Prittwitz

The Prittwitz, Prittwitz-Gaffron or Pretwicz family is the name of a Silesian noble family of the Wczele coat of arms, whose first documented member is one Petrus de Prawticz from 1283.

According to older historiography, the family was of local Silesian origin, associated with Przybkowice (Prittwitz) near Kluczbork. According to more recent research by Tomasz Jurek, it was a family of Lusatian origin from Preititz.^[1] Originally, they used a crayfish or crab as their coat of arms, which they later changed to a shield divided diagonally; in the lower field there were stripes, and in the upper field a star. Eventually, they adopted the well-known Polish coat of arms Wczele.^[1] From the 15th century onward, they split into collateral branches, among them Hoyer, Hoger, and Gaffron.^[1]

One of the most well-known representatives of the family was Bernard Pretwicz, a member of the Prittwitz-Gaffron line, who made a career at the royal court in Poland as a rotmistrz of the royal army and commander of the defense of the eastern borderlands against the Tatars. His descendants settled in Poland, creating the Polish branch of the family.^[2]