Origin of the Name Rutledge
The
Rutledge family history was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. The name Rutledge originated in the border country of Scotland and England . This name is of Scottish descent and is found in many ancient manuscripts in that country. Examples of such are Symon Routledge and his son Mathew, who were charged with 'spuilzeit of certain goods' recorded in 1494. A David Routledge was Bailie to James Douglas of Caver in the year 1512. Martin de Routledge, a Scotsman, was Procurator of the Scottish Nation in the University of Orleans, recorded in 1537. A Lancelot Rutledge was recorded in Appiltrielewis, in the year 1643. 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 lands 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 name is common in Counties Tyrone and Fermanagh and also in County Mayo where it is used as a variant of the name Mulderrig.
The Rutledge 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 Rutledge descendants.