Origin of Arnau

This ancient and distinguished surname, recorded in over fifty spellings, is usually of Olde German and Anglo-Saxon origins. It derives from a baptismal compound personal name Ernault or Arnolt, of which the elements are "arn", meaning an eagle, and "wald", to rule. The name spread rapidly throughout Northern Europe in the period known as "The dark ages", roughly between the 6th and 11th centuries a.d., and following the fall of the Roman Empire. There are now many different spellings of the surname and examples include Arnhold, Arnout, Arnatt, Erni, Harnett, Arnould, Arnaud, Ahrend, Arnaudi, Arlett, Arnaudin, Arnaiz, Arents and many others.

The first country in the world to adopt hereditary surnames as we know them today was England, where they were first used, although only by the nobility or clergy, after the Norman-French Invasion of 1066. In the year 1086 the Normans completed a survey of the country known as the Domesday Book, this being the first gazetter of its kind ever produced. Rogerus filius Ernaldi is recorded in Domesday Book for London, this being the first known recording of the name, although not as a surname. Early examples of the surname recording include include William Arnold of the county of Suffolk in 1277, whilst in Germany Adler Arnoldt is recorded in Meskirch in 1282. In some cases the surname as Arnold is a locational name from two English villages in Nottinghamshire and in the East Riding of Yorkshire. One of the first settlers in Virginia was Thomas Arnold, aged 30 yrs., who embarked from London on the ship "Plaine Joan", in May 1635. The first recorded spelling of the family name anywhere is believed to be that of Puntius Arnaldi, which was dated 1196, in the rolls of Devonshire, England.

It should derive from the Italian-Germanic medieval name Arnoaldus or from the Provençal equivalent Arnaudus (the meaning could be "powerful like an eagle") of which we have an example in the XII century in Brescia: "...Hoc tempore surrexit quidam magister Arnaudus nomine , magistri Petri Abelardi discipulus, qui multa contra Romanam ecclesiam predicabat...".

The surname Arnaldi seems typical of the province of Imperia and of the Island of Elba, with a probably not secondary lineage in the Vicenza area.

Arnaud is typical of the Cuneo and Turin areas.

Arnaldo, much rarer, would seem to have a Turin and a Ligurian lineage.

Arnao is specific to Messina.

Arnau and Arnaudi, very rare, should be from northwestern Italy.

Arnod is present in Valle D'Aosta.

Arnold probably has a lineage in Bolzano, Tuscany and the Veneto.

A native of Ala County, Saxony. It had its original solar house in the city of Tarragona and the second, in Vilafranca del Penedés (Barcelona).

Pedro Arnau went from the County of Ala, in Saxony, to the conquest of Catalonia, and “he surpassed himself so much, that Count Borrell equaled him in land with the most advanced”. This is how Mosen Jaime Febrer writes it and adds that a descendant of that Knight, also called Pedro Arnau, went from Peralada (Girona) to the war in Murcia, performing important services, which the King rewarded him by granting him great goods in Villajoyosa (Alicante), assets that he enjoyed with those he had inherited from his predecessor.

The successors of this second Pedro Arnau spread throughout the kingdom of Valencia. Other Arnau, originally from the house of the primitive Pedro Arnau, settled in Catalonia, Aragon, Majorca, Marseille and Toulon. In France they were named Arnaud and in the Balearic Islands Arnaldi, according to ancient writings, and later as Arnau in Valencia, Catalonia and Aragon.

According to Aponte other Arnau, natives of Portuó, went from England to Spain with Queen Felipa, daughter of the Duke of Alencastre.

In the Principality of Catalonia there were numerous solar houses in Mataró, being their owners Jaume Arnau and Antoni Arnau; in San Ginés de Vilasar, its owner N'Arnau; in the parish of Santa Coloma de Cervelló (all in Barcelona), its owner Mn. Arnau; in Balaguer, its owner Perot Arnau; in Camarasa, its owner Monserrat Arnau; in the town of Ager, its owner Pere Arnau; in Conques, its owner Mº Perot de Castell Arnau, Military Maiden; in Bohí, its owner, the widow of Arnau; in Selluy, its owner Joan de Arnau Guillem; in Junyent, its owner Joan Pons Arnau; in Estahón, its owner Bernadi de Arnau; in Isill, its owner Joan Ramón Riu, alias Arnau; in Escalarre, its owner Mº Arnau Morello; in Abella, its owner Antoni Arnau; in Concabella, its owner Antoni Arnau; in Granadella, its owner Pere Arnau Vaya; in Llardecáns, its owner Pere Arnau; in Torres de Segre, its owner Joan Arnau; in Salmalcoreig, its owner Jaume Arnau; in Sanahuja (all in Lleida), its owner Mestre Arnau; in the city of Tortosa, its owner Pere Arnau; in the town of Fatarella, its owner Antoni Arnau; in the town of Gandesa, its owner Maestre Arnau; in Torre del Español, its owner Miguel Arnau; in La Bisbal, its owner Pere Arnau Miro; in the term and parish of Panesa and Monreall, its owner Pere Arnau; in Samuntá, its owner Joan Arnau; in Montbrió, its owner Joan Arnau Paladella; in La Selva, its owners Andreu and Matheu de Arnau; in Alcover, its owner Simo Arnau; in the town of Reus, its owner Joan Arnau; in the town of Constantí, its owner Guim Arnau; in Catllar, its owner Mestre Joan Arnau; in the city of Tarragona, its owner Pere Arnau; two in the town of Valls (all in Tarragona), their owner Pere and Pere Gim Arnau; in Orriolls, its owner Jenis Pere Arnau, and in Anglés (Girona), its owner March Pere Arnau. All mentioned in the Catalan burning of 1553.

Other solar houses were located in the town of Teyá (Barcelona); in Cerviá de Ter (Girona), documented in 1498; in Sant Feliu de Cabrera (Barcelona) in 1509, and in Olot (Girona) in 1557.

Another solar house was located in the city of Ibiza, where Lorenzo and Ramón Arnau were neighbors in the 13th century, and Antonio, Bernardo, Juan and Lorenzo de Arnau in the 14th century.

In the Kingdom of Valencia he had houses in Calpe in 1246, Cocentaina in 1249, Orihuela in 1300 and Denia in 1381 (all in Alicante); in Moncofar in 1254, Castellón de la Plana 1398, Forcall and Morella in 1396, San Mateo in 1300, Villafamés, Almazora and Onda in 1379, and Bellaguarda 1415 (all in Castellón); in Sueca in 1245, Montcada in 1240-1246, Alzira in 1242; Xátiva in 1248, Llíria del Camp de Túria in 1249, Alboraya in 1269, in the city of Valencia in 1306, Quart del Poblet in 1334, Alcudia de Carlet in 1337, Gandía in 1373, Silla and Torrent in 1379, and Guadassuar in 1433 (all in Valencia).

This lineage had different solar houses in Aragon, mentioned in the Fogueración of 1495 in the following places: town of Sallent de Gállego, Bielsa, Alcolea de Cinca, Fraga, Villanova, Benasque, Denuy, Laguarres, Montañana, Tolva, Camporrells , Peralta de la Sal and Serveto (Huesca); in the city of Zaragoza, Ricla and Calatayud (Zaragoza); in La Fresneda, village of Gudar, Rubielos de Mora, Sarrión and Arcos de las Salinas (Teruel). There was another house in the city of Teruel, documented in 1384.

Pedro Arnau, wore the habit of the order of Saint John, in the Great Priory of Catalonia, and lived in the year 1298.

Guillermo Arnau, a native of Zaragoza, went on to conquer Majorca as Gunsmith of the Infante Don Pedro of Portugal. García Arnau had a house in the Almudayna de Mallorca in the general distribution. ponce arnauIt was also found in said conquest and was inherited in Pollensa and in Sineu (Baleares). Berenguer Arnau, in 1276, was his Majesty's Lieutenant in the kingdom of Majorca, and that same year he attended as a witness the confirmation that the Aragonese King Don Juan II made to the Majorcans of all his privileges and frankness. Guillén and Ramón Arnau went on to conquer the kingdom of Valencia. Francisco Arnau, in 1290, owned in Majorca, with jurisdiction and fiefdom, the farmhouses of Haro. Guillermo Arnau was a knight of such quality that on November 25, 1285 he deserved that the town of Muro designate him to pay homage to King Don Alonso III, conqueror of that island. Another Guillermo Arnau, on July 2, 1343, swore an oath of fidelity, as one of the representatives of the city of Mallorca, to King Don Pedro IV of Aragon. Bartolomé Arnau accompanied the Infante Don Martín to Italy in 1408. Pedro Arnau, Citizen of Mallorca, made a will on May 3, 1473, before Nicolás Costa, Notary, founding a perpetual Mayorazgo agnativo of his estate, called Son Marrón, in the district of Sineu, and in that document it is expressed that that farm was a part of the possession that the Aragonese King Jaime I gave in the general distribution of the lands to Ponce Arnau.

At the beginning of the 16th century the ancestral home of this family in Sineu was divided between three brothers. The former, known by the name of “Son Juan Arnau”, ended at the end of the 17th century; that of the second, called "Arnau de Benitaref", a term in Juan Arnau y Pax, a native of Mallorca, Knight of the Order of Calatrava since 1681, who was the son of Gabriel Arnau y Arnau, "Magnificent Citizen", and Francisca de Pax , and grandson of Miguel de Arnau and Juana Ursula Arnau, all natives of Mallorca, and that of the third party, called "Son Marrón", was litigated and lost in 1771 by Leonardo Arnau de Marrón, against Nicolás Ferrer de San Jordi, who owned.

José and Nicolás de Arnaud y de la Fontaine, baptized in Madrid on November 16, 1711 and April 28, 1711, respectively, Ayudas de Cámara de H.M., proved their nobility to enter the Order of Santiago in 1744 They were the children of José Arnaud y Loubon, baptized in Toulon (in Provence, France), on September 26, 1669, Private Secretary of Don Felipe V whom he accompanied since his entry into Spain, and of Ana Margarita de la Fontaine and Duchamaine, a native of Paris (France), married in Madrid on November 17, 1708; paternal grandchildren of Justo de Arnaud and Raburonne, baptized in Toulon on June 21, 1643, and of Clara de Loubon and Graffe, a native of Toulon, where they married on April 7, 1665, and paternal great-grandchildren of Henri de Arnaud and Anne Raburonne, natives and residents of Toulon.

Jacinto Arnau y Cursá, a native of Alzira (Valencia), religious, Rector of Alcalá de Chivert (Castellón) in 1650, proved his nobility to enter the Order of Montesa, in 1693, and Jacinto Arnau y Rodrigo, a native of Alzira, did so to enter the aforementioned Order as a religious in 1638.

The following entered the Order of Carlos III: Eulogio Arnau, in 1867; Joaquín María Arnau, in 1867; Adolfo Arnaud, in 1873; Mauricio Arnaud, in 1875, and Arnaud, Viscount of Sapia, in 1854. And Antonio Luis de Arnau entered as Commander in 1847 and as Secretary in 1861.

The following appear in the Green Book of the Military Arm of Catalonia: Onofre Arnau, native of Mataró (Barcelona), Major, Jury, Trustee and bourgeois of Mataró and Honored Citizen of the city of Barcelona since May 6, 1644, the May 20, 1649, and Juan Arnau, a native of Sant Feliu de Guíxols and an honorable bourgeois from Perpignan, on November 23, 1647.

Pedro Arnau, a bourgeois from Camprodón (Girona), attended as Trustee of the Royal Arm in the Courts of the Principality of Catalonia in 1512. Benito Arnau, a native and canon of Elna (France), attended the Courts of the Principality of Catalonia in 1542. Descended from Berenguer de Arnau, Maiden of Clariana de Elna, raised to the dignity of Knight of the "Golden Spur" by King Alfonso V of Aragon, attending as such "eques auratus" at the Courts of Barcelona in 1431.

Gaspar Arnau y Bosch, a native of Prades de Conflent (France), honorable bourgeois of Perpignan, attended the Courts of the Principality of Catalonia in 1640, and Galcerán Arnau y Bosch, son of the former, honorable bourgeois of Perpignan, Notary of Prades de Conflent, attended the Cortes of the Principality of Catalonia in 1640.

Onofre and Antonio Arnau were named Honored Knights of Barcelona in 1644.