"fide sed cui vide" Variations in Spelling: Stapleton, Stapelton ,Stapylton, Stapletun, Stapeltun, Stapyltun, Stapledon, Stapeldon, Stapyldon Stapleton, in its varoious spellings, is an ancient and noble English locational surname. It is also recorded in both Scotland and Ireland, although again the origination is from England. It originates from any of the various places called Stapleton in the counties of Cumberland, Gloucestershire, Hereford, Leicester, Shropshire, Somerset and particularly Yorkshire where various branches held great estates from medieval times. The earliest recording of the place name is to found in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Stapletone, Staplentun, and Stapleton. The Stapletons of today are an Anglo Norman family descended from the marriage of the Dame of Stapleton-on-Tees and Hamon (or Herman, or Heryon) a Norman (Viking) seigneur who accompanied William the Conquerer on one of his forays to England prior to 1066 (1052 Hamon was Lord of the Manor of Stapleton-on-Tees). Stapleton-on-Tees is a village in the parish of Darlington, near Pontefract, Yorkshire. There is a legend (see below 'Early Origins') that Stapleton-on-Tees was settled during the Norse incursions There are two major branches extant, the English branch and the Irish branch. The Irish branch are descendants of John de Stapleton, the Black Knight who accompanied Strongbow on his conquest of Ireland in 1171. At the coronation of Richard I (Coeur de Lion) in 1189 Sir John carried his golden spurs. In 1199 King John awarded his good friend (probably step first cousin) and loyal subject Sir John about 50,000 acres of land in what is now Northern Tipperary centered around Drom. The family continued to be large landowners in this area and the surrounding counties until the diaspora of the Irish Catholic Gentry during and after the Cromwellian Confiscations and the later rebellions. The family was very loyal to the Plantageanet, Anjovin, Tudor and Stuart Royal families. Most subsequant world migration of Stapletons is mainly from the Irish branch and is tied to the diaspora of the Irish, firstly the flight, emigration and transportation following Cromwells pogroms of then secondly, the great famine. The surname Stapleton was first found in Yorkshire where they held a family seat from very ancient times. Where tradition states that Octa, brother of Hengis, the Saxon invader, in the year 450, came north to defend his territory against the Picts, and established a fort on the banks of the Tees calling it Stapleton. In 1052, Heryon, was Lord of the manor of Stapleton upon Tees. We draw the reader's attention to Saddleworth cum Quick in Yorkshire. "At the time of the Conquest, Saddleworth was constituted a manor; and in the year 1200, William de Stapleton, to whom it then belonged, founded a chapel here for his tenants, which he made subordinate to the church of St. Chad, Rochdale. From the Stapletons the portion of the manor called Friermere or Friar-Mere, which is in extent one-half of the chapelry." Walter de Stapeldon (1261-1326), was Bishop of Exeter, and virtual founder of Exeter College, Oxford, a younger son of William and Mabilla de Stapeldon, was born at Annery in the parish of Monkleigh, Devonshire. Brian de Stapleton (1321?-1394), of Wighill, knight, was the second son of Sir Gilbert de Stapleton, and younger brother of Miles de Stapleton (d. 1364.) "The manor of Carwythenack in the [parish of Constantine, Cornwall] belonged so early as the reign of Edward II. to the family of Stapleton." Sir Miles Stapleton, of Bedale, Yorkshire was Lord of Ingham, Norfolk by marriage in 1360 to Joanna, daughter and sole heiress of Sir Oliver de Ingham. The Irish Stapletons spring from Sir John Stapleton, a scion of the Yorkshire family, who went to Ireland in support of King Henry II in 1170. From this service Sir John received a grant of lands from King John of about 50,000 acres in and around Counties Kilkenny and Tipperary. Families began migrating abroad in enormous numbers because of the political and religious discontent in England. Often faced with persecution and starvation in England, the possibilities of the New World attracted many English people. Although the ocean trips took many lives, those who did get to North America were instrumental in building the necessary groundwork for what would become for new powerful nations. Notables of this surname at this time include: Sir Miles Stapleton of Bedale KG (1320?-1364), an English knight, one of the Knights Founder of the Order of the Garter who served in the Wars of Gascogne in 1268; Sir Bryan Stapleton KG (c.1322-1394), an English medieval knight from Yorkshire; Thomas Stapleton (1535-1598), an English Catholic controversialist from Sussex; Sir Henry Stapylton, 1st Baronet (c.1617-1679), an English politician.