Lappe

The Lappe were a knightly family of Land Hadeln on the Lower Elbe, formally vassals of the Dukes of Saxe-Lauenburg. They are documented from 1315 to 1419.

In 1324 Duke Eric I of Saxe-Lauenburg pledged the judicial rights of the parishes of Wolde and Groden to Wolderich Lappe for two hundred marks, giving the family a leading position in Hadeln. By 1370 at the latest their seat was the tower of Ritzebüttel, guarding the mouth of the Elbe, where their duties included keeping the river clear of pirates for the merchants of Hamburg.

The relationship with Hamburg soured: the city stormed the tower in 1393, and in 1394 Wolder and Alverich Lappe were forced to sell it and their allodial lands to Hamburg. After 1419 the family can no longer be traced with certainty.