Court sign
Hofzeichen are house brands , i.e. identification marks of farms . These were used for farm estates since the 16th century. This was used to mark farm property, such as plowshares and other farm implements, to mark them as property and protect them from unauthorized access.
"In some school offices the directory of these brands [house brands], with which all devices are drawn, is placed on the so-called court drawing boards" ( fresh beer )
Sometimes there were rune-like characters or symbols derived from the name or its first letter. Often these signs were retained when the owner changed hands. In particular, feudal courts were marked with such marks. On the other hand, the court signs were also attached to the house or stable as luck signs, like crossed horse heads in many places . In their origins, they are interpreted as the pride of free peasants who put on symbols to use them as “coats of arms” like knights or noble landowners. Court signs have been identified and used for villages in the Brandenburg region as well as in Baden and Westphalia.
literature
- Court sign. In: Woldemar von Gutzeit: Word treasure of the German language of Livonia. N. Kymmel , Riga 1864, p. 539 .
- Carl G. Homeyer : The house and court brands. Königlich Geheime Hofbuchdruckerei, Berlin 1870, ( digitized version ).
- Martin Pfannschmidt: History of the Berlin suburbs Buch and Karow. Ms. Zillessen (Heinrich Beenken), Berlin 1927, Chapter V, (The author was pastor of Buch and Karow).
Web links
- www.alt-karow.de: Hofzeichen
- Max Rehberg: Niederbarnimer folklore. In: Home and World. 32, 1935, August 10, 1935, abridged version.
Individual evidence
- ^ Hermann Frischbier: Prussian dictionary: East and West Prussian provincialisms in alphabetical order . Enslin, Berlin 1882. Reprint: Olms, Hildesheim 1971
- ^ Max Rehberg: Niederbarnimer folklore .
- ^ Badische Bauern-Zeitung of May 23, 2009, Gernot Kreut: Steinern sealed documents .
- ↑ Home care in Westphalia - 23rd year, 2/2010: Friedhöfe in Westfalen · Part 2 (PDF; 2.4 MB)