November. His sister Joanna married Henry of Hastings. 2

Early History of the Cantillo family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Cantillo research. Another 86 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1275, 1299, 1680 and 1734 are included under the topic Early Cantillo History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Cantillo Spelling Variations

During the lifetime of an individual person, his name was often spelt by church officials and medieval scribes the way it sounded. An examination of the many different origins of each name has revealed many spelling variations for the name: Cantillon, Cantilon, Cantlin, Cantilupe, Cantlowe, Cantelowe, Cantell, Cantillion, Cantlon, Cantlow and many more.

Early Notables of the Cantillo family

Notable amongst the family up to this time was

Richard Cantillon (c. 1680-1734), an Irish-born, French economist and author of Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en Général (Essay on the Nature of Trade in General), a book considered by William Stanl...

Cantillo migration to the United States +

In the mid-19th century, Ireland experienced one of the worst periods in its entire history. During this decade in order to ease the pressure of the soil, which was actually depleted by the effects of the previous years' grain crops, landowners forced tenant farmers and peasants onto tiny plots of land that barely provided the basic sustenance a family required. Conditions were worsened, though, by the population of the country, which was growing fast to roughly eight million. So when the Great Potato Famine of the mid-1840s hit, starvation and diseases decimated the population. Thousands of Irish families left the country for British North America and the United States. The new immigrants were often accommodated either in the opening western frontiers or as cheap unskilled labor in the established centers. In early passenger and immigration lists there are many immigrants bearing the name Cantillo:

Cantillo Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Manuel Cantillo, who landed in Puerto Rico in 1860 3

Citations +

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)