Origin of the Name Moncur
The
Moncur family history was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. Although always associated with Scotland it is speculated that the name Moncur may ultimately of Norman origin, derived from the town of Moncheur. Since the thirteenth century this name is found in many ancient manuscripts in Scotland . Examples of such are a Michael de Moncur who witnessed a charter by Ysabella de Brus in the year 1237. An Andrew de Moncurr rendered homage at Berwick-on-Tweed in 1296. Names were recorded in these ancient documents to make it easier for the overlords to collect taxes and to keep records of the population at any given time. When the overlords acquired land by either force or as gifts from their rulers, they created charters of ownership for themselves and their vassals.
In Ireland this name and its variants were introduced into Ulster Province by settlers who arrived from England and Scotland , especially during the seventeenth century. It was the 'Plantations of Ireland ' in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that marked the end of Gaelic supremacy in Ireland . While the influx of settlers in the wake of the earlier Anglo-Norman invasion of the twelfth century resulted in a full integration into Irish society of the new arrivals, the same never occurred with the Ulster Planters who maintained their own distinct identity.
The Moncur coat of arms came into existence centuries ago. The process of creating coats of arms (also often called family crests) began in the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this. The new art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own coat of arms, including all Moncur descendants.