Mascal History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Mascal was first found in Warwickshire where Goisfridus Marescal was recorded as holding lands in 1084. Over on the Isle of Man, Manx records show Hugo Maskercal there 1087-1097 and the source Old English Bynames records William Marescald 1100-1130.

Early Lincolnshire records show Roger Mascherell in the Pipe Rolls of 1130. Years later, again in Lincolnshire, Rainald le mareschall was recorded c. 1140. Early Suffolk records show Robert Maskerel in 1166 and in Somerset, records there show Henry le Marscal in the Assize Rolls for 1238. John Marschal was listed in the Subsidy Rolls for Sussex in 1296. 1

"I believe that the Mascalls of Kent and Sussex were originally Marshalls. There is armorial evidence of this; and in a document of the XVI. century before me, I find the name written Marscal, which is about midway between Mareschal and Mascall." 2

The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 included entries for Gilbert le Marscale, Sussex; Thomas le Marsscal, Cambridgeshire; and Peter Marscallus, Oxfordshire. 3

"Maskell is probably a contraction of Mascherel, the name of an ancient family that possessed much property in the county in the 11th century: from the Essex Mascherels sprang the noble family of De Hastings (M.). We find the name as Maskerel in the adjoining county of Suffolk in the 13th century (H. R.). It has been suggested that Mascall, a comparatively rare name in Kent and Sussex, was originally Marscal, since, in a family deed of the 16th century, it occurs as Marscal (L.). In the 13th century, Le Marscal was a common name in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire (H. R.), and not improbably Marscal is an intermediate form between the modern Marshall and the mediæval Mareschal, but as to its being the original form of Maskell in Essex, I must express a decided doubt." 4