The Great Hollenberg Saga. Heinz Niederste-Hollenberg

      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 Tecklen-burg 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 “Fran-conian 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 refe-rence 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 ex-ample 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 na-mes 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 “Hollen-berg” 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 docu-ment 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 bet-ween 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 Mey-ger to Leda, Sprede,