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 ]