16
ORIGIN AND CHANGES OF SURNAMES.
are supposed to have been derived, was local or territorial. Much discussion
has been had respecting the origin and changes of the surnames Rydale and
Ridel, and men of equal scholarship and research do not agree in their conclu-
sions. How, then, can it be expected, that an author writing from an Ameri-
can standpoint, will be able to lift this veil that has for so many generations
held the subject in comparative obscurity? I shall only follow those whose
advantages have qualified them to write with the claims of accuracy. The Sieur
de Ridel, or Monsieur Ridel, whose name appears on the roll of Battle Abbey,
the earliest record of the Normans who came with William the Conqueror,
was said to be the ancestor of all branches of the Riddell and Riddle family
subsequently settled in England and Scotland, and that he was such, some very
able antiquaries have maintained during the present century. The surname
appears on the pages of the Domesday Book, and in a variety of forms, such
as "Ridle," "Ridel," and "Ridell." We must look to Norway or Normandy for
the origin of the name. An English authority says, "The name is a local
one, from a place in Scandinavia called Rugdal, that is Ryedale, the valley of
rye." This has been the opinion held by nearly all writers, and certainly has
the best of grounds in history. Members of this Norman family settled in
Yorkshire, and named their landed possessions "Ryedale"; thence they settled
in Scotland and called their lands there by their own surname.
John Riddell, one of the greatest antiquaries ever known in Scotland, pos-
sessed the deepest interest in this subject, and traced the name back to Nor-
man records to procure every item of proof bearing upon its derivation and
original orthography, and in his publications he claims for the "Riddells of
Riddell," Roxburghshire, Scotland, the "Riddells of Cranstown-Riddell," the
"Riddells of Ardnamurchan," and families of the name in England, a common
origin. This gentleman, in one of his literary discussions with Mr. Cosmo
Innes, who was considered by some equally eminent in the same line of
research, took that gentleman to task for asserting in his preface to the "Char-
tulary of Melrose," that the Riddells only acquired their surname from their
lands in Roxburghshire, instead of giving it to their estate. In a work pub-
lished by John Riddell, Esq., in 1843, called "Stewartiana," he has treated the
subject of his family name with great fulness of illustration and instances the
Gervase Ridel, who witnessed an inquisition of David, when Prince of Cumbria,
A. D. 1116, as of the same family as Walter de Rydale, and mentions Chalmers'
"Caledonia" as authority that the Riddells of Roxburgh spread into Mid-
Lothian, and gave the name of "Cranstown-Riddell" to their lands there. More
recent genealogists, with some claims to consideration, have taken exception to
John Riddell's view of the case, and endeavor to prove that the Ridels and
Rydales were originally distinct families. An examination of ancient papers
has proved that the Riddells of Roxburgh, denominated "of that ilk" in deeds
and monastic records, for several centuries from their first appearance in Scot-
land, are invariably styled “de Ridale," and the other stock, now represented
by the Riddells of Sunart, in Argyleshire, always had their surname spelled
"Ridel" without the prefix de. Several authors claim "de Ridale" to be a
local surname and "Ridel" as strictly personal in its origin and significance.
The same writers identify the Ridels of Cranstown with the Ridels of England;
these families having sided with the English in the Wars of the Succession,
*There was one exception. "Walter Ridel" witnessed a charter by William the
Lyon, say A. D. 1165-1174.
