Kildehenvisninger
1. [Født: Ca. 1460 i Pg. Halsegård, Østermarie, Øster, Bornholm]
- kilde: Titel: Oplysninger fra Michael Erichsen - GED-fil via mail , i arkivet:
2. [Død: 1535 i Vg. St. Bjergegård, Vestermarie, Vester, Bornholm]
- kilde: Titel: Oplysninger fra Michael Erichsen - GED-fil via mail , i arkivet:
Biografi Oplysninger fra Michael Erichsen - GED-fil via mail
From the Landbohistorisk Selskab website (Adkomstregistering for the years 1513 through 1550):
1537, #461: Anne boede i Myregård, enke efter Hans Borigbøg; Ellen(Eline) boede, gift med Peder
Andersen på Bornholm, senere Myregård,søster til afdøde Hans Borigbøg i Myregård; Myregård,
Bornholm, sikkert Sønder Herred, mon Pedersker S.?, evt. Åker eller Povlsker S.
The following commentary on the 'Bjergegård-family' was written by Sigvard Mahler Dam and sent to
myself (Norman Lee Madsen) on October 30, 2000:
There have always been a lot of problems to solve regarding the old families of Bornholm, and not
many have taken up the challenge. An old researcher, Dr. Zahrtmann, wrote ONE article upon the
subject (I guess it was before WW2!), since he had an high position in society, and thought that
the research could go no further, no one ever tried to do so. . .until I began. It is from his hand
that many misunderstandings derive.
A great misunderstanding, as I also see you have had building upon family tables with Zahrtmann as
source, is that every estate with the name 'Myregård' belonged to the family Myre. 'Myre' or 'Myr'
in the bornholmish language means 'Moor' in English, so many of the farms with this name are placed
by great moors!
Another misunderstanding is the coat-of-arms of the 'Bjergegård-family', the only coloured example
is the carving from Klemensker church (which Jens has sent to you). The judge Peder Hansen (Uf) had
- I wonder why - turned the chevron upside down (also his seal shows this). His wife's shield shows
half a lobster-claw (halv hummerklo), a so called 'geddekæft', originally the jawbone of a pike
('pike mouth'), a symbol of speed - as the knights used to fasten it in the nostrils of their
horses, so they were running wild!
The above mentioned motif could be seen on a church bell in Klemenskerfrom 1601. The bell is now
lost - probably made into a cannon in one of the many wars. It was described mid-18th century: 'on
the large bell are two arms, one with a chevron in it, the noble family of Kofoed, the other with a
pike's jawbone (geddekæft)'.
In a book on the churches of Denmark we find the same quote, but the editor incorrectly attributes
the first armorials as belonging to the Gagge-family (because Jørgen Gagge is mentioned in the
inscription). Heattributes the second as belonging to the Splid-family. The latter could be
correct, as the Splid-family was the only known family using a'geddekæft'.
Dr. Zahrtmann however wrote his own interpretation: 'it shows the Uf family's chevron and the
crawling ant of the Myre family.' He was convinced that Mrs. Mette belonged to this family, and
changed the description from the old book to one that fit his theory!
This odd mark has often confused the minds of researchers. An old historian (Suhm) was a product of
the new humanistic era of the 17th century, a period when historians began to read the old
documents instead of writing hearsay. He printed some Bornholmish documents and tried to describe
the seals. Jep Splid sealed a document on 10th of August 1497, and his seal is still preserved.
When photographed with side lighting the worn out seal shows a 'geddekæft', but Suhm interpreted it
as 'a rainbow shooting some spikes downward'! Luckily we can see it today! Many such examples could
be mentioned.
You wonder about the estate 'Bjergegård', which I have given as the name for two new discovered
families on Bornholm, asking if it is the same farm which the family 'Berildsen' possessed. The
answer is 'no'! And I shall write about this today - many things you already know, but I shall try
to summarise the facts.
Bjergegård is the 9th vornede in Vestermarie. Originally, the noble estates were supported by
income from underlying vornede-farms. Some of which, during the course of time, also became free of
taxes - a noble man had to own an estate or a free vornede-farm to be reckoned among the freemen.
On 29th of March 1335 the governor, Jens Eriksen (Galen) - brother to the archbishop Carl 'the
Red', donated some estates he had acquired on Bornholm to the church. Including a large farm in
Vestermarie, which he had purchased from the nobleman Niels Pedersen, and thus for the first time
we hear of Bjergegård, even though it is not mentioned by name.
These estates were used to support the Church and its officials. A judge on Bornholm was employed
by the Church, and therefore was endowed with a number of Church owned farms. The four district
bailiffs of the island were also endowed with clerical farms.
We know nothing of those who received Bjergegård as an endowment between 1335 and 1490, but in that
latter year Jens Jensen was endowed with 'Biergagården'. His time at the estate was short: already
on 14th of January 1491 his son, Oluf Jensen, and widow, Kirstine Poulsdatter, donated the land
that Jens Jensen had extended 'Bergegården' with during his short period of endowment. The document
of 1491 informs us that Oluf has a child.
On the 10th of July 1508 Anna - the widow of two judges: Anders Uf and Jacob Splid, commissions
death masses in Lund; among the witnesses we meet 'Oluf Jensen in Bjergegård'. We hear no more of
Oluf, but considering his mother's patronymic it is likely that the child mentioned in 1491 was
named Poul, after her father. This Poul Olsen may also have had Bjergegård, but we only hear of him
in connection with a dispute over inheritance in his wife's family.
On the 19th of November 1511, and later on 7th of March 1522 Anders Galen in Lund makes his
testament, and among his heirs he mentions Jørgen Hals and his sister Anna, but in a condescending
manner. Two months after Anders Galen made his last testament, Jørgen Hals complains to the court
on Bornholm that he and his sisters are not recognised as Anders Galen's heirs. The governor of the
island, Niels Jepsen, gives the court a statement on the matter, and the jurors of the court make
their judgementon the 22nd of May 1522 that Jørgen Hals and his sisters were born in matrimony. Ten
noblemen sealed the document as witnesses. Two we shall make notice of: 'Hans Borgeby in Borgegård'
and 'Hans Pedersen in Østermarie', who is mentioned among the parish bailiffs, but with no title.
This was not enough to resolve the matter! Two months later, on the 26thof July another witness
claims that the mother's mother of Jørgen Hals was the mother of Anders Galen. Why care about her?
Perhaps the inheritance came from her. She was named Karine, and was a widow in 1473 and 1476. I
guess that she was of the family Rani (a long explanation, so I shall not comment now, perhaps a
daughter of Jep Tuesen).
This helped! On the 2nd of July 1523 several of the heirs sold their share of the inheritance (4
farms, 1 vornede and a meadow) in Hyltebjerg, Vemmenhøgs herred, Skåne. The heirs in question are
Jørgen Hals, AxelPoulsen and Oluf Due, and we are told they all are living in Østermarie parish.
Then came the reformation in 1536, and many private people tried to get back the donations that
their ancestors have given to the church, because the contract was now invalid: the church had been
given the farms in return for providing masses to the souls of the dead. But now with the
reformation the masses were stopped.
Circa 1530 a more detailed document on the Hals court case was made with 6 sections.
1) Jørgen Hals, Anne Poul Olsens and Else Ødberns were Anders Galens heirs.
2) Anders Galen was brother to their mother.
3) They had not inherited any more goods than that in Hyltebjerg, neither in Skåne, nor on
Bornholm.
4) Jørgen Hals, Axel Poulsen (son of Anne Poul Olsens)and Oluf Due (married to a daughter of Anne
Poul Olsens) had sold 2 partsof the goods, the 3rd part belonged to Else Ødberns.
5) Anne Poul Olsens and Else Ødberns were Jørgen Hals' true sisters.
6) Mr. Skelm was the dean for Bornholm, he died in Lund, owned Spidlegård (Åker) and was born in
Blekinge (he must have had some knowledge to the case - perhaps he had baptised the brothers and
sisters).
Two priests are involved in the creation of this document: Mr. Hans of Østermarie (where most of
them lived), and Mr. Hans of Vestermarie. (Why is he mixed up in this? Because of the Bjergegård
family?) As a result the heirs received more goods! Five farms in Øya, near Ystad, which Anders
Galen had given the church in 1498, came to the heirs. AxelPoulsen (mentioned before) sold the lot
to the king's bailiff Sti Pors (probably between 1541 and 1548 when we know he often came to
Bornholm). In 1550 Sti Pors is summoned to defend his possession of the farms.
A later Axel Poulsen (a son of the son?) owned 62' sg. (Palmegård) in Vestermarie in the beginning
of the 1600s. A daughter was perhaps married to Christian Bagge, their son might have been Absalon
Bagge (Axelis a short form for Absalon), who's daughter carried the name Absalon to a branch of the
Kofoeds.
Let us return to Bjergegård. We saw that Jens Jensen, then Oluf Jensen and probably Poul Olsen all
lived at the estate. How came Hans Borreby in possession of the farm in 1522? Was Poul Olsen
already dead, and the widow Anne Hals had remarried to Hans Borreby?
In 1537 Hans Pedersen in Bjerregård and his wife's mother Anne, widow after Hans Borreby, are
summoned to the king's court by Peder Andersen married to Hans Borreby's sister, Eline. The dispute
is over Myregård in Åker, their joint inheritance. According to medieval law a son inherits a
double part, a daughter a single part. Hans Borreby had had 2/3 of the estate, but he had no
children, which is why Eline expected to inherit from him. Never the less, Hans had given Anne and
her children from her former marriage the estate, which was legal according to the laws of Skåne as
long as the gift did not exceed half of his entire estate, which it did not. The king, however,
ruled against Anne Hals, because she had been supported by the king's opponents (Lübeck) - a long
story.
It is now possible (in 1537) that 'Anne Poul Olsens' is the same woman as 'Anne Hans Borrebys.' And
that her children are Axel Poulsen and a daughter who in 1523 was the wife of Oluf Due - who might
now be dead. And that this daughter is now (in 1537) married to Hans Pedersen (of Østermarie in
1522), who had moved to Bjergegård in Vestermarie (before1537). A 2nd daughter ought to have been
mentioned as an heir in 1523; which is why I guess that there were only two children.
These families I call 'The older Bjerregårds Family' (until now: armorial arms unknown), and Hans
Pedersen and his brother, judge LarsPedersen, the oldest so far of 'The younger Bjerregårds Family'
(arms: in white a red 'geddekæft', at the helmet 2 white buffalo's horns.
And now I shall stop for today! I hope you can use and will comment this little story!