Montfort History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Etymology of Montfort

What does the name Montfort mean?

The name Montfort arrived in England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Montfort family lived in Warwickshire. The name, however, is a reference to the family's place of residence prior to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, one of two places Montfort-sur-Lisle near Argentan in the Normandy district, or Montfort near Pont-Audemer, also in Normandy. 1

Early Origins of the Montfort family

The surname Montfort was first found in Warwickshire where the family claims descent from "Hugh de Montfort, son of Thurstan de Basternbergh, a Norman accompanied the Conqueror in 1066, and obtained for his services more than one hundred lordships in Kent, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk." 2

Nicknamed "Hugh with a Beard," he was son of Thurstan de Bastenburgh. His descendant Peter de Montford was one of the most zealous amongst the turbulent barons of the era and after the Battle of Lewes was one of the nine nominated to rule the kingdom, but he later fell at the conflict of Eversham. The direct male line became extinct with his great-grandson, Peter de Montfort who died in 1367 leaving a illegitimate son, Sir John Montfort to carry on the family. 3

Other early notables include: Simon IV de Montfort, Seigneur de Montfort-l'Amaury, 5th Earl of Leicester (1165-1218), a French nobleman who took part in the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204) and died at the siege of Toulouse in 1218. His youngest son, Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, 1st Earl of Chester (c. 1208-1265), led the barons' rebellion against King Henry III of England during the Second Barons' War of 1263-1264, and subsequently became de facto ruler of England. He and his eldest son Sir Henry de Montfort were killed on 4 August 1265 at the Battle of Evesham. 4

Early History of the Montfort family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Montfort research. Another 99 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1066, 1282, 1283, 1285, 1294, 1664 and 1692 are included under the topic Early Montfort History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Montfort Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Montfort, Montford, Mountford, Mountfort and others.

Early Notables of the Montfort family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was

William de Montfort (also Mountfort), an English medieval Canon law jurist, Chancellor of the University of Oxford (1282-1283), Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, London (1285-1294)

Montfort Ranking

In France, the name Montfort is the 3,506^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,000 - 2,500 people with that name. 5

Montfort migration to the United States +

Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Montfort name or one of its variants:

Montfort Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Steven Montfort, who settled in Georgia in 1734

Montfort Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Carl Montfort, aged 36, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1805 6
Anto Play Montfort, aged 30, who landed in New Orleans, La in 1838 6

Contemporary Notables of the name Montfort (post 1700) +

Seth Montfort, American pianist
Nick Montfort, American Associate Professor of digital media at MIT
Margaret Garner Montfort, American Democratic Party politician, Alternate Delegate to Democratic National Convention from California, 1932 7
F. Lange Montfort, American politician, Candidate for Michigan State House of Representatives, 1966, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1980 7
Sir Peter de Montfort (1215-1265), English parliamentarian
Jacques de Montfort, French Brigadier General during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1789 to 1815 8
William Montfort (b. 1101), French bishop
Henri de Montfort (1889-1966), French historian, writer, journalist and French Resistance worker
Hugo von Montfort (1357-1423), Austrian minstrel
Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716), French priest canonized in 1947
... (Another 2 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Citations +

The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States Of America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1975. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0636-X)
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Burke, John Bernard, The Roll of Battle Abbey. London: Edward Churton, 26, Holles Street, 1848, Print.
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
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)
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 13) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
Generals Who Served in the French Army during the Period 1789-1815. (Retrieved 2015, May 6) Jacques Montfort. Retrieved from http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/c_frenchgenerals.html