ORIGIN AND CHANGES OF SURNAMES.
17
lost their estate in Scotland. The de Ridales, who do not appear prominently
of that era, though they were near the Border, retained their lands until they
sold them at a comparatively recent date. The name of Sir Hugh Ridel stands
on the Ragman's Roll," but none of the other families appear there.
The Ridels of England were chiefly connected with Northamptonshire and
Essex. In the "Pipe Roll" (1184) Hugh Ridel is found in possession of the
land of Wittering, in the former county, and in the year 1192 Richard Ridel
owned the same estate. A century later (1315) a Hugh Ridel petitions Edward II
that the lands of Wittering, which had been taken from him by Edward I
(because at the request of Simon Frizel, he stayed in Scotland with John de
Balliol), and had been given to the petitioner's son, Geoffry Ridel, during the
king's pleasure, might be restored to him. Thirty years afterwards (1348)
another Hugh Ridell, son and heir of "Mons. Geffrei Ridell," petitions Edward
III, for restoration of his lands of Craneston in Loudion" (Cranstown-Riddell,
Mid-Lothian, Scotland), out of which his father had been expelled by the Scots
for his allegiance to the English crown, styling this property the "heritage of
his ancestors." According to Bridges, they held Wittering till the reign of
Edward IV, when the family ended in an heiress.
At the same time the Ridels of Wittering and Cranstown appear in the "Pipe
Rolls" of Henry II, and Richard I, the de Ridales of Roxburghshire, Scotland,
are conspicuous in the "Chartulary of Melrose." One deed in that record gives
remarkable evidence of four generations of this family co-existent in the twelfth
century. Patrick de Ridale; Walter, his son and heir; William, the son and heir
of Walter; and William, son of William and grandson of Walter, all appear in
this grant to Melrose. The deed that follows the one before mentioned is a con-
firmation by Eustace de Vesci, their overlord, of the de Ridales grant. Singu-
larly enough, one of the witnesses to this document was Gaufridus Ridel, who
is not styled consanguineus, as he would have been had he been a relative. Hugh
Ridel (before mentioned) also attests a confirmation by William the Lyon, of
a grant by Patrick de Ridale to Melrose. At the same period the "Pipe
Rolls" show that a Patrick and Roger de Ridale flourished in the County of
York. Chalmers claims that the first of the Scotch de Ridales came from York-
shire, and the Christian name Patrick favors that origin. Jordan Ridell of Til-
mouth, in Northumberland, in 1230, had in his arms "three bars wavy" the same
as the Ridels of Wittering, while the de Ridales had the "chevron between
three ears of rye." Another authority claims the surname of the family of Rid-
dell of Sunart, in its original orthography to have been personal and not terri-
torial; that its true form appears to be Rudellus or Rudel, though frequently
spelled Ridel at an early date, but in no instance as de Ridel. He believes
in three original branches, or distinct families, of the name, but his quotations
do not sustain the arguments of others as to the identity between the English
Riddells, and those of Argyleshire and Cranstown in Scotland.
In Berwick-on-Tweed and Newcastle-on-Tyne the name has a continuous
history. In "Historical Documents, Scotland, 1286-1306," under date Dec. 10,
A. D. 1293, letters of safe conduct for “Phillipus de Ridall, burginsis et merca-
tor de Berewyk," trading within the kingdom of England, were granted. In the
"Wills and Inventories," edited by the Surtees Society, there is the name of a
de Ridell continuing the tradition of Philip de Rydale as a burgess of Ber-
wick-on-Tweed. Thomas de Ridell, who was a burgess of Berwick, in his
will, 1615, names among his legatees, his nephew, Alexander de Ridell, together
with William, a son, and Agnes, daughter of Alexander; and it may be worth
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