Lettow was a

by-name An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

given to a few

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

n nobles from a

noble family Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...

from

Vorbeck Vorbeck is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Rostock (district), Rostock district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. References

{{LandkreisRostock-geo-stub ...

who went to assist Algirdas and

Vytautas Vytautas (c. 135027 October 1430), also known as Vytautas the Great ( Lithuanian: ', be, Вітаўт, ''Vitaŭt'', pl, Witold Kiejstutowicz, ''Witold Aleksander'' or ''Witold Wielki'' Ruthenian: ''Vitovt'', Latin: ''Alexander Vitoldus'', O ...

, the Great Dukes of Lithuania, in the 14th century. ''Lettow'' meant " Lithuania" in the Saxon language, and it appears in the

General Prologue The General Prologue is the first part of ''The Canterbury Tales'' by Geoffrey Chaucer. It introduces the frame story, in which a group of pilgrims travelling to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury agree to take part in a storytelling comp ...

to '' The Canterbury Tales'', wherein it is said of the Knight, a veteran of the

Baltic Crusades The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were Christian colonization and Christianization campaigns undertaken by Catholic Christian military orders and kingdoms, primarily against the pagan Baltic, Finnic and West Slavic peoples around the ...

: "Ful ofte tyme he hadde the bord bigonne / Aboven alle nacions in Pruce; / In Lettow hadde he reysed, and in Ruce, / No Cristen man so ofte of his degree." With a few variants like Lettau,''Johann Heinrich Zedlers Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon aller Wissenschaften und Künste'', 1731-1754
/ref> Lettaw, Litav, Littauer or Littawer, it was also adopted by some other Vorbe(c)ks in Pomerania as a surname. In Lithuania, later on, it was spelled Lettowt or Letowt, before the 20th century Lithuanian surname policy changed it to Letautas.

John Lettou John Lettou or John of Lithuania ( lt, Jonas Lietuvis, fl. 1475–1483) was an English bookbinder and printer, presumably from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.R. Bideleux. ''A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change''. Routledge, 1998 Seventee ...

was a 15h century bookbinder and printer in England, presumably from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Today, most people with the surname Lettow live in Germany and the United States, some in Holland as ''van Lettow'', and a few in Austria, Latvia, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada, South America, and even in China (in the 20th century several Letowts lived and worked in Harbin and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

List of people with the surname Lettow

Chronologically the following people have had the surname Lettow: * Ulryk Vorbek (c. 1215–1301), landowner of

Wittow Wittow is the northernmost peninsula of the island of Rügen. Wittow was a separate island until the High Middle Ages, but since then has been connected to the Jasmund peninsula of Rügen by the Schaabe spit. Wittow is most famous for Cape Ark ...

in the Duchy of Rügen/Rugia; Lüblow, south of Łebsko Lake, and Stara Wieś near

Lębork Lębork (; csb, Lãbòrg; formerly german: Lauenburg in Pommern) is a town of 37,000 people on the Łeba River, Łeba and Okalica rivers in the Gdańsk Pomerania region in northern Poland. It is the capital of Lębork County in Pomeranian Voivode ...

. With his first wife Sabina Segebadin he had 3 sons: Adrian, Reimar and Achacy. From his second wife Adelgunda Warninin was son Eryk, the ancestor of all below mentioned: * Maciej Vorbek-Lettow (1593–1668), born in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, Lithuania, medical doctor from the University of Padowa, major of Vilnius, for 19 years military medicus in Livonia for hetman (fieldmarshal) of Lithuania, prince

Krzysztof Radziwiłł Prince Krzysztof Radziwiłł (Christopher Radvila, lt, Kristupas Radvila) (22 March 1585, Biržai – 19 November 1640) was a Polish–Lithuanian noble ( szlachcic), and a notable magnate, politician and military commander of his epoch. So ...

. After that he became the personal physician, secretary and treasury courtier of

Władysław IV Vasa Władysław IV Vasa; lt, Vladislovas Vaza; sv, Vladislav IV av Polen; rus, Владислав IV Ваза, r=Vladislav IV Vaza; la, Ladislaus IV Vasa or Ladislaus IV of Poland (9 June 1595 – 20 May 1648) was King of Poland, Grand Duke of ...

, king of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ruthenia, Prussia, Sweden, Courland, Semigalia and Livonia. His memoirs were ''Skarbnica pamięci'' (Treasury of Memories). One of his sons: ** Krzysztof-Zbigniew-Wiktoryn Lettow-Vorbek (1621–96), Nobility Marshal of

Starodub Starodub ( rus, links=no, Староду́б, p=stərɐˈdup, ''old oak'') is a town in Bryansk Oblast, Russia, on the Babinets River (the Dnieper basin), southwest of Bryansk. Population: 16,000 (1975). History Starodub has been known ...

district, Field Guard of Lithuania, king's secretary & treasury courtier for Lithuania, Colonel of Horse Cav.(with own Cossacks and Tatars Regiments), MP from Starodub, land judge, plus other functions and honors. His 2 sons were: *** Henryk Lettow-Vorbeck, general and baron in Berlin. *** Krystyn-Lucjan ''de'' Lettow, commander of Polish Royal Guards Horse Regiment. He had one son, Ludwik-Henryk Lettow-Vorbeck in Berlin, and two daughters, both of whom married Horse Royal Guards generals; one of the daughters, Zofia-Maria Lettow-Vorbeck, was the mother of

Jan Henryk Dąbrowski Jan Henryk Dąbrowski (; also known as Johann Heinrich Dąbrowski (Dombrowski) in German and Jean Henri Dombrowski in French; 2 August 1755 – 6 June 1818) was a Polish general and statesman, widely respected after his death for his patri ...

(1755–1818), founder and chief commander of the Polish Legions in Italy under Napoleon, Senator-

Voivode Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the ...

and Chief of the Army of Polish Kingdom; after him goes the Polish national anthem, " Mazurek Dąbrowskiego". * Oskar von Lettow-Vorbeck (1839–1904), professor, general. He was a distinguished Prussian military scholar/writer on tactics at the Berlin Military Academy. * Paul Karl von Lettow-Vorbeck (1832–1919), Prussian Army general from Węgorzyce. He was the father of: **

Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck (20 March 1870 – 9 March 1964), also called the Lion of Africa (german: Löwe von Afrika), was a general in the Imperial German Army and the commander of its forces in the German East Africa campaign. For four ye ...

(1870–1964), Prussian

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

general, called "The Lion of Africa". His grand daughter was Helene Duchess von Oldenburg (daughter of Graff Christian zu Rantzau & Heloise von Lettow-Vorbeck). * Hans Albert von Lettow-Vorbeck (1901–1942), a World War II general, Commander of the

27th SS Volunteer Division Langemarck The Flemish Legion ( nl, Vlaams Legioen) was a collaborationist military formation recruited among Dutch-speaking volunteers from German-occupied Belgium, notably from Flanders, during World War II. It was formed in the aftermath of the German ...

, nephew of Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. * Witold Letowt (1896–1973), colonel and medical doctor in the Polish Air Force. He was a RAF

squadron leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is als ...

during the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He also was a sport pilot and member of the seven-men Polish rowing crew at the

Berlin Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-s ...

References

#
Website of Lettow-Vorbeck family
(in German), # "Polski Słownik Biograficzny" Vol. XVII (the Polish Biographical Dictionary), # Jan Fenig "Arbor Genealogica - Hypotiposis Vorbekanae" XIII-XVII c. (Lemborg Law Court 1505), # "Skarbnica pamięci" Ossolineum 1968 in Poland, # "The Lettows" publ. in USA 1983, # Polish Armorials: Uruski, Boniecki, Niesiecki, Gajl, Pragert, Ciechanowicz, Dachnowski, Ostrowski, Żernicki-Szeliga, Żychliński and "Polska Encyklopedia Szlachecka" by Starzykoń-Kasprzycki PhD, SJ & rev.Dmowski - Vol.VII, # "General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski.." by Jan Pachoński, publ. MON (the Polish Ministry of Defense) 1987, # Siebmacher # Almanachs of Gotha, incl.: "Ur Adel" and "Royal & Princely Houses" (red cover). {{surname Surnames of German origin

List of people with the surname Lettow

See also

References