Heinz Niederste-Hollenberg - The Great Hollenberg Saga

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, 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 (tax

assessment 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 “Jo-han 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 Cap-peln. 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 emi-gration 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, excavati-on, 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 obliga-tions against Church and Crown could be revoked by making a one time payment in hard money (Rtlr. = Reichs-taler) 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.