Lawless Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Lawless Family History

Lawless Family History

The Lawless ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. Lawless is a nickname meaning 'the lawless' given to a person of uncontrolled or unrestrained habits. This name is of English descent and is found in many ancient manuscripts in the above country. Examples of such are a Hugo Laweless, who was recorded in the 'Writs of Parliament' in the year 1314 and a William Cooley and Ann Lawless, who were married at St. George's Chapel, Mayfair, in the year 1746. Names were recorded in these ancient documents to make it easier for their overlords to collect taxes and to keep records of the population at any given time. When the overlords acquired lands by either force or gifts from their rulers, they created charters of ownership for themselves and their vassals. In Ireland this name was introduced after the Anglo-Norman invasion. They became one of the 'Tribes of Kilkenny' although in modern times descendants bearing this name are more often to be found in Counties Galway and Dublin.The Lawless family crest (or coat of arms) came into existence many centuries ago. The process of creating these coats of arms began as early as the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this, including Ireland. The new more formalized art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own family crest, coat of arms, including Lawless descendants.