Lütet Attena (died: , in
Dornum
Dornum is a village and a municipality in the East Frisian district of Aurich, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located near the North Sea coast, approx. 15 km east of Norden, and 20 km north of Aurich.
Division of the municipality
The ...
) was a 14th-century
East Frisian chieftain of
Dornum
Dornum is a village and a municipality in the East Frisian district of Aurich, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located near the North Sea coast, approx. 15 km east of Norden, and 20 km north of Aurich.
Division of the municipality
The ...
and Nesse in the
Norderland area.
Life
Lütet Attena was a son of
Hero Attena. His brothers were Eger and Enno Attena. In 1395 Lütet married Ocka tom Brok, the daughter of the chieftain
Ocko I tom Brok
Ocko I tom Brok (de Broke) (about 1345–1389) followed his father Keno I tom Brok as East Frisian chieftains, chieftain of the Brokmerland and the Auricherland in East Frisia, a former territory on Germany's North Sea coast.
According to traditio ...
and
Foelke Kampana from the adjacent
Brokmerland. They had two daughters named Etta and Hebe.
Legend
Legend has it that when Lütet complained to Foelke, his mother-in-law about the infidelity of his wife Ocka, Foelke advised him to kill Ocka. When Lütet again caught Ocka in an act of adultery, he did just that. Foelke then sought revenge and tried to utilize the situation to expand the influence of her family on the Attena's territory. Lütet fled to his father's castle in Dornum,
Norderburg Castle. Foelke besieged the castle and conquered it. In 1397, Hero was executed in the courtyard of Norderburg Castle on her orders. This earned her the nickname ("evil Foelke").
[Ubbo Emmius: ''Rerum Frisicarum historiae decades'', originally written in Latin and published in 1598, translated into German by Erich von Reeken as ''Friesische Geschichte'', Frankfurt am Main 1981, vol. 2, section 255]
Modern research suggests that, although there may be a grain of truth in some parts of the legend, the story about the execution is definitely incorrect: Hero and Lüten were executed much later, in 1410 or 1411, on the orders of Foelke's son Keno II. For that matter, there is no historic evidence that she deserved her nickname os "evil Foelke".
See also
*
East Frisian chieftains
The East Frisian chieftains (, Low German: ''hovetlinge / hovedlinge'') assumed positions of power in East Frisia during the course of the 14th century, after the force of the old, egalitarian constitution from the time of Frisian Freedom had ma ...
*
tom Brok
The tom Brok family (, also: tom Broke, tom Brook, tom Broek, ten Brok, ten Broke; equivalent to Dutch , "at the marsh") were a powerful East Frisian chieftains, East Frisian line of chieftains, originally from the Norderland on the North Sea coas ...
External links
"Culture circle tom Brok" with information on the history of tom Brok
Footnotes
East Frisian chieftains
14th-century births
1390s deaths
Year of birth uncertain
{{EastFrisia-stub