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- J?rgen Gagge is said to be illegitimate son of Erik Gagge who was eventually made legitimate by King Hans, who confered on J?rgen the status of nobleman (adelsmand), with the privilege of a coat of arms; and as such was a "Frimand" (Freeman). The article "Unkers?nnerne - en fynsk adelssl?gt der slog sig p? k?bmandshandel" in the 1986 edition of "Personalhistorisk Tidsskrift" suggests that the mother of J?rgen Gagge was an un-named Hansdatter of the Podebusk-family and of the Uncker-family.
He was the King's appointed Bailiff (Kongens Jurisdiktfoged) for all of Bornholm; and participated in Bornholm's "Landsting" (Parliament/High Court). J?rgen Gagge is the first of the Gagge-family, who were property-owners in Sk?ne, known to have settled on Bornholm. The Gagge coat of arms depicts a vertically divided shield with half of a black mill-wheel or cog-wheel (halv kaggehjul eller tandhjul) against a silver background on the left half, and a silver chevron (sparre) on the right; on top of the shield is a helmet with two vesselhorns in silver and black; source for description of arms: "Heraldisk tidsskrift", no. 43, 1981.
J?rgen Gagge ownership of Lensg?rd came to him through his wife's family. Her family had long had freeman land-owner rights in Bornholm's Eastern-District (?stre Herred), which at that time was known as "Henning Herred", because of her families traditional use of that given-name. (Evidence for this? Another, unknown source, has J?rgen married to a Margrethe Rud Pedersdatter. - Norman Madsen). On May 22, 1522, we find freeman "J?rgen Gagge af Lehnsgaard", the commander (hovedmand) for Hammershus, and Bornholm's chief justice (landsdommer) were signers an official document at a meeting of Bornholm's Landsting (provincial congress). See also: "Dansk Adels?rbog", volume XX, page 147; and P.H.T. - 1986 edition, page 117, on the "Unker-sl?gten og Jordbjerg-sl?gten".
The following is from "De bornholmske v?bnersl?gter Uf og Splid - noget nyt om deres v?bener", by Sigvard Mahler Dam (Heraldisk Tidsskrift, 1982): J?rgen Gagge's seal from 1522 shows a half wheel in the second part of the shield, but in the first part there is a triangle instead of the usual "sparre" (chevron). The Gagge-family had, as far as is known, no connection to the Uf-family at that time. He carried a "sparre" in the first half of his shield and a half wheel in the second half. The same goes for his son Henning Gagge, and re: Skovg?rd (see note 13), also for J?rgen Gagge (junior). This being opposite to the design of the Sk?nsk branch of the family. (Sk?nsk = someone from Sk?ne, a region in southern Sweden.) I know the seal carried be two of J?rgen Gagge jr.'s sons (namely Claus' and Sivert's), but by now they had changed the design back to the "true" Gagge coat of arms, that being a half wheel in the first half and the chevron in the second half. We can wonder if the older Gagges deliberately changed the design, for the senior J?rgen Gagge was said to be an illegitimate son of the Sk?nsk Gagge-family?
Extracted from "Landsdommer-Patriciatet p? Bornholm, Del II" (The Chief Justice Patriciate on Bornholm, Part II), by: Sigvard Mahler Dam (SAXO, 1988):
Hans Reimer, Hans Berendsen, Peder Gagge:
On the 19th of October 1551 the king appoints "" (our beloved Hans Reymer in R?nne to be chief justice of Bornholm, and our beloved Peder Gagge and Hans Berrettsen, our men and servants, to assist him in his office). This is a completely new situation! All 3 men to sit on the judge's seat! However, this quickly turned out to be too crowded. The king wished to regain control over his island, and he had support from the later two of these men, who repeatedly provoked the L?beck regime. As previously mentioned Hans Reimer a supporter of L?beck - his name even suggests German origins - which suggests that by naming 2 assistant judges the king was attempting to obtain balance. There is not very much information on Hans Reimer, as he only held office for 2 years before he died.
In 1553 a large meeting was held in Kolding, with the king on one side and the L?beck council on the other, wherein numerous complaints were put forward by the peasants against the L?beck's bailiff at Hammershus. Of the 117 complaints against the bailiff only one was turned down! During this meeting the bailiff described the intolerable situation he was up against in Bornholm's Landsting (Parliament), it would seem the king's sabotage was a success!
Here is the bailiff's statement: "The instalment, 2 years ago, by His Royal Majesty of Peder Gagge and Hans Berentsen as assistants to the chief justice and myself at the Landsting was unnecessary, as all freemen and important peasants attend the Landsting and help in passing sentences. Especially Peder Gagge is abusing this right, and he is perpetrating all forms of disobedience, obstinate behaviour and revolt. . . Peder Gagge is not content to have a say in the passing of a sentence, but insists in having everything done his way!"
Another complaint concerned Hans Skaaning against Hans Hintze in a dispute over a farm in R? parish. Wherein Hans Skaaning, who was married to a grand-daughter of the former owner, and Hans Hintze, who was married to a daughter of the former owner and also had the advantage of having lived on the farm with his wife for 40 years. The L?beck bailiff and Chief Justice Hans Reimer defended Hans Skaaning's right to the farm, while Peder Gagge and Hans Berendsen favoured Hans Hintze. The bailiff is thoroughly miffed over not getting his way, and states: ". . . regarding Hans Skonning's case . . . the poor man has suffered an injustice - probably because the councillors have been blinded by Peder Gagge's lies. (see note nr. 21)
Sharp words were exchanged between the judges, and tempers flared at every Landsting - probably there was a full house with everybody coming to hear the latest exciting news. After their defeat in 1535, and the punishments meted out in the following years, the peasants had yearned for revenge, and now they finally got it via the judiciary. Numerous supporters followed Peder Gagge and Hans Berendsen's example and crossed the L?beckers at every opportrunity. All the "vornede-b?nderne" (peasant farmers on the freemen's estates) - who were very often related - acted like freemen themselves and refused to pay taxes and deliver goods to Hammershus; they traveled freely and gathered spoils from shipwrecks along the beaches, and even hunted deer in the woods - which previously had been the age-old prerogative of the king, and now, supposedly, solely that of the L?beckers.
Hans Reimer died around 1553. We do not know where he came from, but some sources have it that he is the founding father of the Bornholm R?mer-family, which seems very likely. We do not know his coat of arms, and none of his supposed descendants ever again became chief justice for Bornholm.
His two assistants carried on at the Landsting. Now Hans Berendsen became chief justice, which is mentioned in a royal letter dated the 5th of July 1559: "Hans Beritzen Lanzdomer paa Borneholm och Peder Gagge wor mand og tienner" (Hans Beritsen, Chief Justice of Bornholm, and Peder Gagge, our man and servant). That letter is the last to mention of Peder Gagge, and his brother Henning Gagge died 3 years later on the 29th of June 1562, which was inscribed on a gravestone (now lost) in R?nne Church. The Gagge-family rule was over, in fact the king no longer needed them, as the new L?beck commandant was so co-operative that he soon ran into trouble with his own bosses back home in L?beck.
The Gagge-family is well known. The two Gagge brother's father, J?rgen Gagge, was the illegitimate son of a Sk?ne officer named Erik Gagge, and his mother was the daughter of officer Hans Eriksen (from the Jordeberga-family) who resided at Bidstrup Hovedg?rd (Bidstrup manor) in Jylland. J?rgen Gagge had been granted nobility by King Hans and given Lensg?rd in ?sterlars parish; his coat of arms displays his illegitimacy: vertically divided, in the 1st half a silver chevron on a black field, and in the 2nd half, attached to the partition, a black, half mill-wheel on a white field; and on the helmet: two vesselhorns. Which is the reverse of that of the legitimate Sk?ne Gagge-family coat of arms. (see nr. 22) However, on Henning Gagge's gravestone his arms were displayed like that of the legitimate Gagge-family arms and helmet from Sk?ne (mill-wheel in 1st, chevron in 2nd); as were Henning's grandsons (and possibly also that of his son J?rgen) - probably trying to avoid the taint of illegitimacy! No other member of the family became a chief justice for the island; only Henning's son, J?rgen Gagge, married the daughter of Chief Justice Peder Hansen Uf - her name was Margrethe.
Hans Berendsen continued on as the sole chief justice for another couple of years - he died sometime between the years 1562 and 1572. His patronymic can be found spelled in a several of different ways: Berendsen, Berrettsen, Beritzen; and since the given name Berild/Berl can be found among his male descendants for several generation, it seems likely that Berild is the Bornholmer version of the (Germanic) given name Berendt. In other parts of Denmark the name Berild can be found as a variation of the Germanic given name Bernhard (see nr. 23), and thus Chief Justice Hans Berendsen might be the son of officer Bernardus Joensen, who was mentioned in documents dating from 1486 and 1490. Hans Berendsen resided at Bjerreg?rd (24 Vdg.) in ?ker parish, a farm which remained in the family for several generations; his great-grandson Berild Hansen (died 1668) resided there from 1650 through 1662, he is recorded as being "Bornholm's last Freeman".
None of Hans Berendsen's descendants ever became chief justice. His son Berild Hansen was the bailiff for Hammershus fortress, which was the last high public office held by the family - thereafter they were just "ordinary freemen". The above mentioned last freeman, Berild Hansen, married into one of Bornholm's chief justice families, and he had inherited Valleg?rd (15 Vdg.) in Nyker parish, which had previously belonged to the freeman-estate Kyndeg?rd, which might indicate that his first wife, Margrethe, who died during the plague of 1653-1654 hailed from Kyndeg?rd. The childless chief justice Jens Kofoed (see below) resided at Kyndeg?rd until his death in 1625; and on the 22nd of March 1628 his heirs sold the freeman-estate to his brother's son, Captain Jacob Kofoed and his wife Margrethe Olufsdatter, who then joined the ranks of the freemen. Berild Hansen's wife might have been a daughter of theirs, and indeed she named a son Jens Berildsen in honour of the childless Jens Kofoed. (Note: I believe these suppositions to be entirely incorrect. Berild Hansen is known to have been married to the sister, named Margrethe?, of clergyman Rasmus Andersen Bleking, who resided at Kyndeg?rd between 1654 and 1671. Evidently Berild got into financial troubles and borrowed money from the very wealthy Rasmus Andersen Bleking. In order to redeam his debts Berild Hansen surrendered Lille Halseg?rd to Rasmus in 1664. As he no longer owned a freeman's farm Berild Hansen lost the right to freeman status. It seems likely that Berild Hansen had obtained Vellensg?rd from his brother-in-law circa 1655, and his son Michel Berildsen would later inherit the farm. Also, records show that Berild Hansen had two son's: Lars and Michel, and probably a third names Hans; no known record of a Jens! - Norman Lee Madsen)
Hans Berendsen's coat of arms is well known as there are many surviving documents: an oak-branch with one acorn. In an odd manner we get to know the colours, as the arms were erroneously placed in an armourial reistry (see nr. 24) under the Uf-family: a green oak-branch with 3 golden acorns on a white field; and on the helmet: 2 white vesselhorns.
At the time of Berild Hansen's death in 1668 his heirs were unable to aquire most of his farms, as the era of the freeman had passed and his descendants were not to be found among the wealthy peasants. Later on we can follow this family on Bornholm via the unusual name "Berild", though not everyone with that name can trace their ancestry back to this freeman.
Notes:
Nr. 21) Henning Gagge of Almeg?rd (Knudsker) and Spidleg?rd (?ker) was a courtier at the king's castle until 1551, after which he was appointed chief bailiff for Bornholm (see note 5), this coincided with his brother, Peder Gagge, being appointed as assistant-judge in the "Landsting" (Upper House of Parliament).
Nr. 22) A. Thiset's "Danske Adelige Sigiller" shows J?rgen Gagge's seal (from the 22nd of May 1522) and Henning Gagge's (from the 16th of July 1550 and the 10th of September 1555) in H.xxxv, nr. 4 and 5; both are in mirror image of a "normal" Gagge coat of arms. A description of J?rgen Gagge's coat of arms (Henning Gagge's son) suggests it to be him, 3 generations after the illegitimate birth, who reverses the coat of arms: "Sigvard Gagge, hvis Vaaben var: et Halvt Gangehjul paa et Sejerv?rk og et Gafflsp?nde, som det ses udi Aa Kirke paa en Stol 1597" ("Sigvard Gagge, whose coat of arms was: a Half Mill-wheel fixed upon a Partition and a Chevron, which one can see on a Pew dated 1597 in Aa Church"), as described in "Rasmus Ravns Borringhoms Kr?nike 1671", pub. R?nne, 1926, page 157. The above mentioned Sigvard was a son of J?rgen, and was not born until 1598, therefore it must be the father's coat of arms in the church. Sigvard/Sivert Gagge, and his brother Claus, also carried the "normal" coat of arms, which can be seen on the coronation documents of 1648 (Claus) and 1650 (Claus), and also in the bestowal document, affirming Bornholm's freemen, from the king dated the 19th of Janury 1659 (Sivert) - all 3 in RA.
Nr. 23) On the 23rd of June 1531 "Hans Beridssenn fik livsbrev paa Thor?e uden for Assens" (Frederik I's danske registrandter), he was the son of the mayor of Assens, Beril Pedersen (Mormand). In 1510 a "Petrus Bernhardi" was matriculated at K?benhavn's University, as a student from Fyn; he was buried Peder Berildsen (Mormand), clergyman in Assens, died 1537, and was a son of the above mentioned mayor (as described in "Studenter ved K?benhavns Universitet", held in the Royal Library, K?benhavn).
Nr. 24) Uldall'ske Samlinger 479-4 "Frederik Rostgaards Vaabenbog", folio 122.
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Lensg?rd is classified as a "frieg?rd", later called a "proprietair" farm, the highest of the three classes of farms. On Bornholm the farms (in Danish "g?rd", or old style "gaard") had long standing official names and numbers, and they were divided into three classifications, in descending order:
1) Proprietairg?rd (Propr.): a freehold estate (thus also called a Frig?rd), which could only be owned by a freeman (frimand) or a member of the nobility (adelsmand).
2) Selvejerg?rd (Slg.): meaning a freehold farm owned independently, free of obligations to an estate owner - it could be occupied by its owner or leased to a peasant farmer (bonde). A peasant who owned this type of farm was known as a "selvejerbonde".
3) Vornedeg?rd (Vdg.), two types: a) the first type was part of an estate (i.e. connected to a proprietairg?rd), the peasants who lived on them were tenants and were obliged to provide labor, known as the "Herlighedsright" (Glory-right), to the owner of the estate; b) the other type was referred to as a "Fri Vornedeg?rd", this type of farm was not connected to an estate and was free of the labor obligation - could be owned by a freeman and leased to a peasant. A peasant who lived on this class of farms was known as a "f?stebonde" (copyhold peasant).
A map drawn in 1851 shows 17 estate-farms classified as Proprietair: 3 in each of ?ker, Ibsker and Nyker parishes; 2 each in ?stermarie and Klemensker; and 1 each in Pedersker, Bodilsker, ?sterlars, and Olsker. There were hundreds of farms comprising the other two classifications. The typical farm is arranged in a joined U shape, with the farmhouse, barn, pig-stall, and utility-shed all built around a cobble-stone courtyard.
This database researched and compiled by Norman Lee Madsen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 21 July 2015.
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1480 - 1551 (~ 71 år)
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