Sattelmeier
As a semi-Meier , the owner of the saddle Meier farms in the Official Sparrenberg the be East Westphalian former county Ravensberg referred. The best known are the Sattelmeier of the city of Enger , because according to legend they can be traced back to the loyal followers of the Saxon Duke Wittekind .
term
In the Ravensberger Urbar in 1556, the owners of the farms in and around Enger, now known as Sattelmeier, are not named as such. The name Sattelmeier is only listed in the cadastre of the Vogtei Enger at the end of the 17th century . - According to other traditions, the Sattelmeier had a particularly prominent social position in the Middle Ages and early modern times, which went beyond their already significant economic and legal position as large landowners .
The original meaning of the name "Sattelmeier" is unclear, but reports come from the 17th century according to which the Sattelmeier were part of Ravensberg's mounted defense readiness , which was raised from 1609 by the sovereign, initially by the Counts of Ravensberg. Since the middle of the 17th century, the Sattelmeier were hired as armed riders. In the event of a voltage, they therefore had to be available with a riding horse, a pistol and a man. They also had to provide the sovereign with an escort when Enger visited . Since 1740 this compulsory service could be converted into a fee at the urging of the Sattelmeier. The name therefore indicates the saddled horse to be presented.
Another interpretation is based on the fact that the word Sattelmeier comes from the Saxon word sadel (seat). The Saxons or the Saxon Engern once populated the area. Sadelhöfe were therefore ancestral farms or Ursiedelhöfe ( sadeln = settle), i.e. the oldest settlement core of the villages. The priestly functions in pre-Christian times probably rested on these courts. After the Saxons were subjugated by Charlemagne , the courts were perhaps also the seats of the Frankish officials who were supposed to administer and control the conquered area.
According to legendary tradition, the Sattelmeier were fellow campaigners of Widukind , whose grave is believed to be in Enger . The origin of the name could therefore also come from their saddled warhorses from pre-Carolingian times. According to Hermann Hartwig, however, the Sattelmeier only appear in the residence saga in a description from 1830 and are not mentioned in an earlier description from 1750. He suspects the time of the origin of the legend core in the 17th century or later.
Sattelmeierhöfe
Enger once had seven Sattelmeierhöfe, of which there were five in 2007. They are magnificent monuments of rural architecture and are among the largest courtyards in the Ravensberger Land . They are in detail:
- Meyer-Johann in Oldinghausen ,
- Ebmeyer in Oldinghausen ,
- the Ringsthof (Ringstmeyer),
- the Baringhof (Barmeier) in Westerenger and
- the Nordhof (Nordmeyer) on the western edge of the city center.
The Uphof (Upmeier zu Belzen) is located in Jöllenbeck . The Meyer zu Elentrup farm in Bielefeld (Sieker) is also a Sattelmeier.
Another still existing Sattelmeierhof, Hof Meyer zu Rahden, is located on Sattelmeierweg in the Häger district of the town of Werther (Westphalia) .
Funeral ceremony
As has been handed down from other Meyerhöfe , the Sattelmeier were buried in a particularly honorable way. If a saddler from the parish of Enger or one of his close relatives dies , this is announced by ringing bells at the "royal hour" from 12 to 1 p.m. in the Widukinds church in Enger . The corpse is laid out in a special way on the Deele . Meanwhile, the now abandoned saddle horse looks through the open Deelentür at the coffin of the deceased. The coffin is braced by straw on a cart and pulled by six horses to the Widukind Church. The six to eight female relatives sitting on the cart are called Höken women because they wore Höken (mourning costumes for women). The saddle horse followed the wagon, and only then did the funeral procession. In the Widukind Church, the coffin is placed right next to Widukind's alleged grave. During the funeral service, the horse looks through the open church door.
The funeral gifts to the mourners and servants of the deceased could go back to a decree by Widukind, from which it emerged that a donation should be made to those in need on the day of his death. In any case, the Sattelmeier take part in the annual Wittekind donation, which takes up this event during the Timpkenfest .
The funeral ceremony described above seems to be of relatively recent origin. With a description from 1830, the ceremony is much simpler. Hermann Hartwig assumes that the funerals were decorated during the rise of the Engerschen Sattelmeier into a kind of peasant nobility in the 19th century, where the customs of aristocratic circles were taken up.
swell
- ↑ See p. 119 f in Hermann Hartwig: Die Engerschen Widkukindsagen (p. 101 ff) in Enger ; A home book for the millennium of the Widukindstadt, ed. from the city of Enger; C. Bertelsmann; Gütersloh, 1948.
- ↑ See p. 121 f in Hermann Hartwig: Die Engerschen Widkukindsagen (p. 101 ff) in Enger ; A home book for the millennium of the Widukindstadt, ed. from the city of Enger; C. Bertelsmann; Gütersloh, 1948.
- ↑ SS 121 f in Hermann Hartwig: The Engerschen Widkukindsagen (p. 101 ff) in Enger ; A home book for the millennium of the Widukindstadt, ed. from the city of Enger; C. Bertelsmann; Gütersloh, 1948.
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Coordinates: 52 ° 7 ′ 32 " N , 8 ° 34 ′ 47.4" E