The surname Butler is Norman in origin, and once
meant 'wine steward'. The name was then extended to denote the chief
servant of a household and amongst the nobility a high ranking
officer concerned only nominally with the supply of wine. In
Ireland the most prominent Butler family is descended
from Theobald Fitzwalter who was created Chief Butler of Ireland
by Henry II. His descendants became the Earls and later the Dukes
of Ormond. Up to the end of the seventeenth century the Butlers
were one of the most powerful Anglo-Norman dynasties sharing
effective control of Ireland with their great rivals the
Fitzgeralds.
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