According to the tradition of our family branch, Modestia Victrix is ​​the family's motto, which translated from Latin means humility in victory / success. 

The family, originated according to it´s own tradition from Russia and later from the villige of Stavenow in Germany on the border between Brandenburg and Mecklenburg. However, no Stavenow has lived there since 1349. Why did that happen? That, and countless follow-up questions have now occupied us for over 20 years.

The origins of the name was Stoignew, which was germanised/latinized to Stavenow in the German speaking parts of the territories. In the Slavic speaking territories, such as in Poland, the Family continued to call themselves Stognew. 

This is an ongoing research project since 1988 and the texts are constantly evolving.

One goal is to compile the results of the research in book form. Some chapters in the book, are publicht on this site. 

The oldest named Stavenow to date is Sigfrid von Stavenow, who is mentioned in a legend from Mellen, between Stavenow and Lenzen in Prignitz. He was almost certainly a son of Stoignew, who must have owned Castle Stavenow during the time of the Slavs in Germany. He sat on Krohn an der Elde in the year 954, a few km from Stavenow and his brother Nakon, owned Lenzen as later mentioned in the Sources. It war their land. Different branches of the family and different family members have carried with them slightly different traditions about the family's background. None of these traditions contradict each other, or the source material, but complement the image that emerges from the source material. The website is built with love and aims for everyone in our family to have access to historical information about the family. As new knowledge is added and new source material is found, we thus adjust texts, analyze and supplement the information that has been collected and has previously only been lined up in a chronology.

We are very grateful for all the basic research work in the archives that the following competent and professional historians have assisted us with. Without your help, we could not tell this story. Special thanks to: Baron Christoffer v. Warnstedt, Mr. Karl Heinz Steinbruch M.A.Mr Stefan Rückling, Mr. Heiko Klatt, Mr. Christian Andreas Hoske. There are many others who have contributed information to the project and we would like to thank you in a special order. Including all the wonderful relatives who have contributed interesting stories and pictures. Not least, we thank all the accommodating archivists in various German and Swedish archives who assisted with copying the transmission of source material. We hope you find the content interesting! 

Updated 2024-04-11

Research is still ongoing and both new historical sources and connections between people are often discovered.

We are very happy to annonce that a new polish close bransch of the family has been added!

New sourcematerial have been researched by Mr Stefan Rückling in BLHA Rep 78. 

Best regards!

Click on the pictures below to move on. If there is interest for translation of any of the pages below, please send us an E-mail and let us know!

E-mail klick here

BACKGROUND

Family trees

Darsband I Pommern

Stavenow I - Woldenberg I 

Woldenberg II - Ättlingar till Friedrich (IV) 

Woldenberg III - Ättlingar till Andreas I