Period German Names from the Counties of Schaumburg and Hoya in the Duchy of Saxony by Falko von der Weser Shire of An Dun Theine Category: Writing – Research Papers Period German Names from the Counties of Schaumburg and Hoya in the Duchy of Saxony Contents: Topic Page Purpose 3 Contents of the Database 3 Sources 4 – 5 Methodology 6 Observations/Comments 7 - 9 Maps of the Counties of Schaumburg and Hoya 10 -11 German Names from the Counties of Schaumburg and Hoya in the Duchy of Saxony 12 15th century – 16th century First Names (male) 13 - 18 First Names (female) 19 Last Names 20 - 35 12th century – 14th century First Names (male) 37 - 38 First Names (female) 38 Last Names 39 - 40 German Place Names 8th century – 16th century 41 Schaumburg and Hoya 42 - 46 Rhein-Neckar-Kreis 47 - 48 SCA Resume of Falko von der Weser 49 - 50 2 Period German Names from the Counties of Schaumburg and Hoya in the Duchy of Saxony Purpose Every SCA persona needs a name. Access to reliable sources for period names are limited for most people, though. Not everybody has a public library in their vicinity, and even if there should be such an institution, it is doubtful that it can always satisfy the specific needs of a person in search for a SCA name. For quite a while now, many are using the Internet, where they can find what they are looking for with relatively little effort. Alas, in many cases the listings and documentation they find are not useful and should be avoided. A very common source found on the Internet are Baby name sites, which are mostly compiled without any reference to historical usage of the names, that is without giving a date and a source where a name was documented in period. Another trap easy to fall in are genealogical databases, which generally use modernized spellings of names. Although the intentions behind those websites have to be considered good, they are of little or no value at all for serious SCA usage. The standards set by the College of Arms have become more focused on the authentic spelling and form of names in recent years. The purpose of this documentation is to provide the populace with a reliable source of authentic German names, here in the form of a database of period German names from the Counties of Schaumburg and Hoya in the Duchy of Saxony. This database will be available for the populace at my website www.codex-vulpes.de and probably also at the Medieval Names Archive website of the Academy of St.Gabriel at www.panix.com/~mittle/names. As more books with tax records, church records and inventory lists from Germany become available, I will be incorporating the new information into the database. Contents of the Database The database consists of three parts: o 15th-16th century German names from the Counties of Schaumburg and Hoya o 12th-14th century German names from the Counties of Schaumburg and Hoya o German Place Names from various regions (8th-16th century) The personal names of the first two lists can be used straightforward to build authentic German names by combining any first name with any last name/byname. The list of place names can be used to form a locative byname. In period Germany, locative bynames were generally used in three ways: 1. The name of the place/town/landmark without any modification, e.g. Cordt Oldendorp 2. The name of the place/town/landmark in adjective form, e.g. Cordt Oldendorper 3. The name of the place/town/landmark with the expression “von”, e.g. Cordt von Oldendorp All three forms mean that this man Cordt comes from the town of Oldendorp, although form No.2 was more common in southern Germany, and form No.1 was the most common form in the northern part of Germany. In the 16th century, the form No.3 was no longer as common as before, except for the nobility. Because I was born and raised in Fuhlen, which is a village in the former County of Schaumburg, my interest in this region is very personal. To pair the data with that of the County of Hoya seemed logical to me, because it is the same general region and both Counties were very close to each other in period. 3 Period German Names from the Counties of Schaumburg and Hoya in the Duchy of Saxony Sources 1) Dienst- und Steueregister der Schaumburgischen Vogtei Fischbeck aus dem 15. bis 17.Jahrhundert, Friedrich Kölling, Verlag C.Bösendahl Rinteln 1970 This is a compilation of inventory lists and tax-records of the Prefecture Fischbeck in the County of Schaumburg from the 15th century to the 17th century. The names contained in these lists are given in their original spelling, as they appeared in the documents. The individuals listed in the records are almost exclusively peasants, mostly serfs but also some free men. The nobility is only mentioned when a piece of land generated revenues for them, which had to be shared with the Prefecture. The original documents are kept in the Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv Bückeburg (State Archive of Lower Saxony in Bückeburg) and in the Stiftsarchiv Fischbeck (Archive of the Seminary of Fischbeck). The author was a renowned and respected regional historian, who published many books, articles and essays about the history of the Weserbergland and Schaumburg from the mid 1950’s to the 1970’s. 2) Fuhlen – Beiträge zur Geschichte des Dorfes, Friedrich Kölling und Walter Maack, Verlag C.Bösendahl Rinteln 1959 This is a description of the history of the village of Fuhlen (where I originally come from). Fuhlen is situated directly at the River Weser, opposite of the city of Hessisch Oldendorf and in the middle ages it belonged in parts to the Diocese of Minden, the County of Schaumburg and the Seminary of Fischbeck. The book contains several inventory lists and tax records, mostly from the 16th century until the mid 20th century. The names in the lists are given in the original spelling of the original documents. The text contains names, sometimes in modernized form, as well as quotes from the original documents. Fuhlen was first mentioned in a document in 1013, and it has a church, which dates back to the early 12th century. Unfortunately, the documents from this period are very scarce and so the authors concentrate mainly on the recorded history since the 16th century. Friedrich Kölling was a renowned and respected regional historian, who published many books, articles and essays about the history of the Weserbergland and Schaumburg from the mid 1950’s to the 1970’s. Walter Maack was a journalist for local newspapers. He wrote many articles and books about the history of the County of Schaumburg, its cities and villages and its people. This earned him the reputation as the leading historian of the Weserbergland/Schaumburg region. 3) Hess.Oldendorf – 700 Jahre Entwicklung einer niedersächsischen Kleinstadt, Friedrich Kölling, C.Bösendahl Verlag Rinteln 1956 Similar to No.2, this book describes the history of the city of Hessisch Oldendorf, which in the middle ages was the eastern most city in the County of Schaumburg. The city was first mentioned in 1208, but again due to the lack of documents from this period, the author concentrated mainly on later centuries. 4 Period German Names from the Counties of Schaumburg and Hoya in the Duchy of Saxony The names here are contained in the text, alas mostly in modernized form. Only a few names are given in their original spelling. The author was a renowned and respected regional historian, who published many books, articles and essays about the history of the Weserbergland and Schaumburg from the mid 1950’s to the 1970’s. 4) Stadtgeschichte Rinteln, Walter Maack, C.Bösendahl Verlag Rinteln, 1989 This book is a compilation of 114 historical essays about the history of the City of Rinteln, the author wrote for the local newspaper within a time span of ten years. He researched all his articles meticulously in the City Archive, where he found court protocols, tax record and invoices, which gave him the ability to not only tell interesting stories about the life in former times, but also earned him the reputation as the leading historian of the region. He mainly gives names in the modernized spelling, but occasionally he also quotes from the original documents. In the middle ages, Rinteln was located at the southeastern border of the County of Schaumburg. It was founded by the Count of Schaumburg in the early 13th century as a border fortress/city. 5) Drakenburg – Weserburg und Stiftsflecken, Residenz der Grafen von Wölpe, Bernd Ulrich Hucker, Heimatverein Drakenburg e.V, 2000, ISBN 3-00-006602-0 The book was published by the Heimatverein Drakenburg (Society for the local history of Drakenburg) as the second volume in a series of books about Drakenburg. It describes the history of the region around Drakenburg from about 1100 until about 1600, with special attention to the history of the Castle Drakenburg. The Author, Prof. Dr. Bernd Ulrich Hucker, is a renowned specialist for medieval history of the northern part of Germany. A list of his publications can be found at http://www.uni- vechta.de/institute/geschichte/html/hucker.html. He currently is the head of the Institute of History and Regional Historical Research at the University in Vechta, Lower Saxony. The sources used for this book are original medieval manuscripts, which are quoted in its original form and in a modern translation. The names found in these documents are therefore given as they appeared originally as well as in their modern forms.