This surname is derived from an occupation. 'the bottler,' i.e. bottle-maker; v. Bottlemaker. The 'pouche makers, hoteliers, and capmakers' acted together in the York Plays (p. xxii). These bottles were evidently of leather, (a) Offic. 'the bottler,' i.e. butler, one who looked after the bottles. The forms of entry are endless.

'Botler schalle sett for each a messe, A pot, a lofe, withouten distresse.': Boke of Curtasye. 'The furst yere, my son, thou shalt be pantere, or buttilare.': Boke of Nurture.

Katerina la Butelere, Norfolk, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Adam le Buteler. Herefordshire, ibid.

Clement le Butiller, Norfolk, ibid.

Faukes le Buteller, Lincolnshire, ibid.

Richard le Botiler, Buckinghamshire, ibid.

William le Botilier, Nottinghamshire, ibid.

Hugo le Botyler, Cambridgeshire, ibid.

1635. Baptised — Tomas Bottler, son of William Bottler: St. Michael, Cornhill.

Originally the servant in charge of the butts or casks of wine, OF. bouteillier, in Latin documents rendered pincerna. Some of the name in later times may derive from hoteller, maker of leather bottles, specimens of which are in Scottish museums. Hugo, pincerna, witnessed charters by Richard, bishop of St. Andrews, a. 1173 (RPSA., p. 134—136,138, 139), and c. 1200—1207 Petrus, pincerna, appears as a witness (LAC., p. 81). Warinus, pincerna of the bishop of Glasgow, witnessed confirmation of the sale of land of Scrogges to the church of Glasgow, 1208—13 (REG., p. 76). Malcolm, pincerna, witnessed a confirmation charter by Alexander 11 of his father's grant of the right of a fair, etc., to the bishop of Glasgow, c. 1225 (ibid., p. 113). Sir John le Botiler swore fealty in 1291, and in 1296 Johan le Botillier of Cramond, Johan le Botiler of Perthshire, and Sir John called le Botillier all rendered homage. Alisaundre de la Butelerie (= butlery) of Ayrshire also rendered homage in the same year (Bain, II, p. 205). The name in Scotland appears to have been ousted by Spence.

(Anglo-French) 1 lit. Bottle-Keeper [Middle English boteler, &c., French boutillier, bouteiller; Old French boutelle (French bouteille), a bottle; from Low Latin butts, a vessel] To hevene with daun [lord] Jupiter, And made the goddes boteler.—Chaucer, Hous of Fame, ii. 83-4.

2 Bottle-Maker [as above]

One of the great Anglo-Norman families which, however, did not soon become hibernicized like the Burkes etc. Mainly identified with the Ormond country.

Now very numerous in all the provinces except Ulster.

Bibl; IF 67 etc; MIF 247 etc; Map Kilk-Tip

(English) One who made, or had charge of, bottles; one in charge of the butts or casks of wine.

See under Botiler. The origin of the great Irish family of Butler is a vexed question. They have been variously deduced-from Herveius, a companion of William the Conqueror-from the illustrious De Clares-and from a brother of Thomas a Becket. Certain it is that they went over to Ireland, temp. Henry II., and that the name is derived from the office of King's Butler, which was conferred upon Theobald surnamed le Boteler by that monarch in 1177, and remained hereditary in his descendants for many generations. The head of the family claimed prisage and butlerage for all wines imported into Ireland, and it was not until 1810 that the claim was finally surrendered, for the valuable consideration of £216,000.

This family derive their origin from the old Counts of Briony or Biony, in Normandy, a descendant of whom, Herveius Fitz Walter, accompanied the Conqueror into England. His son, Theobold, went with Henry II. into Ireland, where, having greatly assisted in the reduction of the kingdom, he was rewarded with large possessions there, and made it the place of his residence. The king afterward conferred on him the office of chief Butler of Ireland, whence his descendants, the Earls of Ormond and others, took the surname of Be Boteler or Butler.

BOTILER: In ordinary life a wine-merchant or butler. The king's botiler, or ' Pincerna regis,' was an officer of considerable importance, answering to the collectors of customs in modem ports. In virtue of his office he was empowered to seize for the king's use, from every ship laden with wine, one cask from the prow and one from the poop, paying for each twenty shillings. Jacob's Law Dict. Le Boteler, le Botiller, H.R.

Or De Glanville. This family derives its name from Theobald Walter, the first butler of Ireland, to whom that dignity and vast estates were granted by Henry II. He also possessed the barony of Amounderness, Lancashire, which he held 1165 by service of one knight (Liber Niger). By his charters to Cokersand, Lancashire, and Wotheny, Limerick, it appears that Hervey Walter was his father; Hubert W., Archbishop of Canterbury, his brother; and Ranulph de Glanville, the justiciary, his dear friend (Mon. ii. 631, 1054). Hervey Walter, his father, 1171 granted lands to Butley Priory, Suffolk (founded by Ranulph de Glanville, at the chief seat of the G.s), for the souls of ‘our ancestors,’ i.e., of Ranulph and himself (Mon. Angl. ii. 245); and he is a witness, as Hervey de Glanville, to the foundation charter (Ib.). In the reign of Stephen he witnessed a charter of Bartholomew de Glanville for Bromholm Priory. T. Henry III. a noble granted lands to St. Osyth’s, Essex, for the soul of Hervey de Glanville, his wife’s grandfather (Mon. ii. 183); and in 1155 Hervey de Glanville and Ranulph de G. witnessed the foundation charter of Snapes, Essex (Mon. ii. 894). Hervey Walter, or De Glanville, had relinquished his barony of Amounderness to his son Theobald before 1165; at which time as Hervey de Glanville he held one fee in Suffolk from the See of Ely (Liber Niger). He was son of another Herveius Walter, who granted lands in Rouchcliffe, Thistleton, Greenhale, Lancashire, to Ormus, son of Magnus (Testa, 403), which Ormus witnessed a charter of Richard Bussel, baron of Penwortham (Mon. i. 361). He appears as Hervey de Glanville in the foundation charter of Eye by Robert Malet, early t. Henry I. (Mon. i. 357). Walter (de Glanville), his father, appears 1086 as owner of estates in Lailand, Lancashire (Domesd.). He is styled in a charter of Warin Bussel, baron of Penwortham, granted to Evesham Abbey, ‘his knight’ (Mon. Angl.); and no doubt held from him Rouchcliffe, Weeton, &c., which descended to his posterity (Baines, Lane. i. 117; Testa, 411). Walter’s descendants, the Butlers, bore the arms of De Glanville; a chief indented; merely varying the tinctures. This family was of Glanville, near Caen. About 1064 Rain- aid de Glanville witnessed a charter of Roger de Mowbray in favour of Holy Trinity, Caen (Gall. Christ. xi. 60, Instr.), and had issue, 1, Robert de Glanville, who, in 1086, had great possessions in Suffolk, and was ancestor of William de G., whose barony in Suffolk, 1165, consisted of nine and a half fees; 2, Walter, ancestor of the Butlers. Hence spring the Marquises of Ormond, Earls of Carrick, Viscounts Mountgarret, Barons Dunboyne, &c.

Earls of Lanesborough, descended from Hugo Pincerna, feudal Butler of the Counts of Mellent, who accompanied the Count of Mellent 1066, and in 1086 was a baron in Bedford (Domesd.). The family were hereditary butlers of the Earls of Leicester and Mellent. Ralph Pincerna, son of Hugo, in 1130 had custody of the E. of Mellent’s estates (Rot. Pip.). Henry I. confirmed his gifts to Kenilworth Priory (Mon. ii. 115,118, 134). Ralph, his son, was baron of Oversley, and from him descended the barons of Wemme. John, son of Robert Pincerna, son of Ralph (Mon. Angl. ii. 309), held lands in Bedford 1165. Ralph le Botiler, of Bedford, c. 1300, m. Hawisia Gobiun, of the same county (Roberts, Cal. Gen.). In 1376 John B. m. Isolda Gobiun, heiress of Waresley, Hunts, where he resided (Lodge, Irish Peerage). From him descended the B.s of Waresley; one of whom, George B., of Fen Drayton, Cambridge, was lineal ancestor of the Earls of Lanesborough. The arms of this family in various branches are those of the B.s of Wemme.

Several other families of distinction bore the same name, derived from the feudal dignity of Pincerna, viz., the Butlers of Cornwall and Kent, descended from Alured, feudal butler of Mortaine and Cornwall, t. William I.; the Butlers of Essex, derived from Hugo Pincerna, feudal butler of Eudo Dapifer, a great baron t. William I.; the Butlers, Barons of Warrington, feudal butlers of Chester, and probably a branch of the houses of Venables and Grosvenor; the Butlers of Bramfield, a branch of the Barons of Wemme, and others; the particulars of which families would occupy too much space.

Butler. —This name is widely scattered, but its principal home is in the south of England in the adjacent counties of Wilts, Hants, and Berks.