Lettow-Vorbeck

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Coat of arms of the von Lettow-Vorbeck

Lettow-Vorbeck is the name of an ancient Pomeranian noble family from Western Pomerania .

history

As an ancestor of the family, Witzke von Vorbeck is mentioned in a document on the Tempelburg share in 1330. His family line begins with Erdmann v. Vorbeck 1350, 1365, based in Pomerania . The name Lettow was first mentioned in 1364 and 1409 and gradually became the main name. Until the middle of the 15th century, all family members called themselves Lettow , in the 17th century also Vorbek Lettow . In the different lines and branches the different names were used at the same time. Therefore, at the request of the family on March 30, 1891, the entire family was granted permission by the Prussian Heroldsamt Berlin to use the name of Lettow-Vorbeck .

The great majority of the members of the Lettow family managed estates , were officers and often provided generals . The family property was in Western Pomerania and comprised about twenty estates in the Rummelsburg district . In other parts of Pomerania, too, the family owned numerous estates as fiefs of the Dukes of Pomerania , later the Electors of Brandenburg and Kings of Prussia . Much of the property was lost during the Thirty Years War . Frederick the Great enfeoffed General Heinrich Wilhelm von Lettow with several estates in the Naugard area and also gave him the Wangeritz estate in the same district as free possession. During the Second World War, the family lost all of their land.

coat of arms

Formation of the coat of arms of the family von Lettow-Vorbeck from runes

The coat of arms shows a red bar in the shield, through which a black anchor, mutilated at the top and left arm, is stuck through it. There are 3 black heron feathers on the helmet, which is covered with red and silver covers.

The corresponding emblem reads: If the anchor breaks, the man stops .

Heraldic saga

The saga of the coat of arms explains in verse the meaning of the anchor in the coat of arms of the Vorbeck as well as the appearance of the further name Lettow because of the warlike merits of a Vorbeck in "Lettenland": This Vorbeck suffered an anchor break as a result of a storm on the Baltic Sea and the ship was safe through the storm controlled. As a reminder of this, he had a broken anchor in the coat of arms. Since neither this event nor a seafaring tradition is documented, the anchor probably represents a refined tie rune , which is composed of the laguz rune ᛚ and the Tyr rune ᛏ . Their sound values ​​"L" and "T" form the consonant structure of the name Lettow.

Known family members

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gustav Kratz : The cities of Pomerania , Berlin 1865, p. 506 online
  2. ↑ GND 13664788X .
  3. ↑ GND 137823126 .
  4. ↑ GND 116956437 .
  5. ↑ GND 1139723227 .
  6. ↑ GND 115710262X .