Читать книгу The Great Hollenberg Saga - Heinz Niederste-Hollenberg - Страница 2
Оглавление1000 years of Life,
1000 years of Struggle,
and moments of Happiness.
“The most comprehensive genealogical
data gathering of the 1000 year old
Hollenberg-Family-Tree on both sides of the Atlantic”,
and an amazing discovery: how this ancestral-trunk has given us over
centuries a multitude of branches and buds, of leaves and blossoms
– strong and beautiful – all way to the survival of our times.
Picture on front cover shows:
The backside of both estates,
Niederste-Hollenberg and
Oberste-Hollenberg,
(fall of 2010)
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It’s here where 1146 A.D. it all started in short:
Holenberg
It’s the story of an ancient place in the dark, old times:
The “origin”of the Hollenbergs.
At the beginning there was soil and few people.
And there was love and flowers and freedom.
There was family, the clan and that was the beginning.
Those people were working the soil.
In those times it was just making a living -- to survive.
The large family resulted in spreading around.
The early centuries meant roaming around in familiar territories.
Territories what are today North-West Germany and neighboring areas.
Those early times were periods of common ownership and individual freedom.
Then the “Others”came, threatening, endangering the Clan’s free life.
The story of man-kind --- allover again:
There was competition with new ideas, other beliefs --- and survival again.
Thus, either facing or accepting the early forms of changes, adjustments --- or fighting.
Leading into the “Dark Period” of the Middle-Ages:
The Catholic Creed was forced upon and vassalage applied.
Many siblings had to leave, serving different masters in different territories.
Then, there were changes in matters of Religion.
First, around 800 AD, it was all Catholicism --- enforced.
Then, with Luther (1517 AD), it was Protestantism --- enforced.
Some others turned Jewish or else --- voluntary.
At all the time poverty, enforced by man: Church, Crown, Nobility
or nature increased the need of spreading around as in times before.
This time, however, there were alternatives:
And that’s what’s all about:
The Great Hollenberg Saga
The
Great Hollenberg Saga
The history of the family farm
Special emphasis given to the lineages of:
---- Teepe- Tapy- Hoffman (Missouri)
---- Frederic John Hollenberg (Indiana)
---- Gerat “Henry” Hollenberg (Kansas)
---- Hermann Friedr. Oberste-Hollenberg,(Indiana)
---- The Gerlemann girls (Missouri/Indiana)
---- Niederste-Hollenberg/Kuhlmann Specials
---- „All other Hollenbergs in America“
And many other names of related families, like:
Ahlemeyer, Baumunk, Beck, Beimdiek, Bergmann, Binns, Bloomquist, Bünemann, Bremer, Chambers, Clark, Consmüller, Dasmann, Determann, Dentzer, Diekmann, Echelmeyer, Elstrodt, Epennart, Gerding, van Hamleden, Hilgediek, Hischemöller, Hoff, Hollers, Hunzicker, Kellermeyer, Knapp von, Knüppe, Kreiger, Kuhlmann, Lohans, Lowenhaupt, Maury, Meyering, Mitchel, Oberhellmann, von Poseck , Purnell, Rehmeyer, Ried, Riesenbeck, Schohmeyer, Schreck, Schulte, Sticker, Schwermann, Telgemeyer, Tiemann, Wiele, Witte, Wulf.
The history of the family farm
Niederste-Hollenberg Oberste-Hollenberg
Old House – Inscriptions from 1792 AD
For the estates of:
Niederste Hollenberg Oberste Hollenberg
„Ach, Gott, hilf, daß ich such Dein Reich „Der Herr unser Gott sei uns freundlich
O, Herr, allsorg, gib Brot dabei“. und fördere das Werk unserer Hände; ja,
das Werk unserer Hände solle er fördern“.
„Godt mit uns, wel kann dann weder uns“. (Plattdütsk=Low-German) – before 1700 AD)
Soil and Plow
– Partners throughout the Saga –
This plow has served generations of Hollenbergs. Was retired at the end of WWII.
Dedication
• To all families carrying the Hollenberg name, their relatives and friends.
• To all who left or had to leave the home-base
• To get to know each other.
• To better understand their history and our own past.
• To learn about the achievements of our ancestors, as well as their
grievances and struggles.
• To prepare us and our children for the challenges of the future.
• To improve the relationships of our people across the Atlantic.
• To the place of “Origin” of the Hollenberg Saga.
• To the beginning of an old and long story, yet unfinished.
Introduction and Acknowledgement
Having reached retirement in 1996, I channelled my ardent interest in history and politics into the investigation of the past of our family and historical events in the area in order to better understand the correlations of the land and the people, their lifestyle and tradition.
The fact, however, that I did spent considerable periods of my life on both sides of the Atlantic proved to be most helpful in the pursuit of this project.
In writing this story, I dug through old papers, faded pictures, historical data that were available in miscellaneous archives, and beyond all of it, the many memories of my childhood at the parental home, the old Hollenberg estate.
To my surprise, I found old documents, which gave me the opportunity to take a glance at the lives of our ancestors, of many generations which carried our name through at least eleven centuries in time of despair as well as in moments of glory.
However, this book should beyond the very personal and private element also help to give an insight to details and developments of our common past on both sides of the Atlantic.
Let’s confront us with our history and determine whence we came from.
The prime emphasis in this edition is the migration of people across the Atlantic, their reasons and their getting along. I have taken some effort throughout this book to explain certain historical facts about their “Why”, the“Why”of those who decided to take their life into their own hands.
Instead of starting with the macro picture, I used the micro approach: The basis were many data of several dozen of families gathered and analyzed over years from their familiar historical background in order to find a very personal answer to their “why” --- whatever the circunstances might have been. This question”why”, however, has many answers necessitating some specific explanations of a few historical developments in the early centuries of the Middle-Ages, like:
--- The “tithe” and the consequences thereof, first issued by Charlemagne around 782 A.D.
at the Imperial Diet near Lippspringe, Saxony, in his attempt to Christianize the territory under his control, after he had subdued the Saxons in a 30 year long struggle.In one of the 14 laws of the “Capitulatio departibus Saxonae”, he declares that
every parish is to receive 2 “Hufe” (approx. 50 acres) of land, plus the services of farm hands and maids and the tenth (tithe) of any income.
--- The “feudalism” that followed and what nobility and clergy later did with those initial
rulings. Feudalism came from Italy, and then started first when the Merovingian and Franconian king paid their generals and administrators with grands of land. Soon it became hereditary and (semi-)independent. Feudalism developed then to total economic subjection and military allegiance of a man to a superior. Over time it had in parts of central Europe hundreds of variations in material volume and human/personal severity.
--- The conflict between Crown and Clergy and what came of it, lasting till modern times.
--- And within that framework the suffering and endurance of living creatures throughout the following centuries.
Every visit at the family estate there reminded me of what did it take throughout those 1000 years to stick together, to struggle and to survive: It was just that kind of family glue that held together pieces of my life as well, to help me find my own way. The parents Mama Alwine and Papa Wilhelm did and brother Erich and his wife Christa still keep the family bonds alive to this day.
I will never forget my parents’ final farewell when I migrated to the United States: “Son, whatever happens, never forget where your home is, and that’s where you always can come back to”.
Even now, when driving down the “Hollenberg Straße” towards those old, big oak-trees, I am again the young boy at the place where I grew up and where I was allowed to be a child. A place full of liberality (not to be mistaken with the modern US-version of liberalism!) and permissiveness coupled with strictness and discipline and lots of family – often kinship. A place where I could count the clouds in the sky from under the huge oak trees lying under the biggest of them and where one could dream about the world, the future and what it might hold for me, for all of us.
There I learned riding the bike, played soccer with brother Erich and the boys from the neighbourhood.
There was PAPA, our father, the thraight-forward, always responsible chacacter, and MAMA, the “woman of love”.
Then on-going, there came the educational/schooling part of those years at the Gymnasium in Tecklenburg and at the University of Hannover.
That’s what childhood is all about!
This kind of childhood with its accompanying environment has in the German language only one word:
--- Heimat ---
As life has gone by, and now with an opportunity to look back, I am grateful to my first wife Edda, who passed away too early in 1990, the caring and loving mother of our children Sassia and Sascha.
Sassia lives in Kentucky, near Lexington, with her partner Rick Wilke, while Sascha lives in Wald-Michelbach with his wife Kathy and is working for a US based corporation in the IT business.
A few years later, my present wife Sigi, partner and companion, helped heal the wounds and dispel the sorrows, and she has given me comfort and love ever since. Without her support, there would be great darkness.
Her son Uwe is working near Heidelberg with the software Company SAP, and her daughter Petra, who is married to Peter Zuber. They returned some time ago with their two girls, Jule and Svea, our only grandchildren, to Germany, after having lived and worked for over 15 years in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Several years of research were needed, including the familiarisation with the old German letters and their symbols, plus the editing of texts and pictures to complete this account.
The translation of the old Latin documents might be a bit amateurish considering my engineering education, but, nevertheless, it should reflect the intentions and decisions of the superiors of the Church around 1146 AD in the land of the Saxons.
The book, after all, is very much addressing all the genealogically interested and related folks, their offspring and friends who left Europe for America centuries ago for freedom, a better life or for many other personal reasons. All of them carry the historical burden of being more or less tied to the Hollenberg name.
The immigration waves from Europe to America defined and determined in a dramatic way the historical bonds across the Atlantic with noticeable contributions by the miscellaneous genealogical tables of the “Old Hollenberg Families”.
These particulars cover several hundred years of marriages, name changes, new blood lines, off-springs, emigrations etc., with plenty of inspiration to take those data as a starting point for new personal genealogical endeavours.
The direct name-bearer of those many immigrants is relatively easy to trace. Others, with different names by marriage or otherwise, are much more cumbersome. The many personal details presented provide plenty of reasons to interconnect with all of the Hollenbergs, and can, at the same time, also be a starting point for further research in the “book of ancestors”.
In reviewing the details of the family tree, the reader is going to find, besides the two Hollenberg strings of Niederste-Hollenberg and Oberste-Hollenberg, many other names which are either directly or otherwise connected to the original base of the two estates which, however, started out at one place for the first time mentioned in an old Church document as
“Holenberg” around “1146 A.D.”
Those names, to name a few, are e.g., Echelmeyer, Dasmann, Teepe (later in America to become Tapy), Knüppe, Hoffmann, Gerlemann, Diekmann, Telgemeyer and many others.
Our friends and distant relatives in the New World should be encouraged to get in touch with them and gather additional information and data about their struggle, anxieties, hopes and achievements.
That longing for: “Where did I come from? How was it at the time? How did it all happen?”
All those questions are still valid to us and throughout times.
And yet, it is already at this point my utmost desire to thank - outside of my family – all and everyone who did encourage me on my work and gave helpful hints and comments.
Special credit is given throughout the book where applicable.
However, a few names need to be mentioned for their outstanding help and support:
Krista Hollenberg-Cussen, Brigitte Jahnke, Lois Rupert Edmister, Rachel Clark, Dr. Gunter Böhlke.
Particularly invaluable was the support of my son Sascha and my daughter Sassia. I am very grateful and thankful to my wife Sigi for her unrelenting patience and enduring help, her constructive critique and advice.
After all and in conclusion, a never ending gratefulness to my parents and the parental home at the Hollenberg Street 5, (49492) Westerkappeln, Westphalia, Germany, is going to be with me until the end of my days.
Fripp Island, South Carolina – USA
Wald-Michelbach ---- Germany
Heinz Niederste-Hollenberg
PS/ --Errors and mistakes in wording and grammar should be excused with grace and lenity.
Another note-worthy remark: All of the following is not only meant to be a summary of family affairs, it is also, in part, a way of taking position on historical and present day political matters.
As such, I am particularly concerned about “Our Situation” in general, i.e. our relation across the Atlantic:
The European-American Relations.
“The Western World” (the old classical Occident), and that is Europe and America, is being challenged politically, strategically, economically, and even in the long run, militarily.
These challenges come, for different reasons, from different directions and different power centers, and they are aiming at the very basic foundation of our society:
• Our culture
• Our understanding of liberty and freedom
• Our religion
• Our democracy and free-market economy
• The common basis of our “Mediterranean Logic”
All our commonalities on both sides of the Atlantic (85%) make present day differences (15%) look minor, if we realize that our platform is not shared by anyone else in other parts of the world. We are one part of the same.
Europe is still busy with its own fate and needs time to find its own identity.
Americas’ power, on the other hand, is not without limitations.
Both need each other, and less resentment on one side and less political arrogance on the other is needed.
Our commonalities go way beyond the elements of consanguinity and culture. In particular included is the “Mediterranean Logic”, which originated in the Jewish-Christian source of our religion in the Middle-East, then moved via Greece and Rome to the Renaissance and Enlightenment in Europe, all the way into the 20th century with the tremendous sacrifice America made to help form a unified, peace-loving, democratic Europe.
Although, it all started out as a family story, and the history of an old farm in Germany, it now turned out to be much more than that: It is a reflection on a life between Europe and America, and a review of events in politics and society across the Atlantic over a span of a life time.
I am convinced: Both, Europe and America, need each other in view of the challenges ahead. Let us put together our assets and our strengths!
Together, we can face all challenges.
This Is The Place
The People
The Location
The
Great Hollenberg Saga
From the roots of the family farm, spreading, multiplying,
and branching-off to modern day transatlantic life.
This Caused it All
The documentation of old Church archives from the Bishopric of Osnabrück
covering the period of 772 A.D. to 1200 A.D. including the area of Tecklenburg:
Our place, Our Land, Home for Generations of Hollenbergs working the Soil.
Where many others were stampeding the ground for 1000 years and more, like:
• misc. Germanic tribes
• the Romans
• the Saxons
• the Franks (Franconians)
• other European strangers.
Our place: That is the parental home of two boys --- Erich and Heinz ---. Erich, the younger and now the owner, while Heinz, the older moved on becoming a world-citizen with emotional ties to the territory and its people and across the Atlantic.
Our place: That is a location along the hills of the “Teutoburger Wald” (a forest) separating the heartland of the current province of Westphalia in the south (“Münsterland”) from the low plains in North-Germany. A region still very peaceful and rural with fine, old farmhouses a largely unspoiled landscape of forests and fertile farm land as well as marsh and heath.
And last, but not least, plenty of footprints of history, from prehistoric graves and early settlements and many signs of civilization throughout time. Around 800 B.C. iron began to replace copper; and later great tribal movements took place from north to south, with the Goth, the Cimbri, the Teutons, and the Vandals, while the Romans were pushing north.
Where It All Began
The only reliable written testimonies from this period were made available by Roman writers like Tacitus. In his book “Germania”, he covers land and people of our area, specifically the Varus battle at 9 AD, which happened to occur only a few miles away.
Our part of our history began with a little note in an old history book, a document written in Latin and found in the State Record Office of Lower-Saxony. The particular details were issued by Bishop Philipp of Osnabrück on 14th, April, 1146 A.D. as shown below:
(fig.: #1)
(fig.: #2)
Translation of fig. # 2 from Latin into German
All official dealings of the time were negotiated and recorded in Latin, since the local population spoke only an old “Low-German” idiom, which turned later into a Low-German “Plattdeutsch”.
Written documents of Germanic tribes of that time are rarely available with only very few examples, like the EDDA story of the North-Germanic “Vikings”. Thus, using my own knowledge of Latin with some third party corrections, I am giving a translation of the most relevant sections of the resolution from April 14 of the year 1146 A.D.
Translation from Latin of Documents of the
Office of the Bishop of Osnabrück Issued on April 14-th
of the Year 1146 A.D.
This document refers to a resolution of the same day by Bishop Phillip and the Superiors of the Christian Church of the bishopric of Osnabrück in Saxony. The resolution goes as follows:
“In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, Phillippus of God`s Grace, chosen Bishop of the Church at Osnabrück -----“. -----“It is just and ecclesiastically justifiable, that the acting assembly pays attention to the fact, that necessary steps are to be considered (or to be undertaken).”
----------------------------------------
“Because of the unrest and agitation, we are concerned out of necessity, and for God’s prestige; we, all
Superiors of the Christian Church as there are the clergy as well as all the lay”.
(Explanation: The bishops had only moderate success in getting along with local people.)
“Such, we have jointly concluded, that the tithe (= definition: = a tenth part of the yearly proceeds arising from lands and from personal industry of the inhabitants for the support of the clergy and the Church.) is permanently to be levied not only in Harst, but in the same church district also for the dwellings in Hibbenbüren, in Holenberg, in Varula, in Kesevorde; furthermore, also the tithe for a house in Vorenholte, which was rightfully claimed by Mangoldus as part of a donation, and for which the same forgave all monetary compensation, and also for one in Hasencamp and two other in Holthusen. We also add a settlement in Evinchusen including all buildings, farmland, forests, meadows, all fallow-land, and all routes, coming and going,“
“It was jointly concluded, that all the above is to be transferred to the Church“ (Translation by: Heinz Niederste Hollenberg)
Here is stated that Bishop Phillippus and the Superiors of the Christian Church of the bishopric of Osnabrück decide in the name of the Holy and Indivisible Trinity to permanently levy the “ tithe” on housings (dwellings) like Hibbenbüren (= today: Ibbenbüren), Holenberg, Varula, Kesevorde and others.
Existing ‘registers of proceeds ‘, dated around 1180, show the income of the Dompropst Lentfried (= an ecclesiastical principal!). These listings prove that a number of farms of our area, well-known to this day, had to make contributions to the Episcopate in Osnabrück.
Noteworthy is also: The Episcopate of Osnabrück was founded by Charlemagne in 785 AD as the first bishopric in the land of the Saxons. He appointed Bishop Wiho, a disciple of the Apostel Bonifacius, to serve as the first bishop in Osnabrück in the year 804 AD.
All this supports the assumption that these same farms still known today existed indeed, and their families used to live and work there. It is very unusual, that the same family line stayed on, struggled and survived until modern days and show early in the 21st century what happened to the Hollenbergs.
However, before going into particulars, I like to look back into the preceding centuries with additional details about the rich culture and historical events of that region.
Time before A.D. and Early Settlements and Dwellings in the Region
What happened in those earlier times in the country of the Cherusker and the Saxons?
The change from a hunter or fisherman to a resident husband-man or stock-farmer took place quite likely around 2000 BC.
The findings by Dr. Günther and others during the 1950’s and 60’s have shed additional light onto the history of settlements in this region during ancient times. They uncovered traces, vestiges of oval huts with corresponding pits of settlements and workplaces dating back to the hunter and fisherman period.
The sketch (fig.:#3), shows a likely reconstruction of these huts, reflecting details of dwellings from the Feather-Knife (Pen-Knife) period near Westerkappeln. (About 9000 B.C. – 8000 B.C.)
This is based on excavation findings similar of Spanish shepherd huts, as shown in a reconstructed ancient fishing hut from the Mediterranean coast of Northern Spain and Southern France.
Early Dwellings from the Feather-Knife Period near Westerkappeln
(fig.: #3)
Huts found on a refuge near Westerkappeln
Miscellaneous stone-tools found in same
excavation near Westerkappeln
Reconstructed ancient Spanish shepherd’s hut..
Another typical example of early living quarters (fig.:#4) shows an evolution to a wooden structure. The Archaeological-Open-Air- Museum in Örlinghausen, near Detmold, has reconstructed this design based upon nearby findings. The building is 69 feet in length (23 m) and 16,5 feet in height (5,5 m), totalling an area of 1200 sq. ft (120 sq. mtr.) Such a structure was build with about 200 oak-trunks and can be assumed typical for the area around 1500 B.C. (See below)
A somewhat of a“luxurious” dwelling of our ancestors at the time.
(fig.:# 4)
Findings from the period between 600 to 800 AD reveal a Saxon dwelling near Warendorf, Westphalia (fig.:#5) --- a forerunner of the later classical farmhouse throughout Northwest Germany known as the ‘Niedersächsisches Bauernhaus‘ (Lower-Saxony farm house)
All of them had already, as still found today, one thing in-common: men and livestock under a single roof!
The Battle nearby at 9 A.D. with the Romans
And now let’s jump into the period when the Roman Empire was at its peak, around the birth of Christ.
It was the time when a number of independent Germanic tribes, which had settled in Europe between the Danube in the South and the North- and Baltic- Seas, and between the Rhine in the West and the Vistula (=Weichsel) in the East. It was the time when the transition began from migratory hunting and herding to agriculture and village life.
During this period of transformation, the Romans began to expand beyond their historical frontiers into just those core Germanic territories to subdue those traditional “clan” structures and their people there.
The only reliable written testimony from this period is made available by Roman writers like Tacitus. In his book “Germania”, he covers land and people of our area with particular details of the “Varus” battle from 9 AD. The actual location of the battle site has been a subject of dispute for several hundred years and was argued by many historians. (fig.: #6)
The “blue” line shows the theory of the historian Mommsen from the late 19th century. Others had different ideas, like Klostermeyer-Delbrück, Knocke, etc.
However, it took more than 100 years to give proof to Mr. Mommsen, pointing to a place named “Kalkriese” which is only a few miles away from our “Holenberg” site.
The Varus Battle near Osnabrück at 9 A.D.
between Roman Legions under Publius Quinctilius Varus
and Arminius Leading the Germanic tribes
(fig.:# 6)
It might be noted that, in the September issue of 2005, even the “Smithonian” Magazine covered this particular battle rather detailed, under the title: “The Ambush that Changed History”.
The site was lost and had been argued about for over 1000 years. It was rediscovered with a simple metal detector coincidentally by Tony Clunn, a British Army officer, in 1987.
It is reported that, when the news about this bloody event reached Rome, Emperor Augustus made his rather famous outcry: “Quintilius Varus! Give me my legions back”.
At that point and place, the Roman Empire lost 3 legions, amounting to an equivalent of 18000 to 20000 soldiers.
It was this particular battle, spearheaded by the Germanic tribe of the Cherusci under the leadership of their commander, named Arminius, which halted the spread of the Roman Empire, thus marking the turning of the tide of Rome’s struggle with the Germanic tribes. The defeat took place in a 360-foot-hill area where the “Teutoburger Wald” slopes down into the North-German plain.
Here is proof of a pivotal event in Central-European history, where 3 Roman crack units were annihilated.
“Nothing was more bloody than this defeat in those swamps and woods, nothing as unbearable as the insolence of those Barbarians”, Florus, a Roman reporter, wrote.
This battle took place in close proximity to Osnabrück at “Kalkriese”, within sounding distance of the living quarters of our ancestors. (fig.: #7)
Where the Romans Lost against Arminius
Although many historians have speculated for several hundred years about the actual site, this uncertainty has now been put to rest. Quite a few Roman writers gave different accounts and no specific details about this event. Other neutral information or descriptions from Germanic parties were not existent. However, we now have proof of the historical site.
Many artefacts were found and have been put on display, while the excavation activities are still going on.
(fig.: #8)
Yoke fittings (bronze )
- pendent of horse harness
- Part of snaffle
- strap items ( bronze )
Most of the work is currently being coordinated by the University of Osnabrück.
All in all, the old homestead is in a territory rich in culture and full of historical events.
A few years would pass before Germanicus ordered around 14-16 AD another Roman army to the former battle field. He ordered 6 legions (twice the size of the Varus force) into the area to restore Roman military honour, to pursue the Germanic tribes still under the leadership of Arminius, and to bury the human remains of the earlier battle.
However, the whole campaign did not give him the upper hand over his enemies.
Germanicus was no match for the agile tactics of his opponent Arminius in any of the numerous skirmishes.
After several bloody clashes, he decided to withdraw to the Rhine-Valley.
Towards the end of 16 AD, the new Emperor Tiberius recalled Germanicus. The fortifications of the “Limes” along the Rhine-Valley were to be the northern points of Roman military activities.
This all resulted in abdicating the plans of the Empire to conquer German territory, and instead created a militarized buffer zone, the “Limes”, between the Germanic and Latin cultures that lasted for about 2000 years. (fig.:#9)
The tremendous burden on the Treasury and the bloodshed on the northern frontier had been too much for the Empire.
The defeat was so catastrophic that it threatened the survival of Rome itself, halted the Empire’s conquest of Germany and set the course of history for Central Europe.
Just imagine the alternative: If the Romans had won, the Anglo-Saxons, being subdued, would have learned Latin and might not have gone to England a few hundred years later??
And imagine even further that descendents of those Anglo-Saxons turned up in 1607 AD in Jamestown to lay down the foundations for man’s most modern civilization.
The Campaign of the Roman Leader Germanicus against Germanic Tribes
14 A.D. until 16. A.D. – and the Roman Limes
(fig.: #9)
The Saxons in Westphalia
It is historically proven, that a little later the Germanic tribe of the Saxons settled in our area, covering all the territory of Westphalia, Engern and Holland.
Europe during the Migration of Nations ( around 500A.D.)
(fig.:#10)
The line of Saxonian noblemen goes back to Arminius, and the most important ones thereafter came from the house of Engern. This clan with Count Bodo ruled over all the Saxons. His son Wichten, and in turn, his son Wichtigis also became dukes of the Saxons.
Around 450 A.D. Count Hengist from the same dynasty together with Prince Horsa founded a Saxonian kingdom in England and called themselves kings. At that time the English county of Herfordia got her name from a borough of Herford not far from Enger. Count Hengist is also the reason for many English lord-titles, like Elting, Lindhorst, Bathorst, Herbert and others, all going back to actual Westphalian farm places.
These same two Saxonian noblemen from Westphalia, Hengist and Horsa, should come up again 1315 years later during the preliminary discussions on the American Constitution:
A group of the Founding Fathers (Adams, Franklin, Jefferson) had a concept for the official Seal of the United States: Showing reference to the Common Law of the Anglo-Saxons on one side, represented by the Saxonian noblemen Hengist and Horsa, and on the other side, the idea of God’s Law of ancient Israel.
The original concept proposal, however, was never realized.
Several attempts have been made over time to figure out what this proposal could have looked like. One such an idea as shown in the National Center for Constitutional Studies is shown in a sketch on the following page.
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, and after Constantin III, the Roman military commander in England, withdrew his legions, England got visitors from the continent. Three Germanic tribes, the Saxons, the Jutes, and the Angles stormed part of the island. The original Celtic people didn’t have a chance. Battle after battle was lost; till only poetic revenge was left (legend of King Artus).
Around 600 AD, there were seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England. One of those kingdoms was in Essex under the rule of King Sebert, the centre of the Saxons around London.
Most recent excavations in Essex (= East-Saxons) near Sutton-Hoo as well as in Cumwhitton near Carlisle provided proof of early Germanic graves of that period. The findings in Sutton-Hoo could relate to King Sebert, who died 616 A.D., after he had converted to Christianity in 604 AD. This “royal tomb” of Sutton Hoo shows a typical set-up of the old pagan belief of the Saxons even when the corpse carried some Christians symbols.
Helmet from the Sutton Hoo ship-burial 1, England.
British Museum [CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)]
Hengist’s son Hadugast, his successor, remained in Saxony and his son Hulderich (also known under the name of Childerich), born 584 AD, fought and protected for the first time the Saxonian territories against the powerful, aspiring Franconians, another Germanic tribe. This conflict should prove fateful to the Saxons over the next centuries.
Around 630 AD, Hulderich’s son Sieghart (also known as Sigismund) reigned over the Saxons.
His son Dietrich, in skirmishes with the Franconians, now led by Karl Martell, was captivated and imprisoned.
Karl Martell (688 – 741AD), nicknamed the “Hammer”, son of Pipin II, was mayor of the Franconian palace. He managed to bring earlier domains of the Franconian kingdom under his control and fought the aggressive Moslems at Tour, pushing eastward towards various Germanic tribes.
Under him, the two principal elements of feudalism, the fief and vassalage developed, and the historic alliance between the Frankonian Kingdom and the Papacy began.
While Dietrich was in captivity, his wife, a duchess from the Wendish country, had two sons:
King Edelgard and Duke Warnekin. Edelgard died 753 A.D. in a battle with Pipin the Short, who is the father of Charles the Great (Charlemagne).
After this battle, Pipin the Short was the first to march into the heartland of the Saxons, all the way to the fortified castle of Rehme, located direct on the Weser River.
The Long Struggle between the Saxons and the Franks
(The land of our ancestors)
Warnekin, after succeeding his brother as king of the Saxons, had two children (sons) with his wife Kunhilde, a princess from the island of Ruegen: -- Wittekind (also known as Wedekind) and Bruno.
In 758 AD Wittekind became Duke of Engern, Westphalia, and Saxony.
He spent his childhood between Warnekin`s court at the mountain stronghold “Babilonie” in the Wiehengebirge between Herford and Osnabrück and the ancestral castle in Wigaldishausen (=Wildeshausen) on the Hunte River.
His dukedom, the free land of the Saxons, extended from the Lower-Rhine-Valley eastward to the Weser River and all the way to the Wendish (Slavic) territory in the East. (fig.:#11)
While Wittekind lived according to the old customs of his ancestors, King Karl, at the same time, tried to spread Christianity. Later in history, King Karl was named “Charlemagne”.
And while the Saxons had built a number of fortified places (Soest, Iserlohn, Hohensyburg, Seiler, Arnsberg, Eresburg, etc.) against the pressing Franks, King Karl, at the same time, gathered his “Royal-Court” in Worms and proclaimed war against the Saxons.
The Franconian records report a statement from King Karl: “First the castles and then the hearts”.
Saxon versus Franks around 800 AD
Some details of the 30 year long struggle are shown in the graph below: (fig.:#11)
A “stronghold” is a fortified place at the time = bulwark on hills surrounded by stockades and walls of soil and woodwork. (fig.:#11)
Why these details?
Because the conflict between Wittekind and King Charles (Charlemagne), resulted finally in the bloody subjugation of the Saxons and was another major turning point in the history of our area.
The map of fig.:#11 shows a number of fortified places which the Saxons used in their struggle against their neighbours in later years, especially against the Franconians, another Germanic tribe.
The thrust of the Franconian army was pushing alongside the Weser River towards the heart of the Engern people, one of the four tribes of the Saxons. This expedition left a trail of devastation behind: Farms and grain fields went up in flame. There was robbing, and looting, etc.
As always in the long history of mankind: the farmers took most the brunt of the harm.
The story of this conflict is mostly based upon two sources: the Franconian narrative (some in writing), and the abundant information included in the Saxon version, passed on through generations and kept alive in numerous legends.
Wittekind and Geva, a daughter of Godefried, the king of Denmark, had three daughters: Ida, Ravena, and Tekla. He built a fortified castle for each of them: Iburg for Ida, Ravensburg for Ravena and Tecklenburg for Tekla.
Those three castles protected the chain-mountains of the Teutoburger Wald against aggressors.
Iburg, as the saying goes, was the strongest foothold against the Franks. From here, Wittekind directed a series of assaults; and yet he could not hold the ground for long. As Iburg was lost, he moved to Ravensburg; and this stronghold was soon taken by the Franks as well. This made him move to Tecklenburg. Finally, King Karl overran Tecklenburg also, and he dismantled all three of them thoroughly.
Later on, the three castles were re-erected: Ravensburg gave the surrounding area its name and was home to generations of counts. Iburg became the summer residence of the bishop of Osnabrück.
Tecklenburg, finally, was home to generations of so called “Reichsfreie” Counts (reichsfrei = nobility status throughout the Middle-Ages, comparable to the baronage) until the county became part of Prussia in 1707 A.D.
But for the Saxons all resistance was eventually in vain. The battle at Lübbecke in 775 A.D. and at Süntel, as well as Karl’s retaliatory strike in 782 A.D. at Verden/Aller, brought Wittekind’s stampede to an end and led to his subjugation in 785 A.D. After that victory in Aller, Karl ordered a severe punishment against the Saxons, where on a single day about4500 Saxon noblemen were slaughtered, and Wittekind:
Quote: “Bowed his neck into the baptismal font”.
In a three day battle, the Saxons under Wittekind were defeated in the midst of their stronghold near Osnabrück. From here, near the battle field along the Hase River, the conversion of the Saxons to Christianity took place.
And as such, the bishopric of Osnabrück was founded in 785 AD.
King Karl, using sound military considerations, appointed ecclesiastical satraps (military clergymen).
The bishops in Osnabrück as well as in other Saxonian centers had only moderate success in getting along with the local people.
To them, the christening, the Roman prayer book and the Franconian culture were distinctly strange.
But after more than thirty years of struggling with the Saxons, Charlemagne (King Karl) had achieved his goal of spreading Christianity throughout his empire.
(See fig.:#12 and #13)
Christianity after Charlemagne
Around (814 A.D.)
(fig.:#12)
Population in Central Europe around 900 A.D.
(fig.: # 13)
Charlemagne Establishes the Tithe in the Area
When Charlemagne assembled his Court at Lippspringe (around 782 A.D.), he issued harsh statutes against the Saxons: the “Capitulatio de partibus Saxonae”. Only two from 14 laws are quoted here:
---“Everyone is to be doomed (beheaded) who clings to his old believe, and who conspires against Christians, and who persecutes or scoffs at ecclesiastical establishments”. ---
--- “The order is, that every parish is to receive 2 “Hufe” (= approx. 50 acres) of land, the services of farm hands and maids, and the tenth (tithe) of any income”. ---
Every one of these laws ended with: “morte moriatur” (be doomed).
Now, the foundation had been laid, the way was open for the German people to move into the Middle-Ages, a very Christian, but also a very bloody period.
On the topic of tithing, even Alconius Alkuin, a prominent friend of and advisor to Charlemagne in all matters of religion, lamented in a letter:
“Did the Apostles, when Christ sent them to teach Christianity to the whole world, ask for the tithe? Possibly, the tithe is necessary, how-ever, its forfeiture is insignificant compared to the loss in Faith”.
It was Charlemagne policy to divide his conquests into counties, each governed by a bishop or archbishop. The bishopric of Osnabrück with bishop Wiho was the first in the land of the Saxons.
It can be assumed that the erection of local chapels outside of Osnabrück was started shortly thereafter: one in the west, the West-Chapel (= Westerkappeln), and one in the east, the East-Chapel (= Osterkappeln). Charlemagne also issued the Franconian-Land-Order and installed regional administrators, named Gaugrafen = district-counts). He named the place“Ossenbrügge”, where – as the saying goes - the Franconian-Christian army, while struggling with the Saxons, managed to cross the river Hase with the help of an ox which showed them a ford (Furt) to cross the waters.
The place was secured with a wall and a ditch and given the Franconian law. That’s how “Ossenbrügge” became modern day “Osnabrück”.
He installed a bishop and gave him the tithe on fields, forests and all pastures around.
The annual contribution enforced and delivered by all the farms in our territory to the clergy and/or secular ruler runs like a red thread throughout the Middle-Ages till the final collapse of the “Holy Roman Empire of German Nation” around 1806 A.D.
These miscellaneous taxes are historically verified over the following centuries, and are subject to further considerations later on.
Charlemagne and later his sons had established a pattern to give grants to their meritorious military leaders and other deserving confidents in form of estates and land as well as special privileges over assets and life of their subjects. This was considered in part a gratitude as well as commitment for duty in the future.
Initially, those persons concerned, the honoured and so named counts and dukes, had to use their entrusted power in the name of the emperor or king. At the same time, the bishops were supposed to be only responsible for the religious/clerical matters and questions of morality.
However, the Imperial Court or his herolds had to intervene rather regularly in those many disputes and struggles for power between the clerical (bishops) and secular (dukes, counts) authorities. Thus, within this kind of medley, the initially granted privileges became over the following centuries hereditary.
Although Charlemagne had according to the Franconian Statutes not formerly renounced private property per se, the handwriting of history had taken a somewhat other turn:
Another pillar of Feudalism had established itself,
Resulting in a two class-society that lasted nearly 1000 years and put its face onto the history of Europe:
A society of those with power and the might of control – and the remaining others,
who had to live their every-day-life or just endure it.
These were the centuries where the structures of the secular power concoction and the clerical interests found opportunities and time to solidify themselves to last way into the Renaissance with different results to be classified as good and bad:
The “good” – part, beginning with the 15th century, was especially the rapid development of civilization, the discovery of the world-wide globe, the letter-printing, and above all the new dimensions in art and philosophy.
The “bad”- part were the many skirmishes of those many small potentates, the rule of the mercenaries, and those many courtiers serving the sovereigns to show their glitter and pomp to the world.
And yet, despite those contradicting conditions, this period was nevertheless a deeply religious epoch which included both, Martin Luther with the Bible as well as Savonarola burning pictures on Italian market places.
What then followed, after 1500 A.D., can be confidently called the “bloody Renaissance”. It was not the idealistic humanity anymore that dominated, but rather the fanned fear of Hell and Devil, growing into a militant intolerance against any deflection in religion and believe and ending in multiple religious conflicts throughout Europe. And as if this wasn’t already enough, there were epidemic events like the “Black Plague”, also called the “Black Death”, which swept the world in the 14th century, reaching Europe at its peak around 1350 A.D. and reducing the population there by one third. Two other events, even more profound, caused thereafter dramatic spititual, economic and social changes:
These two carnages, the “Thirty-Year-War” (1618 -1648 A.D.) and the “Witch-Hunt” or “Witch-Cremation” period of the 16th and 17th centuries, were undoubtedly the ultimate peak where mercenaries and soldiers massacred the population as never before – under the jubilations of theologians on both sides. Both events perpetuated the egoistic politics of the Central European powers and firmly established the split between Catholoc and Protestant Europe. At the end, Spain lost its military supremacy it had enjoyed before.
Humanity suffered through-out and was in certain areas not even existing anymore. Central Europe experienced an awesome long period of two belligerent parties – the Clericals (Pope, bishops, etc.) on one hand and the Seculars (Emperor, nobility, etc.) on the other – fighting stubbornly and mercilessly, without pitty, about their predominance in power and faith. All this happened on the back of mostly uneducated people.
Thus, and with hinsight, several hundred years later, it’s more easily to clarify many particulars and courses of the time: Was the “Reformation” just a lucky btreak or a misadventure of history?
It depends on one’s particular point of view. Within this framework, Luther and the Reformation were at the time only a part of this development. Others were climate change (“Little ice-age”), resulting in crop failure, inflation, hunger, general poverty and a high mortality as additional contributing elements.
At the same time, however, while Richelieu modernized France and England lived through a golden age under Queen Elisabeth, the bulk of the people – mostly uneducated – suffered in an unknown monstrosity under the century old quarrels between the Clerical and Secular powers. The Church used this framework to denounce and eradicate the so called “leftovers of the old paganism”: Many thousands of people lost their lives in the subsequent purgatory of witch-hunt. It was the wilful intention to subjugate the people to the “Only blessed Creed” – or turn them fugitive. Church and history called it Inquisition.
This, by all means, is a situation comparable to the dictatorships of the
20th century as well as those most recent events in the Middle East.
The property and other assets of the ”cleaned” or just burned in the inferno of the purgatory turned up as an additional fortune at the cash-register of the Church.
When tourists from around the world visit today those wonderful monasteries, churches and other buildings of the baroque period, it should not be forgotten that this splendour is owned in part to the extortions of the witch-hunt during the 16th and 17th centuries. Thus, the many sorrows of the persecutors did help the “Only blessed Church” to shine again with new saints and lots of gold and glitter.
All this was generally speaking, an ideal presupposition for the exodus of millions of people, leaving their home base in Europe to venture for the newly discovered “New-World”.
Following the timetable over centuries, the “Tithe” was initially only a tax or an assessment and later turned into different forms of bondage, lasting well into the 19th century, including a variety of services as well as military duties. People were fighting or just leaving for better horizons, aiming early-on for Eastern-Europe and even along the route of the crusaders and later-on, when mobility made it possible, for America.
While on the move, many stayed, and depending on circumstances, did accept new customs and beliefs.
Exemplary, for a number of events between 1175 A.D. and 1190 A.D. give support to the above assumption: Friedrich I, called Barbarossa (“red-beard”), since 1155 A.D. Emperor of the “Holy Roman Empire of German Nation”, was struggling with his cousin Henry the Lion (Heinrich der Löwe, at the time Duke of Saxony) for power. Henry was a son-in-law of Henry III, King of England of the house of Anjou or Plantagenet. Each side had found help among secular rulers (e.g., Albrecht of Brandenburg, Ludwig of Thüringen, etc.) as well as highest representatives of the Church (e.g., Archbishop Philip of Colon, Archbishop Wichmann of Magdeburg etc.). Among the warriors on the side of Barbarossa and Philip was also Count Simon of Tecklenburg, secular ruler of our area, with his knights.
In 1179 AD, troops of Henry the Lion rampaged through Westphalia and defeated the supporters of Barbarossa in a battle near Osnabrück. They captured and imprisoned Count Simon and his knights. Most of the followers were slain, only a few were able to make it back to the fortified base at Tecklenburg to report the desaster.
A year later, the combined forces of Barbarossa subdued Henry. The dukedom of Saxon was then broken up. The western part became the dukedom of Westphalia and was given to Archbishop Philip of Colon for his support of Barbarossa. Thereafter, Henry submitted and was pardoned. He moved to England to his father-in-law, Henry III.
Years later, Barbarossa is leading the 3rd crusade, drowns and dies. His son is chosen Emperor as Henry VI (1165 – 1197).
As far as the count-ship of the counts of Tecklenburg is concerned, over twenty generations of Counts (Earls?) were ruling their territory from around 900 AD till 1707 AD when Count Wilhelm Moritz von
Solms-Braunfels finally sold whatever was still under his control to the King of Prussia for a total of 425.000 Taler (= 637.500 Gulden). The county cash-box had been empty, the castle run-down and an over hundred-year-old legal struggle with family members of Tecklenburg-Bentheim had tired him. He died three years later. (Below, picture shows the castle of Tecklenburg.)
These ruins give an indication of the former largeness of the castle.
Thus, bringing to an end eight centuries of eventful ups and downs during which the Counts of Tecklenburg had for some period noticeable influence within the Imperial Court, however limited to the early part of the Middle-Ages.
The largeness of the area controlled by the “House of Teclenborg” around 1600 AD
is illustrated best by the cartographer Johann Gigas, as shown below:
The area encompassed noticeable more than todays ‘County of Tecklenburg’ and included regions around Osnabrück and Münster as well as Bentheim in the West.
Johann Gigas (“Johannes Gigante”, Medicus and Mathematicus, Professor zu Münster und Steinfurt) was born ca. 1582 in Lüdge/Westfalen and died ca. 1737 in Münster/Westfalen.
After studying in Wittenberg, Basel and Padua, he promoted to a Doctor of Medicine and became a wellknown personal physician. Münster/Steinfurt were now the center of his life. He married 1603 Maria von Dorsten and had had 8 children.
Besides his medical services, he also acted as a cartographer and painted the map shown above.
(The picture is property of the author)
The initial foundations of the fortified stronghold, located strategically on the mountain-ridge with open plains to the North and South, were started around 900 A.D. by Count Wilhelm of Tecklenburg. The early members of this nobility string seem to have developed a rather reliable relationship to King Henry I, who became Duke of Saxony in 912 A.D. and was elected King by the Saxons and Franks in 919 A.D. Five years later, the “Magyars” were threatening the territory and the King ordered every ninth “male” to the defence. Some time later, the King decided to press northward to put the Danes under his vassalage (934 A.D.), and in 935 A.D. Count Wilhelm was a“praised participant” in a tournament in Magdeburg. Both, Count Wilhelm and his successor Herman were obviously involved in the rise of King Otto I who succeeded his father Henry in 936 A.D. and who became later German Emperor initiating the “Holy Roman Empire of German Nations”.
King Otto gave many dukedoms and bishoprics to his friends and relatives. He extended his influence, not only just safeguarding the North and East, but pushed into Bohemia, Danemark and Poland to enforce his vassalage upon them.
It’s more than reasonable to assume that vassals of the Count of Tecklenburg were among those supporting the King, and the vassals sons came from the farms of our territory.
Was it adventurism or a left-over migratory instinct? We don’t know.
Both, the reigning nobility and his subjects were after the fortune of their life: The Count or Duke by the power of his sword and the poor vassal by the tempting idea of freedom.
Religious allegiances were forced upon, only few freely chosen.
While Charlemagne initially decreed Christianity in his territory in Central Europe, later on, religious matters throughout Central Europe were top-down decisions, either by religious or secular rulers. The rule always was: “The folk goes, as the ruler goes”.
Quarrels within the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages, leading up to the Reformation with all its consequences, had two noticeable effects in reference to the topic of this book:
At the home base, the Reformation caused changes as well. Shortly after Luther’s Proclamation in Wittenberg, the Count of Tecklenburg, the secular ruler in our area at that time, turned very soon “Lutheran Reformist”, and this is still today very much reflecting statistical religious affiliation there. While the territories surrounding the old County of Tecklenburg (“Grafschaft Tecklenburg”), the bishoprics of Osnabrück, Münster and Bentheim remained Catholic, the present day County of Tecklenburg is still mostly a Lutheran-Reformist island.
Those, who emigrated took usually their belief with them and started, particularly in America, a “bottom-up” Christian Community”. This is still very evident in the active church life in their specific communities today, as well as the many signs of the past, such as the grave-yards of prior generations.
[no image in epub file]
If we compare changes in the Church-Life in general in America and in Europe, it becomes obvious that the voluntary approach, the “bottom-up version”, is by far the better path for a viable religion when compared to the historical “bottom down version” in Central Europe.
Early Middle-Age Housing Details in the Area
In the mean time, many things around the house and home had changed: (fig.:#14/15)
The older types as shown had developed into various designs of half-timbering structure, characteristically representing even today forms of checker-works of the “Lower-Saxony-Farm-House”.
The simplified version shows how the principle of men and live-stock under one roof was kept.
(fig.:#14)
The following picture (fig.:#15) gives an indication of gradual changes till the 18th and early 19th century.
Development of the characteristic checker-works farmhouse in Lower-Saxony.
These typical farm buildings (fig.:#16) were rugged and simple in construction with some comfort for the inhabitants, but basically covering the needs of day by day living. Throughout that period and way into the 19th century, 4/5 of the population was living on farms or making a living of farm related activities.
(fig.:#16)
The “Befiefing” of Old Farms in the Parish of Cappeln
As mentioned before, the Hollenberg property was befiefed on April 14th of the year 1146 A.D. by the Bishop of Osnabrück and the Assembly of the Ecclesiastical Council.
This type of “Befiefing” did change in many ways over the centuries, for example: on September 27th, 1350, the place of “Bernhard to Veldeste” (presumably = Feldmann) in the “Parochia Cappeln” is named, where the Bishop of Osnabrück gives the rights of the tithe from B. to Veldeste to an “Arnoldus de Scarghe”: Thus meaning, that the bishop passed-on his rights of the tithe from one party to another third party.
Exemplary, at the same year, a certain “Johann Wesselmann” paid 12 Denare to the bishop.
During that period, the parish of Cappeln was the only community in the area which produced more grain than needed. This rural prosperity is well documented in the oldest available taxation register of the Count of Tecklenburg from 1494 A.D. The community of Cappeln shows 42 farm places required to deliver 58 pigs. In contrast, the larger parish of Ibbenbüren with 45 farms owed 39 pigs.
The contribution varied over the centuries in details and content as well as the corresponding addressees. The “Befiefing” was the imposition of contributions initially organized by the Church with the backing by the “Franconian Law” established by Charlemagne, and lasted throughout the Middle-Ages till modern times; e.g. in parts of Prussia, including the territory of the province of Westphalia.
During that period, the tithe holder could change and in fact did change many times, e.g., from ecclesiastical persons or entities to secular parties, or to a combination of both.
One example as reported in 1836 for the Niederste-Hollenberg place goes as follows:
1.) Contribution to the King of Prussia in form of taxation:
a.) On the basis of a 10 year average
b.) Tax on cultivated acreage
2.) Contribution to local clergy:
a.) To the First Pastor:
i. A sheaf of grain (1 bushel)
ii. Sausages and bread
iii. One carriage with horses and helper for ½ a day per year
b.) To the Young Preacher:
i. ½ bushel of grain – rye
c.) To the Sexton:
i. A sheaf of grain (1 bushel)
ii. A truss of rye
Some of the above lasted all the way into the 20th century.
In addition to the above, it’s worth noting that the local pastor was doing some farming himself. As described earlier, “Charlemagne established the tithe in the area”: Based on that ruling, the tax register from 1577 A.D. showed the pastor in Cappeln had: 3 horses, 6 cows, 6 young cattle, 5 pigs and he paid per year a onetime tax of 4 Taler, 18 Schilling.
Outside common property, all real-estate was owned by either, the sovereign, the Church and monasteries or the nobility. Thus, all tithe-debtors were with their total property subject to a harsh bondage system.
The un-free farmers were called “Colonus” and those in the County of Tecklenburg were vassals to the Count there till 1707 A.D. and thereafter to the King of Prussia.
However, over time, parties on the receiving end found ways and means to extent and increase the already heavy burden on top of the original “tithe” ruling = 10% on all income. Those extra obligations are described in a reference case of a vassal-farmer in the parish of Lienen as follows:
(ref.: Archive-Urbarium-Hartkotten from 1788 A.D. – between landlord von Korff and a number of farms who were his debtors ).
It says that, outside the annual rent, normal deliveries of livestock and already defined assets of materiality, other additional contributions would be due:
Extra payments and/or other obligations against the tithe-holder:
--- On death of colonus.
--- On taking possession of the farm by an heir.
--- On marriage.
--- On charter for departing children.
--- On take-over by a third party, conditions have to be renegotiated with landlord.
--- All children are subject to hard labor at will of landlord.
--- The vassal is responsible for maintenance of buildings and inventory.
--- Sales and trades need to be reported.
Those “Extras” did not include the average annual contributions for one farm, which amounted for a given example to:
--- 1 Malter Roggen = 165 gallons of rye
--- 1 Malter Gerste = 165 gallons of barley
--- 1 Malter Hafer = 165 gallons of oat
--- 1 pig of 100 pounds
--- 1 Taler, 7 Schilling, service money
--- 2 Taler, 4 Schilling, “May”-money
Plus other additional services as follows:
--- mowing service from 6 AM till 6 PM at the place of the landlord.
--- 4 days with horses and plow, two days in fall, two days in spring.
--- 1 cart-load of wood and 2 chicken.
No food or drinks were provided to laborors.
Changes to the Hollenberg Name
The period between 1200 A.D. and 1400 A.D. was very sparsely recorded, and even then, most trports are based upon ecclesiastical documents written in Latin.
This, however, was a period of noticeable growth in the general population, causing changes of names, double names or combinations. Particularly, rural areas increased the cultivated acreage by turning the forest and wasteland into arable lands. This led in a number of cases to split-up family farms among family members.
Historians, like F.E. Hunsche, are of the opinion that this name-splitting for the initial “Holenberg” or “Hollenberg” place began to develop during the 13th – 14th century, when the family clan decided to break up the estate between father and son.
Initialyy and for an interim period, simple name distinctions were accepted, like:
---- Johan tom Hollenberch de Olde
---- Johan tom Hollenberg de Junge
Throughout times, some other name variations were used – mostly by misspellings or rewriting from one document to another: like, e.g. “Holanberg” or “Halenberg”.
The new units were of about the same size, totally separate and independent. The only visible signs from those former days, when one place was broken up in two, are two old garden gates and a hardened stone passage between the two main buildings of the farm houses, as could still be seen after WWII in the Hollenberg case.
Although there is no actual date for establishing the final name of the two family farms, a tax register in 1494 A.D. mentioned 42 farm places in the parish of Cappeln. Those names are:
de Provest (Probst), Hermann to Segeste (Seeste), Determann, Boye to Segeste, Plaggevoet, de Konynk (König), de Bunemeyger, de Lange ton Osterbecke, Puls, de Sentmeyger, Twyghus (Twiehaus), Dickmann, Sabbensel, Konradinckman (Konermann), Eysmann, de Burrichter, Johan tom Hollenberch de Olde, Johan tom Hollenberg de Junge, Tenge to Gelentorpe, Berchman, Harte to Hambüren, Symon to Leda (Lada), Bernt Wilsinck, de Meyger to Leda, Sprede, Knüppe, de Meyger van Düte, Hynna (a), Hynna (b), Yborg, Rotman, Sparenberg, de Vos to Handarpe, Johan Wesselinck (Wesselmann), de Wylde, de Buddemeyger, Schürmann, Wortmann, Lynneman, Ludeke to Handarpe, Vortman (Fartmann), de Bremer.
From here on, the historical pattern of those farm places had been established and recorded fairly well: Proof can be found in the “Registers”of the compulsory tax for the year 1543 A.D. with details about the tax contributions of the two Hollenberg families as shown below:
Contribution to Church and Crown
During the year 1543 A.D. the two Hollenberg estates had to make the following obligatory payments based upon existing records:
| Hermann ton Hollenberg | Joan ton Hollenberg | |
| Geldpacht (lease-pay) | 2 Gulden | 2 Gulden |
| Herbstschatzung (taxassessment on fall-harvest ) | 9 Schillinge | 9 Schillinge |
| Markengeld (tax on acreage) | 1 Ort=1/4 Gulden | 1/2 Gulden |
A little later, in the year of 1603, the payment of “Markenrente” (= annuity for acreage) is, documented for both: -- Erich Hollenberg and Luike Hollenberg --.
Again, 20 years later – 1623/24 –, the “Inventarium” of the archives of the Prince of Solms list the place of “Johan to Hollenberge” and “Lueke tom Hollenbergh” (=Niederste Hollenberg).
At that time, both were subject to tithe payments to the Count of Tecklenburg.
In 1707 A.D., the Kingdom of Prussia acquired the County of Tecklenburg, and that included the Parish of Cappeln. Consequently, that whole district became subject to tithe to the King of Prussia.
Another listing from the year 1770 A.D. shows the parish of Westerkappeln with 106 farms (of a given size) all subject to the tithe to the King of Prussia.
As a consequence of the “tithe” obligations which the operating family farm had to fulfil against the authorities (Church and Crown) and the change of the general economic climate due to the upcoming industrialization, the tenant farmer (“Heuerling”) were caught in between – without their fault.
This forced them virtually to look for additional income on the side in order to make a living: For some time, the handcrafted linen production in the area served this purpose, whereby special “linenkeepers” kept the trading routes on foot open into nearby Holland and the coast-line.
The invention of the spinning and weaving machinery brought this activity to a near halt and intensified the emigration across the Atlantic for this kind of workers and their families.
Another side effect of the “obligation to the landlord” was that practically all farms had to deliver local services to the community within their parish. It meant e.g. providing horse-drawn vehicles when needed to build roads or transport material and equipment. Each parish had to bear the cost for his roads. (incl.: stone-breaking, excavation, side-ditches etc.). The cost of those projects was distributed and billed against the farmers.
It took nearly another 100 years, after Napoleon had shaken Europe, that all those different mixtures of obligations against Church and Crown could be revoked by making a one time payment in hard money (Rtlr. = Reichstaler) to the authorities. Only now was the famer totally free to deal with his possessions at will.
The amount involved for this “Freikauf” (= payment for release) could easily go into several thousand Rtlr. which many farms had difficulties to manage. The sum of this ”payment for release” added up to a factor of 20 to 30 times of all taxes, services and some soft-historical rulings, like getting marriage permission from the landlord.
Thus and in total, it was a chance – even a costly one – for the family farms in our region to free themsenves of those obligations of serfdom which had been levied upon them throughout the feudalistic period in the Middle Ages.
Some details of the two Hollenbergs in the locality of Hambüren, taken from the same register in 1770 A.D. are presented below:
Now the two names had been firmly established:
---- Niederste Hollenberg
---- Oberste Hollenberg
The size and other particulars oft the two Hollenberg estates are around 1770 A.D. as follows:
---- Stephan or Oberste Hollenberg --- (around 1770 A.D.)
Size oft he farm: 265 Scheffel, 34 Ruten, 1,5 Fuß.
Livestock: 8 cows.
Payments to the „Tithe“ owner: (= King of Prussia): 98 Rtlr., 9 Ggr., 11 Pfg.
Plus: 1 “ Leibzucht” = small house or hut where a farmer was allowed to spent his retirement.
Plus: 2 “Heuerhaus” = small house or hut with a minor lot of land which was rented to families of Farm laborers.
In 1862 A.D. Jörgen Heinrich Oberste Hollenberg was Colonus.
In 1907 A.D. Wilhelm Oberste Hollenberg was Colonus with 4 “Heuerhäuser” belonging to the farm.
---- Luike or Neerste Hollenberg (Niederste Hollenberg) --- (as of 1770 A.D.)
Size of farm: 249 Scheffel, 36 Ruten, 7 Fuß.
Livestock: 9 cows, 5 young bovine cattle.
Payments to “Tithe” owner: (King of Prussia): 106 Rtl., 21 Ggr.,
Plus: 1 “Leibzucht” = (see above!)
Plus: 3 “Heuerhäuser” = (see above!)
In 1862 A.D. Gerhard Wilhelm Niederste Hollenberg was Colonus.
In 1907 A.D. Colon Niederste Hollenberg had 1 “Heuerhaus” and 2 Leipzucht-owners: Nr. 10b, miner
Friedrich Teepe, and Nr. 10c, miner Hermann Mittelberg.
(Explanation: 1 Scheffel varies from country to country between 12ar and 42 ar; resulting in an approx. average for the above farms to about 250 acres each).
Some Details of the Family Tree
(at the home base in Germany)
It should be noted, that a Luecke to Halenberg is mentioned in 1537; and around 1603 another link shows up.
The family table, although still incomplete, is reasonably solid from the period of the late 1600.
Old church papers give proof of the marriage between Lucas Halenberg and Elske Meyer zu Düte, and indicate that their wedding took place on November 28, 1674 at the Protestant Church (Lutheran-Reformist) in the parish of Westerkappeln. (fig.:#17 below)
Lucas died on March 6th in 1726, and his wife Elske followed him on October 5th, in 1730.
Lucas’ son Henrich, born in October 1675, also referred to as Hallenberg de Junge, married
Anna-Agnesa Schomeier on November 4, 1696. (See his birth certificate, fig.:#18 below)
Their Son Jörgen-Henrich also referred to as Hallenbergs de Junge Child, born in July of 1720, married Maria-Gertrud Meier. (See his birth certificate, fig.:#19 below)
Then followed Johann-Heinrich Niederste Hollenberg, born on December 1st 1751, and married to Catherina-Elisabeth Witte zu Metten.
Their son, also Johann-Heinrich, was born on November 15th 1796, and he married Elisabeth Schomeier on October 9th, 1817.
The chronological family tree of the
Niederste Hollenberg and Oberste Hollenberg strings
Reviewing the Church documents and the Registers of the Parish of Cappeln, I am now able to give a rather complete chronology on most data (Birth and death records etc.) for both families.
The first personal data in the Church records begin to appear around 1600 AD, however, showing then only death data of the particular male line which was staying-on as Colonus on the farm. No further details about age, birth- or marriage dates or parents. People were, up to that point, given some form of descriptive I. D., like e. g. for:
Niederste Hollenberg, Hermann († ??, ??, 1692) was called “Herman Alter (Older) Halenberg”
and his first child was called “Lucas Lüdeke Halenberg”,
his second child was called “Herman Halenbergs kind” (daughter).
Oberste Hollenberg, Johann († 10.09.1675) was called “Old Johann tom Holenberg“,
and his wife called: “Old Johann tom Holenbergs wife”(dt.:’fraw’).
Our historian, Mrs. Brigitte Jahnke, has taken it upon her to gather those informative data and to create an overall “Hollenberg-Family-Tree” into a systematic library from those early days on throughout the following centuries. This family-tree of the Hollenbergs includes on one hand not only the direct lines coming from the two family strings of the original “Holenberg” estate mentioned in the books of 1146 AD, but it also presents those many branches who left the parental place over time. The latter part links the branches with marriages, name-changes etc., spreading, initially into surrounding or familiar territories, then, later-on, emigrating to different parts around the world – noticeably with heavy emphasis to North-America.
Other areas of interest outside Germany were e.g.: Holland (trade, handy-craftmen, linen-clothing),
Skandinavia (trade etc.), Eastern Europe (land-offerings by misc. governments, tax advantages etc.).
And, yet, many questions remain unresolved for those who left the family base.
The data available so far showed only few cases where both family strings joined their blood lines directly. One of them was when:
• Oberste Hollenberg, Johan Henrich (*13.11.1775) married on: 17.01.1798
• Niederste Hollenberg, Anna Catharina (*18.03.1772)
Both lived in the Hollenberg “Bake-House”. They had three children:
(1) --- Cath. Elsabein (*03.02.1800) married Hermann Heinrich Teepe.
(2) --- Cath. Agnesa (*17.09.1802) married Jörgen Heinrich Knüppe.
(3) --- Johann Gerhard Heinrich Hollenberg (*21.10.1806), died in Indiana (†17.02.1846)
Both parties immigrated to America on: 04.09.1832 with each of their sons:
--- Friedrich Rudolph Teepe --- and --- Friedrich Wilhelm Knüppe ---
(see Special Section: “The Other Hollenbergs”, Details I)
The line of Friedrich Rudolph Teepe continues in America into the lines of Tapy and Hoffmann.
