About the Burgdorf(f) Family's Origin

Widespread between Harz and Heide — The Burgdorf Family, a Lower Saxon Family (I)

Peiner Zeitung, May 1939 (probably published 11.5.1939)

The Burgdorf family is widespread in the area between the Harz Mountains and the Heide region⁶ of our Lower Saxony region resp. state. In the villages of Luttrum, Wartjenstedt, Baddekenstedt, Groß-Mahner, Jerstedt, Langelsheim, Adersheim, Beddingen, Cramme, Geitelde, Heerte, Immendorf, Engerode, Groß-Elbe, Hohenassel, Watenstedt, Gebhardshagen, Hallendorf, Reppner, Lesse, Barbecke, Lengde, Klein-Lafferde, Oberg, Gadenstedt, Schmedenstedt, Dungelbeck, Groß-Lafferde, Woltwiesche and other places, families of this name have often been resident for many centuries, mostly as farmers. Members of the family are particularly common in the last two places mentioned. In Woltwiesche, there are probably a dozen farms where Burgdorfs live today, and in Groß-Lafferde⁸ there are many more. Early on, members of the clan also settled in the towns of Goslar, Wolfenbüttel, Hildesheim, Peine, Hanover and Brunswick. The address book of the latter city alone lists 78 families or independent individuals of this name.

These families are, as can easily be proven by documents, more or less closely related to each other by blood, and thus ultimately descended from the same line. But who was the progenitor of this widely ramified family? From which ancestral seat did it originate? The following remarks are intended to answer these questions, which are primarily and foremost of interest to the members of the clan.⁹

The well-known Brunswick district court judge Georg Bode¹⁰ (*12.10.1838 Eschershausen −15.2.1910 Braunschweig), author of the Urkundenbuch, a document book¹¹ of the town of Goslar, and other local historians have established that a von Burgdorf family of knights was already resident in the northern Harz foreland in the early Middle Ages, which was one of the most respected and richest families in the country in the 12th and 13th centuries, but then rapidly declined towards the end of the 14th century due to the abandonment of its extensive possessions.

The fact that numerous Burgdorfs still live on inherited farms in the area where this old dynasty lived makes the assumption that they are the descendants of that dynasty seem justified. However, before proving that this is indeed the case, some information about the v. Burgdorff¹² noble family is given here.

The Sudendorf document book states that in 993 King Otto III sought to determine the border between Eastphalia and Engern with the help of and by questioning the nobles living in the border region. Among other nobles, an Adelhard de thurnithe (v. Dörnten) is also mentioned. Descendants of this Adelhard are the brothers Arnold and Lüdiger von Thornthunen (v. Dörnten), mentioned in a document from 1133 (source: Urkundenbuch der Stadt Goslar, Vol. 1, No. 184), who, at the request of Bishop Bernhard of Hildesheim, released the inhabitants of Hahndort from their ties to the mother church in Dörnten after building a church there. In a document from the year 1142 (source: Urkundenbuch der Stadt Goslar, Vol. 1, No. 196), which was issued by the same bishop and deals with the division of a forest between the interested parties of the villages of Othfresen and Hoysem,¹³ Arnold and Lüdiger are not called v. Dörnten, but v. Burgdorf. If one adds that in a document issued in the market church of Goslar in 1151 (source: Urkundenbuch der Stadt Goslar, Vol. 1, No. 212), Lüdiger v. Burgdorf is described as the uncle of Adelhard v. Burgdorf (Arnold’s son), then there can hardly be any doubt that Arnold and Lüdiger v. Dörnten and Arnold and Lüdiger v. Burgdorf are the same persons. According to Bode, this change of name is due to the fact that the brothers moved their residence there after building a fortified castle in the village of Burgdorf (the village near the castle) near the Pfalz of Werla,¹⁴ because this place was more central to their extensive possessions. With the exception of Adelhard v. Dörnten, Arnold and Lüdiger are to be regarded as the progenitors of the Burgdorff dynasty. The name of their new place of residence became the family name, which has been retained by all their descendants to the present day, albeit with the loss of the title of nobility.

It would go too far here to go into the many branches of the v. Burgdorff family tree, or to pay attention to the numerous documents in which members of the family are mentioned. Only the most important of what Georg Bode writes about them in the already repeatedly mentioned book of documents of the town of Goslar is given here.

According to this, the v. Burgdorfs and their ancestors the v. Dörnten appear very early in the Harz historical sources. They originally belonged to the higher nobility and are regularly listed among the liberi et nobilis (the free and noble) in the course of the 12th century, especially when they are named as witnesses in documents of spiritual and secular lords. They were related by marriage to the v. Wanzleben, v. Minsleben, v. Blankenburg, v. Stolberg and v. Bortfeld families, among others. The family’s rich estates also extended along the eastern edge of the Harz Mountains, particularly in the vicinity of Harzburg Castle, where the family itself held one of the larger castle fiefs. The family had a special relationship with St. Georgenberg Abbey just outside Goslar, over which the v. Burgdorfs held bailiwick rights for several centuries. They also had their burial place in the collegiate church, which was destroyed along with the other collegiate buildings in a feud between the Dukes of Brunswick and the town of Goslar in 1527. The ruins of this former church have recently been uncovered again; the town of Goslar has also named a street in the St. Georgenberg district, namely the v. Burgdorf-Straße in order to revive the memory of the former lords of the manor.

But the splendor of the dynasty and its importance was lost early on, at least in the younger line descending from Lüdiger. However, the line descended from Arnold also experienced a certain downgrading as early as 1157, when it was removed from its direct relationship with the emperor and the empire as loyal and noble imperial ministers, when Emperor Barbarossa exchanged his imperial minister Adelhard v. Burgdorf, Arnold’s son, together with his children and all his personal property and the imperial estates to Duke Henry the Lion (source: Orig. Guelf III page 466). The family was unable to maintain its favored position in the following period. As early as the fourth generation, its members entered the dukes’ service and, losing their previously privileged position, sank first into the lower nobility and then into the bourgeoisie¹⁵ and peasantry.

This decline may have been partly self-inflicted, but it was mainly due to the circumstances of the time. As a result of the countless feuds that the knights had to fight among themselves or with the towns at that time, many once wealthy and prosperous families were reduced to beggary. The von Burgdorff family’s financial circumstances were also very poor. They were constantly in financial straits. When in need, they usually turned to the wealthy St. Georgenberg Abbey, which seems to have been almost the Burgdorf family’s bank. One sum after another was borrowed and valuable family property was pledged against it. In the rarest of cases, it was possible to redeem the pledged items, which then became the property of the monastery. Around this time, the monastery gained the patronage in Dörnten, the bailiwick over a large estate in Othfresen and then a valuable item which was of the greatest importance to the monastery, the bailiwick over the entire estate of the monastery itself, which the v. Burgdorfs had previously held. Other authorities, mostly monasteries in the area, also sought to enrich themselves at the expense of the family and to seize their properties.

In 1316, the knight Ludolf von Burgdorf ceded his right to seven hooves of land (1 hoove equals about 30 Morgen which is about 15 acres) to the Neuwerk monastery in Goslar, and the children of the knights Heinrich and Alard von Burgdorf waived their claims to three hooves and the Dikhof in Dörnten in favor of the same monastery. In 1321, brothers Willikin, Ludolf and Johann von Burgdorf certify that they have given the monastery of Neuwerk a further three hooves in Dörnten. Around this time, Ludolf and Hennig von Burgdorf pledge their unoccupied estate at Wülferingerode, their people and their goods at Döhren and Burgdorf for 50 marks of silver. The squire Alard v. Burgdorf cedes the Schermershof in Klein-Döhren belonging to him to the citizen Krokolus in Goslar, and Alard the Elder sells five hooves, five farms and a meadow in Burgdorf to the New Hospital in Goslar, which also acquires half the tithes in Groß-Flöthe from the brothers Heinrich and Alberich v. Burgdorf. In 1312, they renounce one hoof in Burgdorf in favor of the Dorstadt monastery. In the same year, Alard sells his free Sattelhof in and four hooves of land near Othfresen to Wölteringerode Abbey. In 1333, Alverich v. Burgdorf confesses that he no longer has any claims to the mill of St. Georgenberg Abbey in front of the Broad Gate at Goslar after receiving compensation, and finally the squires Alard and Heinrich v. Burgdorf renounce their bailiwick rights to three hooves and two mills at Othfresen.

Widespread between Harz and Heide — The Burgdorf Family, a Lower Saxon Family (II)

Peiner Zeitung, 12.5.1939, No. 110, page 2

This decline of the dynasty, characterized by the sale of land and property and the relinquishment of rights to land and people, was halted once again, albeit only temporarily, around the middle of the 14th century by Emperor Charles IV, who is often mentioned in the present day and who showed the family his particular benevolence by granting them their valuable imperial estates. The deed of feoffment issued in Weißwasser in Bohemia on November 9, 1357 (original in the University Archives in Göttingen; printed in the U.-B. of the City of Goslar, vol. 4, no. 610) reads: „We, Charles of God’s Grace, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Beheim,¹⁶ etc., declare openly with our „dussen brewe“ that we give to our dear, trusted Alard v. Borchtorp and Alard and Henry his brothers this written good from us and the Holy Riche as a fief: of irst 14 huben of land at Werle and the church fiefdom there; 5 huben at Borchtorp and the church fiefdom with all its uses and benefits, the market and the court in the Dorpe, the law and the woodland there and the grass; 8 huben at Lewen close to Borchtorp, 5 huben zu großen dörnten, which belong to the Dinghove, zwo huben at lutzil Dornten, 5 huben zat Dorndehusen, 9 huben zu Dornthon, 9 huben at lutzil Elvede und the church fiefdom, sybenzehn pfund (i.e. seventeen pound) kaisirpfennige at the bailiwick in Goslar und „dru hus“ there as well, 4 wood sheets and half a huben near Wollingerode, which belong to the Alerdesstein (today Alsberg, castle ruins in the Edertal), 2 huben to the Ryenstat under the Harzborg, 1 huben to große Were, three and a half huben to Kalbrecht, 8 huben to Grona and 7 huben to Bodenhusen“. In return for these grants, the Emperor expects the three brothers mentioned to be loyally devoted to him and the Empire in accordance with feudal law and custom.¹⁷

It should then be noted that it is highly unlikely that the emperor had any right of disposal over the above-mentioned estates, since according to the decision of the Peace of Würzburg of 1121, the German emperors had to cede for all time the rights to which they were originally entitled to the smaller imperial fiefs or the princes, in this case the Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The latter were therefore entitled to the right of feoffment. As it appeared and happened, the von Burgdorfs did not accept these fiefs from the Emperor. They would undoubtedly have incurred the wrath of the dukes, which could have had dire consequences for the von Burgdorfs.

Incidentally, in order to understand the favoring of the von Burgdorf family by the emperor, one must know the internal political conditions that prevailed in the empire at the time, and in particular the position of the head of the empire in relation to the secular dukes. Around the middle of the 14th century, Lüneburg was ruled by Duke Wilhelm, who died in 1369 without leaving any male descendants. Already 14 years before his death, he had concluded an inheritance treaty with his cousin, Duke Magnus of Brunswick, to the effect that Lüneburg was to be reunited with Brunswick after his death. Emperor Charles IV did not recognize this treaty, regarded Lüneburg as an imperial fief and transferred it to his relatives, the Dukes Wenzlaus and Albrecht of Saxe Wittenberg. When Magnus, who had already taken possession of the Lüneburg lands in the meantime, did not comply with the emperor’s order to return them, he imposed the imperial ban on him, declared him to have forfeited all his lands and handed over the ducal fiefs to the nobles of the land in the hope of persuading them to secede from their rightful lord. He did not succeed. The v. Saldern, v. Schwicheldt, v. Gadenstedt, v. Cramme, v. Honlege, v. Alten and others remained loyal to the duke, as did the v. Burgdorf, whom the emperor still calls his dear and loyal ones in the above document.

The Wittenberg dukes would probably never have succeeded in gaining a firm foothold in the Duchy of Lüneburg if Magnus had not committed the imprudence of making enemies with the then powerful Hanseatic city of Lüneburg, his second city of residence. When, soon after his seizure of power, he encroached on the town’s old, guaranteed rights and freedoms and had a fortress built on the Kalkberg at the gates of the town, which made the citizens feel threatened in their security, they drove out their oppressors, summoned the dukes Wenzlaus and Albrecht, who were favored by the emperor, and paid homage to them. Now the so-called Lüneburg War of Succession broke out, which lasted almost 20 years and completely devastated large areas of our immediate homeland, especially the region between Hanover, Celle, Peine and Gifhorn. This conflict, which was waged with varying success and was decided in 1387 by the victory of the Brunswickers at Winsen a.d. Aller¹⁸ in their favor, had demanded enormous sacrifices of property and blood from all those involved, but especially from the knights who, according to the applicable feudal law, had to bear the costs of armaments and provisions for themselves and their men. The v. Burgdorfs, who had already seen their fortunes decline, now became completely impoverished and, in response to necessity, had to relinquish the properties they had still held.

In 1375, during the feud, the two Alards confessed that they had transferred four hooves in the „villa Borchtorp“¹⁹ and a Meierhof there to Pleban Henricus in Bornum for 48 marks. At the same time, they transferred four other fields in Burgdorf to the St. Georgenberg Abbey. In 1383 the family sold all their estates in Dörnten to the same monastery. In 1391 the two Alards and their wives renounced their estates in Werla and Burgdorf and soon afterwards transferred their estates in Groß- and Klein-Döhren to the Maria virg. brotherhood in Goslar and testified to the brothers Hans and Henning von Bethingerode that they had redeemed themselves from all bondage to them. The castle of Wiedelah, which Heinrich Bock and Hans von Burgdorf held jointly, must also be pledged in 1381 and then given up. However, in the feudal book of Duke Friedrich of Brunswick, dated 1385, Alard of Burgdorf is still mentioned as the holder of important fiefs. There it says: „Alerd hest von uns to lene 36 Huben to Osterachem lutgudes un das kerklehen darsulves, 2 Huben to bortzene (BörÝum), de vogeti over 4 Huben up dem velde to tymberen usw.“ (Achim and Timmern nearby BörÝum).

After 1400, however, a v. Burgdorf belonging to the knighthood is no longer mentioned in the documents as the lord of larger estates. With the loss of their estates, their former position of power and importance was also gone. If they did not want to meet their complete downfall, they had to adapt to the changed circumstances, for better or worse, and continue the struggle for existence on a different basis. Thus some entered the service of more powerful lords as retainers, others became farmers, and still others moved to the city, acquired citizenship and worked as merchants or craftsmen. The fact that the development of this ancient noble family took place in the manner described above is easily documented.

As early as 1406, for example, a Borchtorp is mentioned among the 32 farmers of Wendeburg who were robbed of all their cattle by the bailiff Mettenkop of Peine Castle (source: Sudendorf, vol. 10, no. 120). In 1412 the burgher²⁰ and grocer Hennig Borchtorp lived in the town of Brunswick, for whom the council of the town of Hildesheim applied for the release of his goods held in Bielefeld (Doebner, vol. 3, no. 555). Around 1500, the Brunswick citizen Berthold Borchtorp was entitled to claim the interest on a Burgdorff farm in Woltwiesche.²¹

The Burgdorfs must also have lived in Hildesheim at an early date, as the tax lists for this town from 1406 to 1413 list them as citizens: Eykerd and Tewes von Borchtorp, and in 1434 Henning v. Borchtorp is the owner of a house located „Aud dem Scharren“ (source: Doebner, vol. 4, no. 234).

It is striking that the Hildesheim Burgdorfs, in contrast to their Brunswick namesakes, retained their noble name even as citizens. Since it can hardly be assumed that the latter had given it up voluntarily, one would not be wrong in assuming that they had been forced to do so by their former fellow citizens. Harenberg also supports this view in his 1734 work “Historia ecclesia Gandershemensis”. He writes there: “Since Joachim von Borchtorp — who was captain and pledge holder of the Meinersen office — had been outlawed by diplomatic means in 1462 and 1480, his sons, who were ordered to leave the knighthood, gave up the remains of their father’s estates through the disfavor of the times. The grandsons, however, preferred to discard the old nobility rather than bring shame and dishonor upon themselves.” There is no doubt that the Brunswick nobility not only considered Joachim, but also all the other v. Burgdorfs, insofar as they had a bourgeois occupation or had become dependent in some way, no longer worthy of continuing their ancient nobility and forced them to renounce it. The situation in Hildesheim was considerably different in this respect. Although the bishops had certain sovereign rights over the city, their influence was not sufficient to restrict the rights and freedoms of the citizens. First and foremost, they were obliged to obey the city council and only accepted instructions and orders from it. However, the council had not the slightest interest in increasing the aristocracy’s arrogance by ordering its citizens to discard their noble name if they were entitled to use it. This explains why the Burgdorfs of Hildesheim still called themselves v. Burgdorf, even as citizens and merchants.²²

Widespread between Harz and Heath — The Burgdorf Family, a Lower Saxon Family (III)

Peiner Zeitung, 15.5.1939, No. 112, page 2

The decline of the v. Burgdorff dynasty began much earlier in the lineage starting from Lüdiger, who initiated it with the sale of his Thiedwardingerode²³ estate to St. Georgenberg Abbey in 1151. All we know of him is that his sons were called Hermann and Alverich, and that they in turn had sons whose names are not even mentioned. A few generations later, however, a Thegenhard v. Burgdorf reappears in the documents, whom Georg Bode recognized as a member of the Lüdiger line and of whom it is reported that he left three sons, namely Walter, Bernhard and Dietrich. The latter arouses our particular interest because he can be regarded as the progenitor of the Woltwiescher, the Groß-Lafferder, the Söhlder, the Lengeder and probably also the Lesser Burgdorfs. This assumption is supported by a document written in Latin (original in the Hanover State Archives, Kreuzstift, no. 226; printed in Hoogeweg, U.-B. des Hochstifts Hildesheim, vol. 4, no. 576) which reads something like this in translation:

“The knights Dietrich v. Walmoden, Johann v. Saldern and the squires of Johann v. Saldern and Dietrich v. Walmoden named Pawenberg²⁴ to the venerable dean and entire chapter of the monastery of the Holy Cross in Hildesheim in humble obeisance. We request and implore Your Reverence to defend Dietrich v. Burgdorf, residing in Woltwiesche, against whom you have proceeded with excommunication, and whom we represent and defend on behalf of our Lord, the Duke of Lüneburg, in view of our intervention, not to harass him further and not to cause him any harm; rather, as long as we are active in this matter from Lichtenberg Castle (i.e. Lichtenberg belonged at that time as an enclave to the Duchy of Lüneburg), not to interfere with his traditional bailiwick rights. Or, if it is agreeable to you, we will set a suitable date for negotiations with you, where we will then give and take what the law requires with regard to the aforementioned lord.

We ask for your opinion on the above in a letter of reply.

Given at Lichtenberg on the eve of St. Mary Magdalene (between 1320 and 1330).”

This letter shows that Dietrich v. Burgdorf was the ducal Lüneburg bailiff in Woltwiesche and was dependent on the Lichtenberg lords of the castle. Although it is not stated why he was excommunicated, the imposition of the ecclesiastical ban on him is most probably closely connected with the historical events that took place in the district of Lichtenberg at that time. At that time, the Bishop of Hildesheim ordered that his peasants living in the district of Lichtenberg should pay him not only the agreed land rent and other customary farm dues, but also land and treasuries, i.e. regular land taxes. The Duke of Lüneburg regarded this as an encroachment on his sovereign rights. He ordered his bailiffs to prevent the collection of these taxes by the Hildesheim officials and, if necessary, to protect the peasants against violence. It was inevitable that the Woltwiesche bailiff Dietrich v. Burgdorf came into conflict with the Kreuzstift in Hildesheim, which owned several farms and farmers in this place, in the exercise of his office, which caused the dean of the monastery to excommunicate his opponent. The Lichtenberg lords of the castle then informed him that they would represent and defend the outlaw on behalf of their duke and asked him not to interfere with Dietrich v. Burgdorf’s traditional bailiwick rights until the dispute had been settled amicably. We do not know how this dispute ended, but what is certain is that it lasted for decades and was carried out in such a way that the opponents robbed each other’s livestock, pillaged the border villages and mistreated and abducted innocent farmers. It was not until 1404 that the feud “on the long meadow” near Bettmar²⁵ was finally settled.

In the earliest times, the lords of the land owned property in some of their villages, which usually consisted of a main farm and a number of subsidiary farms. They entrusted the management of these to a steward (major = Meyer),²⁶ who was obliged to deliver the produce to the princely court. The steward often gave the outlying farmsteads to farmers, called Laten, for independent cultivation. In return, they had to serve on the main farm. The further development of these farms either took place in such a way that the outlying farms were united with the main farm, which then grew into a manor, or they remained in the possession of the Laten and became their property over time. In the latter case, the manor farm, although it far outweighed the other farms in the village in size and prestige, retained the character of a peasant estate and was classified as a Meyer farm. These also became hereditary in the Meyer family.²⁷

The fact that the Brunswick dukes also owned such a farm in Woltwiesche is evident from Duke Friedrich’s fief book of 1385, which states: We (Duke Friedrich) hebben gelegen (enfeoffed) Hern Borchard v. Gadenstedt with IIII. hone and 1 Hof to Woltwiesche und de molen de lewendale (i.e. Lauenthaler Mühle, North of Groß Lafferde) (source: Sudendorf, vol. 6, page 66).

This farm, which Duke Friedrich gave Borchard v. Gadenstedt as a fief in 1385, will certainly have been in the possession of the Brunswick dukes 50 years earlier, i.e. at the time when Dietrich v. Burgdorf was ducal bailiff in Woltwiesche. What could be more obvious than the assumption that they gave this farm to their bailiff as a service fief for his use? Later it passed into the possession of the Burgdorff family, whose rights were in no way diminished by the aforementioned enfeoffment to the v. Gadenstedts, as this only resulted in a change of feudal lords.

There is no information about the Woltwiesche Burgdorfs until 1540. Only the inheritance register books of the Amt Lichtenberg contain information about them again. In the oldest of these books from 1540, the Meierhof belonging to Hennig Burgdorf is listed as the first farm in Woltwiesche. Four hooves of land belong to this farm, two of which are Gadenstedt’s feudal land. There can therefore be little doubt that this Meierhof is the old ducal farm on which the bailiff Dietrich v. Burgdorf lived in 1330 and which Duke Friedrich gave as a fief to Berthold v. Gadenstedt in 1385. In addition to this Meyerhof, we find three other Burgdorf farms listed under Woltwiesche in that register of inheritance. Are these the ancillary farms that originally belonged to the main farm, which the bailiff Dietrich von Burgdorf gave to his descendant sons or other relatives?

In 1540 Hermann Burgdorf lived on the first of these farms, which included one hoof of land and another hoof of Gadenstedt fiefdom land; the second, a v. Salderscher fiefdom with one hoof of land, was owned by Hennig Burgdorf and the last was owned by Hans Burgdorf, who was obliged to pay interest to the chapter of Hildesheim. In the farm register from 1548, essentially the same entries were made about the farms mentioned; in 1566, however, only two Burgdorff farms are mentioned. Since the total number of Woltwiesche farms has also decreased by two, the two Burgdorff farms no longer listed must have disappeared in the meantime. In all probability, however, their estates were merged with the other two farms, as these were considerably enlarged according to the information in the registers of inheritance from 1566. Unfortunately, the records provide no information as to why the farms were destroyed and how they came to be destroyed.

Nevertheless, it is possible to provide an answer to these questions, taking into account the local historical events of the time. Around the middle of the 16th century, wild feuds raged through the Brunswick countryside. The Catholic-minded Duke Henry the Younger was at enmity with the capital of his country and some of its nobility. The latter formed an alliance with the Duke’s mortal enemy, Count Volrad von Mansfeld. In 1552, the latter appeared in the country with a large army of mercenaries, chased the duke away with the help of the rebellious nobility and plundered his duchy in a terrible manner, especially the district of Lichtenberg. The castles of Steterburg, Ringelheim, Gandersheim, Heiningen and Riechenberg were burned to the ground, and the fortresses of Wohldenberg, Schladen, Liebenburg and Steinbrück were taken by the Mansfelds. Lichtenberg Castle was the last to fall after valiant resistance. It was completely razed to the ground and never rebuilt. The ruins still bear witness to its former size and strength. At the same time, the villages of Oberfreden and Niederfreden in the district of Lichtenberg, not far from Lesse, were also burned to the ground. Although the other villages in the district were spared the same fate, hardly any village in the area escaped completely unscathed. Not even Woltwiesche! The two Burgdorff farms in this village, whose desolate sites are still known to every Woltwiesche village child as „Der große Hof“²⁸ and the “Struck” according to the inheritance register book of 1566, bear witness to this. They unquestionably met their demise in the feud of 1552, which was so disastrous for the Brunswick region. The reason why two Burgdorf farms in Woltwiesche were destroyed was that the feudal lords of these farms, the Lords v. Saldern and v. Gadenstedt, who were loyal to Duke Henry, were also to be harmed.

Widespread between Harz and Heath — The Burgdorf Family, a Lower Saxon Family (IV) — Conclusion

Peiner Zeitung, 16.5.1939, No. 113, page 2

The larger farm, which remained intact after the feud, comprised 4½ hooves of land and belonged to Hermann Burgdorf in 1566, Heinrich Burgdorf in 1579 and Adam Burgdorf in 1593. The latter held his property partly in fief from the v. Stoppler family and partly from the v. Gadenstedt family. He does not appear to have lived in good financial circumstances. After 1600, the burden of debts and taxes on his farm had become overwhelming. To name just a few obligations, “the poor people of St. Leonhard” in Brunswick had to demand 10 bushels²⁹ of rye and 6 bushels of oats every year. 1 bushel equaled 12 Hmpt. (i.e. Himpten³⁰). To Zacharias Burgdorf (in Brunswick?) had to be delivered for a loan of 250 gulden the equivalent amount of 7½ Hmpt. rye and 9 Hmpt. oats. To the Meierding³¹ in Reppner the farm had to deliver 1¾ Hmpt. wheat. Wilhelm von Stoppler claimed an annual interest of three guilders. The parish priest in Niederfreden drew hereditary interest from an eighth of a hoof. 7½ acres of farmland belonged to Sander Burgdorf in Brunswick and Jakob Burgdorf there was entitled to 1 bushel of rye and 9 Hmpt. oats.

This debt, which was excessive by the standards of the time, led to the sale of the farm. Whether this took place during Adam Burgdorf’s lifetime or soon after his death remains to be seen.³² In any case, Curt Borchers became the owner of the farm in 1622. After a short time, Heinrich Burgdorf acquired it from him, who sold it again a few years later to Arnold Vogts. As a result of this frequent change of ownership, which usually also involved the exchange and pledging of farm lands, these seem to have become so mixed up that it is almost impossible to recognize them as parts of the Adam Burgdorff farm. Only this much can be considered certain, that the land that was owned by the v. Stoppler and the v. Gadenstedt lords but being the fief of the Burgdorff family in Woltwiesche (so-called Struckhoflandäreien³³) remained with Adam Burgdorff’s farm, which later received the number 19 in Woltwiesche.³⁴ In this farm, with which the Hanoverian government still enfeoffed the Kötner Johann Heinrich Burgdorf in 1828, and which is expressly referred to in the fief letter issued about it as a former v. Stoppler fief and from which the v. Gadenstedt fief lands of the Strukhof were only separated in 1856, it is easy to recognize the old ducal Meierhof, on which Dietrich v. Burgdorf lived in 1330, Hennig Burgdorf in 1540 and Hans Heinrich Burgdorf in 1740, and which has remained in the possession of this family to this day.

The second Burgdorff farm, which survived the unfortunate year of 1552, belonged to Hans Burgdorf in 1566, who held it in fief from the v. Saldern family. In 1622 Hans Burgdorf was again the owner of this farm, who enlarged it by acquiring a hoof of Gadenstedt fief from the dismembered Adam Burgdorff farm. With this, however, he probably also assumed the obligation resting on this land to pay the Großlafferder Burgdorfs a levy of 2 bushels of 8 Hmpt. rye and two bushels of 4 Hmpt. oats for a number of years. The mention of the Großlafferder Burgdorfs in this context indicates a connection with the Woltwiescher Burgdorfs. The fact that it actually existed can be proven from the Lafferde church register. There it is noted that a Hans Brugdorf, born in Woltwiesche in 1576, married into the Brüdernhof (No. 38) in Groß Lafferde between 1600 and 1606. Presumably he was a younger brother of Adam Burgdorf, and the grain annuity from Woltwiesche was his dowry, with which he was compensated by his father’s farm according to the custom of the time. Through Hans Burgdorf, the family was transplanted to Groß Lafferde. His direct descendants still live on the Brüdernhof today. The other Lafferder Burgdorffs, who ultimately originated from this farm, can also claim Hans Burgdorf as their progenitor.

The Burgdorfs also appear early on in the neighboring village of Söhlde, South of Groß Lafferde. The inheritance register books of the Steinbrück office (source: St.-Arch. Hannover) from 1578 mention a Hans Burgdorf who owns a Kothof in Söhlde with one hoof of land “from his wife’s inheritance”, who must therefore have married into this farm. Furthermore, it is reported that he also owns 4 acres of land around Woltwiescher Felde (i.e. farmland still close to Woltwiesche). This fact, as well as a note in the church register of Woltwiesche, according to which a H. Burgdorf from Söhlde stood godfather to a Burgdorff child in the Woltwiesche church (1610), indicate that his family ties extended to Woltwiesche, that he himself came from this village and that the Woltwiesche land was his paternal inheritance. Accordingly, the Söhlde line of the family, which is still flourishing today,³⁵ must have been founded from Woltwiesche.

We meet the Burgdorfs in Lesse even earlier than in Groß Lafferde and Söhlde. In 1540 a Hans v. Burgdorf lived here, who owned a Kothof with one hoof of land. In 1579 Hans Burgdorf, presumably his son, and in 1622 Dietrich Burgdorf are registered as owners of the farm. Whether these were also descended from the Woltwiescher Burgdorfs has not yet been proven. However, considering that they are mentioned in documents 200 years earlier than the Lesser family and that the Lesser family often have the same first names (Hans and Dietrich) as their namesakes from Woltwiesche, this assumption is not entirely unfounded.

It is striking that the first-named Hans calls himself von Burgdorf despite his peasant status. He must still have been aware of his noble origins, for without any reason he would hardly have dared to claim the right to use the title of nobility for himself. It is surprising that his noble landlords, above all the v. Salderns, as had happened before, did not hinder him in this, but this can be explained by the events of the time. During the turmoil of the Reformation, which reached its climax in the Brunswick region with the expulsion of the Catholic-minded Duke Henry the Younger, the nobles who sided with the duke, including the v. Saldern family in Lichtenberg, whose castle was destroyed in 1552, were also in dire straits. Their concern for their own security and preservation took up all their time, so that they were not able to concern themselves with matters of a secondary nature, such as the question of the names of their official subjects. But as soon as the v. Salderns had taken back their old position of power, things changed. The fact that Hans Burgdorf returned to his commoner’s name in 1579 is proof that he was forced to give up his nobility. Dietrich and his younger brother Jonas Burgdorf also called themselves without the title of nobility. It was up to the latter to raise the reputation and status of his family again. As corn clerk of Heiningen Abbey and later as administrator of Lamspringe Abbey, he distinguished himself to such an extent that his duke appointed him bailiff at Winzenburg Castle. When Duke Friedrich Ulrich was forced to return the castle to the Hildesheim monastery in 1630, Jonas Burgdorf resigned because he refused to enter the bishop’s service. His son Heinrich, on the other hand, paid homage to the new sovereign and became his father’s successor in office. His son in turn was Heinrich Albrecht Burgdorf, who was born at Winzenburg Castle in 1631 and later became court chamberlain and owner of the Harbarnsen and Clepa estates. Of his 13 children, Anton Ulrich was the most successful. He was ennobled by Charles VI, the father of the famous Empress Maria Theresa, because, as Harenberg says in his work “Historia ecclesia Gandershemensis”, he was the most worthy man in terms of merit and years, and because through him the ancient and well-established Burgdorff nobility was to be renewed. There is an oil painting³⁶ of Anton Ulrich Burgdorff³⁷ in the state archives in Wolfenbüttel, which depicts him as Subsenior of Gandersheim Abbey. Descendants of him are still alive today.³⁸