Musa History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Early Origins of the Musa family

The surname Musa was first found in Derbyshire where “Ascuit, Hascoit, or Hasculphus Musard, holds a great barony in Domesday. Enisand Musard and Hugh Musard also appear there, the latter holding of the Countess Judith.” 1

“There is a difference of opinion as to their origin. If, as M. de Ste Marie conjectures, they belonged to the Musards who were lords of Sauxelles and Issondun-sur-Creuse, in La Marche, up to the seventeenth century, they probably came to England under the banner of Roger de Poitou, who married the daughter of their feudal suzerain, Audebert, Count de la Marche. The author of the ‘Norman People’ says they were the sons of Hasculph, Viscount of Nantes in Britanny, and thei opnion is supported by the fact that Enisand Musard had vast grants in Yorkshire from Alan le Roux or Brittany.” 2

The parish of Miserden in Gloucestershire has particular significance to the family. “This place derives its name from the family of Musard, who had a castle here, of which the foundation, with some broken fragments of wall, still remains.” 3