Böhm-Chronik



Further tasks of my Boehm research
in the Waldenburger mountain country




I have collected many family names Boehm from tax books (Urbarium), court records (Schöppenbuch), minutes of the manorial system (Herrschaftsprotokolle) Waldenburg, from subject lists (Untertanenlisten) and land books; but church books do not go back so far (only to the times of the reformation), as to be able to confirm an ancestral connection. Some evidences are "only" circumstantial. The fact is however that most Boehm in the area of Waldenburg were coal farmers over three hundred years since 1536 in an old form of municipality pits together with the landlord of Waldenburg and/or Fuerstenstein. Therefore established and in some documents mentioned. Surely one can speak here of a Boehm kinship. Kinship should be considered as a loose family association.

I try to find now a connection from the first documented Heincze BEHEM in Weissstein of 1409 and the 10 km removed Bohemians of Schwarzwaldau. The Beheim/Behem of Schwarzwaldau gave up their manorial estate of Schwarzwaldau around 1400 for no reasons not yet evident. The property owner of the manorial district of Waldenburg-Neuhaus, Ulrich Schof, took over the villages Weissstein, Hermsdorf, Altwasser and Dittersbach for some years until he resold it together with the small town Waldenburg 1426 to Hans von Libenthal.

Witigo (Beheim) von Rodov stepped in the first half of the 14th century into the services of the Bolkonen (Silesian Piasts). Witigo (father and son) came in the first half of the 14th century as knights from the small bohemian place Rodov, which lies between Jermer (Jaromer) and Koeniggraetz (Hradec Kralove). Witigo was probably sent by the king of Bohemia as Castellan *) of the three castles Liebenau/Schwarzwaldau, Vogelsang/Konradswaldau and perhaps Gleisberg/Weissstein (later belonging to Waldenburg), or Zeisberg (near Bolkenhain).




Coat of arms of the knights Beheim/Boeheim/Behem
of Schwarzwaldau
14th century


Witigo was given a fief before 1355 by the king of Bohemia with the manorial estate Schwarzwaldau near Landeshut and after 1355 confirmed by Bolko II., duke of Schweidnitz. Could Witigo von Rodov be from a branch of the old Bohemian knight family Rodovsky (RODOV-sky)? Bavor Rodovsky von Hustir(z)an was castellan in the Koeniggraetzer Krays and lord of Rotenburg.

See also: von Rodov / Rodovsky

In approx. 1370 (?) to 1396 the Bohemian of Schwarzwaldau, i.e. Sigismund von Swarczewalde und Rodov possessed also the village Bernsdorf near Münsterberg. Some of the Beheim/Behem probably established themselves around 1400 on their possessions in Krehlau, near Wohlau. Sigismund was the oldest son of Witigo (Witche) Behem, because 1394 he is mentioned together with three brothers; Hannos, Cunrad and Heincze.

See also: Family tree of the Bohemians of Schwarzwaldau

In "The Soldier's Pay Book of the German Orders 1410/1411", accounts for the pay of the troops (battle of Tannenberg/Grunwald), the name BEHME is several times mentioned, among them a Hannus BEHME/BEHEM (4x) in the pay list and on a prisoner list. Once Hannus BEHME is specified among others in the prisoner listing as 'nickel Lobels gesellin' (Silesian knights). In the book are listed more than 800 names of mercenaries, including prisoner listing. Everything unfortunately without registers.

The following names, which concern my research in lower Silesia, are mentioned:
Tristram von Redern
Hannus von Redern
Franczke von Redern
Pecz von Redern
Cuncze Adelsbach
Heynczen von Ronaw
Ulrich Schoff
Czettritz
among others
and many other names of Silesian knights.

Mercenary officers and mercenaries since the thirteen-year old federal war of 1453-1466 in East Prussia, here likewise as Silesians designates
Kaspar, Christoph and Hans Beheme (Behem).

I believe in the theory that the Beheim of Schwarzwaldau sold their manorial estate around 1400 to Ulrich Schoff (landlord of Waldenburg-Neuhaus), because they could not adjust - for any reasons whatsoever - to the change from the professional warrior (Berufskrieger) to become a landlord (Grundherr) at an agricultural manorial system. Some of the family went to Krehlau, others to East Prussia participating at the last large battle of the Middle Ages and the youngest of the brothers, Heincze BEHEM became 1409 a [free]farmer, or yeoman, (Freibauer) in Weissstein.

See also: Adels-/Ahnenprobe

In the year 1409, the above proprietor of Waldenburg-Neuhaus, Ulrich Schof, gave Heincze BEHEM a fief of a property in Weissstein, the herzogliche Lehnsgut as an Afterlehen. I was able to locate the property from old documents. It was northwest from Waldenburg, from the Leisebach (brook) to the Salzbach (brook), inclusively the Fuchsberg (fox hill), along the today's ulica Piotra Wysockiego (Weisssteiner road to Waldenburg). The Weisssteiner knight seat at the Gleisberg became later the today's Waldenburger city park. Ulrich Schof was an influential knight at the court of the duchess Agnes after the death of Bolko II. Moreover, a Henczko Beheme and/or Heincze Beheme is mentioned from 1396 to 1399 in the ducal land book several times as document witnesses.

My current research: is the Heincze Behem (1409) and in the year 1394 mentioned Heincze Beheim/Behem the same person? If the answer is yes, and everything points to it, then Heincze Behem received a small component of the manor sold around 1400 to Ulrich Schof back, i.e. the herzogliche Lehnsgut in Weissstein, which then until 1800 belonged to a Boehm family member.

See also: The findings of the coal in the Waldenburger area and the fox pit.



*)
Burgrave (Burggraf, Burgvogt, castellanus, praefectus) is a royal military civil servant (but was no Count) of a castle of the sovereign. The function of a Burggraf provides also judicial tasks in later time.

Sources:
Ludwig Häufler, 1930: "Forschungen zur Geschichte des Waldenburger Berglandes unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Grundherrschaft Waldenburg-Neuhaus"
[Research for the History of the Waldenburger Mountain Country with Special Consideration of the Manorial District Waldenburg-Neuhaus]

Emil Tschersich und Bruno Paschky, 1936: "Wie wurde das Waldenburger Bergland deutsch?" [How the Waldenburger Mountain Country became German?]

Tschersich, Kurt, 1930: "Aus Weißsteins geschichtlicher Vergangenheit" [Of Weissstein’s Historical Past]

Jurek, Tomasz: 2000, 403 Seiten "Landbuch des Fürstentums Schweidnitz-Jauer, Band II, 1385-1395" [Landbook of the Duchy ...]

Jurek, Tomasz: 2004, 356 Seiten "Landbuch des Fürstentums Schweidnitz-Jauer, Band I, 1366-1376" [Landbook of the Duchy ...]

Jurek, Tomasz: 10 VII 2002, Privatkorrespondenz mit Guenter Boehm (Landbuch G und Landbuch Band I).

Jurek, Tomasz, 1998, 450 Seiten: "Obce rycerstwo na Slasku do polowy XIV wieku - Foreign Knights in Silesia until the Middle of the 14th Century"

Ekdahl, Sven, 1988, 204 Seiten; "Das Soldbuch des Deutschen Ordens 1410/1411", Teil 1, Die Abrechnungen für die Soldtruppen (Schlacht von Tannenberg/Grünwald)
[The Paybook of the German Orders 1410/1411: part of 1, The Accounts for the Pay Troops (Battle of Tannenberg/Grünewald)]

Stiftung Seeau: Lexikon [Fundation Seeau: encyclopedia]

Anders, Gerhard: Schles. Ritter u. Kreuzfahrer im preuß. Ordenslande,
in: Ostdeutsche Familienkunde, 7.1959, S. 97-102, 132-136 u. 155-161.
[Silesian Knights and Cruzaders in the Country of the Prussian Orders ]

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