The name Cotrelley was carried to
England in the enormous movement of people that followed the
Norman Conquest of 1066. Cotrelley is a name for a
serf or bond tenant who held a cottage by service. The name is derived from the Old English
cote, which means "shelter," or "cottage."
Early Origins of the Cotrelley family
The surname Cotrelley was first found in
Derbyshire where they held a
family seat from very early times and were granted lands by Duke William of
Normandy, their liege Lord, for their distinguished assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D.
Early History of the Cotrelley family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Cotrelley research.
Another 167 words (12 lines of text) covering the years 1691, 1572, 1631, 1621, 1624, 1624, 1615, 1701, 1641, 1654, 1710, 1686 and 1758 are included under the topic Early Cotrelley History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Cotrelley 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 Cotterell, Cotterel, Cotteral, Cotteril, Cotterill, Cottral, Cottrall, Cottrell, Cottrel, Coterall, Coterel, Coteril, Coterill, Cotrall, Cotrell, Cottrle, Cotral, Cotraul, Cotrelly and many more.
Early Notables of the Cotrelley family (pre 1700)
Outstanding amongst the family at this time was John Cotterell DCL (died 1572), from
Wiltshire, an English clergyman and academic at the University of Oxford, one of the founding fellows of Jesus College, Oxford; Sir Clement Cotterell (died 1631), an English courtier and politician, Member of Parliament for Grantham (1621-1624) and...
Another 56 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Cotrelley Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Cotrelley family to the New World and Oceana
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 Cotrelley or a variant listed above were: Edward Cotterell who settled in Virginia in 1635; John Cotterell settled in New
England in 1655; Timothy Cotterill arrived in Boston in 1765; Edward Cotteral arrived in Pennsylvania in 1772.