Patrociny Place Names in the North-Western Territories of Germany
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Kirstin Casemir (Göttingen, Germany) Patrociny Place Names in the North-Western Territories of Germany 1. The North-Western territories 1.1. Size, population and bio-geographical surface The following article 1 deals with patrociny place names in the North-Western territories of Germany. Throughout this article, the North-Western territories are defined as the area comprising the German federal states of Schleswig- Holstein, Hamburg, Bremen and Lower Saxony as well as the North Rhine- Westphalian territories of Westphalia and Lippe. While Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and (North Rhine-)Westphalia are territorial states, Hamburg and Bremen are city-states, urban centres that are characterized by a high building density, and have been since the Middle Ages. The different regions also differ greatly in their current size and population. The Hanseatic City of Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany with a population of 1.8 million inhabitants. 2 The territory of Hamburg with its 756 m2 is relatively small. Compared to Hamburg, the city of Bremen with its 650.000 inhabitants is considerably smaller, although the actual territory also comprises the area of the city of Bremerhaven which is 60 km away in Lower Saxony. These two city-states are contrasted by the territorial states. Lower Saxony has the largest area, with about 8 million people populating 48,000 km 2.3 The area of Westphalia is considerably smaller with its 21,427 km 2; however, with 8.3 million inhabitants, the population is higher than in Lower Saxony. Adding the 1,246 km 2 of Lippe,4 another 350.000 people are accounted for. Finally, Schleswig-Holstein—the most northerly German federal state—is significantly less densely populated than the other regions, featuring 2.8 million residents in an area of 15,800 km 2. This region, which is to be examined below, is of considerable dimensions comprising 85,000 km 2 in total. 1 I would like to thank Dr. Michael Flöer and Uwe Ohainski for their suggestions, help and cor- rections. I am very grateful to Jana Vanessa Nielsen and Benjamin Bühring for their skilful translation. 2 Unless otherwise stated, the following information is based on the official statistical data of the individual German federal states, cities and municipalities. 3 Lower Saxony is the second largest German federal state after Bavaria. 4 Modern day North Rhine-Westphalia is made up of three larger areas, North Rhine, Westphalia and Lippe. Though they form one state, each individual region has its distinctive identity, with Westphalia and Lippe being more closely related. Kirstin Casemir 118 It is also characterized by widely varying types of landscape as well as diverse settlement patterns. These will be discussed below, but first the most salient bio-geographical units need to be briefly outlined, because they influence not only the structures of settlement but also their local options as well as the time frame. This is crucial because settlement in this region had been established before Christianisation and thus prior to the possibility for patronymic place names. On the other hand, a lot of settlements were not established until the inland colonization in the High Middle Ages. In the North the area in question has a share of the coastlines of the North and Baltic Seas. This affects mainly the territory of the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. 5 Particularly in the coastal area of the Northern Sea, with its storm floods and greater tidal forces, the embankment of the land and the construction of dwelling mounds began early. These marshes in Schleswig- Holstein and Lower Saxony, with their mostly fertile soil, are more inland, adjacent to geest areas which consist partially of heath- and moor-land. The biggest rivers leading into the Northern Sea in the area of Hamburg and Lower Saxony are the Elbe and the Weser. Geest and marsh areas can be found here too. The latter are characterised by rather humid ground and numerous water- courses and moors because they are sometimes situated even below sea level. The neighbouring area to the south, with its partially paludified heath and moor land,6 also features pebbly and sandy grounds. Even further to the South, a broad band of very fertile soil, the so-called Börde, stretches from the Helmstedt-Brunswick area throughout Hildesheim and the Soest Börde towards the West. In Westphalia, the landscape is shaped by the Westphalian lowland bay. To the North, East and South delimited by highland (Weserberg- land, Osning and Süderbergland) the terrain is flat or slightly hilly and the water table somewhat high. Besides the aforementioned geest, marsh and Börde regions, the area this article concerns itself with also contains highland and mountains, which more often than not have remained unsettled to this day. These are the Harz Mountains, the Weserbergland, the Osning, the Leineberg- land and the Süderbergland with their highest elevations being the Teutoburger Forest, the Solling, and the Wiehen and Weser mountains. 7 5 This is also true for the coast of Lower Saxony along the Northern Sea. 6 The largest part being the Lüneburger Heide; Zevener and Achim-Verder Geest are located to the West. 7 Compare the “Handbuch der naturräumlichen Gliederung” with its individual chapters providing detailed information on geo-morphological structure, surface configuration, hydrographical conditions and dominant soils as well as vegetation. Patrociny Place Names in the North-Western Territories of Germany 119 1.2. The settlement patterns Partly contingent upon these varying bio-geographical structures, the settlement patterns within the territory in question also vary markedly. For instance, in the embanked regions with their dwelling mounds it is almost impossible to establish larger settlements consisting of more than a couple of houses. Southern Lower Saxony, the adjoining Börde regions in the North and the heath lands further in the North (old inland geest) are characterized by built-up areas. These consist of several or a multiplicity of houses, which are “more or less evenly spread across the space. The average distance between the villages is about two to three kilometres. However, this smoothly spun web of settle- ments is being disrupted by larger areas of forest without any settlements. In the hilly uplands, these are mountain ridges in which the cultivation of the land is inhibited by preconditions like the falling gradient of the land, the condition of the soil or the level of the ground water.” (MÜLLER 1952: 138 ). As mentioned before, the regions which are subject to extremer natural con- straints are far less populated, for example the Solling, Elm and Harz Moun- tains. In addition to that, numerous deserted villages can be found. Deserted villages are villages that were abandoned due to unfavourable environmental conditions after they had been established during the medieval settling initia- tives (inland colonization). Throughout the Solling for example, 60% of all recorded place names denominate deserted villages. 8 Although they were usually very small, it is assumed that those settlements resembled villages. The situation is very different in large parts of Westphalia and the West of Lower Saxony where isolated farms are dominant until this day. As a matter of course, larger villages and cities already existed in the Middle Ages. Clustered as farming communities (SCHÜTTE 2007: 149–151), isolated farms were— and still are—scattered around them. Some of those farms are extremely old. However, research on the history of these farms is difficult due to numerous renamings after changes of ownership. A comparable settlement structure can be found in the moor- and marshlands in northern Lower Saxony and Schleswig- Holstein: isolated farms and small settlements prevail alongside larger ones. However, they often are more recent, because they only developed successively after dyking and the gradual exploration of the wetlands. The landscape and its settlement were changed considerably by natural catastrophes such as the flooding that created the Dollart and the Jade estuary. 9 8 This data is based on the place name inventory for the district of Holzminden (NOB VI). 9 The most notable one being the Kosmas and Damian flood on the 26 th of September 1509. It caused the Ems to breach near Emden, following an extension of the Jade estuary to the Northwest and the largest extension of the Dollart recorded to this day. For further information cf. HOMEIER 1969. Kirstin Casemir 120 1.3. The age of the settlements Nevertheless the regions of Westphalia and Eastphalia can be classified as old settlement areas. This classification is based on archaeological examination and analysis as well on the—unfortunately not yet fully finalized—onymic report, as illustrated in the study by JÜRGEN UDOLPH (1994). It would be taking matters to far to go into further detail here. Still, it is necessary to briefly comment on current research, because it is sub- stantially related to patronymic place names. Prevailing research trends suggest that during the time of barbarian migration in the 4 th and 5 th century these regions were mostly abandoned. Following this argument, a vacancy or at least a massive decrease of settlement should be expected (cf. GENRICH 1959 passim or BACH 1953–1954: § 483.5). The basis for this theory is the scarcity of archaeological finds for the time span in question. The suggestion of such a period without any settlement would have substantial consequences for the study of place names. Because names were passed on by word of mouth during this period, if depopulation took place and settlements were abandoned, place names would have been lost. Another consequence would be that the resettle- ment of these deserted areas could be expected only from the 6 th and 7 th century onwards and therefore place names would date from that period.