| Notater |
- The first time he is mentioned is in 1547: "Hans Berrildsen i Ocker sogen paa Borringhollum" and "Tegnelse over alle Lande" - he was probably living at Bjergeg?rd, 24 Vdg. in ?ker parish. (Source: "Danske Magazin", 1864, page 306) According to Kure's farm-list he owned Store Halseg?rd (later called Gadebyg?rd) and Lille Halseg?rd (later called Halseg?rd) in ?stermarie parish, which either his wife inherited, or he himself purchased from his wife's father's sister (faster) Anne Pedersdatter Hals.
Also known as Hans Berendsen, the names Berild/Berel, Berend/Berrett/Beritz are variants of the name Bernhard. According to Sigvard Mahler Dam's article "Landet Borringholm", part 2 (published in SAXO, 1986), Hans Berildsen/Berendsen may possibly be the son of a Bornholmer "V?bner" (arms carrier) named Bernhardus Joensen mentioned in documents dated 1486 and 1490.
Records show that Hans Berildsen (aka Hans Berendsen) was appointed Co-Chief Justice (Meddommer) for Bornholm on October 19, 1551, along with Hans Reymer and Peder Gagge. He was mentioned in 1551 as "bisiddende dommer" (assessor judge) under Henning Gagge. Hans R?mer only held the position for a couple of years, and was dead by 1553. Peder Gagge and Hans Berildsen are recorded as jointly holding the position of Chief Justice in 1557. After Peder Gagge's death, circa 1559, Hans Berildsen held the position of Chief Justice (Landsdommer) on his own. On July 9, 1561 he was deprived of his justice position because of an incorrect judgement in a theft case; he was later pardoned by King Fredrik III. The exact year of his death is not known, however he must have died sometime between 1562 and 1572, as on September 5, 1572 a Jacob Iversen Borringholm is recorded as being Bornholm's Chief Justice. Hans Berildsen's arms (v?ben): an oak-branch with an acorn (en egegren med et agern). (Sources: Dr. Zarthmann, b. 1-144, Aage Kure, and Sigvard Mahler Dam.)
During a meeting of the High-Court in K?benhavn in the summer of 1553, a farmer named Hans Hintse of R? parish presented a document, written and signed by Co-Justices Peder Gagge and Hans Berildsen, to the effect that he was granted ownership to a particular farm in question. This was approved by the court, even though Commander Boitin and Chief Justice Reymer had condemned Gagge's treatment of the case as highly improper and defiant. Spokesmen for L?beck's council laid a complaint about Peder Gagge during a meeting with King Christian III in Kolding in October of 1553. Apparently the King must have put a stop to Gagge's monopoly of decision-making, as not much was later heard from him in council-matters - even though he carried on as co-justice until his death in 1559.
The Reformation had penetrated the Scandinavian countries in the early 1500s; the introduction of Protestantism was supported by merchants and peasants, and by devout priests who had become followers of Martin Luther. King Frederik I (reigned 1523-1533), who became quite religious in his later years, strongly promoted the establishment of the Lutheran Church. He allowed the leading Danish religious reformer, Hans Tavsen, to preach in the church at Viborg and ordered many Catholic churches in the region destroyed, despite violent protests.
It was King Christian III (reigned 1534-1559), son of Frederik I, who established the state Lutheran Church in Denmark. With the support of the Rigsrad - his advising council of lay members - the king ordered all Roman Catholic property turned over to the crown, and declared the Lutheran Church the national church of Denmark with the king as its head. Henning (J?rgensen) Gagge was an Attendant at the Royal Court in K?benhavn when King Christian III, on July 21, 1551, proclaimed him as manager over all the property on Bornholm formerly owned by the Roman Catholic Church; this included the responsibility of looking after the poor, and all the hospitals on Bornholm.
That same year the King also proclaimed Henning Gagge's brother Peder Gagge as Co-Justice (Meddommer), together with Hans Berildsen, for Bornholm's "Landsting" (provincial congress), an institution which no longer exists). He made this move in response to the L?beck authorities appointing their own man, mayor Hans Rymer (aka R?mer) of R?nne, as Bornholm's chief justice (landsdommer). As the King's faithful men, the two brothers built up strong legal defenses against Hanseatic League city of L?beck; which had gained "temporary" legal control of Bornholm for 50 years, starting in 1525, as a result of Christian III's father Frederik I's inability to pay debts he owed to that city. They had the right to levy taxes upon the inhabitants, this they did unmercifully - i.e. in 1555 L?beck was forced to return 4,000 units of silver it had obtained through over-taxation. The Bornholmers are recorded to have groaned under the Hansa's rule, and declared "they would rather be under the Turks, than under the German, Christian, imperial free-city."
With King Christian III as their ally, the two brothers made considerable gains protecting the legal rights of the inhabitants, and in maintaining the right of ownership the danish crown had on Bornholm, during their dealings with the learned scholar in Roman Law and L?beck representative: Herman Boitin, commander of Hammershus fortress. In fact Peder Gagge's behaviour was so aggressive that Commander Boitin complained to the L?beck council that Peder Gagge wished to decide all matters his own way, and further more insited the people to disobey and riot against L?beck and its representatives on Bornholm.
Extracted from "Landsdommer-Patriciatet p? Bornholm, Del II" (The Chief Justice Patriciate on Bornholm, Part II), by: Sigvard Mahler Dam (SAXO, 1988):
Hans Reimer, Hans Berendsen, Peder Gagge:
On the 19th of October 1551 the king appoints "os elskelige Hans Reymer i R?nne at v?re Landsdommer paa vort land Bordingholm, og os elskelige Peder Gagge og Hans Berrettsen vore m?nd og tjenere med hannem at side udi dom og ret" (our beloved Hans Reymer in R?nne to be chief justice of Bornholm, and our beloved Peder Gagge and Hans Berrettsen, our men and servants, to assist him in his office). This is a completely new situation! All 3 men to sit on the judge's seat! However, this quickly turned out to be too crowded. The king wished to regain control over his island, and he had support from the later two of these men, who repeatedly provoked the L?beck regime. As previously mentioned Hans Reimer a supporter of L?beck - his name even suggests German origins - which suggests that by naming 2 assistant judges the king was attempting to obtain balance. There is not very much information on Hans Reimer, as he only held office for 2 years before he died.
In 1553 a large meeting was held in Kolding, with the king on one side and the L?beck council on the other, wherein numerous complaints were put forward by the peasants against the L?beck's bailiff at Hammershus. Of the 117 complaints against the bailiff only one was turned down! During this meeting the bailiff described the intolerable situation he was up against in Bornholm's Landsting (Parliament), it would seem the king's sabotage was a success!
Here is the bailiff's statement: "The instalment, 2 years ago, by His Royal Majesty of Peder Gagge and Hans Berentsen as assistants to the chief justice and myself at the Landsting was unnecessary, as all freemen and important peasants attend the Landsting and help in passing sentences. Especially Peder Gagge is abusing this right, and he is perpetrating all forms of disobedience, obstinate behaviour and revolt. . . Peder Gagge is not content to have a say in the passing of a sentence, but insists in having everything done his way!"
Another complaint concerned Hans Skaaning against Hans Hintze in a dispute over a farm in R? parish. Wherein Hans Skaaning, who was married to a grand-daughter of the former owner, and Hans Hintze, who was married to a daughter of the former owner and also had the advantage of having lived on the farm with his wife for 40 years. The L?beck bailiff and Chief Justice Hans Reimer defended Hans Skaaning's right to the farm, while Peder Gagge and Hans Berendsen favoured Hans Hintze. The bailiff is thoroughly miffed over not getting his way, and states: ". . . regarding Hans Skonning's case . . . the poor man has suffered an injustice - probably because the councillors have been blinded by Peder Gagge's lies. (see note nr. 21)
Sharp words were exchanged between the judges, and tempers flared at every Landsting - probably there was a full house with everybody coming to hear the latest exciting news. After their defeat in 1535, and the punishments meted out in the following years, the peasants had yearned for revenge, and now they finally got it via the judiciary. Numerous supporters followed Peder Gagge and Hans Berendsen's example and crossed the L?beckers at every opportrunity. All the "vornede-b?nderne" (peasant farmers on the freemen's estates) - who were very often related - acted like freemen themselves and refused to pay taxes and deliver goods to Hammershus; they traveled freely and gathered spoils from shipwrecks along the beaches, and even hunted deer in the woods - which previously had been the age-old prerogative of the king, and now, supposedly, solely that of the L?beckers.
Hans Reimer died around 1553. We do not know where he came from, but some sources have it that he is the founding father of the Bornholm R?mer-family, which seems very likely. We do not know if he made the use of an arms or seal image, and none of his supposed descendants ever again became chief justice for Bornholm.
His two assistants carried on at the Landsting. Now Hans Berendsen became chief justice, which is mentioned in a royal letter dated the 5th of July 1559: "Hans Beritzen Lanzdomer paa Borneholm och Peder Gagge wor mand og tienner" (Hans Beritsen, Chief Justice of Bornholm, and Peder Gagge, our man and servant). That letter is the last to mention of Peder Gagge, and his brother Henning Gagge died 3 years later on the 29th of June 1562, which was inscribed on a gravestone (now lost) in R?nne Church. The Gagge-family rule was over, in fact the king no longer needed them, as the new L?beck commandant was so co-operative that he soon ran into trouble with his own bosses back home in L?beck.
The Gagge-family is well known. The two Gagge brother's father, J?rgen Gagge, was the illegitimate son of a Sk?ne officer named Erik Gagge, and his mother was the daughter of officer Hans Eriksen (from the Jordeberga-family) who resided at the Bidstrup manor house in Jylland. J?rgen Gagge had been granted nobility by King Hans and given "Lehnsgaard" in ?sterlars parish; his coat of arms displays his illegitimacy: vertically divided, in the 1st half a silver chevron on a black field, and in the 2nd half, attached to the partition, a black, half mill-wheel on a white field; and on the helmet: two vesselhorns. Which is the reverse of that of the legitimate Sk?ne Gagge-family coat of arms. (see nr. 22) However, on Henning Gagge's gravestone his arms were displayed like that of the legitimate Gagge-family arms and helmet from Sk?ne (mill-wheel in 1st, chevron in 2nd); as were Henning's grandsons (and possibly also that of his son J?rgen) - probably trying to avoid the taint of illegitimacy! No other member of the family became a chief justice for the island; only Henning's son, J?rgen Gagge, married the daughter of Chief Justice Peder Hansen Uf - her name was Margrethe.
Hans Berildsen continued on as the sole chief justice for another couple of years. The High-Court in K?benhavn met on July 8th 1561 regarding a dispute between "bonde Adbj?rn Hansen" and "Landsdommer Hans Beritsen" (Source: Judgment Book 8, folio 87R-87V). Hans Berildsen died sometime between the years 1562 and 1572. His patronymic can be found spelled in a several of different ways: Berendsen, Berrettsen, Beritzen; and since the given name Berild/Berl can be found among his male descendants for several generation, it seems likely that Berild is the Bornholmer version of the (Germanic) given name Berendt. In other parts of Denmark the name Berild can be found as a variation of the Germanic given name Bernhard (see nr. 23), and thus Chief Justice Hans Berendsen might be the son of officer Bernardus Joensen, who was mentioned in documents dating from 1486 and 1490. Hans Berendsen resided at Bjerreg?rd (24 Vdg.) in ?ker parish, a farm which remained in the family for several generations; his great-grandson Berild Hansen (died 1668) resided there from 1650 through 1662, he is recorded as being "Bornholm's last Freeman".
None of Hans Berendsen's descendants ever became chief justice. His son Berild Hansen was the bailiff for Hammershus fortress, which was the last high public office held by the family - thereafter they were just "ordinary freemen". The above mentioned last freeman, Berild Hansen, married into one of Bornholm's chief justice families, and he had inherited Valleg?rd (15 Vdg.) in Nyker parish, which had previously belonged to the freeman-estate Kyndeg?rd, which might indicate that his first wife, Margrethe, who died during the plague of 1653-1654 hailed from Kyndeg?rd. The childless chief justice Jens Kofoed (see below) resided at Kyndeg?rd until his death in 1625; and on the 22nd of March 1628 his heirs sold the freeman-estate to his brother's son, Captain Jacob Kofoed and his wife Margrethe Olufsdatter, who then joined the ranks of the freemen. Berild Hansen's wife might have been a daughter of theirs, and indeed she named a son Jens Berildsen in honour of the childless Jens Kofoed. (Note: I believe these suppositions to be entirely incorrect. Berild Hansen is known to have been married to the sister, named Margrethe?, of clergyman Rasmus Andersen Bleking, who resided at Kyndeg?rd between 1654 and 1671. Evidently Berild got into financial troubles and borrowed money from the very wealthy Rasmus Andersen Bleking. In order to redeam his debts Berild Hansen surrendered Lille Halseg?rd to Rasmus in 1664. As he no longer owned a freeman's farm Berild Hansen lost the right to freeman status. It seems likely that Berild Hansen had obtained Vellensg?rd from his brother-in-law circa 1655, and his son Michel Berildsen would later inherit the farm. Also, records show that Berild Hansen had two son's: Lars and Michel, and probably a third names Hans; no known record of a Jens! - Norman Lee Madsen)
Hans Berendsen's seal is well known as there are many surviving documents: an oak-branch with one acorn. In an odd manner we get to know the colours, as the emblem was erroneously placed in an armourial registry (see nr. 24) under the Uf-family: a green oak-branch with 3 golden acorns on a white field; and on the helmet: 2 white vesselhorns.
At the time of Berild Hansen's death in 1668 his heirs were unable to aquire most of his farms, as the era of the freeman had passed and his descendants were not to be found among the wealthy peasants. Later on we can follow this family on Bornholm via the unusual name "Berild", though not everyone with that name can trace their ancestry back to this freeman.
Notes:
Nr. 21) Henning Gagge of Almeg?rd (Knudsker) and Spidleg?rd (?ker) was a courtier at the king's castle until 1551, after which he was appointed chief bailiff for Bornholm (see note 5), this coincided with his brother, Peder Gagge, being appointed as assistant-judge in the "Landsting" (Upper House of Parliament).
Nr. 22) A. Thiset's "Danske Adelige Sigiller" shows J?rgen Gagge's seal (from the 22nd of May 1522) and Henning Gagge's (from the 16th of July 1550 and the 10th of September 1555) in H.xxxv, nr. 4 and 5; both are in mirror image of a "normal" Gagge coat of arms. A description of J?rgen Gagge's coat of arms (Henning Gagge's son) suggests it to be him, 3 generations after the illegitimate birth, who reverses the coat of arms: "Sigvard Gagge, hvis Vaaben var: et Halvt Gangehjul paa et Sejerv?rk og et Gafflsp?nde, som det ses udi Aa Kirke paa en Stol 1597" ("Sigvard Gagge, whose coat of arms was: a Half Mill-wheel fixed upon a Partition and a Chevron, which one can see on a Pew dated 1597 in Aa Church"), as described in "Rasmus Ravns Borringhoms Kr?nike 1671", pub. R?nne, 1926, page 157. The above mentioned Sigvard was a son of J?rgen, and was not born until 1598, therefore it must be the father's coat of arms in the church. Sigvard/Sivert Gagge, and his brother Claus, also carried the "normal" coat of arms, which can be seen on the coronation documents of 1648 (Claus) and 1650 (Claus), and also in the bestowal document, affirming Bornholm's freemen, from the king dated the 19th of Janury 1659 (Sivert) - all 3 in RA.
Nr. 23) On the 23rd of June 1531 "Hans Beridssenn fik livsbrev paa Thor?e uden for Assens" (Frederik I's danske registrandter), he was the son of the mayor of Assens, Beril Pedersen (Mormand). In 1510 a "Petrus Bernhardi" was matriculated at K?benhavn's University, as a student from Fyn; he was buried Peder Berildsen (Mormand), clergyman in Assens, died 1537, and was a son of the above mentioned mayor (as described in "Studenter ved K?benhavns Universitet", held in the Royal Library, K?benhavn).
Nr. 24) Uldall'ske Samlinger 479-4 "Frederik Rostgaards Vaabenbog", folio 122.
This database researched and compiled by Norman Lee Madsen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 21 July 2015.
|
1500 - 1570 (~ 70 år)
[1]