Onsta (noble family)

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The family Onsta (also Onseda, Onsitha or Onsatha was) a major Dutch landed gentry family in the Ommelande , the region around Groningen . They were very influential from the 14th century to the 17th century and had many estates and estates in the province of Groningen . Their residence was near the village of Sauwerd , where they owned a fortified stone house, the Onstaborg. In the Groningen area there were some of these fortified stone houses, called Borg , of wealthy families. After this house was destroyed twice by the city of Groningen , from 1540 a new building, Nieuw Ontsa, near Wetsinge, near Sauwerd, became the new residence under the same name.

history

The first mention of an Onsta can be found in the so-called Nobilarium of the Groninger Drosten Wilhelm Coenders van Helpen from 1660. There the death of Meinoldus Onsta is described in 1248 during the siege of Aachen , see also Wilhelm von Holland . But whether he was connected to Sauwerd cannot be found there. In 1325 and 1326 there is a Folcmar or Folckermarus Onsatha or Onstitha as defenders of the Hunsingo . In 1364 a Folcmari Onsatha is also mentioned as chief (ndl. Hoofdeling) of Sauwerd. This is followed by mentions of an Onno Onsta Ferhildema zu Sauwerd from the years 1371, 1384 and 1386. This was probably a son of the former Folcmar. Onno married Yde (Ferhilderma?) And had seven sons with her (Abele, Eijlko, Menolt, Johan, Folcmer, Edseke and Abeke) and a daughter named Everdeh (Evert). Onno died in 1398. In the same year, the name of his second son Aylko, who had the surname Onstra Ferhildema, appeared in various documents. It is very likely the same person who is mentioned in documents as Aylko Onsta in 1405 and 1420. It is said that there was a marital relationship between the Onst (r) a and Ferhildema families. Because in the 14th century there is also an Eduarda Verhilde who is said to have been married to the first-mentioned Folcmar in or around 1295 and was thus also the mother of Onno Onsta and Bawe Bouwe Eduarda Onsta . Bawe Bouwe Eduarda later married Ewo Tammena von Jemgum , the progenitor of the Jemgum family . Other sources suggest that Yde, Onno's wife, was called Ferhilderma by last name. It is not known whether the Onsta family lived there despite their connection to Verhildersum Castle near Leens . Nevertheless, they owned a lot of land around it.

Documents dating back to 1398 with respect to Aylko testify that he and Reyner Eysinga of Zandeweer lands of Hunsingo to Duke Albrecht of Bavaria , have transmitted, Count of Holland and then by him as feudal lords were used. The contract was signed on the Onstaborg.

The Onstas belonged to the party of the Vetkoper (fat buyers), a group that emerged from wealthy cattle traders who fought for power and influence against the Schieringer for 200 years in the Great Frisian War (1413-1422) . As the most important vetkoper group in the Ommelanden, they sided with the "Geallieerden" (allies) of that war.

On the other side stood the Schieringer. They had the city of Groningen as an ally. The city saw the Frisian Gaue Hunsingo and Fivelingo as its hinterland and did not want any outside interference. After the Dutch withdrew from Friesland and Groningen formed an alliance with Schieringern and Johann III. could close, they moved together to the castle (Borg) of the Onstas in 1400, took it and destroyed it. 15 years later the Vetkopers were able to take the city and the Onstas began to rebuild their estate.

Abeke was probably still alive in 1445. However, it is not entirely clear how the succession of the castle management took place. In the middle of the 15th century Abel Onsta is mentioned as the lord of the castle. He was a son of Hidde Onsta, the son of the aforementioned Aylko Onsta. In 1456 and 1475 he signed an agreement with the city of Groningen for goods from Herathema Castle in Eenrum . Like the previous Onsta, he was an opponent of the city of Groningen and was friends with the Burgundians , who, after the Dutch, also sought influence in the Frisian areas. After Abel's death in 1483, his sons Hiddo and Eylco became chiefs of the castle. After Eylco's death in 1521, his sons Hidde (died 1543) and Abel (died 1558) were mentioned as chiefs of Sauwerd. Aepke Onsta had the new castle built at Wetsinge around 1540 . Hiddes married Johanna Spaen van Camphuijsen. There is a relationship in the German lower nobility of the Etzbach family from the Westerwald through an Albert Onsta and the connection to a daughter from the Dutch noble house Tamminga (see Hornhuizen ) through her daughter Eilke .

Eylko, also called "the elder" to distinguish it from a nephew of the same name, got into a dispute over a piece of land with the pastor of Bedum , Regnerus Papinck, in 1570 . In an inn there, Eylko killed the priest with his sword, "in such a way that it went back out". Since the judiciary was not allowed to try such high-ranking personalities itself, the then Frisian governor Caspar de Robles transferred the murderer to the Brussels court (Dutch: law bank) of Fernando Álvarez de Toledo . This sent him back to Groningen, where he was arrested in 1572 in the east gate of Groningen. Eylko had a lot of debts, which is why he had to sell large properties around the former Wierde Lutkehuizen in the west of Winsum . In 1573 his wife Elisabeth van der Eze divorced him. Eylko died in custody of the plague in 1575 .

Since he and his wife were childless, the Onstaborg was bequeathed to his sisters Ida and Adda. Ida, married to Roelof van Munster, received the castle at Sauwerd and all the pertinent rights when the estate was divided. However, at an unknown time, she sold the estate to Oede Onsta and her husband Caspar van der Wenge. Oede was the daughter of Aepke Onsta from Wetsinger Onstaborg. During the Eighty Years' War that followed, the castle was destroyed by Spanish troops in 1587. The Count of East Friesland , Johann II. , Wrote in a letter to the Groningen city administration that the house was "destroyed and nedergelecht" by Spanish soldiers, that only a little outside a hop or garden of it ubrigh ". In 1682 the building was still in a sorry state.

The Onstaburg was meanwhile passed from Caspar to his son Boiocko (or Boyo Ocko) van der Wenge. He himself probably lived on the Onstaburg in Wetsinge, where he was buried. His name and the name of his wife are mentioned when a bell was cast in Sauwerd. Boiocko was Rittmeister in the camp of the States General. He was killed in 1640 in the battle of Hulst in the province of Zeeland . His heirs then sold both castles. The last owner was Henrik Ruse.

In 1800 the Onstaborg was sold "for demolition" (ie for demolition for the purpose of reusing the building material that was still usable). All that remains are the trenches that once surrounded them.

coat of arms

In red a gold-tongued, gold-armored black lion. Helmet sign: a rising lion.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.cartago.nl/nl/oorkonde/ogd0288.xml
  2. ↑ http://www.cartago.nl/nl/oorkonde/ogd0300.xml
  3. ↑ http://www.cartago.nl/nl/oorkonde/ogd0527.xml
  4. ↑ Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis en oudheidkunde, Volume 1, edited by Gozewijn Acker Stratingh in the Google book search
  5. ↑ a b Wiebe Jannes Formsma, Riektje Annie Luitjens-Dijkveld Stol, Adolf Pathuis: De Ommelander borgen en steenhuizen . Van Gorcum, Assen 1973, ISBN 90-232-1047-6 , p. 342.
  6. ↑ Wiebe Jannes Formsma, Riektje Annie Luitjens-Dijkveld Stol, Adolf Pathuis: De Ommelander borrow en steen huizen . Van Gorcum, Assen 1973, p. 345.
  7. ↑ Wiebe Jannes Formsma, Riektje Annie Luitjens-Dijkveld Stol, Adolf Pathuis: De Ommelander borrow en steen huizen . Van Gorcum, Assen 1973, p. 476.