The family originates in
Normandy, where they were lords of
Bretteville,
Trassepied, Bossy and Tertre. The family is first mentioned in 1470 with the Norman
knight Jean Le Normand. Its noble status was confirmed by Norman courts on 3 July 1593, 11 February 1603 and 23 March 1629, and by French royal authorities on 2 July 1605, 7 February 1641 and 1 January 1699. Jacques Le Normand contracted the lordship of Bretteville in 1636 and the lordship was permanently ceded to the family in 1679.
Danish and Norwegian branch Marquis Louis Claude le Normand de Bretteville (1744–1835) left France during the
French Revolution, became a Danish Major-General and was naturalized as a
Dano-Norwegian nobleman in 1804. He was married to Catherine-Thérèse Vedastine van den Driesch and has several descendants in Denmark and Norway. His third son, Charles Eugène le Normand de Bretteville (1782–1854), moved to Norway in 1799, and was the father of Prime Minister
Christian Zetlitz Bretteville (1800–1871). Christian Bretteville's great-grandson was Norwegian footballer
Jean-Louis Bretteville (1905–1956). Louis Claude's daughter Louise-Joséphine was a
lady-in-waiting to
Princess Wilhelmina Caroline of Denmark. The family's fortunes changed when Viggo's daughter
Alma de Bretteville (1881–1968) married into the wealthy and influential
Spreckels family, and in 1908 wed
Adolph B. Spreckels, the second son of sugar magnate
Claus Spreckels, and an owner of many of the elderly Spreckels business interests. Alma de Bretteville Spreckels would go on to become a leading
art patron,
philanthropist, and
socialite in San Francisco, and played a leading role in founding the art museum, the
California Palace of the Legion of Honor in 1924. She was later nicknamed "The Great Grandmother of San Francisco". One of Charles de Bretteville's sons is noted architect and
Yale School of Architecture professor
Peter de Bretteville. He is married to artist
Sheila Levrant de Bretteville. ==References==