Levett

Levett is an Anglo-Norman territorial surname deriving from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, now Jonquerets-de-Livet, in Eure, Normandy. Ancestors of the the earliest Levett family in England, the de Livets were lords of the village of Livet, [The Norman invaders of England were the first in Western Europe to use surnames. They usually styled themselves after the name of the village that was under family feudal control by use of the particule "de" indicating ownership.] and undertenants of the de Ferrers, among the most powerful of William the Conqueror's Norman lords. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=2J5rkqos7wAC&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=the+origins+of+some+anglo-norman+families+livet&source=web&ots=dBA2tj2kAd&sig=1P_M6k-utK3VclfoL8oW9JcbGs8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result The Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families, David C. Douglas, Lewis C. Loyd, 1951] ]

One branch of the de Livet family came to England during the Norman Conquest, nearly a thousand years ago, and were prominent in Derbyshire, Chester, and Sussex, where they held many manors, including the lordship of Firle. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=cDQGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&dq=firle+livet&source=web&ots=8Zf_Wx47aK&sig=eRd_Di63n6UWb32fPpO-yYfSEOE&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result#PPA78,M1 John Livet, lord of the manor of Firle, 1316, The Archaeological Journal, British Archaeological Association, 1851] , ] The name is Celtic, 'livet' meaning a swampy place traversed by water. But like most Anglo-Normans, the family's origins are probably mostly Viking. [The village of Livet predated the family, who simply took its name from their holding.]

Although the date of the family's arrival in England is unknown, the family name appears in the records of William the Conqueror. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=SmYw6DKAgP8C&pg=PA551&lpg=PA551&dq=%22de+livet%22+chateau&source=web&ots=7GZhDsYzpt&sig=RKunjjeG66vpcWbY2lAVSLbpjZo&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum: the Acta of William I, 1066-1087, David Bates (ed.), Oxford University Press, 1998] ] Ancient English deeds subsequently refer to many lands across Sussex as 'Levetts,' indicating family possession of broad swaths of Sussex countryside. [ [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/A2A/records.aspx?cat=179-gage_1&cid=-1&Gsm=2008-06-18 Archive of the Gage Family of Firle, 1255-1849, East Sussex Record Office, The National Archives] ] [ [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/A2A/records.aspx?cat=179-ash4501&cid=-1&Gsm=2008-06-18 Ashburnham family archives: deeds, 1200-1836, East Sussex Record Office, The National Archives] ]

Like most medieval Norman families, the Levetts were dependent on the web of feudal hierarchy. They held their lands of overlords in return for knights service (commonly called Knight's fees). As their feudal overlords thrived, so did they; conversely, their fate was tied to the unpredictable fortunes of those same overlords.

The Levetts and their descendants eventually held land in Gloucestershire, Yorkshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Kent, Bedfordshire and later in Ireland and in Staffordshire. The Anglicisation of this Norman French surname took many forms, including Levett, Levet, Lyvet, Livett, Delivett, Leavett, Leavitt and others.

Levett family members were early knights and Crusaders -- many members of both English and French branches of the family were Knights Hospitallers -- and they occupied a place in the English landed gentry for centuries. (Unlike the French branch of the family, no members of the English branch were enobled, although they intermarried with nobility and served as courtiers.) [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=jMMBAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22john+ashburnham%22&ei=QbzMSLGhNIuoswOVu-XVDw#PPA409,M1 A Narrative by John Ashburnham of his Attendance on King Charles I From Oxford to the Scotch Army, and from Hampton-Court to the Isle of Wight, Vol. I, Payne and Foss, London, 1830] ]

A branch of the Levett family still occupies Milford Hall [The Milford Hall family has descendants in America. Alfred Anson, whose family came from nearby Shugborough Hall and who was born at Windsor Castle, married Mary Anne Levett of Milford Hall and came to Virginia in the late nineteenth century as an Episcopal rector. He was the son of Hon Rev. Frederick Anson.] , a family home in Staffordshire, England, where a Levett descendant is nominated for High Sheriff of Staffordshire for 2009. [ [http://www.archives.staffordshire.gov.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?&dsqIni=DserveV.ini&dsqApp=Archive2&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo='K071/3/27/9') The Levetts of Milford Hall received a letter in 1824 from York Herald Sir Charles George Young delineating the Levett coat-of-arms and genealogy, archives.staffordshire.gov.uk] ] Members of the family formerly occupied Wychnor Park (or Hall) and Packington Hall, two country mansions in the same county, where English artist James Ward (artist) painted three Levett children playing in 1811. [ [http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=4020490 Group Portrait of John, Theophilus and Frances Levett, James Ward, November 1811, Christie's, christies.com] ]

As with many families of Anglo-Norman extraction, some branches thrived, while others fell on hard times. The vicissitudes of character -- and the collapsing feudal order -- played havoc with the fortunes of some family members. The lordship of Firle, East Sussex, for instance, passed from the family in 1440 on the indebtedness of then-lord Thomas Levett. [ [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=-4844936&CATLN=7&accessmethod=5 Debts of Thomas Lyvet, West Firle, Chancery Records, The National Archives] ] The bankrupt Levett also forfeited his inherited lordship of Catsfield, East Sussex.

Others fared just as poorly. John Levett, a guard on the London to Brighton coach, was convicted of petty theft and expelled to Australia in the nineteenth century. [ [http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=afbc1f764c5ce82c81ea0cf175d0911f&topic=4135.msg10031 John Levett of Lewes, Newspaper Accounts of Trials 1842 & 1845, Rootschat.com] ] English records reveal Levetts embroiled in bastardy cases or relegated to poorhouses. As with Thomas Hardy's hapless d'Urbervilles, noble Norman lineage was no guarantor of rectitude, ability or fate.

Some Levetts moved abroad in search of opportunity. A Levett relation, a British clerk in India, was friend to Rudyard Kipling and a minor Victorian novelist. Another was an English factor living in Livorno, Italy, shuttling back and forth to Constantinople for the Levant Company. (Francis Levett later moved to British East Florida, became a planter and the first to grow Sea Island cotton in America.) [ [http://www.unf.edu/floridahistoryonline/Plantations/plantations/Julianton_Plantation.htm Julianton Plantation, English Plantations on the St. Johns River, Florida History Online] ] The family became part of the British Empire's expanding grasp. In the eighteenth century John Levett, born in Turkey to an English merchant father and brother of planter Francis, became alderman and Mayor of Calcutta, India.

Over the generations, Levett descendants spanned the social ranks: one family relation, an English clergyman, is memorialized in Westminster Abbey where he dropped dead reading the Ninth Commandment; another, an assistant pantry steward aboard an ocean liner, perished when the RMS Titanic sank.

One family member was a unschooled Yorkshireman who, having worked as a Parisian waiter, then trained as an apothecary. Robert Levet returned to England, where he treated denizens of London's seedier neighborhoods. Having married an apparent grifter and prostitute, Levet was taken in by the poet Samuel Johnson, who eulogized him as "officious, innocent, sincere, Of every friendless name the friend." [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=7t0NAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA342&lpg=PA342&dq=%22robert+levet%22+%22samuel+johnson%22&source=web&ots=SIKK4Q1T7l&sig=WyRA3gBTqJxBsyz9R1agVaQpJIQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., Vol. I, Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murray, London, 1810 ] ] (While Samuel Johnson adopted one Levet as boarder, he was apologizing to another better-placed Levett who held the mortgage on Johnson's mother's home in Lichfield.) [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=d8IIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&dq=%22samuel+johnson%22+lichfield+levett&source=web&ots=wKMOHowblU&sig=_-SYyadORKeDatMBFgX98GKCeSw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result, Letter from Samuel Johnson to John Levett, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D By James Boswell, London, 1799] ]

In a few cases Levetts were forced by religious belief to flee England for the colonies. Among these were John Leavitt and Thomas Leavitt, early English Puritan immigrants to Massachusetts and New Hampshire, respectively, whose names first appear in seventeenth-century New England records as Levet or Levett [Both John and Thomas Leavitt initially landed at Boston, with Thomas moving on to New Hampshire and John ultimately to nearby Hingham. The parentage and English origins of both men are unknown, although some speculate that John was the son of Percival Levett the younger, a Yorkshire merchant and relation of explorer Capt. Christopher Levett. Thomas, some have speculated, might have come from Lincolnshire of a family long settled at High Melton, Yorkshire. So far there is no definitive proof concerning either. Ongoing DNA blood testing shows the men do not share the same male ancestor, meaning either may descend from later French (probably Norman) emigrants to England.] (No paternal family relationship existed between the two men [http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Leavitt/ Recent DNA testing by descendants of these two men reveal there is no blood relationship between them] ).

Today there are many Levetts living outside England, including in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Ireland, where the first 'de Livet' ventured in the thirteenth century as part of the Norman invasion, becoming one of Dublin's earliest mayors. The spelling of the name varies from place to place. [In all likelihood not all Levett families in today's England are related. Later in-migration by Normans following the Conquest means some Levett families may have divergent antecedents. Future DNA testing will likely delineate these vagaries. An effort has been made to be inclusive rather than exclusive.]

Members of the original de Livet family continue to reside in France. [There are indications that at least one member of the de Livet family emigrated to London as part of the Huguenot flight of Protestant refugees from Catholic France.] The Normandy branch traces its descent to Jean de Livet, chevalier and banneret in 1216 to King Philip II of France, builder of the first Louvre fortress in Paris. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=E5FYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA71&lpg=PA71&dq=%22de+livet%22+chevalier&source=web&ots=akpLisH4DQ&sig=XG7lSqSJ_7ShruW4w1xt5K3z89Y&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result#PPA69,M1 Jean de Livet, banneret to King Philip II of France, ca 1216, Dictionnaire de la Noblesse, Francois Alexandre Aubert de La Chesnaye-Desbois, 1775] ] [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=TVMBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA310&lpg=PA310&dq=%22roger+de+livet%22&source=web&ots=VfdD0_imK2&sig=54_gbAWs0wyesHz3VQisuyTnqks&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States of America, Henry S. King & Co., 1874] ] Chevalier Thomas de Livet, noted Crusader and son of Jean, was knighted by King Philip II's successor, King Louis IX of France in 1258. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=nfUGAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA64-IA2&lpg=RA1-PA64-IA2&dq=packington+hall+mansions+and+country+seats+of+staffordshire+livet&source=web&ots=haVjtpG2PY&sig=qismwQlyOm1oeJ6aM7Mcthd2w3E#PRA1-PA64-IA2,M1 Levett, Packington Hall, Mansions and Country Seats of Staffordshire and Warwickshire, Alfred Williams, Walter Henry Mallett, 1899] ]

The de Livet family was among the ancient noble families of France, or noblesse d'epee. (The French revolution stripped the hereditary French nobility of its feudal privileges.) The English branch of the de Livet (Levett) family claims descent from Jean de Livet, seigneur of Livet (now Jonquerets-de-Livet) in 1040, prior to the Norman Conquest. [That the first name John became the most common Levett given name from earliest times is probably due to these Norman French "Jean" ancestors.]

People

Members of the Levett family include-
*A.E. (Ada Elizabeth) Levett, renowned medieval scholar, vice principal, St Hilda's College, Oxford, professor at the Westfield College,University of London, d. 1932 [ [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp66755&rNo=0&role=sit Portrait of Ada Ellizabeth Levett, Staff of St. Hilda's College, Oxford, National Portrait Gallery, npg.org.uk] ]
*Capt. Berkeley John Talbot Levett, Scots Guard, witness in the infamous Royal Baccarat Scandal
*Christopher Levett, English explorer of New England, born in York, 1586
*F. M. Jane Levett, Oxford graduate (Lady Margaret Hall), early professor in logic, Glasgow University, translator (as M.J. Levett), Plato's Theaetetus, d. 1974 [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=pRp1YdonaU4C&pg=PR10&lpg=PR10&dq=%22jane+austen%22+levett&source=web&ots=dCOoqJIjkQ&sig=Fb_t2fE0yvZzvnq-P_-k3u3hquE&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPR9,M1 The Theaetetus of Plato, Myles Burnyeat, M.J. Levett, Hackett Publishing Co., 1990] ]
*Francis Levett (merchant), English tobacco merchant who married the sister of Sir John Holt (judge), the Lord Chief Justice of England
*Francis Levett (planter), British planter who first planted Sea Island cotton (Gossypium barbadense) in America
*Gilbert de Lyvet (Levett), early Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ireland 1233
*Gordon Levett, Royal Air Force veteran who aided Israel in its establishment as a state
*Dr. Henry Levett, eminent physician at London Charterhouse who wrote a pioneering tract on smallpox, 1710
*William Howard Vincent Hopper Levett, well-known English cricketer
*James Levett, Mayor, Waterford, Ireland, 1610
*John Livet, Lord of the Manor of Firle, Sussex, 1316
*John Levett, Salehurst, Sussex, purchaser of Bodiam Castle, 1588
*John Levet, London merchant, member of the Virginia Company of London, 1609
*John Levett, naturalist, author, "The Ordering of Bees: Or, the True History of Managing Them," London 1634
*John Levett, Mayor, Waterford, Ireland, 1649
*John Leavitt, English Puritan, founding deacon, Old Ship Church, Hingham, Massachusetts, 1681 [ [http://www.patriotledger.com/lifestyle/family/x1816438344/Leavitt-descendants-gather-in-Hingham-for-his-400th-birthday John Leavitt's Family Gathers in Hingham for His 400th Birthday, The Patriot Ledger, June 30, 2008] ] [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=qTwOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA139&dq=%22edward+gilman%22+ipswich&lr=#PPA137,M1 John Levett, Oath of Freeman, Boston, March 3, 1635-6, Records Relating to the Early History of Boston, Boston Registry Dept., Municipal Printing Office, Boston, 1900] ]
*John Levett, Tory member of Parliament, Staffordshire, 1761-1762
*John Levett, merchant, Alderman, Mayor, Calcutta, India, 1768-1770 [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=98lNAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA68&lpg=RA1-PA68&dq=%22john+levett%22+india&source=web&ots=jNtLUuSngS&sig=VTW8GjykmchVdJGjy_ZuvNQ2LmI&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PRA1-PA68,M1 Considerations on India Affairs, William Bolts, East India Company, London, 1772] ]
*John Levett (athlete), born Battersea, twice champion runner of England, ran 10 miles in 52:35, 1852
*John Levett, prize-winning poet, (winner, British National Poetry Competition), Norfolk, England
*Keppel Bagot Levett, one of the first casualties of the BSAP (British South Africa Police) in World War II, died in active service, March 1941
*Maud Sophia Levett (Mrs. William Synnerton Byrd Levett), author, writer on religious themes, Milford Hall, Milford, Staffordshire
*Percival Levett, merchant, Chamberlain and Sheriff of the city of York, 1597
*Richard Levette, English burgess of Calais, France, 1422
*Richard Levett, Mayor, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, d. 1618
*Sir Richard Levett, merchant, Lord Mayor of London (1699), owner of Kew Palace
*Second Lieutenant Richard Byrd Levett of Milford Hall, The King's Royal Rifle Corps, killed in action in France, World War I, 1917
*Robert Levet, native of Hull, Yorkshire, impoverished apothecary who lived with Samuel Johnson, author of a famous poem eulogizing Levet
*Theophilus Levett, Lichfield town clerk and early friend and correspondent of Samuel Johnson
*Theophilus John Levett, Member of Parliament, Staffordshire 1880-1885
*Theophilus Basil Percy Levett, son of MP Theophilus John Levett, Lieut., Coldstream Guards, JP, barrister, died 1929 [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=_zbwy9pYTCUC&pg=PA25&dq=basil+percy+levett&lr=&ei=7bTnSI7dKaDitQPHjLnxBg The Eton Register, Eton College, Old Etonian Association, Spottiswoode & Co., Eton, 1907] ]
*Thomas Levett, monk, Battle Abbey, Battle, Sussex, pensioned at the Dissolution of the Monasteries, 1538 [The monks of Battle Abbey often took the names of prominent figures associated with the Abbey. In some documents, monk Thomas Levett is referred to as 'otherwise Cranebroke,' which may indicate that the man's surname was instead Cranbroke, and he had taken the name of the Levett family, or vice versa.]
*Thomas Levett, High Sheriff of Rutland, England, 1639
*Rev. Thomas Levett (rector), rector of Whittington, Staffordshire for 40 years, owner of Packington Hall [ [http://wdhs.org.uk/Packington%20Hall%20ca%201900.jpgPackington Hall, Home of Rev. Thomas Levett, Whittington, Staffordshire, ca 1900] ]
*Walter de Livet, third mayor of Chester, England, 1246
*William Levett (vicar), rector of Buxted, Sussex who established the iron foundry industry in Sussex, died 1554
*Rev. Dr. William Levett (dean), principal, Magdalen Hall, Oxford University, later Dean of Bristol, died 1694
*William Levett (courtier), courtier to King Charles I of England who accompanied the King on the day of his execution and became embroiled in controversy over whether the King had penned the Eikon Basilike

Towns

Three towns were named after the Levett family-
*Hooton Levitt, in South Yorkshire
*Catsfield Levett, in East Sussex, now simply known as Catsfield
*Levitt Hagg, South Yorkshire

Places associated with the Levett family

These places were associated with the Levett family-
*Bodiam Castle, Bodiam, East Sussex
*Firle, East Sussex
*Normanton, West Yorkshire
*All Saints Church, Normanton, Normanton, West Yorkshire
*St. Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex
*Buxted, East Sussex
*Roche Abbey, South Yorkshire [ [http://cistercians.shef.ac.uk/roche/ Roche Abbey] ]
*Milford Hall, Staffordshire
*Wychnor Park, Staffordshire
*Kew Palace, Richmond, Surrey
*St James' Church, High Melton, High Melton, South Yorkshire
*Breamore House, Hampshire
*Packington Hall, Whittington, Staffordshire

External links

* [http://books.google.com/books?id=L0oJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA69&lpg=PA69&dq=%22john+livet%22+firle+sussex&source=web&ots=nOx4gAH4Ne&sig=bOYcpeJHGAOsSpcXQVPMbf1bx0k&hl=en Seal of John Livet, Lord of Firle, Sussex, Lewes Castle Museum, Sussex Archaeological Collections, 1866]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=DmcNAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA158&lpg=PA158&dq=%22de+livet%22+king&source=web&ots=yGDaYlSUxx&sig=f3EegltrqTFkuS4u138C06A8PbU&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result Roger de Livet, ca. June/July 1171, Court, Household, and Itinerary of King Henry II, Robert William Eyton, Great Britain, 1878 ]
* [http://www.telefonica.net/web2/kenello/lyvet.htm Some variations of the name Levett]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=2J5rkqos7wAC&pg=PA55&lpg=PA55&dq=%22the+origins+of+some+anglo+norman+families%22+livet&source=web&ots=dBzYrk4kDe&sig=fjNic1a1ctfiSs7Y4hegdySils8 Origins of the Levett name from Lewis Loyd, The Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=Ni4BAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA869&dq=a+genealogical+and+heraldic+dictionary+of+the+landed+levett&ei=K9S5SMqxNI_8swO-2eyKCg A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain, Bernard Burke, 1863]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=nfUGAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA64-IA2&lpg=RA1-PA64-IA2&dq=packington+hall+mansions+and+country+seats+of+staffordshire+livet&source=web&ots=haVjtpG2PY&sig=qismwQlyOm1oeJ6aM7Mcthd2w3E Levett, Packington Hall, Mansions and Country Seats of Staffordshire and Warwickshire, Alfred Williams, Walter Henry Mallett, 1899]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=BFxJAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA310&lpg=PA310&dq=%22robert+de+livet%22&source=web&ots=dqgkAmkRHz&sig=mcehKgGD0W_TqmzfRjnjuMZxTd4 The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States of America, Henry S. King & Co., 1874]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=NTLj3Y0knlIC&pg=PA437&lpg=PA437&dq=levet+sussex&source=web&ots=F8O6iJoTg6&sig=3x1nDvN7mFAhLj7a2t8CJHWIreQ&hl=en Levet of Sussex, Le Neve's Pedigrees of the Knights Made by King Charles II, etc., Peter Le Neve, 1873]
* [http://www.yeoldesussexpages.com/coatarms/levett.htm Levett of Sussex Coat of Arms, YeOldeSussexPages]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=nEQJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=lyvet+sussex&source=web&ots=D9geM5697o&sig=xzqQYwLHfD41wnLCSO86FzlTKYk&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result#PPA119,M1 Johannes Lyvet, Hastings, Sussex, Summoned to meet at Westminster, 1417, King Henry V, Sussex Archaeological Collections, Sussex Archaeological Society, 1881]
* [http://merlin.cch.kcl.ac.uk:8080/cvma/servlet/webimage?ScannedImageID=8243&CVMAWinNo=sVI&CVMAPanelNo=1b&MuseumRegNo=&al_windowdes=South%20window&county=Yorkshire,%20West%20Riding&location=High%20Melton,%20St%20James Coat of Arms, Levett of High Melton and Normanton, Yorkshire, quartered with Savile, St. James' Church, High Melton]
* [http://www.thurcroftweb.co.uk/gen/levett.htm Levett of High Melton and Normanton, Thurcroft web]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=hkjQ90cX71oC&pg=PA77&lpg=PA77&dq=levet+wentworth+yorkshire&source=web&ots=Mmiuyfos7S&sig=zcCq3ANegjo1ply5pbB7JocuooA&hl=en#PPA68,M1 Levett of High Melton and Normanton, Yorkshire, New England Historic and Genealogical Register, Henry Fitz-Gilbert Waters, 1913]
* [http://www.maximiliangenealogy.co.uk/burke2/Royal%20Descents/thomaslevettprinsey.html Thomas Levett-Prinsep, Derbyshire]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=Q0XZ2pFW_twC&pg=RA1-PA281&lpg=RA1-PA281&dq=york+yorkshire+levett&source=web&ots=nXxcRDHH1o&sig=pP2csC5lKwo9UwCy99pOxaNJcEk&hl=en#PRA1-PA281,M1 Tomb Chests of Levetts, All Saints Church, Normanton, The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 1879]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=qqULAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA230&lpg=PA230&dq=%22walks+in+yorkshire%22+levett+mallett&source=web&ots=IBBhTW4av6&sig=FZ5dLuKN-FXiVsNIqFdvLCeolto Levett of Normanton, Yorkshire, Walks in Yorkshire; Wakefield and its Neighbourhood, W.S. Banks, 1871]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=k7AKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA385&lpg=PA385&dq=levett+doncaster&source=web&ots=86KklUAjJU&sig=ilU4NPYponvieAG2Hk_Bl-W6kAM&hl=en Levett, The Genealogist's Guide, George William Marshall, 1893]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=N-ItAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA904&lpg=PA904&dq=levett+sussex&source=web&ots=FDP8FDXkyJ&sig=64F7I2T7mJ4eXcsmvxDe3UGNL2A&hl=en Alumni Oxoniensis: The Members of the University of Oxford, 1500-1714]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=vPYMAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA186&lpg=PA186&dq=levett+sussex&source=web&ots=84in_YJ2fn&sig=rBxpYeoATuWwZeGjxd527P2aKmI&hl=en The Visitations of Sussex Made and Taken in the Years 1530, College of Arms, 1905]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=uPgPAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA162&lpg=RA1-PA162&dq=suffolk+deeds+levet&source=web&ots=PyvHMOQwHq&sig=Asd5rsITDbVfDsvOUBlPkpF7Q_s&hl=en John Levet (eventually Leavitt), Hingham, MA, 1661 deed from Native Americans, Suffolk Deeds, Suffolk County, Mass., 1894]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=LBQFAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA386&lpg=RA1-PA386&dq=percival+levet&source=web&ots=t6z5q6dnN5&sig=KDLhHch2zMEYMwluixJc6uNSxDo&hl=en Moses Levet (eventually Leavitt), Exeter, NH, Minutes of Council and Assembly of New Hampshire, Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, Great Britain Public Record Office, 1621-1698, London]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=h-IrAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29&dq=%22great+britain+public+record+office%22+levette&source=web&ots=nGgvmWpUFh&sig=LPNHElD562B116LcsB_bImdC4Ys&hl=en Richard Levette, Burgess of Calais, A Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds in the Public Record Office, Great Britain Public Record Office, 1902]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=S5MIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA94&lpg=PA94&dq=calendar+of+charters+and+documents+robertsbridge+abbey+lyvet&source=web&ots=gmDudcCu7S&sig=SAzPD7tAoP_bz0bLERVDIOkdnLI&hl=en Robert Lyvet, Knight, Sussex, 1286, Calendar of Charters and Documents Relating to the Abbey of Robertsbridge, Baron Philip Sidney De L'Isle, 1873]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=BUYJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA228&lpg=PA228&dq=%22john+levett%22+york&source=web&ots=NWbCAbivRj&sig=-wHrJstccuOp6HdgSyCLh95bzIc&hl=en#PPA228,M1 Sir John Levett, chaplain to Ryther, The Will of Thomas Ryther of Ryther, Yorkshire, Esq., July 1, 1527, Testamenta Eboracensia, John Will Clay, 1884]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=1ysWkXKSrpIC&pg=RA2-PA625&lpg=RA2-PA625&dq=%22john+de+lyvet%22&source=web&ots=K7gSSvGpfO&sig=ooSHsT6dFAuCYxQUsUpL3M7WxOk&hl=en#PRA2-PA625,M1 Order of King Edward I to his Irish Magnates, John de Lyvet, 1302, A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire, Sir Bernard Burke, 1866]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=9ukGAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA247&lpg=PA247&dq=bexhill+levet&source=web&ots=jzsF51rY43&sig=CFyEXXIJQfx9DwWZYJ6ER5PLuCU&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result#PPA248,M1 Levet of Sussex, A Compendious History of Sussex, Mark Antony Lower, Lewes, Sussex, 1870]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=GqIfAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA215&lpg=PA215&dq=%22de+chasot%22+normandy&source=web&ots=us2Zga8U3S&sig=itVo1F9vw30ITnPPat-gOcf-EZk&hl=en#PPA559,M1 Dictionnaire des fiefs, seigneuries, chatellenies, etc. de l'ancienne France, Paris, 1862] fr
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=E5FYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA71&lpg=PA71&dq=%22de+livet%22+chevalier&source=web&ots=akpLisH4DQ&sig=XG7lSqSJ_7ShruW4w1xt5K3z89Y&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result#PPA69,M1 History of de Livet family, Normandy, Dictionnaire de la noblesse contenant les généalogies, l'histoire & la chronologie des familles nobles de France, Francois Alexandre Aubert de La Chesnaye-Desbois, 1775] Fr

Further reading

* "Sons of the Conqueror: Descendants of Norman Ancestry," Leslie Pine, London, 1973
* "The Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families," Lewis C. Loyd, David C. Douglas, John Whitehead & Son Ltd., London, 1951
* "The Normans," David C. Douglas, The Folio Society, London, 2002
* "Regesta Regum Anglo Normannorum, 1066-1154," Henry William Davis, Robert J. Shotwell (eds.), 4 volume, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1913
* "The Levetts of Staffordshire," Dyonese Levett Haszard, privately printed

Trivia

*Levett was the name given by Alfred Hitchcock to the villain in his first film, The Pleasure Garden, a 1925 silent movie
*One branch of the family spell their name Livett [ [http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Pub/ArchCant/Vol.064%20-%201951/20/188.htm Canon Grevile Marais Livett, Rochester Cathedral and founding member of Kent Archaeological Society, Kentarchaeology.org.uk] ] , and produced five mayors of Hastings in the sixteenth century. These Livetts shared a coat-of-arms with the Sussex Levetts, except they changed their motto to read (in Latin): "Cruce Non Leone Fides" -- "I put my faith in the Cross and not in the Lion." One wonders what prompted the editorial comment.
*The family name was carried into other English families through intermarriage, yielding the double-barreled names Levett-Scrivener [ [http://blything.wikispaces.com/(sib)+Manors?f=print Manor of Sibton, Levett-Scrivener, The Manors of Suffolk, wikispaces.com] ] , Levett-Prinsep [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=nfUGAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=%22levett-prinsep%22&source=web&ots=haWpunA1LR&sig=4wJpAuUWwOdVjPu_JcWUb7a2RAU&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result#PPA24-IA6,M1 Levett-Prinsep, Croxall Hall, Mansions and Country Seats of Staffordshire and Warwickshire, Alfred Williams, F. Brown, Lichfield, 1899] ] and Levett-Yeats [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=av00vIKTkgIC&pg=PA115&lpg=PA115&dq=%22levett-yeats%22+kipling&source=web&ots=EiRSaGKKlz&sig=yM8yX2flZnWr-LSeQKxAyOcmN6c&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result Rudyard Kiping on his friendship with Sidney Kilner Levett-Yeats at the Punjab Club, Lahore, India, Writings on Writing, Rudyard Kipling, Cambridge University Press, 1996] ]
*Alfred, Lord Tennyson, a vicar's son, put it best:"Howe'er it be, it seems to me
'Tis only noble to be good;
Kind hearts are more than coronets,
And simple faith than Norman blood."

References