This surname can be either an occupational name for a professional player on the fiddle from the Old English "fioelere" meaning "fiddler", or a nickname for someone bearing a fancied resemblance to a wolf deriving from the Anglo Norman French "vis" meaning "face" plus "de" "of" plus "leu" "wolf". The name dates back to the late 12th Century, (see below). Further recordings include one John le Fithelare (1275), "The Subsidy Rolls of Warwickshire" and Simon Le Vythelar (1327) "The Subsidy Rolls of Warwickshire". Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Videler, Vidloc, Fydeler, etc.. Stephen Vidler married Jone Slaughter on May 18th 1606 at St. Stephen Coleman Street, London and henry son of Stephen Vidler was christened at St. Benet's, Paul's Wharf, London on May 30th 1624.A Coat of Arms granted to the family has the blazon of a gold shield thereon three bars wavy in black (representing the sea). The crest being out of a ducal coronet in gold, a demi griffin proper (a dragon). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Visdelou, which was dated 1160, in the "Pipe Rolls of Suffolk", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as the Builder of Churches, 1154 - 1189. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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