Elder colonization
Hollerkolonisierung stands for the planned reclamation of the fertile, but threatened by storm surges marshland of the Weser and Elbe with the help of Dutch colonists . The elder colonization shaped the typical landscape of the Marschhufendörfer for the Elbe and Wesermarsch with their adjoining, evenly parceled arable land.
Colonization began under Archbishop Friedrich I of Bremen . At the beginning of the 12th century, with the establishment of the Archdiocese of Lund, Adalbert's plans to establish a " Patriarchate of the North" under the leadership of the Archdiocese of Bremen had failed . The ore monastery was no longer able to expand. All that remained was to strive for internal growth. The sparsely populated river marshes were ideal here. The impetus came in 1106 or 1113 from a group of Dutchmen looking for land, who gave the Hollerland its name. Due to the positive experience, the Archbishops of Bremen subsequently took the initiative.
Settlement before colonization
Even before the elder colonization there were settlements in the marshland . The places inhabited by a population of Saxon origin were located on the slightly higher marshland near the shore, mostly at the mouths of small watercourses ( Flethe ). The places with the ending -fleth come from this time. Most of the time livestock and fishing were carried out here, but there was also some arable farming with summer grain . These settlements were often flat settlements without surcharges , if there was a dike , this was just a ring dike that enclosed the settlement.
Settlement
During the elder colonization, the Sietlande were settled. These are the lower lying marshland or swampy marshland, often overgrown with scrub forest. To make this arable, Dutch drainage experts were hired. Since this part of the march was constantly threatened by flooding, it had to be diked before settlement. For this purpose, a dike was drawn towards the bank . The hinterland was closed off by a dike. This served to keep the water running off the Geest away from the colonization areas. The sides were secured with a turn . Little by little, chamber-like small polders formed .
The first settlers were able to work on free terrain without having to consider other interested parties. They were able to extend their plots in full length perpendicular to the settlement axis. A good example of early settlement is Neuenkirchen im Alten Land . Here the back of the hooves clearly show the course of the Lühe , which serves as the settlement axis . Later colonizations had to be fitted into the still available free areas and could therefore not always meet the ideal dimensions. The elongated parcels enclosed on both sides of the drainage ditches were called “pieces”. Several of these pieces formed a hoof . Ideally, a hoof would form a strip 2.25 km long and 150 m wide. At the end of the Hufen, along the Hollerdeiches or another elongated feature of the terrain, often on the dikes of the rivers that cut through the marsh, the farms belonging to the Hufen were located. This is how the characteristic Marsh Hoof villages were formed.
Dyke construction
The marshy soil made of clay is basically an ideal building material for the dykes. But it is also valuable, and it was not for nothing that they took the trouble to dug it up. It was not practical to dig up the freshly reclaimed land in order to gain dyke soil. The dyke soil was therefore preferably taken from the land in front of the dyke. This also had the advantage that the river could fill the excavated soil with sediment again. In an emergency, however, the soil of the arable land also had to be used to secure the dike - to the chagrin of those from whose ground the building material was removed.
It was not always possible to use clay for building the dyke. The back dike in particular was often built from inferior building materials. Because the ground was often deeply peated at this point, the dike was not always safe there. So the back dike often broke, with the polders overflowing from behind with the water flowing off the geest.
Walls were raised with the clay. The height of the dykes was based on experience gathered on site, and occasional flooding was accepted. The embankments of the dykes, which were only a few meters high, were comparatively steep. They offered the water a large area to attack, incoming waves could not run out, but broke on the dike. If the dike was flooded, the steep back was particularly at risk of being washed out by the water. In this case, dike breaches were almost inevitable.
The height and the dike profile differed from place to place, even locally there were big differences. Uniform dike profiles were only introduced in the 18th century.
A freshly raised dike was covered with sod . These grew together over time and thus strengthened the dike. In particularly endangered areas, the dike was reinforced with wickerwork made of straw.
The most important tools for building dykes were the spade , the stretcher and the dump cart. The wheelbarrow was only used in dike construction in modern times.
drainage
The Dutch settlers brought with them the knowledge of the hydraulic engineering techniques necessary for colonization , which they had already successfully used in their own country. The land was drained with parallel trenches that were dug at a distance of about 16 m. These trenches led into a main trench running across it, the Wetter . This flowed into a natural watercourse, the canal , or it led the water directly into the river. The river-side dike was breached by dyke gates through which the water could be directed into the river. These dyke gates were initially simply sluices , hollowed-out tree trunks with a flap on the river side. At low tide the flap opened and the water could drain away, at high tide the flap closed and thus prevented the backflow of water into the area to be drained. Two-part sliding gates followed later.
As the land sank more and more as a result of the drainage, the efficiency of the sewers sank and was no longer sufficient. Initially, larger sluices were built that could carry away more water, but at the latest when the land sank below sea level or the tide level , the construction of motorized pumping stations had to start.
The trenches and storms were gradually blocked by the deposition of suspended particles . They therefore had to be regularly cleaned and desludged ("chipped out"). The excavated material was thrown onto the plots next to the trenches and distributed. These have been increased a little and fertilized in a natural way. This can be recognized by the strip of land arched parallel to the ditch.
organization
The entire work to develop a new settlement area such as the dike and the drawing of the drainage ditches and weather did not take place gradually, but had to be carried out completely before an area could be settled. In some cases, existing summer dykes could be included in the facilities, but the new settlers could not do the work alone. For this reason, the work was rarely carried out on a cooperative basis. Usually a locator was used instead , which employed additional workers. The locator bore the resulting financial risk, but was awarded the compulsory corner and remnant pieces of land and special rights. As a rule, the locator was given control of the court newly formed in the colony and was awarded the tithe . Especially on the Elbe, the locators mostly came from the families of the lower nobility of the Geest. But some entrepreneurs also acted as locators. The leader and spokesman for the Dutch group of 1106/1113, a priest named Heinrich, is considered to be the original form and the first evidence of a locator.
chronology
The first colonization document issued by Bishop Friedrich I of Bremen in 1113 marks the beginning of Holler colonization. In it six Dutch people were transferred to vacant marshland for reclamation. The archbishops of Bremen issued further colonization documents between 1142 and 1201. Further certificates were issued by Heinrich the Lion .
Colonization documents that have been received can only be found for the area around Bremen. Other dates were made indirectly, by mentioning Dutch people in certain places or by documents in which "Dutch hooves" were transferred.
The first colonization areas were in the Wümmeniederungen and the Wesermarsch on both sides of the river and around Bremen . Further areas followed in the Elbmarschen , in the Altes Land and in Kehdingen , but also in the Land Hadeln and along the Oste to the left of the Elbe. The colonization also spread outside of the Archbishopric of Bremen, on the opposite side of the Elbe in the Wilstermarsch and the Haseldorfer Marsch , later also on the Kremper Marsch and the area around Hamburg .
Area around Bremen
- 1113 First colonization documents for the Holler and Blockland
- around 1141 The eastern Hollerland and the western Vieland are settled
- 1142 & 1149 colonization documents for Stedingen
- 1181 Colonization of the Oberneuland
- 1201 With Neuenland the colonization around Bremen is completed
Elbmarschen
- 1130 Colonization begins with Hollern
- 1140 Colonization reaches Lühe - the first mile of the Altes Land is colonized
- From 1140 colonization begins on the right bank of the Elbe, initially in the Haseldorfer and Wilstermarsch
- Colonization in the land of Hadeln and the Eastern March also began in 1140
- 1185 Mention of Dutch hooves ( hollandrensis mansus ) at Ihlienworth
- 1196 Dutch on the Este
- 1197 The second mile of the Altes Land is colonized
- from 1200 The colonization in Kehdingen begins.
- 1230 The third mile of the Altes Land is also colonized
- 1235 Francop is mentioned
- colonies follow in the Kremper Marsch
- From 1296 colonization begins in the marshes around Hamburg, meanwhile without the direct involvement of Dutch settlers.
Around 1240 the marshes of the archbishopric were essentially settled. The Dutch were also involved in the construction of the fortress town of Buxtehude .
After the dikes between Nincop and the Este broke during storm surges in 1392, the third mile of the Old Country fell deserted again. In 1460, the new dike of the third mile began, which lasted until at least the mid-80s of the 15th century.
Effects
Constitution
The Dutch experts were lured with large hooves as a farmer's position, low taxes and extensive rights of self-administration. The new settlers were personally free, there was even a principle similar to “ city air makes you free ”, after unfree colonists were given their freedom year after day . They received their land by inheritance and were free to dispose of it, only a symbolic penny interest was due on it. The only other tax the settlers had to pay to the church was tithing.
The new areas were not subordinated to existing courts, but new courts were set up that did not judge according to Saxon law, but according to a Franconian-Dutch court system (Hollerrecht). A Schulze appointed by the sovereign spoke right , mostly these were the locators who financed the colonization. They were attended by lay judges . The old Sassian places, however, were still subject to Saxon law.
Another example of the Dutch influence on the legal system of the colonization areas is the considerable difference to the Saxon inheritance law . So sons and daughters were equally entitled to inheritance. The right of proximity was also based on the Dutch model. When real estate was sold, the neighbors (who lived closest) had a right of first refusal after the relatives.
In addition to the jurisdiction of the sovereign, the dyke system developed. Anyone who owned land had to contribute to the maintenance of the dikes. In principle, a landowner was initially responsible for the part of the dike that bordered on his property. Since the neighbors were also affected if the dyke broke, it was in their own interest to support them if the work could not be done alone. Dike cooperatives, the dike judges' associations, were formed. They monitored the dike security, ensured that no one evaded their duties and controlled the joint work. The right to speak applied .
In the colonized areas, the good internal organization necessary for the maintenance of the dykes and drainage systems soon resulted in self-confident and independent peasantry . They managed to create a certain autonomy for themselves. If this autonomy or guaranteed privileges were to be withdrawn from them, they reacted rebelliously. Archbishop Gerhard II had to declare a crusade against the Stedinger after tax privileges were to be revoked. Several military campaigns were carried out against Kehdingen.
Culture
The Dutch settlers not only influenced the jurisdiction in the new areas, they also left cultural traces. These include, for example, the names of the newly founded places (best examples: Hollern or the Hollerland , the settlement names with the ending "-kop" are also of Dutch origin) and terms associated with colonization and hydraulic engineering such as "Hollerdeich" or "Wetter" ( for example the name of the Hollerwetter in the Wilstermarsch probably has its roots here). In contrast, there is hardly any further influence on the language or on personal names. In the later phases of colonization, many Saxons also took part, mixing with the originally Dutch population. The Dutch influence on the language was thereby heavily watered down and is now only detectable in traces.
The church saint of Estebrugge and Steinkirchen , Saint Martin, was introduced by the Dutch. He was the patron saint of Utrecht , but hardly occurred in Saxony at that time.
geography
After the new settlements were built, the floods could no longer run into the now diked hinterland, so they ran higher and flooded the old settlements and their fields. As a result, dykes and drainage systems were created here too, but not always as systematically as during the elder colonization. Some settlement sites were relocated. In some places the highlands were lost on a large scale, so today in the first mile of the Old Country the Sietland meets the Elbe in places.
The peated Sietland settled through the drainage . As a result of this, and as a result of the peat being extracted in places, the diked areas, especially on the Geestrand, often sagged below sea level. In winter these areas were often flooded over a large area. Marching fever was common. This situation only changed with the construction of pumping stations .
literature
- Adolf E. Hofmeister : The settlement of the old country in the Staufer time. In landscape and regional identity. Landscape association of the former duchies of Bremen and Verden, Stade 1989, ISBN 3-9801919-1-5 .
- Adolf E. Hofmeister: Settlement and constitution of the Stader Elbmarschen in the Middle Ages.
- Volume I: The Stader Elbmarschen before the colonization of the 12th century. Publications of the Institute for Historical Research at the University of Göttingen, Hildesheim 1979, ISBN 3-7848-3642-9 .
- Volume II: The elder colonization and the state communities Land Kehdingen and Altes Land. Publications of the Institute for Historical Research at the University of Göttingen, Hildesheim 1981, ISBN 3-7848-3644-5 .
- Arend Mindermann: Rural Settlements Before Coupling. In the historical and regional excursion map of Lower Saxony, sheet Harsefeld. Publishing house for regional history, Bielefeld 2003, ISBN 3-89534-427-3 .
- Michael Ehrhardt : "A guldten band of the country". On the history of the dikes in the Altes Land. Landscape Association of the Former Duchies of Bremen and Verden, Stade 2003, ISBN 3-931879-11-9 .
- Norbert Fischer : “Water shortages and marsh society”. On the history of the dikes in Kehdingen. Landschaftsverband Stade, Stade 2003, ISBN 3-931879-12-7 .
- Norbert Fischer: "In the face of the North Sea". On the history of the dykes in Hadeln. Landschaftsverband Stade, Stade 2007, ISBN 978-3-931879-34-1 .
- Paul Richard Kötzschke: Entrepreneurship in the East German colonization of the Middle Ages (dissertation), Bautzen 1894 (here p. 2-11).
- Wilhelm Jensen: Saxon and Dutch settlements in the Wilstermarsch. In: Journal of the Society for Schleswig-Holstein History . Volume 46, Leipzig 1916, p. 41 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
- Waldtraut Feldtmann: The old Brokdorf. Karl Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1992, ISBN 3-529-02727-8 .
- Helmut Trede: Kollmar, a marsh village on the banks of the Elbe. Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Husum, 2002, ISBN 3-89876-079-0 .
Web link
Individual evidence
- ↑ Controversial dating: s. Adolf E. Hofmeister: Settlement and constitution of the Stader Elbmarschen in the Middle Ages. 1979-81, Vol. 2, p. 7; the same formulated 1987-89 in Lexikon des Mittelalter, Volume IV, Col. 962 “allegedly 1106, more likely around 1113”.