| Brokmerland | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Medievalsealand ofFrisia | |||||||||
| 12th century–1464 | |||||||||
 Brokmerland(yellow), within theSeven Sealands(white) around 1300 | |||||||||
| Capital | Marienhafe | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | 12th century | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1464 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Germany | ||||||||
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TheBrokmerland is alandscape and historic territory, located in westernEast Frisia, which covers the area in and around the present-day communities ofBrookmerland andSüdbrookmerland. The Brokmerland borders in the east on theHarlingerland and in the north on theNorderland. The historic Brokmerland is usually written with only one "o". Occasionally one also finds the spelling "Broekmerland" ("oe" pronounced as a long "o"), while today's communities have chosen to spell the name with a double "o".
The name comes from theOld Frisian andOld Low German wordbrōk, which meant amoor-likecarr landscape that had been very sparsely settled. It stretched from the western edge of theEast Frisian geest ridge, from the Ley (Norder Tief) to theFlumm (Fehntjer Tief), and was characterised by numerous shallow lakes from theGroßes Meer to theSandwater. The suffixmer is derived frommann (i.e. "man") with the possessive suffix-er.
Until the early Middle Ages, the Brokmerland was largely uninhabited and provided a natural boundary between the Federgau and the Emsgau on one side and the provinces of Norditi (Norderland) andÖstringen on the other side. This boundary also played a role in church history because it was the dividing line between theDiocese of Münster (Federgau and Emsgau) and theArchdiocese of Bremen (Norderland and Östringen).
Archaeological finds suggest a sparse population in the period up to 800 AD. The population grew from about 1100, firstly because the construction ofdykes in the region was completed and, secondly, because the "Julian Flood of 1164 forced many people to flee inland from the coast. In addition, the population increased in theHigh Middle Ages, which resulted in the sparsely populated or unsettled areas of East Frisia being opened up by land development, a process known as internal colonization. As a result of this, the Brokmerland was reclaimed for agriculture by settlers from theKrummhörn Marsh as well as the Norder and Aurich Geest. In the 11 and 12th centuries, new settlements and the first churches were built here on the edge and the outliers of the geest. The result of this process were the ribbon villages (Reihendörfer) with their right (calledUpstrecken) to claim land into the moor until they reached someone else's land.
TheBrokmers are mentioned for the first time in the Östringen (Rastede) chronicles of 1148, which may indicate that by this time they had attained a certain importance. From 1251 theBrokmänner then appeared as inhabitants of an independent territory, the Brokmerland, which was initially divided into three intermediate districts, each with two mother churches: Marienhafe andEngerhafe, Wiegsboldsbur and Burhafe (now isolated farms in the Victorbur Marsh),Bedekaspel and Südwolde (Blaukirchen). The church districts belonged to theDiocese of Münster. The main place of assembly of theBrokmann to begin with was probably theWiegboldsbur Church.
In the course of the 13th century, the Brokmerland experienced its heyday. The construction of great churches was carried out during this time, of which the (formerly three-aisled)Marienhafe Church is the largest. At that time she was even the largest church in northwest Germany and even in 1462 PopePius II paid an indulgence for visiting the church, for donations towards furniture, as well as monetary donations for the preservation of the Church"curia beate Marie". The Bishop of Münster acknowledged the growing importance of the area in the middle of the 13th century by granting the church its own diocese. Previously, it had been assigned to the dean's office ofUttum and Hinte. In addition, the bishop built a castle in Fehnhusen in the parish of Engerhafe, later called theOldeborg which formed the nucleus of the modern village.
The Frisian territories had a consulate constitution under which the consuls and judges were elected by the people for one year. Political leadership and the judiciary were directly in the hands of the population. Every year, meetings were held by the representative of the seven Frisian maritime territories (Seelande). TheUpstalsboom from that period is still a popular meeting place today. The Brokmerland had its own jurisdiction and, in theBrokmerbrief, its own constitution as well. This document acts as the most detailed source of Frisian law from the territorial and judicial constitution in Brokmerland, whose law was based on the collective will of the people.
At the end of the 13th century,Auricherland joined the Brokmerland and formed the fourth region in its territory. After the end of the reign of thetom Brokchieftains in 1450, the Auricherland separated again from Brokmerland.
This consulate constitution lasted until the middle of the 14th century. It then disintegrated and was gradually replaced, as the powerful families took over thechieftainship. In the Bokmerland this was the family of Kenesma, which in the second half of the 14th century was awarded the chieftainship in the Brokmerland. Later, they renamed themselves into thetom Broks and built the castle of Brooke next to the existing episcopal castle in Oldeborg. Later, the tom Broks built a second castle in Aurich.
The capital, Marienhafe, developed at this time into an important trading centre. After severe floods in 1374 and 1377 it even became the seaport. Thus the possibility arose of goods from the Brookmerland being transported by water to the Münsterland. TheWaddenmudflats of Leybucht and Kuipersand in front of Marienhafe take their name from the old three-aisle Marienhafe mother church. Its roof was covered on its north side with copper (Kuiper = Frisian-Dutch for copper) and on the south side with slate (Ley = old German for slate), so that, from the sea, the changing view of the church with its copper and slate sides acted as a seamark to guide the experienced sailor along the permanently navigable tidal inlet and other stretches of waterway, even atlow tide. Without this local knowledge, the place and itstide-dependent harbour were virtually unapproachable from the sea.
In the late 14th Century pirates underKlaus Störtebeker were sheltered in Marienhafe. As a result, he returned the favour in the battle for East Frisia by the chieftains of Brookmerland. Widzel tom Brok had opened the then relatively new port to theLikedeelers or "Victual Brothers" under Klaus Störtebeker. They used the place as a safe haven for stashing their booty and for selling it. This was finally stopped by several punitive expeditions byHamburg, which took action against the pirates and those chieftains sympathizing with them. Marienhafe was saved from destruction because of its safe harbour. Faldern andLarrelt near Emden and other East Frisian buildings were destroyed, however.
The tom Broks initially tried with some success to establish a territory across Frisia on both sides of the River Ems.Ocko II finally inherited such a large domain, that he could be titled the Chieftain of East Frisia. In the period that followed, there were disputes betweenFocko Ukena and Ocko tom Brok, however, that spilled over into open conflict. After Ukena's initial victory over Ocko II atDetern in 1426 Focko allied himself with the Bischop of Münster and numerous East Frisian chieftains against Ocko who was now confined to the Brokmerland and finally defeated him on 28 October at theWild Fields. He was taken toLeer and was imprisoned there for four years. In 1435 he died, powerless, as the last of his line inNorden.
The reign of Focko Ukena in the Brokmerland that followed turned out to be only a short-term interlude. Having just escaped from the yoke oftom Brok, many of the people felt betrayed by the new rulers, because, like the tom Broks, they appeared not to honourFrisian freedom. As a result, there was a revolt around 1430 in the Brookmerland (today's spelling), which after an unsuccessful attack by Focko on the town of Bremen by the Lower Weser, spread into a general uprising by the East Frisia people.
On 14 November 1430 after the conquest of Oldersum and Aurich, the East Frisian territorial alliances (Landesverbände) and lesser chieftains, led by Chieftain EdzardCirksena from Greetsiel, formed theFreedom League of the Seven East Frisian States.[1] In 1440, the Cirksena, then judges and "guardians", became the chieftains of the Brookmerland and Auricherland and had finally begun there, after Ukena's brief reign, the line of the tom Broks. They had, however, to take into considerationmunicipal freedom (Gemeindefreiheit) and provincial law. The country's municipalities had reconstituted themselves. For example, there was once again a Brookmerland, an Auricherland, and even a separate (Bangsted, Ochtelbur, Riepe, and Simonswolde).
in 1464, when the Cirksena were elevated toimperial counts, they turned the areas controlled by their castles into districts (Ämter): from then on the Brookmerland, along with the Auricherland, belonged to district (Amt) of Aurich and was divided into theVogtei of Nordbrookmer, with Osteel, Marienhafe andSiegelsum, and theVogtei of Südbrookmer with the parishes of Engerhafe,Victorbur,Wiegboldsbur,Bedekaspel, andForlitz-Blaukirchen. Subsequently, Brookmerland shared the fate of the county.
