The Lupo family was a family of Italian court musicians living in 16th-17th century England closely associated with the Bassano family. Many scholars believe that both families were of Jewish origin.
Ambrose (da Milano) Lupo, who served as court musician in the courts of Henry VIII through Elizabeth I from 1540 through 1591, and his wife Lucia were the parents of Joseph and Peter Lupo. Joseph Lupo married Laura Bassano, daughter of famed musician Alvise Bassano, who was a musician for the court of King Henry VIII, and their children included Thomas and Horatio Lupo. Peter Lupo married a woman named Katherine and also had a son named Thomas Lupo.
Ambrose, Ambrosius or Ambrosio Lupo (b ?Milan; d London, 10 Feb 1591) was a court musician and composer to the English court from the time of Henry VIII to that of Elizabeth I and James I, and the first of a dynasty of such court musicians. He seems to have been born in Milan, though he and his family seem to have lived in Venice for a while just before being called to England. He and five other viol players, including Alexandro and Romano Lupo, were summoned to England by Henry in November 1540, to bring English music up to speed with music on the continent. Ambrose, also known as 'Lupus Italus' and de Almaliach, was the longest-serving of the group.
Living in the parish of St Alphege, Cripplegate, he was granted leases on lands valuing £20 in 1590 (in which document he was described as "one of the eldest of Her Majesty's musicians for the [sic] vials") and on Cissel Gorge in May 1590. Royal gifts to him included "a box of Lute strynges" and "a glas of swette water". Wikipedia
Joseph Lupo was an Italian viol player and composer active for 40 years or more at the court of Elizabeth I of England. His brother Peter and their father Ambrose also served as court musicians. Born in Venice to Ambrose and his first wife Lucia, he and his brother first went to Antwerp (where Joseph joined the musicians' guild on 20 August 1557) before moving to England, where Joseph succeeded another Italian, Paul Galliardello, who returned to Venice in May 1563. He married Laura, daughter of Alvise Bassano and granddaughter of the musician Jeronimo Bassano (again possibly Italian Jewish), and played at the funeral of Elizabeth I. His sons Thomas, probably born in London, and Horatio  also became a court musicians. Wikipedia
Peter Lupo (ca. 1535 - 1608) was an Italian viol player and composer active for 40 years or more at the court of Elizabeth I of England. Born in Venice to Ambrose Lupo and his first wife Lucia, he and his brother Joseph first went to Antwerp, where Peter joined the musicians' guild on 20 August 1557; He married his first wife Katherine Wicke, and had his first child in Antwerp before moving to England, where Ambrose had served in the royal viol consort since 1540. In 1567, Peter succeeded Albert of Venice, another Italian who had died on 17 January 1555. Peter Lupo was among the musicians who played at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth in 1603. His nephew Thomas Lupo the elder and son Thomas Lupo the younger also became court musicians. Another son, Philip, moved to Virginia and became the founder of the American branch of the Lupo family. Royal gifts to Peter included "a payr of perfumed gloves" and "v songe books". Wikipedia
External web and book sources:
- Article on Ambrose and sons at Lupo Family genealogy page maintained by G. M. Lupo
- HOASM: Ambrose Lupo
- Peter Holman, Four and Twenty Fiddlers: The Violin at the English Court, 1540-1690 (Oxford University Press, 1993), page 104-105
- JSTOR: The English Royal Violin Consort in the Sixteenth Century
- Lanyer: A Renaissance Woman Poet
- HOASM: Joseph Lupo
- Thomas Lupo the Younger
- The First Lupos in America
The First Lupos in America
In 1606, King James of England granted a charter to the Virginia Company, charged with colonizing the "new world". The result was the settlement of Jamestown in 1607, the first permanent English colony in America. The Virginia Company was a joint stock corporation with the power to appoint governors and other officials, and it had the responsibility of insuring that settlers had the necessary supplies and support to successfully manage in their new homes. The prospect of starting a colony in this untamed land was fraught with a great deal of uncertainty; a previous settlement of 110 people on Roanoke Island, the infamous "lost colony" had disappeared without a trace and an earlier attempt in 1584 failed after encountering supply difficulties and hostilities from the native tribes. Jamestown itself nearly folded during its first year, though it was saved by the last minute arrival of supplies from England.
Among the second wave of settlers in 1610, a gentleman by the name of Albiano Lupo arrived in America onboard a ship called The Swan. Predating the Pilgrims by ten years, Albiano, a shareholder in the Virginia Company, was among the first settlers of Keccoughton, later known as Elizabeth City County, one of the earliest colonies in Virginia after Jamestown. Following his arrival, Albiano was given the office of Lieutenent. Early settlers to Virginia who paid their own travel expenses were entitled to fifty acres of land and an additional fifty acres for others whose passage they sponsored. Between 1610 and 1622 Albiano sponsored five individuals identified as "servants", including John Slaughter, John Hayes, Hester Wheeler, Daniel Palmer, and Elizabeth Hayden, entitling him to a total of 350 acres in Elizabeth City(1). Individuals who settled in Virginia prior to 1616 and survived the Indian massacre of 1622 were later referred to as "Ancient Planters".
Albiano was the son of Peter Lupo, violinist to the royal court of England. Born in 1579 in the parish of St. Botolph's without Aldgate, Albiano was, presumably, among the non-musical members of the family, though his profession, beyond being an adventurer, has not been reported. Around 1616 Albiano was joined by his wife Elizabeth, and in 1621, his brother Phillip, a goldsmith by trade, arrived in Elizabeth City County, onboard a ship called the George. Phillip was born in St. Botolph's without Aldgate, around 1582, and had married Mary Comes in Strood near Rochester, Kent in 1604, though neither his wife nor his children joined him in the colony which may have indicated he did not plan to stay.
The 350 acres of land that Albiano owned adjoined 50 acres owned by his wife Elizabeth on one side and the land of John Bush on the other. The land was bordered by "the main river", which was presumably the James and Albiano and Elizabeth's parcels were divided by a creek which for years was known as "Lupo's creek". This land was granted to the Lupos by Sir Francis Wyatt in 1624(2). Albiano and Elizabeth had a daughter named Temperance, born in 1620 in Virginia, who appears to have been the first Lupo born on American soil. Though the county has long since vanished, the land on which Elizabeth City County stood today forms the independent city of Hampton, Virginia near the coast of the present day state.
On March 22, 1622 the unified forces of several Indian tribes, led by Opechancanough, the uncle of Pocahontas, undertook a large scale attack against the colonists in Virginia. The aim was to drive the white settlers from the land and in the resultant slaughter, 347 colonists were killed. Remaining settlers were advised to seek shelter in forts and larger towns where many succumbed to illness. A census taken in 1622/23 which lists the living and dead in Elizabeth City County bears the name of William Lupo listed "among the dead", though it is not stated who he is or how he is related to Phillip and Albiano. He may have been the son of Albiano and Elizabeth, born in the colony, or he may have been Phillip's son or a brother or cousin to Phillip and Albiano. The massacre of 1622, combined with numerous financial problems, led to the dissolution of the Virginia Company and the transfer of Virginia to royal oversight around 1624. It is during this same period that Phillip Lupo appears to have left the colony, as no further record of him in Elizabeth City has been found. Albiano died in Virginia around 1626 and his will was probated in Jamestown shortly thereafter. Elizabeth Lupo married John Chandler, who is listed as owning the land belonging to Albiano in deeds from around 1645. It is not known what became of Temperance, Albiano and Elizabeth's daughter.
Albiano Lupo appears to have had no surviving male heirs, so the story of this pioneering Lupo ended, sadly, with his death in 1626. Though his brother Phillip apparently left the colony, Phillip's son, also named Phillip returned several years later and became the father of the Lupo family in America. Appearing in Isle of Wight County, Virginia around 1640, he may have claimed the headright that his father had earned years before. Whatever brought him to the colony, the younger Phillip Lupo founded a family line that would thrive in Virginia for over 150 years and that survives to the present day thoughout the U.S.
Variations of the name include Luper, Lieupo, Lewpoe, Loopo and Looper. Some locations where the Lupos could be found for more than one generation include Isle of Wight County, Virginia, Edgecombe County, North Carolina, Marion County, South Carolina, and Dooly County, Georgia.
For much more information on the American Lupo family, see www.lupo.org