The surname 'HARTLEY' appears to have
its origins in the peoples of the British Isles and Ireland and is now found
across the world.
But is it derived from a place name ? from
an occupation ? or was it a surname brought to this country from mainland Europe
by Norsemen ... Vikings, Saxons or Normans ?
Most surnames seem to have their origins since
Norman times ... there were surnames during pre-Norman Britain and Ireland but
records don't reveal much, though some names have been proved to have survived
since Saxon or even earlier times. Often surnames are linked to places, distinctive
looks and trades. William the butcher would have become William Butcher, James
with brown hair would have become James Brown, John of York would have become
John York etc.
By 1400 the use of surnames was widespread.
New names developed and some were introduced through continued immigration.
Some names have changed over time, either the spelling, or through the use of
an alias. Using records, it is often possible to trace a surname back to the
15thC and beyond, but you have to bear in mind changes that may have occured,
for example, 'Hartley' may have once been recorded as 'Artley', 'Hurtley', 'Hartly',
'Harteley' and so on ...
So let's begin by finding out ... Who are
the British and Irish ?
Here's a brief history of the peoples of Britain
and Ireland ... scholars,
look away, now !
12 000 years ago and 9 000 years
ago, after the Great Ice Age had ended, ice melted raising sea levels.
At that time the 'Isles' were part of one land mass and were still connected
to mainland Europe.
The area started to be re-populated, first by Britons
who came to [what is now] England from an area of Eastern Europe including the
present-day country of Armenia, Georgia and Turkey. They were later joined by
Scots who settled in Ireland, and by Picts
[painted 'tatooed' people], both from Scythia [an area from the Black Sea to
China, present-day Russia] who settled in Central and the North West of Scotland.
Picts and Scots formed alliances and often fought the Britons for land and power.
Scots later inhabited parts of North Wales. Areas of Northern England and the
East and North of Scotland were by now populated by Norse
peoples [Vikings] from present-day Scandinavia. The
word "Viking" refers to an occupation, that is slipping
up little streams and creeks --viks-- to plunder unsuspecting villages. The
people commonly called Vikings were the Norse, a Scandinavian sea faring people
from Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.
The same population pressures that caused the tribes to leave Scandinavia several
centuries before the Romans, continued. In the meantime, the Scandinavians perfected
their ship building technology and produced a light, swift sailing ship that
could also use oars to good effect. This, the Viking long ship, was originally
intended for trade. The Vikings were, basically, traders. But they were also
fierce warriors and soon noted that many of the places they came upon in Europe
were wealthy, and undefended.
Others, Atlantic peoples from present-day Spain and Portugal,
populated the South of England, South Wales and Cornwall. The struggle for land
and power continued.
About 6 000 years ago,
the river between Europe and the 'Isles',
connected to other rivers that ran across Europe, widened, so much so, that
sea engulfed the lands once occupied and formed what is now the North Sea and
English Channel.
In the 1st Century BC,
Romans arrived with
peoples from as far afield as Italy and the Mediterranean, Central and Eastern
Europe and Africa.They seem to have brought with them some basis of law and
order and there was relative peace in the Isles. By then, peoples of Britain
and Ireland were of very mixed 'cosmopolitan' origins, as they still are today.
The Romans had launched a major military campaign to conquer
the areas pirates were using as bases. The Vikings were fiercer than any of
the Mediteranean pirates and their home bases were far to the north in Norway
and Denmark. No Roman army or fleet had ever attempted to operate that far north.
The Romans did not like the north European Winters and generally did not try
to occupy lands so afflicted. We'll never know how the Romans would have dealt
with Vikings, but it's an interesting issue to speculate about.
5th Century. After most
Roman soldiers had withdrawn to defend Rome against invasion, the authority
of the Romans had deminished and fighting again broke out between the Britons
and the Scots and Picts.
The
Jutes, Angles, and Saxons. Having depended
on professional Roman soldiers for centuries, the Britions were unable to deal
with these raids and in desperation called in Germans [Saxons, Jutes, and Angles,
for the most part] from northwestern Germany and Denmark [areas still known
as Saxony and Jutland, the Angles living in the '"angle" between the two] to
help them out. This turned out to be a big mistake, because the Germans were
so impressed by the place that they went back for their families [and more warriors]
and came back to take Britain for their own. In the process, most of Brittania
became England [from "Angleland"]. The Germans drove out some of Britons [who
fled to places like Cornwall, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Brittany] and mixed
in with the rest to produce the English, who spoke a German dialect that has
evolved into modern English. The Germans were pagans, and the Christian Britons
had little success in converting them. That would come later when missionaries
from Rome arrived.
The Jutes, Angles, and Saxons had established
Seven Kingdoms and proceeded to quarrel among themselves. Just as the Germans
were settling down in their new British homes, along came the Viking raids,
from the late 7th century into the early 10th century. The Vikings soon found
the area quite livable and Danish settlers moved into the northeastern areas
and began carving out their own kingdom during the 9th century, a matter which
greatly eased the Viking pressure on Britain, since the local Vikings objected
to having their newfound lands devastated by the occasional visitors from Vikingland.
By the late 8th century, Viking
ships came to raid first, and trade if the locals were too well armed. The 8th
century was a period when Europe was still getting itself organized after the
demise of Roman rule in the 5th century. While Charlemagne might control most
of France and Germany, he did not have enough troops available to deal with
the Vikings. Indeed, it's questionable if the Romans would have been able to
deal with the Vikings. Interestingly enough, the Romans did have, at times,
serious problems with large scale piracy in the Mediteranean.
What eventually stopped the Viking raids, in the early 10th century, was the
unification of Norway, and the earlier establishment of Viking settlements in
the lands that they had previously just plundered during the warm weather. The
Vikings set up housekeeping in three main areas, the Normandy region of France,
eastern England, and eastern Ireland. The Irish settlements had no impact on
later European history, but the English, and particularly the French ones, did.
Britain [Britannia to the Romans] was one of the more thinly populated and distant
Roman provinces. Less than a million Britons were romanized over three centuries
before the last Roman legion left in the early 5th century The romanized Britons
[who still spoke Celtic languages, as well as Latin] continued to be raided
by the Picts and Scots from Scotland and Ireland.
During the 10th century,one King, a German-English
named Alfred the Great [reigned 871-899] united most of England. The Vikings
also found Ireland easy pickings. Ireland, not a very prosperous or densely
populated [about 300 000 people] place, received several thousand Viking settlers,
who were soon absorbed into the native Briton population. While some Vikings
were establishing themselves in Britain and Ireland, another group did the same
in the coastal region of France, around the mouth of the river Seine. In effect,
the Vikings in this region allowed themselves to be bought off by the king of
France. These Vikings had quite a bit of leverage. Beginning in 896 they had
sailed up the Seine and laid siege to Paris several times and were constantly
expanding the area they pillaged. The French kings, even Charlemagne, were unable
to stop the plundering. When the French noted the increasing number of Viking
settlements along the coast, they feared the worst. But the Vikings were wearying
of the raids. French defenses were becoming more effective and Viking losses
were increasing. So a deal was struck in 912. The French would recognize the
Vikings possession of the land they had already settled [plus a bit more] and
make the Viking leader, one Rollo, a French noble. In return, the Viking duke
would convert to Christianity, acknowledge the French king as his overlord and,
protect France against wilder Vikings. Thus was born Normandy.
The Normans were
quick to become French, particularly since they were a minority in their new
dutchy and a disproportionate number of the new people were young male Vikings
who took local women for wives. After a few generations, the Norwegian language
and customs were fading fast and the Normans were French. But they were French
with a difference. While their language and other habits may have changed, the
Normans were still, like all Vikings, supreme opportunists. Then William, the
Duke of Normandy in the 1060s, talked his way into a claim on the English throne.
The King of Norway was doing the same thing. An English noble, Harold, also
thought he had a lock on the crown once the king died. When the King, Edward
the Confessor did die, in 1066, Harold defeated the King of Norway's invading
army, but was in turn defeated by Duke William and his invading Normans. Meanwhile,
for several generations, some footloose Normans had been drifting into Italy.
By the time duke William was taking England, other Norman lords were making
their own conquests in southern Italy and Sicily, clearing out the Byzantines,
Lombards, and Moslems. These Normans established a kingdom which would endure
until the mid-19th century, covering southern Italy and called the kingdom of
Naples and Sicily. This was done with papal encouragement, as the Normans not
only subdued the Lombards and expelled the Greeks and Arabs from Italy, but
served as a useful balance against the Italian nobles who had designs on the
pope's lands. As with England, the Normans in Italy eventually went native and
became Italians. So it was the Vikings who settled in France who proved the
most successful. Nowhere is this better illustrated than the manner in which
the Norwegian-French William, Duke of Normandy, conquered all of England and
established a line of Kings and Queens that is still on the throne. This feat
was carried off little more than a hundred years from the time that the first
Viking settlements were established in France. The Vikings who had settled in
France, now speaking French and called Normans, had come a long way from thinly
populated [200 000 people] and rather poverty stricken Norway. They had carved
out a nice piece of property for themselves in northwestern France early in
the 10th century, taken England in the mid-11th century, and now they ruled
some two million people in England and France, while some of them had gone to
Italy in the 11th century and built yet another kingdom [with another million
people] in southern Italy and Sicily. Not bad for a bunch of sea raiders. The
Vikings [Norwegians, Danes, Swedes and Finns] had done much with little. Taking
a unique boat design [their "long ships"] and a lust for travel and combat,
they laid waste to large areas of Ireland, England, France, Spain, Germany,
and Russia, even raiding Persia and parts of North Africa. The total population
of Scandinavia barely reached a million during this period, and only a few percent
of these would be off raiding in any one year. Yet in the century or so of their
raiding and pillaging, they ended up taking control of vast territories containing
millions of people.
The Vikings went in all directions. They discovered Iceland in 860, and began
colonizing it in 874. Their descendants are still there. Greenland was discovered
in 982, and colonized in 1000. Shortly thereafter, North America was also discovered,
but settlements did not last long. While iceland was supporting some 50,000
people by 1000, Greenland's population never rose above 3,000 and the North
American venture never panned out, the few settlers being largely drawn from
the Iceland and Greenland settlements. When the Northern hemisphere's climate
turned cold again beginning around 1300, the Greenland colony lost touch with
the motherland and graducally died out. Only the Eskimos could survive in the
arctic conditions which prevailed there, as the Vikings needed a longer warm
season for their grain crops. What is most ironic about this is that, a thousand
years before the Viking raids began, the tribes that would become known as the
Germans, also left Scandinavia [Denmark and Sweden] It was quite an exodus,
both the first one and the later one. Europe was never the same after the Germans
and Vikings went south.
So now we know who the British
are, what might the surname HARTLEY mean ?
It is thought the Saxons used the name HEORT-LEA
to name places later called HARTLEY... the word HEORT meaning
'Hart' or 'Stag Deer' and 'LEA' means a 'Clearing'. There are those who
then go on to create an image of herdsmen named 'Hartley' who look after the
deer in these 'deer parks' [the clearings having grown in acreage !]
the place name HARTLEY was called
in Domesday [1086] ERCLEI and in the Textus Roffensis [1125] HERDEI
The Saxon 'E' was pronounced as our 'A' and
the sound of the 'C' against 'L' is not unlike that of 'T' and 'L' so maybe
the name should have been written 'ARTLEI' not 'ERCLEI' ? In the
case of Hartley, near Cranbrook, the Norman scribe wrote 'ARCLEI', a
half-way compromise ?
So 'ERCLEI' or 'ARCLEI' are likely the Norman version of the Saxon
'HEORTLEA'.
In some places it looks like the name changed
over time to: HERCLEGA, then HURTLEGH, HERTELE, HERTELEGH, HERTLEYE
[13thC] HURTLEYE [14thC] HERTELEY [16thC] ... eventually HARTLEY. In other places, HEORUTLEA HERETSLEY HERTELEIGH HERTLEGH HERTLEY HERTLEGE
HERKELEYE HERCLEYE HERDIE HARLEI HERLEI [11thC] HEORTLEA HERTELEY HARELEY HERTLIGH
[13thC] HURTLEGHE HERTLE [14thC] HERTILEE HERTELE HARTELEY
all very confusing ... or is it ?.
It has always been accepted that HEORT
comes from the Saxon older word HEOROT from the Common Germanic HERUTAZ
and Old Norse HJORTJ ... see the Wiki
Dictionary
but the
question is, was the 'Hart' bit of 'HARTLEY named after 'Stag/Deer' or was it
the other way round, the word 'Stag/Deer' being named after 'HEOROT' derived
from ... ? Read on ...
Was HARTLEY derived from a Germanic-Saxon
Goddess, HEOROTHA, the mother of the Norse God, THOR ? derived
from the HEORTE meaning FESTIVAL
There was a female Germanic Goddess recorded as HEOROTHA simplified to
HERTHA [pronounced HERTA [the Dutch word being HERT] likely
derived from the Germanic-IndoEuropean word HEORTHA meaning EARTH
MOTHER GODDESS. She was worshipped in Festivals by many Germanic tribes
from below the Rivers Elbe and Wesser and around the Baltic Sea including the
Estii, Lombards, the Angles and Jutes from Jutland and Schleswig, and Saxons.
These people are likely ancestors of some [but not all] Hartleys [see DNA section
below]
HEORTE [pronounced Hey-Or-Tay] comes
from the Greek for FESTIVAL or HOLY DAY ... Heortology etymologically
implies a relation to Feasts or Festivals in general, an exposition of their
meaning. The word, however, is used to denote specifically the science of Sacred
Festivals, embracing the principles of their origin, significance, and historical
development, with reference to epochs or incidents in the Christian year. So
it is likely HEORTE was derived from Feasts and Festivities associated with
the Goddess HEOROTHA [HERTHA].
In Britain the Saxon name HEORT-LEA
would have been derived from a Sacred place, a Clearing in a Grove, a 'LEA',
where the sacred Earth Mother Goddess 'HEOROTHA' was worshipped in a Festival.
There might even have been a Temple, a Shrine or Sacred Well named after her
? We know that many old Germanic-Saxon place names occur elsewhere in Britain.
HEORTHA is also found in many dialects across
Europe as HERTHA, HRETHA, EORTHA [EORTHE to the Anglo-Saxons], ERTHA, ARTHA,
ERDA [Old-German] and to the Goths she was AIRTHA, hence we get the word EARTH.
The Earth is the universal Mother Goddess, that stands at the origin of all
mythologies. Admiration for the Earth as a living mother was characteristic
of the vorpatriarchalischen societies, because they seemed to have understood
better than the later civilizations controlled of men, how important the preservation
of the environment is.
HEOROTHA was the mother of the Norse God, THOR, wife of ODIN, where she was
called JORD or FRIGGA. She is the Goddess of the Soil, the Earth,
and of Peace. She is connected with the fertility and regeneration of the Earth,
and with Springtime.
In the Baltic Sea, in the part of the Island
of Rügen named Jasmund, not far from Stubbenkammer, one can still see remnants,
especially the outer wall, of HERTHA[BURG] CASTLE, which has stood there
for many centuries, thought to have been built by Slawen peoples in the 8thC.
The Slawens are thought to have driven out Germanic tribes who had lived there
since the Bronze Age and may well have also worshipped HERTHA. It is possible
much of the Castle had already been built by the people driven out. They likely
settled elsewhere amongst their own, perhaps the Saxons, the Jutes or Angles.
Some think these peoples were descended from Greeks who brought the HERTHA [ARTEMIS]
religion and stories with them [see below].
Part of the HERTHA CASTLE outer wall embankment. The Castle is thought to have
been built on the site of a Bronze Age settlement. In this Castle the Slawen
people of Rügen worshipped a Goddess they called HERTHA [HEOROTHA] whom
they perceived to be Mother Earth.
This is what the Slawen HERTHA CASTLE may
have originally looked like.
This is thought to be a ritual stone at HERTHA
CASTLE, hence someone has spilt red paint over it for a more dramatic effect
!!
Not far from HERTHA CASTLE there is a deep, dark lake, called the Black Lake
or Burgsee [HERTHASEE], surrounded by ancient beech woods [HERTHABUCHE] and
hills. The Goddess bathed there several times each year.
HERTHA descended from the Throne of Odin and rode there in a chariot, a carriage
covered with a mysterious veil and drawn by two cows. Wherever she condescends
to come and accept the hospitality of humans, there are days of rejoicing and
weddings, no war is fought, no weapon reached for, every iron object is locked
away. Only peace and calm are then known and desired. This lasts until the Goddess
has sojourned long enough among humans and the priest leads her back again into
her sanctuary. Only her consecrated priest was allowed to accompany her. Slaves
were also brought along to lead the draft animals and to wash the chariot, but
they were drowned in the lake immediately upon completing their task, because
any unconsecrated person who caught sight of the Goddess would have to die.
For this reason nothing more is known about the worship of this Goddess.
There are all kinds of stories about uncanny happenings near this lake. Some
believe that these are caused by the Devil, who, in the form of the Goddess
Hertha, was worshipped by the people and who therefore still lays claim to the
lake. Others believe that these happenings are caused by an ancient Queen or
Princess who had been banished to this place. Especially when the moon is shining
brightly, a beautiful woman is often seen emerging from the woods adjacent to
HERTHA CASTLE. She proceeds to the lake, where she bathes herself. She is surrounded
by many female servants, who accompany her into the water. Then they all disappear,
but they can be heard splashing about. After a while they all appear again,
and they can be seen returning to the woods dressed in long white veils. It
is very dangerous for a wanderer to observe this, for he will be drawn by force
into the lake where the white woman is bathing, and as soon as he touches the
water, he will be powerless; the water will swallow him up. They say that the
woman has to lure one human into the water every year. No one is allowed to
use boats or nets on this lake. Some time ago some people dared to bring a boat
to the lake. They left it afloat overnight, and when they returned the next
morning, it had disappeared. After a long search, they found it atop a beech
tree on the bank. It was spirits of the lake that had put it up there during
the night, for when the people were getting it back down, they heard a spiteful
voice calling to them from beneath the lake, saying: "My brother Nickel and
I did it!" That is the reason this cult is no longer followed.
In other German tribes when there was a
drought, it was usual to take the most beautiful maiden from the village and
send her totally naked at the head of a procession of women across the fields
where crops are grown. This rite was not just followed on the Island of Rügen
but was also followed on the Island of Helgoland or HOLY LAND
[at the mouth of the River Elbe] where Angles worshipped HERTHA in Festivals
at her Temple, as well as in Saxony and in Scandinavia, where the legend is
preserved in local traditions and her sacred groves and lakes are still observed
in Festivals.
TACITUS [AD56-AD117] was a Roman Senator and Historian. He mentioned the same
ritual concerning NERTHUS [ERCE] in his work, GERMANIA. At the full moon a young
woman frequently appears around the Castle. She bathes in the lake, accompanied
by nymphs. After a while they disappear. They are wrapped in long, white dresses.
Passers-by, especially men, who see the swimmers accidentally, by the water
of the lake are blinded. In this aspect the Goddess corresponds to the Roman
DIANA in the forest of Nemi
and the Greek Goddess ARTEMIS [who is said to have had her Chariot drawn by
STAGS]. Oak groves were especially sacred to her. She was praised in poetry
for her strength, athletic grace, distinct beauty and hunting skill. He describes
a sacrifice to this Goddess in a lake on what is sometimes interpreted as the
island of Fyn, Denmark.
"In an island of the ocean there is a Sacred Grove and in it a carriage
dedicated [to the Goddess], covered with a vestment; only one priest is allowed
to touch it. He feels the Goddess presence in her Shrine, and follows with great
veneration as she rides forth drawn by cows. Then come festive times for those
whom she dignifies with her hospitality. They do not make war, they do not take
up arms; all iron is put away; then, and only then, peace and quiet are known
and loved, until she is satiated with the company of humans and the same priest
returns the Goddess to her Sacred precinct. After this, the carriage and the
vestment and, if you wish to believe it, the Goddess herself, are washed in
a secret lake. Slaves do this ministry and are then swallowed by the same lake:
hence a mysterious terror and an ignorance full of reverence as to what that
may be which men see only to die." [Germania, ch. 40]
The name is closely related to the name NJORD, a God of the Sea in Norse mythology.
Her name may have survived in a few Scandinavian place names. However, due to
the thousand years that passed between Tacituss description and the Eddas, her
role in Norse mythology can only be studied through speculation.
Diana was the Goddess of Hunting and Wilderness. She was accompanied by a DEER,
a STAG. The deer offers a covert reference to the myth of Acteon [or Actaeon],
who saw her bathing naked. Diana transformed Acteon into a STAG and set his
own hunting dogs to kill him.
For medieval witches [and witches today] the Earth remained a Goddess. Those
witches the Hä Inquisition caught believed they became invisible and could escape,
if one permitted them to affect the Earth.
Diana is Queen of the Witches. Witches
being the wise women healers of the time. Goddess Diana created the world of
her own being having in herself the seeds of all creation yet to come. It is
said that out of herself she divided into the darkness and the light, keeping
for herself the darkness of creation and creating her brother Apollo, the light.
Goddess Diana loved and ruled with her brother Apollo, the God of the Sun. As
time went on, the Earth was created and Diana descended to Earth, as did her
brother Apollo. Diana taught magic and witches were born. One night using witchcraft
in the form of a cat, His most beloved animal, Diana tricked Apollo. She gained
entrance to His chamber where She seduced Him. From this union a daughter was
born, goddess Aradia.
Today there is a branch of Wicca named for her, which is characterized by an
exclusive focus on the feminine aspect of the Divine.
The old HARTLEY surname 'DE HARCLA or
HARCLAY', thought to mean 'Hard Clay', could have some more meaningful
connection with a Festival of the Goddess HERTHA. Also of course, the connections
between the surname HARTLEY with 'Stag, Deers' and 'Clearing' may have deeper,
far more important meanings, going back tens of thousands of years, going back
to Greek ancestors.
So it looks highly likely that the surname HARTLEY
was brought to Britain by Norsemen, Saxons, Angles or Jutes, who named places
in Britain where the FESTIVAL of HERTHA was observed Also Shrines and Temples
were named after their Earth Mother Goddess, HEOROTHA or HERTHA, hence the place-name
became HEORT-LEA, eventually HARTLEY.
The association of the Stag with the HERTHA Festival meant the word 'Hart' was
used to mean 'Stag', not the other way round.
The Greek, Roman and Teutonic Goddesses, Artemis, Diana and Hertha live on within
the surname HARTLEY, with its links to the Stag, the Hart.
What supports the view that the surname HARTLEY
came from a place-name ?
Traditionalists believe the origins of the surname
HARTLEY are of local or toponymic origin
that is, derived from the name of the place of residence of the initial bearer.
That means the surname derives from the place-name HARTLEY, found in a number
of English counties including Cumbria, Lancashire, Northumberland, Staffordshire,
Berkshire, Hampshire, Devon, Dorset and Kent. Thus the original bearer of the
surname originated from one of the above places bearing the name HARTLEY.
But in that case, where did the place-name Hartley come from ? Why, as mentioned,
does the name have its earliest record in place-names in the South of England
but not the North ? Further sources of
the name Hartley [see 'sources' at ancestry.com]
1] Several, in particular those in Hampshire,
Kent, Dorset and Devon, are named from Old English heorot ‘hart’, ‘stag’
+ leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’.
[According to 'etymologists', HARTLEY is a place-name, and derives from the
Old-English 'Hart' meaning a 'Stag' derived from the Norse/Saxon 'Heorte' meaning
'heart' and 'Leah' meaning a 'Meadow' or Clearing in a Wood'. [Saxon Terms:
350AD - 1000AD Ley or Lea = Clearing].
Virtually all of the place names decided on up to around the 14th Century were
due to the environment of the area.
Therefore, elements of the surname may have come from both Old English, via
Saxon and Norse origins. But the German for 'deer' is 'hirsch' so one might
ask why the name isn't 'Hirschley' if it's connected to deer ?
2] One in Northumberland has as the
second element Old English hlaw ‘hill’.
3] One in Cumbria contains Old English
cla ‘claw’, in the sense of a tongue of land between two streams, + probably
heard ‘hard’.
[the surname Hartley may have originated in the North from the Norman surname
'de Harcla' [could also mean 'Hard Clay' reflecting the ground around
the area of Hartley Castle] [see the HARTLEY History page] In that case
the name likely originated in Kent during Norman times and travelled up country
to Cumbria with the naming of the 13thC fortified Manor Hall, 'Hartley Castle'
[see Hartley History Page]].
4] The surname is widely distributed, but most
common in Yorkshire, where it arose from a place near Haworth, West Yorkshire,
also named with Old English heorot + leah.
5] As a Scottish name, it comes from
the Cumbrian Hartley.
6] Irish: shortened Anglicized form
of or surname adopted as equivalent of Gaelic Ó hArtghaile ‘descendant of Artghal’,
a personal name composed of the elements Art ‘bear’, ‘hero’ + gal ‘valor’.
[ In Ireland, the surname O'HARTLEY is used in the anglicized form of Gaelic
Irish, formerly O'HARTILY , to be found in the south-east Leinster maritime
county of Wexford, 'The Garden of Ireland'. Some of the oldest records show
Hartleys around Dublin in the early 1600's]
THE DOMESDAY BOOK The
Domesday Book was commissioned in December 1085 by William the Conqueror, the
Norman King who invaded England in 1066. The first draft was completed in August
1086 and contained records for 13,418 settlements in the English counties south
of the rivers Ribble and Tees [the border with Scotland at the time]. HARTLEY was called
in Domesday [1086] ERCLEI and in the Textus Roffensis [1125] HERDEI.
The Saxon 'E' was pronounced as our
'A' and the sound of the 'C' against 'L' is not unlike that of 'T' and 'L' so
maybe the name should have been written 'ARTLEI' not 'ERCLEI'
? In the case of Hartley, near Cranbrook, the Norman scribe wrote 'ARCLEI',
a hal-way compromise ?
So 'ERCLEI' or 'ARCLEI' could be the Norman version of the Saxon
'HEORTLEA'.
In some places it looks like the name changed
over time to: HERCLEGA, then HURTLEGH, HERTELE, HERTELEGH, HERTLEYE
[13thC] HURTLEYE [14thC] HERTELEY [16thC] ... eventually HARTLEY. In other places, HEORUTLEA HERETSLEY HERTELEIGH HERTLEGH HERTLEY HERTLEGE
HERKELEYE HERCLEYE HERDIE HARLEI HERLEI [11thC] HEORTLEA HERTELEY HARELEY HERTLIGH
[13thC] HURTLEGHE HERTLE [14thC] HERTILEE HERTELE HARTELEY
1. Berkshire Index ••• Hartley
... http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/berkshire.html
The parish of Shinfield is situated on the left bank of the River Loddon between
Stratfield Mortimer and Earley, and consists of a central ridge of high land
sloping eastwards to the Loddon and westwards towards the Kennet valley. Within
Shinfield are HartleyDummer [and Hartley Court], Hartley
Amys, Hartley Pellitot, Hartley Battle and Hartley Regis
Hartley Wintney is a large parish situated
2 miles north from Winchfield. In the immediate vicinity of Hazeley Heath, which
is partly within Hartley Wintney, gravel-pits are found. The village of Hartley
Row lies on the main road from Bagshot to Basingstoke. After leaving the
village this road leads on past Hartley Grange. At the time of the Domesday
Survey HARTLEY WINTNEY was probably included in the great royal manor of Odiham,
and it is not mentioned by name until the 12th century, when a priory was founded
here.
Hartley Wespall is a parish and
small village on the River Loddon situated 6 miles north-east from Basingstoke,
separated from the river by a large stretch of common land called Hartley
Wood Common. The water-mill called Hartley Mill probably marks the
site of the mill which existed in 1086. Hartley House, in the extreme
north of the parish, was formerly the rectory house.
3. Kent Index ••• Hartley, Kent
... http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/kent.html
There are two Hartleys in Kent,
one near Cranbrook, just up from Hastings, and the other near Longfield, Gravesend.
The first has the longest recorded history of the two, first mentioned in the
year 843 as the Saxon village of HEORTATLEAG [HEORTLEA] while
the other is not found until the Domesday Book, in which it appears as ERCLEI.
The name comes from Old English HEOROT, a Hart or Stag Deer, here combined with
Leah ‘field, clearing’, giving a sense of a clearing frequented by Stags.
In early Saxon times the western portion
of Kent was divided into two lathes or lands, taking their names from Elesford
and Sudton. And these again were sub-divided into hundreds. For 600 years of
Saxon rule the first village of HEORTLEA came into the lathe of Sudtone
and the hundred of Axton.
The second HARTLEY
contains about twelve hundred acres, part of which is a large wood, called Hartley
Wood, containing one hundred and fifty acres, at the northern boundary of
it; the soil of it is chalky, light, and much covered with flints. The church
stands on the hill, round which there is no village, though here, and at Hartley
Green, about a quarter of a mile northward from it, there are several stragling
houses. The western part of this parish lies in the valley, called Hartley
Bottom, along which the road leads to Wrotham and Trosley. This place, at
the taking the survey of Domesday, was part of the vast possessions of Odo,
the great Bishop of Baieux, and half-brother to the Conqueror; under the general
title of whose lands it is thus described there. Ralph Fitz Turald holds Erclei
of the Bishop of Baieux. It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is . .
. . . In demesne there are 2 carucates and 9 villeins, with 6 cottagers, having
3 carucates. There are 3 servants, and wood for the pannage of 10 bogs. The
whole manor was worth 3 pounds, and now 100 shillings; a certain woman held
it. In the same record, a little further on, under the same title of the bishop
of 'Baieux's lands, is this entry: Ralph Fitz Turald bolds Erclei of the Bishop
of Baieux. It was taxed at 1 suling. The arable land is half a carucate, and
there are now 30 acres of arable. In demesne there is 1 carucate and 6 villeins,
having half a carucate. There are 12 acres of meadow. In the time of King Edward
the Confessor and afterwards, it was 40 shillings, now 4 pounds. Hunef, held
it of earl Harold. On the disgrace of the Bishop of Baieux, which happened about
four years after the taking this survey, all his lands and possessions became
forfeited to the Crown.
THE MANOR OF HARTLEY, soon after
the Conqueror's reign, became part of the possessions of the noble family of
Montchensie, one of whom, Warine de Montchensie, was owner of it in the reign
of King John.
4. Berkshire D-M ••• Hartley Hurlei:
Ralph de Mortimer*. Hartley Court. Hartridge Hurterige: Alfred from
William FitzAnsculf. Hartridge Farm. ... http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/berkshire2.html
*Ralph de Mortemer, Seine-Maritime. Son of Roger. Lord of Wigmore Castle. Received
lands which had been Earl Roger of Hereford's after his rebellion, 1075. Lands
in 13 counties all over the country.
Note the Domesday Book omitted references to
Hartley in Dorset and Hartley [de Harcla] in Cumbria.
So if the HARTLEYs brought
their surname with them, where did the HARTLEYs come from ?
Can DNA testing help ?
Modern DNA evidence supports the view that many
early settlers in the British Isles and Ireland were Norsemen. For example,
An Oxford University scientist has traced the Y-chromosome, which determines
maleness, of the founder of Clan Donald - the great Somerled of Argyll, who
was born around 1100 and drove out the Viking invaders. Tradition says he descended
from the ancient Irish kings - but the chromosome proves his Norse ancestry.
very few Hartleys have had their DNA tested,
even fewer have posted results on the Internet.
One test result shows Y-DNA belonging to the
rare I1-a DYS 19=16 Haplotype Group ... The I1a DYS19=16 families in
England and Scotland likely came from Scandinavia as part of the Angle,
Saxon and Jute invasions of the 5th - 6th century or during Viking invasions
beginning in about 800 AD. The present-day location of DYS19=16 in Scandinavia
is more consistent with the historical location of Vikings than Angles, Saxons
and Jutes. The founder of DYS19=16 must have been lived after 10,000 BC, when
Scandinavia was finally free from the Ice Age. By evaluating the diversity of
21 extended haplotypes with DYS19=16 through the use of average squared difference
calculations, it has been estimated that the common paternal line ancestor of
was born about 1,400 years ago, or around 600AD. This sample size is small,
but this relatively young age fits with a compact geography and low frequency
in the population. I1a is the most common haplogroup in nearly all regions in
Sweden. Within this haplogroup, the regions did not show any deviation
among themselves except for the I1a haplotypes found in Värmland. This
region differed significantly from two Swedish regions and both the Saami and
Österbotten I1a lineages. No other Swedish region differed from the Saami or
the Österbotten samples.
Looking at the National
Geographic website on DNA results and the Atlas of the Human Journey, there
is confirmation of a movement of peoples with I1-a Haplotype DNA [M253] into
the British Isles, Normandy and Scandinavia after the Great Ice Age. The Haplotype
is estimated to have first appeared about 15,000 - 20,000 years ago.
Before that, it is thought that more than 20,000
years ago the I1 lineage came to North West Europe from the Middle East and
North Africa.
Could it be possible that HARTLEY is a Norse-Viking
surname ?
The key to understanding the surname Hartley
may be found in ancient languages like Old Norse. Some forms of the surname,
especially in the North of England, may be derived from some form of Old Norse
...
In Norse, 'Har' means 'tall' 'loud' and 'hair' ... so what might 'Har-t-ley'
mean in Norse ?
... 'Har' means tall, high, loud, [fair-]haired
... 'Hart' means 'hard' or 'sharply' ... ... the German 'Hardt' means 'hard',
'hardy', 'tough', 'strong' ...
'Ley' may be derived from 'Lio' meaning 'peoples
or clan' but it may be derived from 'ley' meaning 'grassland' ... in German
'ley' has that meaning.
so 'Hartley' might mean [something like] 'the
Clan of the tall, hard, loud, fair-haired people' or it may mean 'The tough,
hard peoples who live in the grasslands, meadows'.
From about 800AD the East Norsemen Vikings [mostly Danes and Finns] controlled
most of Northern and Eastern Britain, an area from London up into Scotland and
across as far as Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria, the exact same area where
the northern Hartleys originate. This area was called Northumbria [or Northumberland]
meaning the lands north of the River Humber; [the area south of the Humber called
Southumbria [or Southumberland].
West Norsemen Vikings [from Norway and Sweden]
controlled Western Scotland and Islands, Dublin and the South of Ireland and
parts of Wales. Here are more similar maps: [click on map to enlarge]
From the maps it is evident the areas settled
by Viking Norsemen correspond with where British and Irish Hartleys originate
[see Irish O'Hartley below]. Again, it
is therefore likely that part or all of the surname came from Norse origins.
What are the earliest records
of the surname Hartley ? Do they show they were Norse ?
Early
records indicate that the surname HARTLEY is likely pre-Norman [ie Saxon] as
it appears after the Norman conquest of 1066, from the place-names already in
existence BEFORE the Normans settled.
Adam de Hartley b.c.1188 of Hartley Manor in
Dorset was married to Cecilia [* see below] b.c.1192, m.c. 1217 at Great
Minterne, Dorset. They had a third daughter named Claricia b.c 1223.
Other children included:
Robert b.c.1218 [see below]
Isabella b.c.1220 who m. William St Leodgar
Christiana b.c.1223 who m. William Tilly
Agnes b.c.1227
Isolda b.c.1230
Johanna b.c.1232
Claricia Hartley married Jean de la Lynde m.c.1245,
later knighted, famous for negotiating the execution of the Treaty
of Paris 1259 between King Richard III of England and King Louis IX of France,
a Treaty that gave former Norseland, Normany, back to the French.
Adam's son, Robert Hartley 1218, inherited the
Manor in 1244 but died shortly after. Robert's six sisters then inherited, but
three sold their shares to Claricia. Claricia
d.c.1283
other family members included William De Hartley
about 1275 of Hartley, Dorset ... Nicholas de Hertlegh of Somerset about 1327
[taken from Subsidy Rolls] ...
the Hartley family in Dorset appears
to be closely connected to the Hartley family at Hartley Castle, Cumbria
Original occupants of Hartley Castle in Cumbria
were ...
Husband: Michael de HARCLA Born: ABT 1250 at:
Of Hartley Castle,Kirkby Stephen,Westmoreland,England
Wife: Mrs. Michael de HARCLA Born: ABT 1254 at: Of,Westmoreland,England
Children:
*Baron Andrew de HARCLA Born: ABT 1276 at: Of Hartley Castle,Westmoreland Died:
1323 at: Carlisle ,Cumberland
John de HARCLA Born: ABT 1278 at: Of Hartley Castle,Westmoreland Died: 1323
at: Whitehall,Cumberland
Sarah de HARCLA Born: ABT 1280 at: Of Hartley Castle,Westmoreland Married: ABT
1300 at: Of Great Musgrave, Westmoreland Died: AFT 1327: Spouses: Thomas de
MUSGRAVE Robert de LEYBURN
*Baron Andrew de HARCLA was a commander of
the English forces at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314, and he defeated Thomas,
Earl of Lancaster at the battle of Boroughbridge in 1321 for which he was made
Lord Harcla, and later Earl of Carlisle. Sadly, it is believed as the result
of some political skulduggery, he was accused of colluding with Robert the Bruce
for a truce against the King's wishes and was hung drawn and quartered at Carlisle
Castle, his head ending up on the Tower of London. His brother John was also
executed, leaving his son John a ward of the King and his sister, Sarah who
married Thomas de Musgrave from nearby Great Musgrave and stayed on at Hartley
Castle.
* another Cecilia Hartley was born in
or around Lancashire b.c.1197. She married Thurston BANASTRE at Walton Le Dale,
Makerfield, Lancashire abt 1214 but he died just a few years later. She may
have been the same Cecilia Hartley in Dorset, ie, she may have gone on to marry
Adam Hartley in Dorset, they may have been cousins;
Another of the earliest records is that of one
Robert de Hertlay who was living in Yorkshire in 1191 according to Poll Tax
returns. He may closely related to the Hartleys at Hartley Manor Hall [Hartley
Castle].
It's early days, but there appears to be
TWO different HARTLEY surname lineages ?
Haplotype R1b1 ... derived from the place-name
HARTLEY, the place being named after the Festival of the Goddess, HERTHA.
Haplotype Group I1-a ... derived from Old
Norse peoples [Danes, Vikings, Saxons, Normans] who brought the surname HEORT-LEA
[or something similar] with them, the name having already been derived fron
the Festival of the Goddess, HERTHA, in Germany and Scandinavia, and further
back in history, in Greece.
How many HARTLEYs were there in British
Censuses ?
1841 Census 10,496 : 1851 Census 11,750
: 1861 Census 20,345 : 1871 Census 14,843 : 1891 Census 17,211
The most common HARTLEY First Names were:
Census 1841 1851 1861 1871 1891
JOHN Hartley 953 975 1,507 932 764
WILLIAM Hartley 747 796 1,221 786 708
MARY Hartley 876 769 1,131 731 612
JAMES Hartley 604 602 963 612 613
ELIZABETH Hartley 523 598 1,003 658 543
THOMAS Hartley 448 450 829 539 435
SARAH Hartley 506 486 744 444 343
ANN Hartley 482 463 665 378 221
JOSEPH Hartley 320 356 517 379 320
JANE Hartley 296 331 521 337 269
GEORGE Hartley 220 251 405 308 321
HANNAH Hartley 249 295 459 283 188
HENRY Hartley 222 249 409 266 234
ELLEN Hartley 193 241 387 260 243
MARGARET Hartley 208 210 429 226 235
ROBERT Hartley 214 210 427 228 209
ALICE Hartley 149 166 342 208 254
RICHARD Hartley 189 190 332 203 174
MARTHA Hartley 201 211 294 205 174
EMMA Hartley 52 116 208 178 186
Where else can the surname Hartley be found
?
In the USA, a few of the Hartleys in
the USA go back a long way ... some of the earliest records show Hartleys in
Accomack, Virginia; Patterson's Creek, Hampshire, Virginia; Westmoreland Co,
, , Virginia; Hampshire, Kentucky; Sassafras River, Stephen's Parish, Cecil,
Maryland; Colleton, South Carolina; and Solebury, Lahaska, Bucks, Pennsylvania
as early as 1680-1700 most Hartleys journeyed and settled there much later on
with waves of emigrants from England and Ireland.
In 1840 - 36% of Hartleys lived in OH/PA
= 244 families in total USA
by 1880 - 40% of Hartleys lived
in IL/IN/OH/PA/NY = 5763 families in total USA
by 1920 - 41% of Hartleys lived
in CA/MO/IL/IN/OH/PA/NY - 4185 families in total USA
40% were Farmers [1880]
against 35% for the main population.
The
Jutes, Angles, and Saxons. Having depended
on professional Roman soldiers for centuries, the Britions were unable to deal
with these raids and in desperation called in Germans [Saxons, Jutes, and Angles,
for the most part] from northwestern Germany and Denmark [areas still known
as Saxony and Jutland, the Angles living in the '"angle" between the two] to
help them out. This turned out to be a big mistake, because the Germans were
so impressed by the place that they went back for their families [and more warriors]
and came back to take Britain for their own. In the process, most of Brittania
became England [from "Angleland"]. The Germans drove out some of Britons [who
fled to places like Cornwall, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Brittany] and mixed
in with the rest to produce the English, who spoke a German dialect that has
evolved into modern English. The Germans were pagans, and the Christian Britons
had little success in converting them. That would come later when missionaries
from Rome arrived. 
but the
question is, was the 'Hart' bit of 'HARTLEY named after 'Stag/Deer' or was it
the other way round, the word 'Stag/Deer' being named after 'HEOROT' derived
from ... ? Read on ...
In Norse, 'Har' means 'tall' 'loud' and 'hair' ... so what might 'Har-t-ley'
mean in Norse ?
Early
records indicate that the surname HARTLEY is likely pre-Norman [ie Saxon] as
it appears after the Norman conquest of 1066, from the place-names already in
existence BEFORE the Normans settled.
HARTLEY Crest and Coat of Arms - Shop at 