Katilaz Ancestral Archive

Note: Eric Anctil's email address is no longer valid. Live people have been removed from the genealogy.

============================================================================= "ANCTIL ANCESTRAL ARCHIVE" [Kettle, Axtell, Antill/Antle, Ancell/Ansell, McCaskill/MacAskill, Anquetil/Anctil] Maintained by Eric R. Anctil <eancti@po-box.mcgill.ca> (1998-1999) Revision 1999-03-08 http://www.kettlenet.co.uk/kettle/viking/katilaz.htm ============================================================================= TABLE OF CONTENTS -> Correspondence i. Personal Contributors ii. Internet E-Mail Addresses & Web Sites iii. Internet-Usenet Newsgroups iv. Internet Mailing Listservers v. Postal Snail Mail Addresses & Telephone Numbers -> Abstract i. Preface ii. Introduction I. Surname Septs Database i. Nordic Council of Ministers, "From Viking to Crusader: Scandinavia and Europe 800-1200" [book/etext] ii. Maison des Noms, "Ancient Family History of the Distinguished Surname Anctil" [scroll] iii. Keith Antill, "The Antill Homepage" [web] iv. Dan Axtell, "Axtell Family Organization" [web] v. Normand J. Anctil [e-mail] vi. Maison des Noms [web - http://www.maisondesnoms.com/] vii. Kate Monk, "An Onomastikon (Dictionary of Names)" [web] viii. Marcel Anctil, "Les familles Anctil en Amerique" [web] ix. Anna Kettle, "Genealogy of the Kettle Family" [web] x. Eric R. Anctil xi. GenForum [web - http://genforum.familytreemaker.com/] xii. "An Icelandic-English Dictionary based on the MS. collections of the late Richard Cleasby. 1874 ed." [book/etext] xiii. Peter Andersen [e-mail - bomann@home.com] xiv. Chris MacAskill [web] xv. Kindred Konnections [web - http://www.kindredkonnections.com/] xvi. National Geographic Volume 134 Number 4, April 1970 "The Vikings" [magazine] II. Surname Etymology i. Old Norse Phonetics & Elder Futhark Runic Writing ii. Surname Linguistics & Ethnicity iii. Surname Etymological Analysis iv. "Dit" Surnames & "Anctil dit St-Jean" v. Surname Septs' Geographic Settlements III. Scandinavian Culture of the Viking Era i. Political Hierarchy ii. Society & Culture iii. Pagan Religion IV. Heraldry i. Migration Theory #1: Indirect Route ii. Migration Theory #2: Direct Route V. Genealogy VI. History & Geography i. The Iron Age Norwegians during the Barbarian Migrations ii. Christian Vikings: The Normans iii. The Scandinavian Vikings VII. Articles i. "Were the Vikings traders or raiders?" [Eric R. Anctil] ii. "The Ancient History of the Distinguished Surname Anctil" [Maison des Noms] iii. "A Brief History of the French-Canadian Anctils in Quebec (1734-????)" [Normand J. Anctil] VIII. Notes & Anecdotes i. Normand J. Anctil [e-mail] ii. Ken Aldrich, "The Ancient Germans: The Rugians" [web - offline] iii. Dr. D.A. Postles, "Medieval Palaeography: Transcriptions and Translations of Charters" [web] iv. David Ford, "The History of Abingdon, Berkshire" [web] v. "untitled" [web] vi. Erich J. Richter, "Norman Sources of Feudalism" [web] IX. Etexts i. "An Icelandic-English Dictionary based on the MS. collections of the late Richard Cleasby" [out of print / excerpts] (1874) ii. Nordic Council of Ministers, "From Viking to Crusader: Scandinavia and Europe 800-1220" [rare / excerpts] (1992) iii. M. Jackson Crispin, "Falaise roll recording prominent companions of William, duke of Normandy at the conquest of England" [rare / excerpts] (1938) iv. William Nelson, "Edward Antill, a New York merchant of the seventeenth century, and his descendants : Edward Antill, 2d, of Piscataway, New Jersey, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Antill, 3d, of Quebec and Montreal, Dr. Lewis Antill, of Perth Amboy, and Major John Antill, of New York" [rare] (1899) v. R.V. Pockley, "The Antill family, England 833-America 1680, Australia 1809" [out of print] (1978) vi. "A short history, with notes and references, of the ancient and honorable family of Ancketill or Ancetell" [rare] (1901) vii. Joseph-Albert Anctil, "A la memoire de David Anctil de Saint-Philippe-de Neri, La Pocatiere" [out of print] (1986) viii. Noel Anctil, "Genealogie de la famille Alfred Anctil: ses ancetres, ses descendants" [out of print] (1982) X. Conclusions -> Research Tools -> Bibliography ============================================================================= CORRESPONDENCE [ Personal Contributors ] Normand J. Anctil Anna Kettle Michel Anctil Faith Wallis New York State Library Bibliotheque Nationale du Quebec McGill University [McLennan-Redpath Social Sciences Library] L'Université de Montréal [Bibliotheque des Sciences Humaines] Higginson Book Company Maison des Noms [ Internet Web Sites ] : Eric R. Anctil <http://www.kettlenet.co.uk/kettle/viking/katilaz.htm> Luc Trépanier <http://www.microtec.net/~lutrin/Anctil/01.html> Marcel Anctil <http://pages.infinit.net/anctil/> Keith Antill <http://www.tiac.net/users/protrain/antills/> Dan Axtell <http://www.sover.net/~daxtell/axtell/> Charles Ancell <http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/5761/> Chris MacAskill <http://www.macaskill.com/History/BillsHistory/BillsHistory1.html> Anna Kettle <http://www.kettlenet.co.uk/kettle/> Simone B. Haslam <http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/6660/surnames.htm> Kate Monk <http://www.fairacre.co.uk/> [ Internet-Usenet Newsgroups ] : fr.rec.genealogie francom.genealogie soc.genealogy.french soc.genealogy.surnames.canada soc.genealogy.surnames.usa soc.genealogy.surnames soc.genealogy.surnames.misc soc.genealogy.surnames.global soc.genealogy.surnames.britain soc.genealogy.surnames.uk+ireland soc.genealogy.medieval soc.genealogy.nordic alt.history.viking-culture [ Internet Mailing Listservers ] : listserv@mail.eworld.com [subscribe gen-ff-l] roots-l-request@rootsweb.com [subscribe roots-l] gen-fr-l-request@rootsweb.com [subscribe] gen-ff-l-request@rootsweb.com [subscribe] gen-medieval-request@rootsweb.com [subscribe] listproc@hum.gu.se [subscribe onn <first_name> <last_name>]; onn@hum.gu.se [ Postal Snail Mail Addresses & Telephone Numbers ] : Association des Familles Anctil Inc. 23 Place de la Vanoise St-Romuald, Quebec Canada G6W5M6 Association des Familles Anctil Inc. 1617 de la Source Charny, Quebec Canada J6W2T2 Association des Familles Anctil Inc. 33 rue Bellevue St-Etienne, Quebec Canada G0S2L0 Société historique de la Cite-du-Sud 100 4e Avenue La Pocatiere, Quebec Canada G0R1Z0 Ville La Pocatiere 412, 9ieme rue La Pocatiere, Quebec Canada G0R1Z0 Voice: 1-418-856-3394 Fax: 1-418-856-5465 Bureau D'Information Touristique - La Pocatiere Sortie 439, Aut. 20 La Pocatiere, Quebec Canada G0R1Z0 Voice: 1-418-856-5040 Archives Départementales - Manche 103, route de Bayeux Saint-Li, Manche France 50000 Voice: 02.33.57.15.17 ============================================================================= ABSTRACT [ Preface ] February 10, 1999 Montreal, Quebec, Canada Gentle reader, Contained within this archived text file are the full contents of my research over the past year (1998-1999). I labored long and hard, days and nights, to produce a historical text that my fellow kin and descendants can consult when they are ready to learn about our family's unique history throughout the ages. I have tried my best to be accurate, but as one travels further and further back in history, facts become less certain and theorizing is often the most innovative tool to keep the trail from growing cold. The Anctil family was not easy to research. Our ancestors did not have a literary tradition as did the Greeks and the Romans, but instead an oral tradition for telling their history from one generation to the next. Much of my research involved collecting and analyzing multiple sources from the most unusual places. I apologize for how disorganized my research notes must seem, but I hope you can understand my thought process better by seeing the same information as it was presented to me in sequence. Some of my theories about our surname origins could be wrong. If it is, I welcome you to prove it wrong and invite you to continue my research. Knowledge is power and "above all else to thine own self be true". I suppose that researching my family has always been one of my many passions in life. I'm not a professional researcher, nor do I care for the "sport" of chasing information and compiling it. It is difficult work and kudos is definately in order to honor those who do it on a regular basis and pull it off so well. From the time I was a boy, my father fascinated me with the little tidbits of information he had managed to collect himself when he had commissioned the Institut Généalogique Drouin to research the Anctil and Chabot family origins on January 4th, 1978. The compiled family trees were bound together into a genealogical booklet, engraved with these simple words: "Dédié à Eric" ["dedicated to Eric"]. Since that time, I have almost seen it as my honor, duty, privilege, and destiny to research my roots. I have studied the culture, religion, language, politics, economics, genealogy, and art of my ancestors in the hope that through them I will better understand myself. It has definately been worth it because I learned two valuable lessons: (a) I am very much like my ancestors in many ways for which I can be proud of this rich heritage and (b) I am still my own person with my own unique qualities. * * * [ Introduction ] I started this project in the summer of 1998 after having seen Keith Antill's genealogical web site and contacting him by e-mail for correspondence on how our surnames sounded so similar. It was then that he put me in contact with Normand J. Anctil, an Anctil genealogist mentored by esteemed Anctil genealogist Joseph-Albert Anctil. Normand suggested that since I was studying Ancient Roman History at McGill University and had free access to academic resources at the McLennan-Redpath Social Sciences Library, I was the logical candidate to undertake a side project for him: tracing the Anctil family prior to Jean Louis Anctil's arrival in Quebec (1734 CE). I was up to the challenge after recently having completed some research on Scandinavia during the Roman Iron Age (1 CE - 400 CE) in early preparation for my Master's Degree thesis. At this time, I also had a passing familiarity with the history behind the Viking era. I took up the challenge and started immediately researching the Internet for information about the surname Anctil. I had accidentally found a reference in a book from an earlier class project on the Vikings to three earlier forms of the surname Anctil: Asketill, Anschetillus, and Anquetil. My father had informed me years ago that the Anquetil and Anctil were related so there was another connection. I found Dan Axtell's genealogical web site on the Axtells and how they connected to the Asketill line. I was thrilled to have found a connection between the Anctil of Quebec, the Anquetil of France, the Antill of the USA, and the Axtell of the USA. Of course, this was nothing new to Normand who was aware of this connection long before me from his own web surfing research. I found a few more web sites and more books in the coming months that allowed me to fill in the blanks about the background social conditions that the Anctil likely had to undergo in the past. I spent my time tracing the geographic migrations of humankind in general, as well as that of my ancestors, throughout history. I even found Kate Monk's web site devoted to tracing the common surnames of various ancient cultures. Eventually, no news was left to be found and I wasn't much better off than when I had begun. Certainly, I had traced the family name as far back as the 10th century CE, but I was still left with more questions than when I started. The whole side project had grown far too complicated for me and began interfering with my studies, so I stopped working on it during the Christmas holidays while I rested. I started off the New Year of 1999 without much thought to continuing the research I had begun. The enthusiasm of youth simply wasn't enough. I was tired and overworked by my studies as it was. I took on a smaller course load for that semester because I grew terribly ill over the holidays so I thought it best not to overwork myself. No sooner had I been but two weeks into the semester that I discovered Anna Kettle's genealogical web site and the answer to most of my questions. Not only had she put together one of the most comprehensive genealogical web sites on the Internet, but it almost seemed as if she had read my mind as far as my unanswered questions went. I finally had the connection between all of the "-ketill" suffix surnames I had uncovered (and foolishly ignored) throughout my research. Only recently have I revised my research to reflect this latest finding. Not only did it push back the origin barrier on our surname to about 200 BCE, but the new etymological and linguistic information greatly assisted the process of tracing the migration patterns of our ancestors. In turn, I was also able to do her a kind service in gratitude of the information she provided me with. A few new book sources came up in recent weeks and this has yielded even more cultural background information, including answers to questions concerning the role of the cauldron in the sacrificial rituals of the Norsemen. I think that this archive I have put together for all of us is all that can be said of the Anctil name. If there is anything you feel should be modified, added, or removed then please let me know and I will do my best to accomodate you as I have indeed done in preparing this eternal living memory of our family. Skol, Eric R. Anctil <eancti@po-box.mcgill.ca> N.B. Désolé, mais je n'ai pas le temps ni la patience pour traduire ces documents comprenant ma recherche complet en français. Si quelqu'un a la volontée de faire ces travaux, je laisse l'effort à quelqu'un plus capable. J'espere que les branches francophones du famille Anctil/Anquetil peuvent apprécier cette arrangement. P.S. I express my thanks and eternal gratitude to my fellow colleagues, Joseph-Albert Anctil and Normand J. Anctil. I dedicate this body of research to them for without their enthusiasm and assistance, this project would never have been made possible. "To tell our stories is an honor and a duty." - Jean Anctil dit St-Jean, farmer at Ste-Anne-de-la-Pocatiere ============================================================================= I. SURNAME SEPTS DATABASE: ERIC R. ANCTIL [ Book: "From Viking to Crusader: Scandinavia and Europe 800-1220" ] Asketill Asketil Anschetillus Anquetil Eskil Brunketil Ormketil Steinketil Ulfketil Thorketil Turquetil [ Scroll: "Ancient Family History of the Distinguished Surname Anctil" ] Anctil Anctill Anquetil Antil Antile Antille Antel Antle Antell Antill Anctille Anctile Anquetile Anquetille d'Anctill d'Anctille d'Anctil d'Anquetil d'Antil d'Antile d'Antille Danctill Danctil Danctile Danctille Danquetil Anktil Anktill Anktille Anktile Anketell Ankettle Ankill Anschetillus [ Web: Keith Antill ] Anquetil Anschetill Anchetill Anchetil Anketyll Anketell Anktyll Anctil Antell Antle Antill Anschetillus Anctil-dit-Saint-Jean Antel Anthill Andle d'Aunteil Antil Anketyl [ Web: Dan Axtell ] Asketill Askel Oscytyl Asktill Akstill Akstell Axtell Ashkettle Askell Astell Astil Astill Eskell Haskel Haskell Anschetill Anketill Anquetin Asketin MacAsgill McCaskill Castell Aschil Anschil Osketel Asketillus Aschetillus Asketell Ansketill Osketill Axcil Asketil Axtel Axtelle Axstyl Axail Axell Axtil Axtill Axstell Akstyl Akstyle Axstyl Ackstyl Ackstell Extell Extil Extill [ E-Mail: Normand J. Anctil ] Anctil Antill Anctil-dit-St-Jean St-Jean St-John Anquetil [ Web: Maison des Noms - http://www.maisondesnoms.com/ ] Anquetel Anquetell Anquetill Ansel Ansell Antle Arkil Arkill Arktel Arktell Arnkel Arnkell Ankatel Ankatell Anketel Anketell Anketil Anketill Anketle Ankettle Askel Askell Asketel Asketell Asketil Asketill Asketillus Asketilus Asketle Askettle Askil Askill Axcel Axel Axell Axil Axill Axstel Axstell Axstil Axstill Axtel Axtell Axtil Axtill Ancel Ancele Ancell Ancelle Anchetel Anchetell Anchetil Anchetill Anchitel Anquetil Anquetile Anquetille Antel Antell Anktil Anktile Anktill Anktille Antil Antile Antille Quetel Quétel Quetil Quétil Ketel Ketelbi Ketell Ketelwel Ketelwell Ketelwelle Ketil Ketilby Ketill Ketle Ketlebie Ketleby Ketles Ketlewell Ketley Ketlwell Kettel Kettell Kettelwell Kettle Kettlebie Kettleby Kettles Kettless Kettlewell Kettley Kettlwell Kettyle Ketylby Ketyle Kiddal Kiddall Kiddel Kiddell Kiddle Kidel Kitel Kitle Kittel Kittle Käseler Kässeler Kässler Katelwell Kaudel Kaudell Kaudil Kaudill [ Web: Kate Monk ] Katli Ketill Arnkel Arnkell Arnketil Arkil Ask Askel Askell Asketill Hunketill Ketilbiorn Ketilgrimr Kelli Keti Ketil Ketilmund Ketilvast Thorkel Thorkeld Thorkell Thorketill Thorketl Thurkil Torkell Ulfkell Ulfketel Ulfketill Ulfkil Ketiloy Arnkatla Oscytell Otkell Grimkel Grimkell Gudkell Hallkel Hrafnkel Hrosskel Iokell Kotkel Odkell Skamkel Steinkel Tasgall Taskill Ancelin Ancelot Anselet Ansell Ansellus Aunsellus Anchitel Anketel Anketil Anketin Anquetil Anquetin Anschetillus Anschitillus Ansketil Anskettell Anstill Archel Archetel Archil Aschetel Aschetil Aschetin Askell Asketel Asketin Astell Oskell Osketel Askel Askell Ask Eskil Thirkell Thorkill Torkjell Keld Kjeld Torkil Torkild Kettil Kjell Kjetil Kjella Kjellig Kettillig Kjell Kjetil Torkjell Grimkel Grimkell Gudkell Hallkel Hrafnkel Hrosskel Hunketill Ketilbjorn Ketilgrimr Steinkel Stenkil Thorkel Thorkeld Thorkell Thorketill Thorketl Thurkil Ulfkell Ulfketel Ulfketill Ulfkil [ Web: Marcel Anctil ] Saint-Jean Saint-John Antille Ansketell Anquetil Anctil [ Web: Anna Kettle ] Cetil Citel Cytel Chetill Cetel Cietel Keááil Keááel Kessel Katils K'til Catillus Catinus Katil C'til Ce'til Ceatil Archil Arkell Arnkell Arnketil Arkettle Ashkettle Cadell Caittil Cattel Cattela Cattell Cattle Ceatell Cedall Cettel Cettele Chell Chetel Chetil Chettle Chetyll Cytel Goettel Grimkel Grimkell Grimkettle Grinchel Keatle Keatyll Keddell Keddle Kedell Keetle Keettel Keftell Kegell Kekell Kell Ketel Ketell Ketettle Kethe Ketil Ketill Ketle Ketleborrough Ketleborrow Ketlle Kettal Kettall Kettel Kettele Kettell Kettelle Kettie Kettill Ketting Kettle Kettleborough Kettleborow Kettleborrowe Kettlele Kettlely Kettles Kettless Ketter Kettey Ketyl Kettyle Ketyll Kidal Kidale Kidall Kiddal Kiddale Kiddall Kiddel Kiddell Kidder Kiddill Kiddle Kidel Kidell Kidil Kidle Kitell Kitlborow Kitle Kitlel Kitless Kittel Kittele Kittell Kitterall Kittiel Kittle Kittleborrow Kittsall Klette Kydel Kydle Kyteler Kytle Kyttle Oskell Oskettle Quitel Steinchetel Steinkell Steinkettle Stenkil Teakettle Thirkettle Thurcetel Thurkle Ulchel Ulchetel Ulfcetel Ulfkil Uncle Unckle Unkell Ulfkell Vonkettler Wulfkettle Thorkel Osketil Asketil Steinketil Thurketil Ulfketil Wulfketil Ketele Kettelog Steinkel Kotkel Askel Thorkatla Hallkel Otkel Ketilbjorn Skamkel Hallkatla Hrafnkel Brafnkel Oscytel Oscetel Thurkytel Thurketel Thurcetel Grimcetel Ulfketel lfketel Alfketill Ansketill Ulfcytel Thorkill Aschetil Anschetil Asketel Askil Anschill Arkil Ar(n)kil AEr(n)kil Erkil Architellus Asketill An(s)chetil(l)us Ancell Archell Arkell Arkle Arkwell [ Eric R. Anctil ] Anctil Anquetil Anschetillus Antill Axtell Ancell Kettle Katilaz Kissel Kjetil [ Web: GenForum - http://genforum.familytreemaker.com/ ] St-John-dit-Anctil St-Jean-dit-Anctil Antle Antil [ Book: "An Icelandic-English Dictionary based on the MS. collections of the late Richard Cleasby. 1874 ed." ] Ketill Ketil-bjirn Katla Ketil-ridr [pronounced: "ketil-rithur"] Askell Arnkell Grimkell Hallkell Steinkell Ulfkell Thorkell Vékell Hallkatla Thorkatla [ E-Mail: Peter Andersen - bomann@home.com ] Anquetil Anketil Anctil Ehrenketil Jerneketil [ Web: Chris MacAskill ] McCaskill McKaskle Taegail Thaegail Taskail Taskill Torquil Torcuill MacCaskile [ Web: Kindred Konnections - http://www.kindredkonnections.com/ ] Ancall Ancel Ancell Ancelle Anchetil Ancil Ancill Ancille Ancitel [historical: Count of Bayeux] Anctil Anctille-dit-St-Jean Anctil-dit-St-Jean Ankatell Anketel Anqell Anquetil Anscell Anschetil Anschitil Ansel Ansell Ansill Anskill Antel Antell Antil Antill Antille Antle [ Magazine: National Geographic Volume 134 Number 4, April 1970 "The Vikings" ] Arnketill ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- II. SURNAME ETYMOLOGY: ERIC R. ANCTIL 1. Katilaz (from late Latin word "catillus", a diminuative word of "catinus") [ca. 1000 BCE - 200 BCE, Germanic] 2. Ketel [ca. 449 CE, Old Saxon] 3. Cetel [ca. 700 CE, Anglo-Saxon - Mercian & Northumbrian dialects] Ketill [ca. 700 CE, Old Norse] 4. Asketill [*] [ca. 10th century CE, Old Norwegian] 5. Anschetillus [11th century CE, Medieval Latin] 6. Anquetil [ca. 12th century CE, modern Norman French] 7. Anctil [#] [ca. late 17th century, modern Norman French variant] [ Old Norse Phonetics & Elder Futhark Runic Writing ] * Asketill is pronounced in phonetics as OW-KS-EH-T-ILL [Elder Futhark runic], meaning "divine title given to the tribe's chieftain-godi, practitioner of the holy cauldron at sacrifices to the gods". The capital "A" in Asketill is an Old Norse rune drawn as a capital "A" with a distinct French "accent aigue" above it ("A" acute in English). In the Norse Elder Futhark, the acute "A" symbol of the surname Asketill is represented by a symbolic diagonal "F" rune called the Ansuz, meaning "transformer of spiritual power". Ansuz is associated with ancestor immortality, inspiration, magic, poetry, prophecy, writing, spoken word knowledge, creative expression, and compassion. The Elder Futhark are associated with the Germanic pagans, the Aesir cult. # The derivative split of Anctil from Anquetil likely took place during the 17th century when either Louis Anctil's father was the first Anquetil to change his surname to Anctil or Louis Anctil (father of Jean Anctil) himself changed his last name from Louis Anquetil. This theory came about with the discovery of François Julien Anctil's god-parents, Julien (le) Chevalier and Françoise Anquetil. François Julien Anctil is the second child of Louis Anctil and Marguerite Lévesque, the parents of our progenitor Jean Anctil. In the Christian tradition of this time, it was likely that a relative was chosen to act as a god-parent to the newborn, baptized child. Julien (le) Chevalier was probably a great-uncle/uncle/cousin (more likely to be an uncle) on the maternal side while Françoise Anquetil was probably the great-aunt/aunt/cousin (more likely to be an aunt) on the paternal side. Also noteworthy is the fact that the name Anquetil/Anctil was becoming less of a personal first name and more of a patronym or surname around this time. This is not surprising as the sacred knight is replaced by the secular soldier. Names and language becomes more standardized as the emergence of the state begins to overtake the old monarchy and Church monopolies. [ Surname Linguistics & Ethnicity ] ITALIC Latin: Catillus, Catinus GERMANIC Germanic (Common Teutonic): Katilaz West Germanic (Continental Germanic): Katil, C'til, Ce'til, Ceatil Gothic (East Germanic): Katils Old Saxon: Ketel West Saxon: Cietel Anglo-Saxon (Old English): Cetel, Cytel Old Norse (North Germanic, Old or Common Scandinavian): As-, Asketill, -ketill, -kell Old Norwegian: Arnkell Old Swedish: 'r(n)kil, Erkil, -k'til Swedish: -kettel Old Danish: Arnketil, Arkil, -kael, -kil, -ketil Danish: -kj'del Scottish (English): MacAsgill, McCaskill Manx: Castell Old French (Frankish): Ask-, Anq- Norman French (langue d'iil): Ans-, Ank- Medieval Latin: Anschetillus Middle English: -chetel Middle Dutch: -ketel Old High German: -keááil, -kezil Middle High German: -keááel French: Anq-, Anc- English: -ketel, -kettle, Ax-, Ant-, -kel, -chell Dutch: -ketel German: -kessel INDO-IRANIAN -> INDO-ARYAN Old Indian: Katchevah * What must be realized when examining the surname septs is that it is the linguistic names and not the cultural lineage that is transient. A surname variation does not necessarily indicate blood relation. Just as the Indo- Europeans were a linguistically unified and racially diverse movement, so too function the surname septs. [ Surname Etymological Analysis ] Due to the fact that Old Norse is effectively a dead language [close derivatives that are still spoken today are Icelandic and Faroese], determining the exact meaning of the name Asketill can be confusing. My definition, "divine title given to the tribe's chieftain-godi, practitioner of the holy cauldron at sacrifices to the gods", is perhaps the best conflated definition I could come up with given the diversity of research material acquired on the subject. As for the second part of the name (ketill), it seems to have remained a popular Nordic given name and surname in the past and present. ACCURATE DEFINITIONS (a) "An honorific name given to someone who kept the sacrificial kettle (ketill) in which blood was caught during sacrifices to the gods (As)." - Dan Axtell (b) Asketill Origin and Meaning: "God + cauldron" Ask Religious Definition: "first man" ass Definition: "god" aska Definition: "ashes" katli/ketill Definition: "sacrificial cauldron" -Kate Monk INACCURATE DEFINITIONS (a) "Anquetil is an ancient Norse/Germanic name. 'Ans' was a divine title taken by the warlords of the Goths. 'Ketell' means 'cauldron'." - Normand J. Anctil (b) "Fisherman Jean Anquetil, of the French town of Auderville, probably descends from Vikings named Arnketill - "eagle's kettle." - National Geographic Volume 134 Number 4, April 1970 (c) "Axtell is of Anglo-Saxon origin. One legend says that the name may have meant 'ash kettle' and, thus, early ancestors may have been soap makers." - Dan Axtell (d) Ansketell: "rempli de spiritualité" ["full of spirituality"] "Ans, nom de divinité pagenne et Ketell, chaudron." ["Ans, name of a pagan deity and Ketell, cauldron."] - Marcel Anctil (e) Antill: "The earliest form of the name is the Norse/Germantic name, 'Anquetil,' and these Gothic invaders did once swarm over the British countryside in as unstoppable a form as their insect namesakes, so perhaps an ant hill on the Antill crest would not be such a bad idea." - Mary S. Van Deusen 1. AS(S)- [Old Norse] / AN(S)- [Norman French derivative]: This term clearly refers to the Norse mythological, polytheist pantheon of gods. The tribes that worshipped these gods were obviously pagans and they also tended to practice animism [especially true of all Germanic tribes], which usually meant that they would sacrifice an animal in a ritualistic ceremony to the gods. Old Norse & Germanic surnames always tended to carry a tribal meaning or social position attached to them, usually by means of a compound name. (a) THE CHIEFTAIN-GODI DEFINITION Divine political title taken by the tribal military leader (either a chieftain or jarl of the aristocratic, upper-class) and religious position held by the same person (military, political, and religious positions are all one and the same) in tribal ritual, usually for animal sacrifice during a seasonal cult festival or religious celebration after a military victory. 2. -KETILL [Old Norse]: There are three general terms associated with this word, listed below. They all seem to carry some sort of political-religious connotation to them, implying a dual use of the "ketill" in battle and then as religious/social implement (a cooking pot). On an additional note, the suffix -ketill is generally ascribed as the surname or compound surname of males. Females were instead often given the suffix -katla. This segregation of the genders appeares to have died out soon after the Viking Era (ca. 1000 CE) when Christianity instituted stronger patriarchal practices into a previously (for the most part) egalitarian Scandinavian culture. Interestingly enough, a theory among etymologists suggests that the suffix -ketill was originally imported from Anglo-Saxon England to Scandinavia before England was reinfused with the Germanic name after the Norman invasion in 1066. The etymological root meaning for the Germanic word "kettle" derives itself from the late Latin word "catillus" (kettle) which is a diminuative word for the earlier Latin word "catinus", meaning "large pot". In other words, the term kettle was merely an oral synonym appended onto the existant terminology of a traditional cooking tool. As is widely known of ancient civilizations, tools were the cornerstone of a society in prehistory which explains how this simple tool takes on religious significance later on. After all, many ancient societies made food offerings to their gods in order to maintain the celestial balance between the heavens and the Earth, humankind and the gods. Another fact remains is that the middle-class Scandinavians (karls) during the Viking Era used kettles as vessels of boiling water to cook meat and fish. * (a) used for cooking, as a kettle ("vessel for boiling water") May have been used to cook the sacrificial animal in its own blood for the sacred meals shared by the tribes during cult festivals (feasts and games generally accompanied the ritual ceremony). ** (b) cauldron: cooking by fire and sacred ritual connotations. (c) sacrificial kettle: blood of sacrificial animals was collected into the sacred kettle as form of worship to the pagan gods. (d) Viking (leather) helmet worn only by bravest tribal warriors. (e) Germanic tribes used the kettle as a pot for the "boiling water test". The accused in a crime was to put his/her arm in a pot of boiling water to remove a rod of hot iron, if the accused was a man, or a hot stone, if the accused was a woman, at the bottom of the kettle. The arm was bandaged for "x" number of days. After this period, the bandages were removed to reveal the burnt flesh beneath. Innocence was only guarenteed if the injury had healed and left no scar. Our primary example of this comes from the Salian Law first practiced by the Franks, however we do know that the Scandinavians practiced this because the ordeal of ketill-tak is one of their earliest written laws. [ "Dit" Surnames & "Anctil dit St-Jean" ] "'Dit' in French means 'say' and in this context, it means 'called'. These 'dit' surname extensions added to or replaced a surname to distinguish a family from another family of the same name living nearby, used as a sort of nickname (often picked up during service as a soldier), refered to the place in France where the family originated, was the mother's surname, or was the father's first name. Future generations might then keep the original surname or they might use the 'dit' surname. A surname and its 'dit' name may be hyphenated. In fact, one can generally assume that a hyphenated surname (before 1950, anyway) is the surname plus 'dit' name. Some surnames have had several different "dit" names and some 'dit' names are attached to various surnames. One should be aware that usually a different 'dit' name indicates a different family." (Linda W. Jones, 1998) "A 'dit name' is an alias given to a family name. Compared to other aliases that are given to one specific person, the dit names will be given to many persons. It seems the usage exists almost only in France, New France [Quebec] and in Scotland where we find clans or septs. Dit names are chosen for the following reasons: surname used in the army, place of origin, land owned or inhabited by an ancestor, the full name of the ancestor, the first name of an ancestor, keeping the original name (in local language) during the process of standardizing names to French, etc." (Denis Beauregard, 1997) In the case of the Anctil family surname, "-dit St-Jean" is often added to the last name. The likely theory as to why the Anctil surname has the "-dit St-Jean" extension probably has to do with a military honorable name, a soldier's nickname, land held by an early ancestor in Normandy, or a religious significance such as close living proximity to a church or military name sanctified by the Catholic Church (knights were often named according to their local church diocese). I have ruled out the possibility that "-dit St-Jean" was used as a reminder of a place of ancestral origin since at least three families are on record as having that dit name: Anctil dit St-Jean, Forton dit St-Jean, and Langlois dit St-Jean. This is especially true since the surname Langlois has a geo-historical counterpart. [ Surname Septs' Geographic Settlements ] ANQUETIL / ANCTIL (DIT ST-JEAN): France (Normandy) -> Canada (Quebec), USA ANTILL / ANTLE: England (Derby, Leicester, Surrey, Gloucester, Devon) -> USA (Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, California), Australia AXTELL: England (London, Somerset, Hertford) -> USA (Massachussets) ANCELL: England (Oxford) -> USA (Massachussets, Virginia, Missouri, Kentucky) MACASKILL: Scotland (Isle of Skye) -> Scotland (Inverness), USA (North Carolina, South Carolina), Canada, New Zealand, Australia, etc. KETTLE: England (Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex), Canada (Newfoundland), USA, etc. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- III. SCANDINAVIAN CULTURE OF THE VIKING ERA: ERIC R. ANCTIL [ Political Hierarchy ] It is also likely that the Asketill were worshippers of Odin as the As- prefix of the surname betrays its aristocratic significance. The patron god of the upper, noble class was Odin. Pagan society worked according to the following principles and schematics, as listed in detail below: 1. Jarls (Earls): upper-class, warrior aristocracy, worshipped Odin on Wednesdays, spent time feasting in winter and planning campaigns, led attacks, council (known as the "Thing") elects chieftain (king after 872 CE) to lead tribe [*]. 2. Karls (Freedmen): middle-class and lower-class, farmers and merchants, generally (for the most part, but not necessarily) worshipped Thor on Thursdays, spent time doing work and dealing with everyday life (family, social ties, etc). 3. Thralls (Slaves): classless group, manual labor slaves (usually foreign prisoners or traded slaves), not allowed a patron deity to worship, generally treated fairly by masters, could earn their freedom, spent time doing unskilled manual labor on the lands of their karl or jarl masters. * While the elected chieftain of a tribe was still of the same socio-economic class as the jarls (after all, he was elected from the jarls), he was often considered "first among equals" [like the princeps of Imperial Rome]. The chieftain was elected by a group of jarls through majority vote based on military prestige and wealth. The chieftain's right of rule lasted only so long as he remained successful militarily and rewarded his soldiers well with booty from campaigns. If he didn't or was unable to, he lost honor and therefore, his newly acquired rank. Chieftains also commissioned the building of settlements, usually located as centers of international trade. [ Society & Culture ] Scandinavian society lived by a code of honor and warfare similar to the better known Scottish clan warfare code. For all early Germanic peoples, this system was known as the blood feud. Under this code, injustices within society were regulated by the community as a whole, not by a state structure. The major disadvantages of this system were twofold: (a) from this system, blood feuds between families erupted frequently in public acts of violence and (b) justice was never served in victimless crimes [where there was no accuser or defense, which was more of a problem later on in medieval law]. Wergeld was created during the Middle Ages to deal with the former problem of public vigilantes. With wergeld, instead of an individual or entire family taking violent vengeance for being wronged, the accused instead paid off his criminal debt to the wronged person or family by means of volunteer work (i.e. become the victim's slave for a fixed period of time), bribery (money or material possessions), or even merely an apology to the victim and his/her family. In the case of rape, the rapist was often forced to marry the victim by the victim's family under the rules of wergeld. Wergeld was very useful during the Middle Ages at stopping needless "clan" warfare and bloodshed during a time when royal and ecclesiastical courts were not yet established in Germanic territories. Once again, a good example of wergeld in written law comes from the Salian Law of the Franks during the early medieval period. [ Pagan Religion ] Our ancestors likely were worshippers of Odin, the god of poetry, wisdom, and victory. The day of worship for followers of Odin was Wednesday. Followers of Odin likely slaughtered an animal to act as a sacrificial offering to give the god strength in order to bring peace to the land, as well as getting drunk on mead in Odin's honor on this sacred day of worship to the god of the wind. Odin was known in southern Scandinavia as Woden or Wotan and was the discoverer of the Elder Futhark. He gave both the Elder Futhark, which are magical inscriptions of protection, and skaldic mead, a strong honey flavored wine drink that makes anyone who tastes it a poet, to humankind. Odin was also known to be enigmatic in the sense that his character in the sagas was never defined as absolute good or absolute evil. The point in believing in Odin was that while you love and fear him simultaneously because he has ultimate power over life and death, Odin, in exchange, also gives the devotee wisdom and strength to face any adversity of daily life. Odin tended to be worshipped by both earls (jarls) and skaldic poets who praised the god at various annual pagan festivals by reading epic mythological poetry. Odin was even worshipped as an ancestor of a powerful line of Viking earls of Lade in Norway. As later Christian missionaries discovered about pagan religion, it was a religion without a (separate) priest class. The Vikings did hold their religion dear as a personal, private affair. While this may have been true, the jarls likely exerted a predominant role in public annual sacrifices and feasts known as blot [pronounced as "bloat"] witnessed by all classes of Viking society, which in effect gave them a sacred aura not unlike that of the Christian priest class. Many rich and successful jarls were able to claim divine ancestry on these principles. Of course, for the Vikings and the afterlife, they were more concerned with how they were remembered in this life by those living (literary immortality) than in how or when the Viking warrior was destined to die. After all, the Vikings lived under a doomed fate according to their popular mythology. When it came to death, the Vikings were quite the same about last rites as exists in our culture today. They either cremated the bodies or they buried them, usually with ornate possessions for their passage into the realm of the afterlife. It was more common for Vikings to bury their dead than to cremate them, but overall both seem to have been done (more or less) equally. Usually, the form of ritual for the dead depended on the culture of the person being dealt their last rites. It varied between the Norwegians, Swedes, and Danes. Another important aspect of Norse religion was the choice of patron gods. In an earlier section is illustrated the social classes of Viking society and which god was usually their patron god, however the exception was often the rule. Especially true for the karls but sometimes also of the jarls, there was a variety in choice of a patron god or goddess (usually in the case of women) mainly because while each had their unique divine properties, the entire pantheon largely overlapped itself on some of the more important aspects of Viking culture: strength, courage, honor, family, freedom, and happiness. For example, Odin and Thor were both gods of war because of the harsh climate the Vikings had to fight every winter in their homeland to stay alive. The environmental realities of living in Scandinavia also probably shaped their mythology, which would explain its philosophy on inevitable fate. No matter how much someone fights against the elements, it is winter that perpetually wins against the human spirit. Vikings certainly would have agreed with the old adage "what doesn't kill you will make you stronger". One important religious ritual performed annually was the blot, a ceremony devoted to strengthening the power of the gods which, in turn, is good for their human followers because it guarenteed them another year of peace and prosperity [many prehistoric civilizations have this kind of belief system]. To accomplish this, followers slaughtered pigs and horses and let them bleed all over the ground. The blood of the dead animal was considered sacred to the gods. Meanwhile, nearby stood the sacrificial cauldron where the dead animal was to be boiled in this vessel of water in order to cook the food that would nourish the tribe during the subsequent feasting. There was also much drinking of mead to the point of reaching a euphoric state of drunkeness, which was considered a special state of enlightenment. The blot rituals were carried out by the political chieftain or earl of the tribe, known for its religious role under the title of godi [pronounced as "gothi"]. As was the case in many pagan ceremonies, there were court poets or skalds who were on hand to read heroic epic poetry about gods and mortals, usually told to emphasize ideal Viking values. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV. HERALDRY: ERIC R. ANCTIL "On a gold background, there are three green leaves." - Maison des Noms [ Migration Theory #1: Indirect Route ] Interestingly enough, the modern coat-of-arms for the municipality of Stavanger within the province of Rogaland in Norway has three gold leaves imposed over a light blue background. It is possible that ancestors of the Anctils came from the province of Rogaland based on the geographic migration between Norway and Normandy, France. Stavanger is the largest and historically one of the most important towns in Rogaland. Of course, the fact remains that a settlement existed nearby the modern city at the time of the Viking migrations to France and that Stavanger is ideally located in a bay, making it the perfect port to launch a serious sea voyage from. Of course, one cannot be entirely certain of when Stavanger was founded. It is suspected to have been founded late in the Viking Era, around 1200 CE which would eliminate it as a possible launch point. [ Migration Theory #2: Direct Route ] The problem with the above theory is that by this path, the emigration from Norway was not a direct route, instead passing through the North Sea past the Orkney Islands, the Shetland Islands, the west coast of England, the Isle of Man, and the east coast of Ireland before arriving on the northwestern coast of Normandy. It is widely known that Rollo was a Norwegian Viking who was exiled from Norway for being too much of an outlaw even in his native land. He was working for the Danes when he terrorized northern France and then subsequently colonized Eastern Normandy [Norwegians & Danish] in 911 CE before Central Normandy [Anglo-Danish] was added in 926 CE and finally Western Normandy [Celtic-Norwegians] was included in 933 CE. Nonetheless, he was the eldest son and heir to the earl of Orkney so perhaps he did depart from the Orkney Islands instead of directly from Norway. If indeed the route of emigration was a direct path, then its likely origin point was Kaupang [or Sciringesheal], already a well established international trade center during the 9th century CE. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- V. GENEALOGY: JOSEPH-ALBERT ANCTIL, NORMAND J. ANCTIL, VERONIQUE ANCTIL, ERIC R. ANCTIL Note: This section has been edited to remove details of living people.

?. Michelle Anctille married on November 29th, 1664 at Quebec City, Quebec, Quebec, Canada [to ???] 1. Louis Anctil (dit St-Jean) born at Avranches, Manche, Normandy, France married at France Jeanne Fontaine born at Avranches, Manche, Normandy, France François-Robert Lévesque born on February 12th, 1680 at Riviere-Ouelle, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada christened on February 14th, 1680 at Lévis-Lauzon, Chaudiere-Appalaches, Quebec, Canada married on November 7th, 1701 at Riviere-Ouelle, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada died on October 7th, 1765 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada buried on October 8th, 1765 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada Marie (-Charlotte) Aubert born on January 31st, 1683 at Chateau-Richer, Quebec, Quebec, Canada christened on January 31st, 1683 at Chateau-Richer, Quebec, Quebec, Canada died on March 25th, 1765 at Riviere-Ouelle, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada buried on March 26th, 1765 at Riviere-Ouelle, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada Julien (le) Chevalier ["the knight"], (Sir) Françoise Anquetil buried on May 7th, 1731 at Ducey, Manche, Normandy, France 2. Jean Louis Anctil (dit St-Jean) christened on January 25th, 1708 at Ducey, Manche, Normandy, France married on November 25th, 1738 at Riviere-Ouelle, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada died on April 22nd, 1787 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada Marguerite Lévesque (Léveque) (Leveque) born on October 15th, 1713 at Riviere-Ouelle, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada christened on November 5th, 1713 at Riviere-Ouelle, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada died on August 12th, 1806 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada François Julien Anctil (dit St-Jean) christened in 1711 at Ducey, Manche, Normandy, France 3. Jean-Baptiste Anctil (dit St-Jean) born on September 23rd, 1745 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada married on February 18th, 1765 at L'Islet-sur-Mer, Chaudiere-Appalaches, Quebec, Canada died on December 10th, 1820 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada *** FATHERED 8 MARRIED SONS *** Elisabeth Fournier born on September 5th, 1743 at St-Jean-Port-Joli, Chaudiere-Appalaches, Quebec, Canada died on August 13th, 1817 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada Marie-Josephe Anctil (dit St-Jean), Sr. born on October 4th, 1739 at Riviere-Ouelle, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada christened on October 4th, 1739 at Riviere-Ouelle, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada married on July 28th, 1760 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada [to Joseph (-Augustin) Dionne] Jeanne-Louise Anctil (dit St-Jean) christened on October 17th, 1741 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada Anne Anctil (dit St-Jean) christened on August 1st, 1743 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada died on January 4th, 1760 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada buried on January 5th, 1760 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada Marguerite Anctil (dit St-Jean) christened on October 8th, 1747 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada Marie-Judith Anctil (dit St-Jean) christened on October 17th, 1749 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada married on February 18th, 1765 at L'Islet-sur-Mer, Chaudiere-Appalaches, Quebec, Canada [to François Fournier, Jr.] Marie-Catherine Anctil (dit St-Jean) born on February 1st, 1752 at Riviere-Ouelle, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada christened on February 2nd, 1752 at Riviere-Ouelle, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada married on January 15th, 1770 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada [to Joseph-Romain Duval] ??? Anctil (dit St-Jean) [nouveau-né, anonyme / "newborn baby", "anonymous"] born & buried on June 2nd, 1755 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada 4. Joseph Anctil (dit St-Jean) born on February 9th, 1772 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada married [1st] on February 28th, 1791 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada [to Marie-Claire Pelletier] married [2nd] on November 19th, 1816 at St-Roch-des-Aulnaies, Chaudiere-Appalaches, Quebec, Canada [to Marguerite St-Pierre] died on January 7th, 1858 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada *** FATHERED 11 CHILDREN IN TOTAL FROM BOTH MARRIAGES *** Marie-Claire Pelletier born on October 24th, 1760 at St-Roch-des-Aulnaies, Chaudiere-Appalaches, Quebec, Canada christened on October 24th, 1760 at St-Roch-des-Aulnaies, Chaudiere-Appalaches, Quebec, Canada died on July 25th, 1815 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada Jean-Louis Anctil (dit St-Jean) born on December 31st, 1765 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada christened on January 1st, 1766 at La Pocatiere, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada married [1st] on November 12th, 1787 at St-Jean-Port-Joli, Chaudiere-Appalaches, Quebec, Canada [to Marie-Josette Miville dit Deschenes] married [2nd] on August 3rd, 1807 at St-Jean-Port-Joli, Chaudiere-Appalaches, Quebec, Canada [to Genevieve Bélanger] *** FATHERED 19 CHILDREN IN TOTAL FROM BOTH MARRIAGES *** Noel Anctil (dit St-Jean) born about 1771 at Quebec, Canada married [to Marie Beaulieu] married on June 6th, 1796 at Riviere-Ouelle, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada [to Marie-Modeste Lévesque, Jr.] married [to Malvina Pelletier] 5. Pierre Anctil (Antille) (dit St-Jean) born on March 7th, 1803 at Riviere-Ouelle, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada married on February 24th, 1824 at St-Roch-des-Aulnaies, Chaudiere-Appalaches, Quebec, Canada died on November 7th, 1879 at St-Roch-des-Aulnaies, Chaudiere-Appalaches, Quebec, Canada Marguerite Blanchette (Blanchet) 6. Prudent Anctil (Antille) born on October 19th, 1841 at St-Roch-des-Aulnaies, Chaudiere-Appalaches, Quebec, Canada married on October 22nd, 1873 at Ste-Louise, Chaudiere-Appalaches, Quebec, Canada died on March 18th, 1909 at St-Médard, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada Agnes Bélanger born on June 15th, 1855 in Quebec, Canada died on July 7th, 1926 at St-Christophe-d'Arthabaska, Mauricie-Bois-Francs, Quebec, Canada 7. Georges (Etienne) Anctil (dit St-Jean), Sr. christened on March 13th, 1880 at St-Médard, Bas-St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada married on August 27th, 1907 at Warwick, Mauricie-Bois-Francs, Quebec, Canada died on March 16th, 1922 at Warwick, Mauricie-Bois-Francs, Quebec, Canada Florine Croteau died about 1923 at Warwick, Mauricie-Bois-Francs, Quebec, Canada 8. Living person Living person Clayton Strnad born on August 7th, 1914 at Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio, USA married about 1947 at Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio, USA [to Thelma Louise Gilbert] died in May 1981 at Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio, USA buried in 1981 at Independence, Ohio, USA Living person 9. Living person Living person Living person Living person Living person 10. Eric Rémy Anctil born on November 20th, 1977 at Mont-Royal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Living person ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- VI. HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY: ERIC R. ANCTIL 1. ca. 5,000,000 BCE - ca. 1,500,000 BCE HOMO AUSTRALOPITHECUS : Ethiopia, Africa ca. 1,500,000 BCE - ca. 100,000 BCE HOMO ERECTUS (PITHECANTHROPUS): Africa / Eurasia / Indonesia [Java] ca. 100,000 BCE - ca. 40,000 BCE HOMO SAPIENS (NEANDERTHALENSIS): Africa / Eurasia ca. 40,000 BCE - ca. 4000 BCE HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS : Western Europe / Near East 2. ca. 8000 BCE - ca. 3000 BCE PROTO-NORSE : Norway [Stone Age nomadic presence - hunting & gathering society and rock carvings] ca. 3000 BCE - ca. 2500 BCE PROTO-NORSE : Norway [agricultural sedentary settlements begin in eastern Norway] 3. ca. 4000 BCE - ca. 1000 BCE INDO-EUROPEANS : Eurasia (Near East -> Southern Steppes, Asia -> Russia -> Eastern Europe -> Central Europe -> Northern Europe) ca. 1000 BCE - ca. 200 BCE GERMANIC : Scandinavia (Northern Europe -> Jutland, Denmark -> Southern Sweden -> Southern Norway) 4. ca. 200 BCE - ca. 500 CE [*] ANCIENT NORSE : Norway [tribal civil wars within modern Norwegian borders using hill forts] ca. 500 CE - ca. 700 CE ANCIENT NORSE : Norway [tribal civil wars contained within Norway due to territorial tension between chieftains] 5. ca. 700 CE - ca. 1000 CE NORWEGIAN VIKINGS : Hebrides Islands / Scotland / England / Isle of Man / Ireland / Shetland Islands / Faroe Islands / Iceland / Greenland / Orkney Islands / Normandy, France / France / Spain / North Africa (Morocco) / Italy / Sicily, Italy [chieftains begin to consolidate their territorial holdings into pseudo-monarchies as elected kings] 6. ca. 833 CE - 1809 CE BRITISH : United Kingdom (England / Scotland / Africa [Mauritius] / Australia / Canada) / United States of America ca. 911 CE - 1734 CE NORMANS : Normandy, France [#] / France / England / Nouvelle France (Quebec) / Lower Italy (Apulia, Calabria, Sicily) / Ireland / Asia Minor (Neapel-Sicily, Lebanon, Syria) / Canary Islands 7. 1734 CE - ???? CE FRENCH : Canada / France 1809 CE - ???? CE ENGLISH : United Kingdom (England / Scotland / Australia) / United States of America / Canada [ The Iron Age Norwegians during the Barbarian Migrations ] * There is still a lack of consensus as to how involved the Norwegian people were at this time in the Barbarian Migrations. On this question, there have been three situations presented by various sources: Ken Aldrich (Germanic scholar, theory #1), Normand J. Anctil (genealogist, theory #2), and Faith Wallis (medieval historian & professor, theory #3). 1. the Asketill were of the Rugian tribe, which is suspected to have originated in southwestern Norway (Rogaland). This scenario is logical considering the etymological theory that the Holmrugii [Rugians] are related in name to the land of their (supposed) confederate origin: Rogaland. 2. the Asketill were of the Goth barbarian confederacy which may or may not have absorbed the Rugians at some point in their travels and joined with the Ostrogoth faction in 487 CE after the Goth confederacy had split. This theory is not likely as the Goths originated in southern Sweden and border contact between the Norwegians and the Swedes was blocked by a dense forest. Also, the surname phonetics don't seem to correlate to the Goths but the fact that they were a large multi-ethnic confederacy does open up more possibilities to this theory. Another complication comes from trying to determine the origin point of these migrating Goths. The few primary sources that exist on the topic [Jordanes, Procopius, Cassiodorus] suggest that the Goths originated from Scandia (southern Sweden), Gitland, and the Jutland peninsula (northern Denmark). However, little mention is given of southern Norway and one should not make assumptions based on the suggestive descriptions of ancient historians that were relying on guesswork about Northern European geography. 3. the Asketill were like many of the Scandinavians during the Barbarian Migrations: they never left Norway, however were likely involved in localized tensions happening within Norway against other small local tribes. This scenario has been shared among most medieval scholars internationally for some time now and is the most likely theory to date. It would appear that the Norwegians, as well as the other Scandinavians were too preoccupied by local, internal instabilities happening throughout Norway and Sweden at this time to bother getting involved further south. It is interesting to note that some medieval scholars theorize that tribes from Scandinavia who did participate in the Barbarian Migrations likely did so for a few reasons: (a) there were too many "kingdoms" back in Norway so these jarls decided to search for territory of their own, (b) it was largely a movement of warriors led by a jarl in search of more power, military glory, and wealth, (c) overpopulation and lack of fertile arable land in Norway (cause unknown) forced the Norwegians to seek out new agricultural lands, logically in a warmer climate zone, which made the Continent in the south an obvious choice. [ Christian Vikings: The Normans ] # During the Viking Era, the duchy of Normandy was settled by both the Norwegians and the Danes. Normandy's first duke, Rollo the Ganger (called by his nickname "the Ganger" because he was too tall to ride a horse so he always had to travel on foot, his girth also being a complication in his burial) or Gongu-Hrolf or Raoul (ca. 860 CE - 921 CE) was a Norwegian noble-class pirate whose father Rognwald was the earl of Orkney and jarl of Mori, Norway. As the territory of the duchy expanded further west from 911 CE to 933 CE, new colonials moved in from Scandinavia and nearby Brittany, namely many Celtic-Norwegians in the Contentin region of Normandy. It is also noteworthy to state that in the case of Norman migrations, the Normans participated in the Crusades during the Middle Ages by founding or conquering the kingdoms of Neapel-Sicily, Lebanon, and Syria between 1095 CE - 1099 CE and remained in Asia Minor until 1402 CE, when one Norman knight established his own kingdom in the Canary Islands. The Normans invaded England in 1066 CE, as well as the establishing the combined kingdoms of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily together (1057 CE - 1085 CE) in Southern Italy. As a side note, the above history does not reflect the views of all Norman historians. There are the Anti-Norse historians who believe that the Norse colonial settlement concept is a theorized myth in order to give Normandy a proud patriotic legend, much like the Arthurian legends boosted British nationalism. It is the opinion of this author that these "historians" have little credibility due to the overwhelming primary material on the Norse invasions of France and England. It is highly unlikely that the authors of these Norman primary sources were involved in some sort of revisionist conspiracy as they wrote as events were happening and didn't even know each other. [ The Scandinavian Vikings ] One of the most important distinctions to be made about Viking history and culture is the differences between each of the Scandinavian societies contributing to the Viking phenomenon. Some raided, others traded, while still others did both whenever it suited them. Of course, due to climatic concerns, raids like full-scale military campaigns were seasonal during the summer. During the rest of the year, the raiding Vikings would return to their homeland to tend their farm lands during harvest times and essentially "hibernate" during the long winters. The Norwegian Vikings generally embarked on their campaigns of raid and trade from both Norway's western and southern coastlines. They acquired territory in the British Isles (Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands) and left behind a linguistic legacy from their holdings in the Faroe Islands. The Norwegians discovered and colonized Iceland and Greenland late in the Viking Age before making inroads to North America (Helluland, Vinland, Markland) as the land's first European colonists. They founded Dublin in Ireland as a trading center and colonized the Hebrides Islands and some of northern Scotland, as well as much of northern and eastern England before making their way further south to France. They terrorized the northwestern coastline of France, but soon moved inland via the Seine river to attack Paris. Eventually, the French king Charles the Simple granted the duchy of Normandy in 912 CE to the Norwegian exile Rollo in exchange for an end to the raids and feudal protection duties after being baptized as Robert. These first Norwegian colonists were christened into the Catholic Christian faith as a sign of good faith, peace, and friendship between the Norwegian and French peoples. Some of the Norwegian Vikings sailed further on to raid Spain (Seville, Cordova), North Africa (Morocco), and Italy even to the point of temporarily conquering Sicily. The North African and Sicilian raids were the former bread baskets of the Roman Empire, thus made for rich plunders. The Swedish Vikings tended to be traders or merchants rather than raiders. They took an eastern approach by using their territory in what is now Finland to acquire tributary goods from the Finns and Saami aboriginal peoples in order to exchange them for more exotic imports from the Byzantine Empire and Islam. They sailed north over Finland into the Volga River which permitted the Vikings to travel inland into modern Russia, where they established trading outpost cities such as Novgorod and Kiev. From these outposts of international trade, the Vikings were able to use inland rivers to travel to Constantinople and Baghdad and vice versa if merchants and emissaries from other countries wanted to reciprocate. The Swedish Vikings served a valuable role in the Middle Ages: as intermediary merchants trading goods between two great civilizations that were too hostile toward one another to conduct business relations between one another directly. The Swedish Vikings thus brought eastern exotic goods to Christian Europe, while at the same time bringing European innovations to the Muslims of the Near East. Of course, the Swedish Vikings were not mere traders. They also emigrated to the Norwegian colony of Normandy in France as the area developped. The Danish Vikings were probably the archetype of violence that the Vikings were notorious for in early histories of this era. More often than not, it was the Danes who were far more interested in economic gains made by pillage than by fair trade. They concentrated on Western Europe, particularly in terrorizing England, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Eventually, as kings began to consolidate centralized kingdoms at home, Danish Vikings fled and started campaigning all year round. This meant that they were enduring the winter abroad which explains why the Danes participated in colonization efforts. One example of this lies in the shared settlement of Normandy between its initial colonists the Norwegians, followed by the Danes and then the Swedes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- VII. ARTICLES: [Various Authors] "Were the Vikings traders or raiders?" by Eric R. Anctil (November 1997) In the due course of history, there has been much debate over the very nature and intent of the Scandinavian Vikings during the period from 700 CE to 1100 CE in terms of what motivated their expansion into Europe and beyond: to raid other civilizations or to trade with them? This dissertation shall attempt to answer this question and perhaps engage further debate over past knowledge and contemporary realizations available on the subject. The primary narrative describes the political, economical, and social reasons which likely caused the Vikings to travel abroad toward foreign lands and expand beyond the borders of their native Scandinavia. Secondly, Viking colonization is brought into focus by targeting their entry into England and France, particularly concerning their activities while engaged there. The last discourse covers Viking trade from a depiction of trade in their local port cities to the mystery of the Rus and Varangian trade routes in the East, namely in the Russian, the Byzantine, and Islamic territories. All of this is to be discussed in greater detail, focusing with emphasis on Viking raiding as a strategic motivation for a superior trade position within Europe, while paying attention to historical parallels between the archeological evidence and the contemporary literature as analyzed by modern historians. As it stood with many civilizations of the age, there was a certain amount of pressure within to expand outward to other territories. The Vikings were a seafaring civilization and thus their superior transportation allowed them to travel further to places previously inaccessible by sea. In fact, British ship design of the period was influenced by the Viking longship model. With regards to exploration and expansion, Viking politics played a large part in the raiding and trading. The Vikings originate from migrating, nomadic Germanic barbarian tribes who eventually settled in the Scandinavian peninsula. The political system adopted by the Vikings was basically the same as that used by first century barbarians which held a hierarchy of three main classes: the chiefs, the earls (jarls), and the lowly bondsmen. Somewhere in the middle of this class system, there were the peasants who were among the majority in population. A group of earls elected the chieftain or king and the king served more as a tribal leader than as a royal, however this soon changed around 800 CE in a shift to a pseudo-monarchy. Politically, none of the modern Scandinavian states were unified and so there were lots of kings (chiefs) for each given territory. For example, Denmark had many kings each occupying their distinct, consolidated territories. These kings held armies together under their banner so long as they provided their soldiers with the necessary rewards and glory in battle. If an earl or royal usurper lost favor with the king and was exiled, chances are they would try to regain honor by claiming new territory from outside Scandinavia by means of raiding in order to compensate for what honor and territory they had lost. Another thing to note about kings was that they also commissioned towns to be founded (and subsequently, under royal authority), usually for trade purposes. Ribe, Hedeby, Sigtuna, Trondheim, Kaupang, and Birka are all clear examples of this. Later on, when Christianity was getting a foothold in Scandinavia, churches were often built in cities that handled international trade, such as Birka which could be reached fairly easily during the summer months by sailing into the Baltic Sea into the eastern coast of Sweden where Birka held port. During the winter months, inland trade could be handled easily among the Vikings because they could travel within Scandinavia with ease due to the snow and ice where Europeans from the Continent and England couldn't because of icebergs in the sea. Now from the economical standpoint, it was in the Vikings best interests to trade rather than to plunder. War and raiding were solely political mechanisms to bestow or maintain honor for the chieftains. Trading was a different mechanism by which the Viking merchants could achieve first contact with new civilizations (in a more peaceful and civilized manner) and enabled the Viking merchants to gain riches as their raiding counterparts did. This wealth also allowed the merchants to gain prominence in terms of class, almost as much as the chiefs and earls. The Vikings were largely self-sufficient so they didn't depend a lot on imports as some other cultures did. They were mainly into exporting and because of enhanced seafaring, they could reach more exotic places and could obtain, through trade, rare and luxury items of value to their traditional trade partners such as the Franks and the English. An example of this would be how the Vikings were able to do business inland with the Muslims of the Near East so as to acquire silver, spices, and silk which the European aristocracy couldn't gain access to because of the conflict between the Christian and Islamic territories. In return, the Vikings could supply the Muslims with slaves, wax and honey. The advantage in being pagans served the Vikings well for a time, but eventually Christianity pervaded the Scandinavian peninsula. The new religion spread with fervent popularity into such villages because "merchants and raiders south were bound to learn something of the religion practised there and report it along with other curiosities back home" and it even reached the Viking colony of Greenland where Erik the Red's wife Trojhild built a small church next to their farm. It was Christian values and influence from the rest of Europe that ultimately affected the politics and culture of the Scandinavian people and largely ended the raids, however slow change happened. By the end of the Viking age, the Scandinavians had become some of the most sought out merchants in Europe and parts of Asia. To better understand how this commerce network happened, it would be prudent to study where the particular Viking tribes went in search of riches and glory. The most prominent case of dense Viking infiltration lies in England and France, which involves the Danes and Norwegians. The Swedes tended to take the east route to Russia and then south to the Muslim Near East by around 780 CE, establishing themselves as the Rus or Varangians in their relations with the indigenous peoples, but more on that later. From the standpoint of economics, the Viking trade between the British and Franks focused on the export in items of great value and even greater demand comprising of furs, timber, herring, fish, walrus ivory, and Eastern import specialties from the Near East like silk, spices, and silver. In return, the Vikings imported wine, animal skins, salt (for preserving food such as herring exports, for example), tin, honey, and wheat. Wool from England was well sought by the Vikings because it was of finer quality and of stronger texture for making clothes. Walrus tusks were also highly in demand because of the recent lack of elephant ivory in Europe. Trade between the Vikings and the English flourished especially during the reigns of Knut after his father Sven Forkbeard's conquest of England in 1013 CE (recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) and that of Duke William of Normandy in 1066 CE (recorded in the Bayeux Tapestry), a province in France originally colonized by the Norwegians. As for the Franks, they had more direct contact with the Vikings after taking Saxony under possession during Charlemagne's reign. The Danes' military efforts conflicted and contradicted with this content model of peaceful trade by raiding monasteries and trade villages with light legion forces sent to pillage and quickly return home. The Danes eventually increased pressure by sending small armies down to England and France on plundering expeditions with the troops remaining in the country for longer periods of time and terrorizing the rural peasants while they camped. These campaigns had become more organized and stayed in the same raiding area for extended periods of time. Eventually, large-scale Viking armies were sent in to tackle the Frankish and British armies who opposed their conquering efforts and even colonized specific territories of both England and France, namely the Danelaw (covering Northumbria) and Normandy (surrounding the estuary of the Seine river) respectively. The Norwegians invaded Ireland and the northern tip of Scotland, as well as the Isle of Man and the Faroe Islands. They also colonized Iceland in this time, as well. However, the Norwegians didn't just stop there and raided widely, covering areas of France, Spain, North Africa, and Italy. The important change that was taking place at the time of these conquests was that it was no longer just disgruntled earls going on minor raids, but kings leading the onslaught in the name of conquest for honor, consolidation of holdings, and the spoils of victory. One of such spoils was a more favorable trade position or arrangement in goods and services imported by the Vikings from the newly conquered territory, of which places like Normandy and England came to be loosely integrated into a weak Scandinavian empire still not really united. The facade of union occurred in Norway as Harold Finehair (860 CE - 933 CE) became the first monarch of Norway in 872, but some earls didn't like the idea of a single king and split off from Norway to form their independent factions elsewhere. Denmark also tied itself into a pseudo-empire after Knut became king of England by clustering his holdings in England, Denmark, and Sweden together. Despite all this being said, "it is unlikely that Knut had a theory of empire impelling him to add Norway (and some say Sweden) to his realms of England and Denmark". Eventually, Scandinavia would achieve real political unity (in terms of a collective body of political independent countries rather than territories in dispute among various chieftains) and this took place after the Viking Age when the Church took a more important social role. After reviewing Viking raiding and conquest in the context of a political means to an economic end, however now is the time to turn back to a general survey of trade to see how it operated within the Baltic region and how it trickled out in all directions to Europe, Asia, and westward in the Atlantic Ocean. The goods traded by the Scandinavian Vikings were both valuable commodities and imports necessary for consumption by both the Christian and Islamic worlds, which gave the Vikings a profitable trade market on two fronts. To begin, trade within Scandinavia involved one crucial element: the Finns or Saami and the Lapps. While most Scandinavians lived in the southern parts of Norway and Sweden with the Danes settled on their little peninsula, the Lapps and Finns were the Viking occupants of the Baltic region above the Arctic circle who hunted and trapped to survive in northern Sweden and Norway (and what would become Finland which was territory held by the Swedes). The Finns and Lapps had an arrangement with the Vikings in the south to supply them with furs, animal skins, and walrus tusks as tribute to chieftains. Another remarkable thing about the Vikings was their degree of self-sufficiency because "the needs of one region could be met by another". Trade with the Scandinavians began fairly early on in their history as there has been some proof of trade between the Romans and the Scandinavians during the Iron Age. This early trade was done with middle men so that neither side ever saw the other and involved the importation of marble from the Romans. The Scandinavians would later show themselves to the Byzantines as Rus and would buy silk, fruit, spices, jewelry, and wine from Byzantium. These Rus were said (in primary historical sources) to come from what is modern Russia and were likely to originally have emigrated from Sweden, according to the Russian Primary Chronicle. A Muslim witness, Ibn Fadlan, also beheld the Rus in 922 CE while visiting Russia and described them in his work Risala as "... perfect physical specimens, tall as date palms, blond and ruddy...". From what is known of the Rus, they occupied trade cities like Novgorod and Kiev in Russia and made their way inland and by sea down as far as Baghdad to trade with the Muslims. The western trade routes, namely to Iceland, Greenland, and beyond worked differently. For awhile, these colonies were mostly dependent on Scandinavia for resources to survive, but gradually these colonies began forging a name for themselves with the discovery of important materials that the Vikings could use at home and in trade relations with other civilizations. Iceland provided a nice surplus to the trade of fish, fats (for preservation of foods), and wool to make clothing. Greenland seemed like a frozen wasteland at first, but the advantage of its Arctic demeanor became all too clear when walruses were found there and their ivory tusks soon became a valuable supplement to the lacking inventory of elephant ivory in Western Europe. As expected, animal hides and furs were also to be found indigenous of animals living in the cold climate of Greenland. Wood and furs were found at Vinland, but were never extensively exploited. The reason behind this is still a mystery, but it seems likely from archeological evidence that the Vikings used the settlement at L'Anse-aux-Meadows as a temporary establishment. Some historians theorize that these same adventurous Vikings sailed further south along the eastern coast of the North American continent and may have settled in New England (Markland), but nothing absolute has been proven about this so it remains shrouded in theory for now. In conclusion, it should be prudent to note that the question posed by this dissertation doesn't have an actual answer for it depends on how one reads and interprets the ambiguous evidence. The Scandinavians were steeped in a pagan code of personal honor and glory system which suggests a savage barbaric civilization that terrorized and raided without reason or purpose, but that is simply not true. While the Vikings were raiders, they were also farmers and merchants. The excuse for their disposition has to be made in the fact that their isolation from the Continent made them who they were. Christianity was slow to reach Scandinavia, but when it did, it brought the Scandinavians in contact with Rome and the European way. After Christianity prevailed in Scandinavia, one may notice that Scandinavia became even more active and more peaceful in Europe, much as it is today in modern times. The argument of this term paper was not to disprove that the answer to the initial question "were the Vikings traders or raiders?" is "both", but rather to try to approach the question differently than merely as a reconstructive effort. Rather, it attempts to prove through revisionist or interpretive means that there is a fine line between a society's (in this case, the Vikings as a divided society) military motives and economic considerations. The dissertation also set out to show the correlation between military expansionism (raiding) and commercial rank (trading). * * * "The Ancient History of the Distinguished Surname Anctil" by Maison des Noms (Summer 1998) Gallic tribes occupied Normandy in the north of France. The distinguished name Anctil is considered to have its origins in this ancient land. In the 1st century BCE, the Romans invaded. With their departure in the 4th century CE, the area became chaotic. Wandrille united the duchy in the 6th century CE and became the first Count of Normandy. The duchy was firmly established after the year 911 CE when Rollo, Earl of Orkney, invaded the territory. He forced the French king Charles the Simple to concede Normandy. Rollo was the first Duke of Normandy. The name Anctil was first found in Normandy where this distinguished family were seated since ancient times. Changes of spelling have occured in most surnames. Usually a person spoke his version of his name phonetically to a scribe, a priest, or a recorder. This depended on accent and local accents frequently changed the spelling of a name. Some variables were adopted by different branches of the family name. Hence, we have variations in your name Anctil, some of which are Anctill, Anquetil, Antil, Antile, Antille, Anctille, Anctile, Anquetile, Anquetille, d'Anctill, d'Anctille, d'Anctil, d'Anquetil, d'Antil, d'Antile, d'Antille, Danctill, Danctil, Danctile, Danctille, Danquetil, Anktil, Anktill, Anktille, Anktile, Antel, Antle, Antell, many of which are still used today. When William, duke of Normandy, conquered England in 1066 CE, Normandy became part of the crown. Normandy passed into the royal dynasty of the Plantagenets along with England in the 12th century CE. In the 12th century CE, Henry II of England, Duke of Normandy, married Eleanor of Aquitaine, thus acquiring her lands. The sovereignty of Normandy, Brittany, and Aquitaine was the major cause of the Hundred Years War. Henry III finally conceded his Continental claims in 1259 CE. The family name Anctil became influential in Normandy, where this ancient family was seated with lands, estates, and manors. It is in the region of Normandy where the name is also mentioned in the somewhat different form of "Anschetillus", who was a Domesday tennant under the reign of William the Conqueror in the county of Essex in 1066 CE. Very early in the century, the family lent their name to the city Anctiville in the diocese of Coutances situated in Normandy and there they were well established. For centuries, Normandy was part of the domain of the House of Blois, the dukes of Normandy, who were the kings of England and so it was considered as an English possession. From the time of the Norman invasion of 1066 CE, the family was granted lands, manors, estates in the British Isles where the family spelled their name as Anketell, Ankettle, Anquetil, Ankill, Antell, and Antill. The family, as a noble family of France, confirmed with letters of patent and heraldic cap, contributed largely to the political as well as cultural scene of the regions in which they settled throughout the centuries. In return for their contributions, many of the different branches were granted titles of nobility. In the Isle of Guernsey and Jersey, the family held lands as the Anquetil, Antil in Kent and Antle in Dorset. The Antles of Britain and France settled very early into Newfoundland, Canada. Notably amongst the family in this period was Anctil of Anctiville. France became aware of her European leadership in the early 16th century CE. The New World beckoned. The explorers led missionaries to North American settlements along the eastern seabord, including New France, New England, New Holland, and New Spain. Jacques Cartier made the first three voyages to New France, starting in 1534 CE. Champlain came in 1608 CE. His plans for development in Quebec fell quite short of the objectives of the company of New France. Champlain brought the first true migrant Louis Hebert, a Parisian apothecary, and his family, who arrived in 1617 CE. In 1643 CE, 109 years after the first landing by Cartier, there were only about 300 people in Quebec. Migration was slow. Early marriage was desperately encouraged among the immigrants. The fur trade attracted migrants, both noble and commoner. 15,000 explorers left Montreal in the late 17th and 18th centuries CE. By 1675 CE, there were 7,000 French in Quebec. By the same year, the Acadian presence in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island had reached 500. In 1755 CE, 10,000 French Acadians refused to take an oath of allegiance to the king of England and were deported to England. The French founded Lower Canada, thus becoming one of two great founding nations of Canada. Amongst the settlers in North America, with this distinguished name Anctil, were Robert Antle or Antill who settled in Newfoundland by the year 1835 CE. William Antle settled in the same province by the year 1836 CE, as well as George Antell and Barney Antle who settled there by the year 1871 CE. Thomas Antle reached that province in 1886 CE. The distinguished family name Anctil has made significant contributions to the culture, arts, sciences, and religion of France and New France. For example, Dr. Marc-André Anctil of Quebec City and the fashion designer Pierre Anctil, of Quebec. During the course of our research, we also determined the most ancient coat-of-arms recorded for this family name of Anctil. The coat-of-arms for the family name of Anctil was: "On a gold backgound, there are three green leaves." * * * "A Brief History of the French-Canadian Anctils in Quebec (1734-????)" by Normand J. Anctil Our ancestor, Jean Anctil, was an educated sailor who could read and write. His wife was not educated, but all his children were literate and so were their children and so on. They had a very distinct advantage in a world where the majority signed their "X" on the bottom line. With very few exceptions, all of those who immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1800's had a farming background and were attracted to good paying manufacturing jobs in New England. At first, most of them would live in large dorms (as many as 300 per dorm) until they had saved enough money to move to better quarters. A lot of them came back home to marry their childhood sweethearts and returned to the U.S. where both of them would work, buy a home, and start a family. Soon, brothers and sisters would come to stay with them and a new cycle would start. Popular centres were Nashua, NH.; Manchester, NH.; Fall River, MA.; Lewiston, ME.; and West Warwick, RI [most of this came from census data]. In each of them, they sort of circled their wagons and lived in closely knit communities, often a whole bunch of them on the same street. From these most humble beginnings came several doctors, pharmacists, dentists, engineers, etc. One of them, Donald Paul Anctil was the chief engineer on the development of the 747 transporter of the Shuttles for NASA. He is now working on the testing and development of a manned payload vehicle which they will slingshot into space, dump their payload and return to earth saving millions of dollars in rocket hardware. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- VIII. NOTES & ANECDOTES: [Various Authors] "With the complete support and assistance of my mentor, Abbé Joseph-Albert Anctil and since retiring in 1989, I have been been exchanging data with Joseph-Albert who has been tracing and recording our ancestors in Canada and the U.S. With his assistance and that of hundreds of Anctil respondants, my database has grown to over 10,500 members of Anctil, Anctil-dit-St-Jean, St-Jean and St-John. The base of which is 638 hand-written copies of sheets (one for each family) of data accumulated and so generously provided by Joseph-Albert. In return, being bilingual, I reserved my activities almost exclusively to the United States and he in Quebec; we both have been exchanging all the data we come across since 1989. The database goes back to the birth place of Jean Anctil in St-Pair de Ducey, Arondissement d'Avranches, Département de La Manche, Normandy, France. It covers in great detail the 8 branches which forms our family. Each of the branches are headed by one of the 8 married sons of Jean-Baptiste Anctil, the only son of Jean Anctil-dit-St-Jean who landed in Canada in 1734. The bottom line is that we, Joseph-Albert and I, have perhaps the most comprehensive index of the Anctil families in Canada and the United States. I come from family #1 that of Jean-Louis who married twice and had 19 children and you come from the family #3 that of Joseph (who also married twice) and sired 11 children. In 1994, through Antonio Anctil of Rochester, NH., a young French girl by the name of Veronique Anctil visiting Florida made contact with me wanting to know if our families were linked. She was returning to France and offered to look into things there. So I gave here all the data on the birth of Jean Anctil and his place of birth. While home, she undertook personally to go to St-Pair. She came back with loads of data, photocopies of very old authentic documents, including the birth certificate of Jean Anctil. The material included lists of births 1701-1770, marriages 1711-1785, and Sepulcres 1600-1791. A French governmental document attesting that the number of families living in France at the time was 20 and consisting of 49 members using the name Anctil/Anquetil, 22 of which used Anctil. As it turned out she possibly found a link to both our families, but this would have to be verified by corraborating evidence. 'François Julien', the younger brother of Jean, was baptised in 1711 in St-Pair. His god-parents were 'Françoise Anquetil' and 'Julien le Chevalier' [?]. A 'Francoise Anquetil' was buried in the same parish on 7 May 1731. Was she the god-mother? Lack of documents is blamed for this missing link if there is one. It should be noted that much of the documentation of the time could have disappeared during the French Revolution, following wars, etc." - Normand J. Anctil * * * "The Rugians (known to other Germanic-speaking tribes as 'Holmrugii') are thought to have migrated first from the province of Rogaland in western Norway to the mouth of the Oder River between 200 and 150 BCE. From the Oder, they moved east into the lands of the Vandals who forced them to move south where they settled until the arrival of the Goths during the first century of the current era. After the arrival of the Goths, the Rugians migrated westward and by about 200 CE, occupied the island Ruegen, still named after them. During the fourth century CE, the Rugians traveled along the Vistula until they arrived south of the Carpathian mountains where they again settled until the arrival of the Huns. The Huns conquered the Rugians who later accompanied them as auxiliary troops in raids against the Eastern Roman Empire. In 451, the Rugians marched with the Huns into France. In 476, the Rugians joined forces with the Erulians to conquer the last West Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, who had held the post for less than a year. By 487, The Rugians banded with the Goths in a decisive battle against their former allies the Erulians and then migrated into Italy. After this time, the migrations of the Rugians are vague but they appear at the end of the fourth century CE in Western Europe, accompanying the Eruli and the Saxonians in raids on England. During the fifth century CE, the Rugians are said to have returned to Rogaland when the Slavs invaded west of the Oder." - Ken Aldrich "The Ancient Germans: The Rugians" 1996 * * * "Indicative of where we start from, these two examples are twelfth-century charters from the cartulary of Garendon Abbey [BL Lansdowne MS 415]. We will continue to concentrate on charters, but later in the course considering some other classes of document. Our first priority, however, is to become proficient with the diplomatic, Latin and palaeography of charters from the twelfth through to the early fourteenth centuries." 3. clesie sancti andree eiusdem uille Preterea concessi predictis monachis et hac mea carta confirmaui donationem Hugonis et Asketilli filii eius/ the church of Saint André of the same village besides having given the aforesaid monk and this, my charter, confirms this gift to Hugo and his son, Asketill 4. Hugo de Berges et Asketillus filius eius nepos meus deo et ecclesie sancte MARIE de Gerold', tres uidelicet/ Hugo of Berges and his son Asketill, my god-son, and the holy church Mary of Gerold, three obvious 4. ecclesie inde aliquam iniuriam intulit ego Turstanus et fratres mei cum predicto nepote nostro Aske-/ the church thenceforth unjust within, I Thurstan (?) and my brother predict our descendent Asketill - Dr. D.A. Postles "Medieval Palaeography: Transcriptions and Translations of Charters" [web] 1998 English translation provided by Anna Kettle & Eric R. Anctil * * * 1. (Sir) Anskill of Sparshot, Abbot of Abingdon (Berkshire), Lord of Seacourt [knight] born before 1080 CE married before 1100 died before 1100 CE Ansfrida of Gauder [former mistress to Henry I Beauclerc, King of England] born before 1070 CE buried at Abingdon Abbey 2. Guillaume ["William"] of Sparshot married to the daughter of Hugh le Despenser - David N. Ford "The History of Abingdon, Berkshire" [web] 1998 "Genealogy Data" [web - offline] 1998 * * * "The family of Gray or Grey, says Burke in his peerages, claims descent from Rollo (born 860 A.D.). John, Lord of Gray, whose son Anschetil de Gray was one of William the Conquerors companions in arms at the battle of Hastings, and was recorded in the Domesday Book (a record compiled by a royal commission set up by William in 1085-86), as lord of many manors and lordships in the counties of Oxford and Buckingham. Anschetil de Gray had two sons, both named John. The elder John de Gray had a son, Henry de Gray, who was in high favor with King Richard I and King John." "untitled" [web] 1995 * * * "... in the Cotentin one of my knights called Alfred with all his land, and another called Anschetil with his land, Borel and Modol with their whole alod ... also Godebold the knight and all his brothers, with the whole of their alod, but not the beneficium which they hold in Le Talou and in the Pays de Caux." [Cited by Chibnall, 1982, p. 67] - Erich J. Richter "Norman Sources of Feudalism", Reed College thesis [web] 1993, 1996 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- IX. ETEXTS: [Various Authors] "An Icelandic-English Dictionary based on the MS. collections of the late Richard Cleasby" [excerpt: pages 337-338] (1874) KETILL, m., dat, katli, pl. katlar, [Goth. katils = Mark vii.4; A.S. cytel; Engl. kettle; O.H.G. kezil; Germ. kessel; Swed. kettel; Dan. kj'del]:-a kettle, cauldron, Eb.198; i elda-husinu var eldr mikill ok katlar yfir, Eg.238, Bs.i.342, ii.135, B.K.52, Fms.vi.364, Edda 28; elda undir katli, kljufa vid undir ketil, Fbr.72 new Ed., Fs.150; var honum goldinn k. mikill ok godr, porst.Sidu H.171; budar-k., Eb.198; eir-k., Eg.; jarn-k., stein-k., an iron, an earthen kettle, O.H.223: in old usage as a general name for every kettle, boiler, cauldron; in mod. usage, esp. of a kettle of a certain shape or of a small kettle, kaffe-k., a coffee kettle; but pottr = cauldron; the same distinction is made in Dipl.v.4,-sex katlar, tiu pottar: katla-mals skjola, a measure, Grag.i.501: the phrase e-m fellr allr ketill i eld, one's kettle falls into the fire, of consterna- tion. 2. the earliest northern eccl. law prescribed an ordeal for a woman to take hot stones out of a boiling kettle, whereas a man had to take up hot iron; ganga til ketils, taka i ketil, Gkv.3.7,(the ordeal being called ketil-tak, n.); beri karlmadr jarn en kona taki i ketil, N.G.L.i. 152; karlmadr skal ganga til arins-jarns en kona til ketiltaks, 389; edr berr hon jarn edr tekr hon i ketil, Grag.i.381. II. as a pr. name of men, Ketill, Ketil-bjirn; of women, Katla, Ketil-ridr: but chiefly used as the latter part in compd. names of men, contr. into 'kel,' As-kell, Arn-kell, Grim-kell, Hall-kell, Stein-kell, Ulf-kell, Por-kell, Vé- kell; of women, Hall-katla, Por-katla. In poets of the 10th century the old uncontracted form was still used, but the contracted form occurs in verses of the beginning of the 11th century, although the old form still occurs now and then. The freq. use of these names is no doubt derived from the holy cauldron at sacrifices, as is indicated by such names as Vé-kell, Holy kettle; cp. Ketilby in Yorkshire. * * * Nordic Council of Ministers, "From Viking to Crusader: Scandinavia and Europe 800-1220" [excerpts: pages 93, 107-108] (1992) Some examples of Scandinavian personal names in Normandy Scandinavian 11th-century Latin Modern French form form form Asbjirn Osbernus Auber Asfridr Ansfridus Anfray Asgautr Ansgotus Angot Asketill Anschetillus Anquetil Asmundr Osmundus Osmond Thorgautr Turgotus Turgot Thorgisl Turgisus Turgis Thorsteinn Turstinus Toutain Thorvaldr Turoldus Thouroude Fig. 2. Signpost in Normandy, France. The place-name La Houlgate occurs with varying spellings in many parts of Normandy. The name is of Scandinavian origin and originally meant 'hollow road'. The name of the commune Biéville-Quétiéville is the result of the amalgamation of two settlements with Frankish names, the second of which contains the Scan- dinavian personal name Ketil. In England Scandinavian personal names established themselves more securely and many new names developed on English soil, for example by-names such as Broklaus 'trouser- less', Serklaus 'shirtless' and Snarri 'the swift one'. Many of the recorded names which end in -ketil such as Brunketil, Ormketil, Steinketil and Ulfketil may also have arisen in England and been carried back from there to the Scandinavian homelands. In England, however, the Norman conquest in 1066 sounded the death-knell for Scandinavian personal names, and by 1200 practically everyone in England had a forename of Frankish or biblical origin. A few Scandinavian personal names have survived to the present day in the colonies where the Scandinavian language has dropped into disuse. Olga is still one of the most popular forenames in Russia, for exam- ple, and the forename Somhairle (Sumarlithi) and the surname Macauley (son of Olaf) are current in the Hebrides. In Nor- mandy, Angot (Asgaut), Anquetil (Asketil), Toutain (Thorstein) and Turquetil (Thorketil) survive as surnames (cf.p.93), while in England names such as Harald and Eric received a literary renaissance in the nineteenth century. * * * M. Jackson Crispin. "Falaise roll recording prominent companions of William, duke of Normandy at the conquest of England" [excerpts: pages 4, 116] (1938) ANQUETIL DE ROS. The name Ros is derived from the parish of Ros, now Rots, near Caen. The family was numerous at the time of the conquest, when five of the name, Anquetil, Ansgot, Goisfried, Serlo, and Guillaume, followed duke William to England. All are entered in Domesday, but their relationship has not been determined. William, to whom the Conqueror gave a small barony in Sussex with the abbey of Fécamp in 1079, of which he became the third abbot, was the only tenant-in-chief; the others were under-tenants. Anquetil was an under-tenant of the bishop of Bayeux in the counties of Kent and Surrey, and possessed the manor of Holtune. He held in Herefordshire under Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury and from Alain, count of Brittany, in the same country which depended also from the archbishop. He was also a sub-tenant of Robert de Guernon in this county. Cle., III, 50. Nor. Peo., 382. Rech. Domesd., 161 and fol. ANCHETIL DE GRAI. From Grai between Bayeux and Caen. M. de Ste-Marie in Recherches sur le Domesday states that this Anchetil belonged to a family of considerable importance in the Bessin, who were sires of Luc and Grai. In 1082 Gisla, daughter of Turstin de Grai, made a donation to Holy Trinity at Caen, which convent she entered. He was the son of Hugh, brother of another Turstin de Grai who remained in Normandy, both sons of Turgis. Anchetil came to England with the Conqueror and held lands in Oxford, 1086 (Domesday), viz. Redrefield (Rotherfield) and five other lordships from William Fitz Osberne (Domesday). Columbanus de Gray, his son, witnessed a charter of Raoul de Limesay, temp. Henry I, whose sons Robert and Roger held extensive lands in 1165 as recorded in the Liber Niger. Hence the lords of Grey, earls of Kent and Stamford, marquesses of Dorset, dukes of Suffolk and the Greys, earles of Tancarville. The Greys were also the ancestors of lady Jane Grey. The claimed Grey descent from Arlette's father said to have held the castle of Croy in Picardy is incorrect. Rech. Domesd., 163-70. Nor. Peo., 270. Cle., II, 87. Gall. Christ., XI, Instr. 71. Mon., i, 331. * * * William Nelson, "Edward Antill, a New York merchant of the seventeenth century, and his descendants : Edward Antill, 2d, of Piscataway, New Jersey, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Antill, 3d, of Quebec and Montreal, Dr. Lewis Antill, of Perth Amboy, and Major John Antill, of New York" (1899) -- More -- [to be included in separate file NELSON.TXT, 35 pages] * * * R.V. Pockley, "The Antill family, England 833-America 1680, Australia 1809" (1978) -- More -- [to be included in separate file POCKLEY.TXT, 278 pages] * * * "A short history, with notes and references, of the ancient and honorable family of Ancketill or Ancetell" (1901) -- More -- [to be included in separate file ANCETELL.TXT, 60 pages] * * * Joseph-Albert Anctil, "A la mémoire de David Anctil de Saint-Philippe-de Néri, La Pocatiere" (1986) -- More -- [to be included in separate file JAANCTIL.TXT, 177 pages] * * * Noel Anctil, "Généalogie de la famille Alfred Anctil: ses ancetres, ses descendants" (1982) -- More -- [to be included in separate file NOANCTIL.TXT, 163 pages] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- . CONCLUSIONS: ERIC R. ANCTIL Anctil is the modern French surname derivative of a Germanic root personal name which has its origins in Northern Europe around 200 BCE (Katilaz). The name was exported to England by the invading Saxons in 449 CE where it developed many new phonetic variations and was imported by the Norwegian Vikings to Norway when they raided England around 700 CE. These Norwegian Vikings later settled in the Contentin (western) region of Normandy, France around 933 CE where the name evolved from Asketill (10th century CE) to Anschetillus (11th century CE) to Anquetil (12th century CE) to Anctil (17th century CE). In 1734 CE, Jean Louis Anctil dit St-Jean emigrated from Avranches, Normandy, France to Nouvelle France (Quebec, Canada) and established a family line, where the surname today is predominate. The Anctil family name can be found throughout the United Kingdom (former colonies included) and even most of the world today. Popular surname septs that remain in existence today for the Anctil surname are the following: Anquetil/Anctil, Ancell/Ansell, Antill/Antle, McCaskill/MacAskill, Axtell, Kettle. ============================================================================= RESEARCH TOOLS: ERIC R. ANCTIL - Internet Explorer 4.72.3110 (Windows, Microsoft, 1995-1997): www.microsoft.com/ie/ - MetaCrawler (Go2Net, 1996-1999): www.metacrawler.com - Altavista (DEC, 1995-1999): www.altavista.com - MS-DOS Editor 2.0.026 (DOS, Microsoft, 1995): ftp.microsoft.com - Kindred Konnections 1.3 (Windows 3.x, Efficiency Software, 1996-1998): www.kindredkonnections.com/download.html - GED2WWW 0.22 (DOS, Leslie Howard, 1996-1997): pw2.netcom.com/~lhoward/ged2www.html - GEDView 1.05 (DOS, Michael Cooley, 1995): nqf@netcom.com, michael@emcee.com, mikecooley@aol.com ============================================================================= BIBLIOGRAPHY: ERIC R. ANCTIL Anctil, Joseph-Albert. "A la mémoire de David Anctil de Saint-Philippe-de Néri, La Pocatiere." La Pocatiere, Quebec: J.A. Anctil, 1986. Anctil, Marcel. "Les familles Anctil en Amérique." Quebec City: Louis Richer, 199-. Anctil, Noel. "Généalogie de la famille Alfred Anctil: ses ancetres, ses descendants." Saint-Pamphile, Quebec: Noel Anctil, 1982. "Annala Uladh = Annals of Ulster : otherwise, Annala Senait, Annals of Senat : a chronicle of Irish affairs." Trans. William M. Hennessy and B. MacCarthy. 4 vols. Dublin: Printed for H.M. Stationery Off. by A. Thorn, 1887-1901. "A short history, with notes and references, of the ancient and honorable family of Ancketill or Ancetell." Belfast: ???, 1901. Beaucarnot, Jean-Louis. "Les Noms de famille et leurs secrets." Paris: Robert Laffont, 1988. Beauregard, Denis. "FRANCOGENE: Votre porte d'entrée vers la généalogie francophone". [Online] [Cited 1999]. Available HTTP: http://www.genealogie.com/ "Cercle Généalogique de la Manche - Index." [Online] [Cited 1999]. Available HTTP: http://www.citeweb.net/cg50/ Crispin, M. Jackson. "Falaise roll recording prominent companions of William, duke of Normandy at the conquest of England." Frome London: Butler and Tanner Ltd., 1938. "Dictionnaire national des Canadiens français, 1608-1760." 2 vols. Montreal: Institut généalogique Drouin, 1965. "Domesday Book." Trans. John Morris. Chichester: Phillimore, 1975. "GeneaNet." [Online] [Cited 1998]. Available HTTP: http://www.geneanet.org/ Jones, Linda W. "French-Canadian History and Genealogy". [Online] [Cited 1998]. Available HTTP: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/lwjones/french-c.htm Kajander, Jan. "Korfu." [Online] [Cited 1997]. Available HTTP: http://www.viking1.com/a.htm "KETILL." An Icelandic-English Dictionary based on the MS. collections of the late Richard Cleasby. 1874 ed. "Kettle." Oxford English Dictionary. 1989 ed. "Kettle." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1986 ed. Laforest, Thomas J. "Our French Canadian Ancestors: Volume XVIII". Palm Harbor, Florida: LISI Press, 1994. "La Pocatiere." [Online] [Cited 1998]. Available HTTP: http://www.kam.qc.ca/municipalites/vlapoc/lapoc1en.html Lebel, Gerard and Jacques Saintonge, Nos Ancetres 18 (19--): 17. "Le Centre de généalogie francophone d'Amérique / www.genealogie.org." [Online] [Cited 1998, 1999]. Available HTTP: http://www.genealogie.org/ Morlet, Marie-Thérese. "Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de famille." Paris: Perrin, 1991. Nelson, William. "Edward Antill, a New York merchant of the seventeenth century, and his descendants : Edward Antill, 2d, of Piscataway, New Jersey, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Antill, 3d, of Quebec and Montreal, Dr. Lewis Antill, of Perth Amboy, and Major John Antill, of New York." Paterson, New Jersey: The Press Printing and Publishing Co., 1899. Nordic Council of Ministers. "From Viking to Crusader: Scandinavia and Europe 800-1220." 1st ed. Uddevalla, Sweden: Bohusl?ningens Boktryckeri AB, 1992. Pockley, R.V. "The Antill family, England 833-America 1680, Australia 1809." Surry Hills, Australia: Wentworth Books, 1978. Programme de Recherche en Démographie Historique. "Répertoire des Actes de Bapteme, Sépulture et des Recensements du Québec ancien." 45 vols. Montreal: Presses de l'Université de Montréal, 1980. "Répertoire alphabétique des marriages des Canadiens-Français de 1760 à 1935." 3 vols. Montreal: Institut généalogique Drouin, 1985. Tanguay, Cyprien. "Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes depuis la fondation de la colonie jusqu'à nos jours." 7 vols. Quebec: Eusebe Senécal, 1871-1890. "The Anglo-Saxon chronicle. A revised translation." Ed. Dorothy Whitelock, David C. Douglas and Susie I. Tucker. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1961. "The book of settlements; Landnamabok." Trans. Hermann Palsson and Paul Edwards. Winnipeg, Canada: University of Manitoba, 1972. "The Vikings." National Geographic 137.4 (1970): 402-537. "UCGHN." [Online] [Cited 1999]. Available HTTP: http://members.aol.com/ucghn/index.htm "Ville de La Pocatiere." [Online] [Cited 1998]. Available HTTP: http://www.lapocatiere.kam.qc.ca/ Ward, Christie. "The Viking Answer Lady Webpage." [Online] [Cited 1998]. Available HTTP: http://www.realtime.com/~gunnora/ ============================================================================= Copyright 1998-1999 by Eric R. Anctil <eancti@po-box.mcgill.ca>. All rights reserved. All source materials are exclusively the property of their original authors.

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10 March 1999

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