1 _FA1
2 PLAC Esquire (Væbner)
1 MISC Coat of arms (Våben): a red chevron on white (en rødt sparre i hvidt)
From "Danske adelige sigiller fra det 13. til 17. århundrede", page 37:
Nr. 785. Johannes Wf: S' . . . HANN. . . I skjoldet en Sparre. 13791/1. Stockholm. Tegning i Langebecks Sigilsamling.(Translation of above:)
Nr. 785. Johannes Uf: On seal: Sir (damaged)HANN(damaged); the coat ofarms display's a chevron; dated: January 1, 1379; Stockholm; drawing heldin Langebeck's seal collection.The following is a translation of the article "De bornholmskevæbnerslægter Uf og Splid - noget nyt om deres våbener", written bySigvard Mahler Dam, published in Heraldisk Tidsskrift, 1982.
Sparre-Uf:
This family hails from a venerated old Skånsk noble-family - the first recorded member was the "ridder" (knight) "Johannes dictus Wff" -mentioned in records dated 1299 and 1302 (1). He could be the greatgrandfather of the Gelre-armorial's Joenz U, whose father Lawe Uf wasmarried to a sister of the Archbishop of Lund (in Skåne), Niels Joensen,who carried the twinned coat of arms (5) of the Bild-family. Joenz U isquite an historical personage! He was the commander of HammershusFortress, and in records from that time known as: "Johannes Uf" in 1379;"Hans Uf" - also in 1379; "Johannes Wf" in 1387; "Jens Uff" in 1389; andlastly as "Johane lawesson" in 1407 (6). His family relationship to theArchbishop probably gave him a freer rein as commander of Hammershus (7).
(Note: Evidently Sigvard Mahler Dam has since discovered thatJoenz/Jens/Hans/Johannes Uf and Johannes Lawesen are NOT the sameperson. Edvard Skovgaard, in "1000 Aner til en Skovgårdsslægt",identifies Johannes Uf's parents as being Peder Uf/Ulf and MarieJensdatter; and that Peder Uf might be the son of a Niels Uffsen (-1302-)- likely this is the same person as Sigvard Mahler Dam's Nicolai/Niels Uf(-1302-). And it would seem likely that Marie Jensdatter is identical tothe daughter of Joens/Jens Nielsen Bild, who was the mother of Joenz Uf.- Norman Lee Madsen, December 9, 2005)
Niels Joensen became archbishop of Lund at a time when the Danish Crownhad taken over Bornholm; but very shortly the king, Valdemar Atterdag,leased the island back to Sweden. We have the letter, wherein thearchbishop promises to honour the Danish king's conditions - datedDecember 8, 1362 (8). A man named Hr. Jacob Splid was chozen as theking's representative - we will discuss his family later. But it ishighly likely that the archbishop very soon chose his own representativeas well to look out for his concerns at Hammershus - who better thansomeone from his own family? But we will not meet Joenz U until the late1370s. At the bottom of the archbishop's funeral testament, issued in1379 at Hammershus, can be found the oldest rendition of the Uf-family'scoat of arms (not counting the arms in Gelre) (9).
On a deed (skøde) dated the 7th of January 1407 (between the widow ofPeder Hal and her son-in-law Orm Herlugsen) can be found the seal of"Johane lawesson aduocati castri & terre nostre borendeholm" (Johanelawesson, advocate for the castle and our Bornholm). The document waswritten by the archbishop himself - therefore "nostre" (our) (10). Theseal used on this document is different from the one used in 1379: the"sparre" was much slimmer. He had probably grown very old, because aco-representative, Paulus Diægens, is mentioned. Since no furtherrecords mention him by name, he probably died not long afterwards.
A seal picturing the helmet-design is first known from Joenz U's greatgrandson Oluf Ottensen (Uf), who was appointed chief justice for Bornholmafter Jep Splid. From 1510 through 1522 can be found records mentioninghim in that position; his seal can be found on a document dated 1522 -though it is not in very good condition. It shows a helmet with twovesselhorns. ("Vesselhorns" look like two curved horns sprouting fromthe top a helmet.) Oluf Ottesen (Uf)'s great grandson, Hans Olufsen(Uf), the last male member of his family-line, used the samehelmet-design as his seal from 1599 (11).
Last mentioned as Hans Olufsen (Uf)'s father's brother, Peder Hansen (Uf)also used the two vesselhorns on his helmet-design. He was born in 1536;he was the chief justice for Bornholm from 1574 through 1588; and he diedin 1596. His seal shows another oddity, which might be an engraversflaw, but seems entirely conscious (more on this presently); namely an"inverted" (or sinister) chevron! No one in this family-line hadpreviously used such a design.
A Coloured Coat of Arms:
In Laurids de Thurah's "Bornholmsbeskrivelse", on page 70 (12) can befound the following: "In the church of this parish (Saint Knud's Church iKnudsker parish) the altar-tablet has been preserved in excellentcondition and on it is engraved: 'Anno 1596, da gav Jörgen Gagge og hansHustrue Mette Peder Hansdatter denne Tavle til St. Knuds Kirke. BeggeGivernes Vaabener staaer der ved udhugne' (The year 1596, Jörgen Gaggeand his wife Mette Peder Hansen's daughter donated this tablet to St.Knud's Church. Both donors' coats of arms have been engraved into thetablet) (13). (The name of Jørgen Gagges wife was really Margrethe andshe was the daughter of Peder Hansen Uf.) This led me to believe Ihopefully would find some coloured coat of arms. Jørgen Gagge's wifebeing a member of the Sparre-Uf family.
The antique-topographical archive of the Danish National Museum tells usthat Knudsker Church was closely studied in 1972: ". . . altar-tabletdates back to the Renaissance - according to an inscription, which laterhad received several coats of paint (the above mentioned engraving) wasdated to 1596. The tablet was made from oak, it measures 276 centimetersin length and 239 centimeters in height." It had been carved designdisplays slim columns and was crowned with a triangular gable, but itscondition had deteriorated and suffered insect damage. Very excited Ibegan to read about the findings under the many layers of paint - therewere 5 different layers! But alas! No coats of arms were mentioned,inspite of Thurah's description of them as being engraved into thetablet. Probably both the inscription as well as the two coats of armswere removed in connection with the renovation which took place in 1762.A little disappointed I looked through some additional church-recordsfrom the Uf-family home parishes for similiar detailed descriptions.
Beneath Nyker Round-Church (Nyker parish), a description was foundconcerning a chalice, whereupon the donor's chevron coat of arms had beensoldered, along with a inscription. The chalice is shown on a photographin Jørn Klindt's book "På spor af de første Kofod'er" (Rønne, 1979), buthe changed the date given by the National Museum. According to theNational Museum a Mrs. Cecilia donated the chalice to the NykerRound-Church sometime in the second-half of the 15th century. Joenz Uhad a daughter with this name, but she never lived on Bornholm, so whydonate a chalice to the church in Nyker? Rather, the above Mrs. Ceciliamust have been the daughter of Joenz U's son, Petrus Wf, who is mentionedin the year 1416 (14) this would match the date of the donation, and Mrs.Cecilia was the wife of an officer of the crown in Nyker parish.
A Pew in Saint Clement's Church:After leafing through numerous journals, I casually looked over thedescription of St. Clement's Church (Klemensker parish), when suddenly myeyes caught a poorly done drawing of two coats of arms. The text read:"Clement's Church: door to pew, carved oak framed with smooth fir planks- showing helmeted coats of arms with vesselhorn and the followingmarkings: a shield with an inverse chevron design, and the other shieldsporting a "halv hummerklo" (half lobster claw), Chief Justice PederHansen Uf and wife Margrethe Hansdatter. The door was painted green, thecoats of arms and the door frame painted red and white. Height 84centimeters, length 56 centimeters. . ."
An earlier description from 1947 tells more: ". . . the pew-door from the1700s is made of fir with three insets: the top one made of oak with twobeautifully carved coat of arms decorated with helmets, vesselhorn, andfeathers, and with the inscription: PH - MHD. On the back of this insetin the pew-door can be vaguely seen traces of two black-painted coats ofarms below a layer of grey paint, the same as carved on the front." In acopy of "Danmarks Kirker" from 1954, the date has been altered to the endof the 1500s, which better suits the persons involved and the style ofthe time.
This sounded very enticing! And I decided (in 1979) to approach theclergy of Bornholm, pastor for Klemensker C.W. Røboe Dam, about thesecoats of arms, and he very kindly sent me some colour-photos of thepew-door, which had been hung in the entry ot the church. Since the redand white paint on the door frame sounded a bit odd to me, I decided topay a visit to the church, which is situated on top of a hill inbeautiful surroundings. And found that it appeared that the pew-door hadreceived several coats of paint through the years! But you can clearlysee that the earliest coat of paint on the inset was black - later it wascovered with a gruesome green color! The Uf coat of arms, both theshield and the helmet, appeared to have been covered with a dark-redoilpaint - after a fairly thorough removal of the earlier layers ofpaint; but we can still see traces of the earliest layer: red on thevesselhorns; and white in the shield; the chevron has white paint on topof a coat of red. The wife's coat of arms shows white paint remnants onthe vesselhorns; her shield has two layers: white over an old layer ofred paint, and the "hummerklo" (lobster claw) has red paint on top of anold layer of white. It is peculiar that an inverse chevron is shown inthe shield - Peder Hansen (Uf) was the only one on Bornholm using aninverse chevron. Was the carving done from a faulty design of his seal?Mette Hansdatter was the last member of the Bornholm Myre-family(myre=ant), she was the daughter of Hans Myre, they had a design withthree black ants on a white shield in their coat of arms, and the helmethad two white vesselhorns (15).
An Old Church-bell:
Peder Hansen (Uf)'s coat of arms seem to have brought some confusion forresearchers, because it appears that Jørgen Gagge and his wife Margretheput up yet another memorial to honour Peder Hansen (Uf) and MetteHansdatter. In 1601 they had cast a new large church-bell (which laterdisappeared) for Klemensker Church. Thurah quotes the following (12):"Paa den største Klokke findes tvende Vaabener, det ene med et Spendeudi, som ventelig er de Adelige Koefoders; Det andet med en Giedde Kieftudi." (On the large bell you find two coats of arms, one carries thechevron, the emblem of the noble Koefod-family, the other carries thepike's jawbone.) The engraving reads: "Anno 1601 Lod Claus Kames denneKlokke støbe til St. Clemmens Kirke paa Bornholm, efter Velbyrdige Hr.Jörgen Gages og Hr. Lars Nielsens i den Tiid Sogne-Herres Befalning, afRheinholt Benning i Lübeck". (In 1601 Claus Kames had this bell cast forSt. Clemen's Church of Bornholm after the request of the Well-Born Mr.Jørgen Gage and Mr. Lars Nielsen. . .)
Unfortunately nothing is noted about an inverse chevron, but there is areference to the Kofoed-family, who carried a blue chevron on a redbackground with 2 white vesselhorns. "Danmarks Kirker", volume 7,Bornholm, tells the same, but lists those coats of arms as the propertyof the Gagge and Splid families.
M.K. Zarthmann (well versed in all the Bornholm-families) writes (16):"Jørgen Gagge gave a beautiful memorial in honour of his parents-in-lawPeder Hansen Uf and Mette Hansdatter Myre, because in 1601 he had cast alarge church-bell, engraved with the Uf-family's chevron-emblem and theMyre-family's crawling ant." Yes, Zarthmann knew very well whichfamilies this pertained to, and has deliberately made the correction fromthe "Giedde Kieften" (pike's jawbone) to one crawling ant - but as weknow the Myre coat of arms carried three ants! Zarthmann never did seethe bell for himself, so we must believe Thurah's impartial account ofthe above, and say that the very same set of coat of arms which today canbe seen on the pew-door must have been engraved on the church-bell! Thuswe are ensured that it can not be a mistake incurred later if the pew isa copy of the original.
The Splid-Family:
But who then is the rightful owner of the pew's inverse coat of arms? Weare not entirely clueless: the Splid-family carried a half (or sometimesa whole) lobster claw (hummerklo) in their coat of arms, but how do theyenter the picture here? Since the above coat of arms can not belong toPeder Hansen (Uf)'s wife, maybe it could belong to his mother? Theinitials could possibly have been carved later; we do not know anythingabout his father Hans Olufsen (Uf)'s wife (17). She might have been ofthe Splid-family - which would have been the last chance! For the lastmember of the Splid-family, Jep Splid, was mentioned in 1508 as deceased,whereupon his widow gives 200 Lübeck-marks to Lund Cathedral for purchaseof land in Skåne. Among the witnesses signing the document is PederHansen Uf's grandfather Oluf Ottesen Uf, who at that very time had justsucceeded Jep Splid as chief justice of Bornholm (18). Therefore thetiming disproves the theory of the coat of arms belonging to another wifeof Peder Hansen (Uf) - maybe the pew carried the emblems of both hisparents?
The Splid-family was not very prolific - neither did they leave very manywritten accounts compared to other Bornholmer-families. We have alreadymet the first Splid on the island: Jacob Splid, known to be King ValdemarAtterdag's commander (hovedmand) for Hammershus fortress in 1361 and1362. The Splid-family did not likely originate from Skåne (where thearchbishop recruited his commanders), but from another region. OnSjælland and in Norway we find two (inter-connected?) families, bothcarrying the lobster claw in their emblems. In Norway the most importantwas Siewerd Bjørnsen, known to be a bishop in 1458. On Sjælland we havea Jep Nielsen (Splid) in Gumløse in 1492, his seal with the helmet isfrom 1503, his seal from 1492 looks like the Bornholmer Splid-family's"giedde kieft". A Jep Splid was chief justice of Bornholm in 1497. On adocument dated the 10th of August 1497 we find him using his father'sseal - the inscription states: "andreas split". The colours on the coatof arms are not known, but now we can see that the "hummerklo" (lobsterclaw) was white on a red field - if we accept the identification of thefemale's coat of arms from Klemensker church.
The helmet emblem with the two vesselhorns probably resulted from copyingthe other arms carrying families on Bornholm - the island being isolatedfrom mainland heraldic influences. Also due to smaller areas, theland-owners never could afford the elaborate splendour shown in the coatof arms in other regions. Some of the important people on Bornholm stillhad their coat of arms hanging in the churches. Furthermore the prefect,Urne (he reported to Laurids de Thurah), in the 1700s mentions a paintedfriese with coat of arms in Hammershus fortress, but unfortunately it wasalready badly deteriorated.
The (known) helmet designs of the Bornholm land-owners of the 1400 and1500s are as follows:
Splid: 2 white vesselhorns.
Sparre-Uf: 2 red vesselhorns.
Myre: 2 white vesselhorns.
Kofoed: 2 vesselhorns.
Køller/Kjøller: 2 vesselhorns.
Per Truelsen (Baad's family?): 2 vesselhorns.
Giedde: 1 blue and 1 white vesselhorn.
Bagge: 1 blue and 1 white vesselhorn.
Lang: 2 horizontally divided green/white - white/green vesselhorns.
Agern-Uf: 2 horizontally divided red/blue - blue/red vesselhorns; helmetsprouts a yellow twig with 3 acorns.
Myre/Kyrning: 1 white and 1 blue vesselhorn with a 6-pointed stardivided in blue and white like the shield.
Hals: 2 vesselhorns with a crown in between them, like the emblem in theshield.
Niels Mogensen family: 1 upward-growing lily.
Sparre (of Skåne): 2 white vesselhorns with 3 blue chevrons, or a blackeagle-wing. It is not known if the Bornholmer Sparre-family used thishelmet design.
Agern-Uf:A sister of Chief Justice Oluf Ottesen (Uf) (19) married freeman OlufTuesen of Store Krashavegård in Klemensker. As far as we know they onlyhad one son; maybe because Oluf Tuesen was killed by Christiern vonHaffn, the archbishop's commander at Hammershus. Oluf Tuesen's farms andland were taken by the greedy archbishop Birger to be added to Hammershusfortress' lands while Oluf's son was still underage (20). He took hismother's family-name - Mogens W - and he probably grew up on theSparre-Uf farm. In 1525 a very unfortunate happening for the Bornholmerstook place: their island was mortgaged away to Lübeck for 50 years. TheDanish king "put wind in the sails' of several courageous freemen andthey served as trouble-makers against the Lübeck'ers; among them wasMogens W, who fought to retrieve his father's farms and land, and in 1533he managed to retrieve part of his property. Two years later he joinedthe Bornholm-uprising against Lübeck, but the peasants and the fewfreemen were no match against the seasoned soldiers of Lübeck's army.The freemen had to flee to Skåne. While Mogens W stayed there, hereceived the nomination to become chief justice for Bornholm from theDanish king, and he was issued a document stating his right to his farmsand land on Bornholm without any conditions (21). But let us leavehistory behind and return to the heraldic. We know Mogens W's seal from1533 - the shield is the wrong way round compared to Storck's drawing in"Danske Adelsvåbener".
A Deviant Emblem:
Now we again go back to the Sparre-Uf's. The above mentioned ChiefJustice Oluf Ottesen (Uf)'s father Otte W carried a deviant emblem - andif we did not know any older emblems we might believe that the family hadchanged from their emblem to Shield and Helmet. Because he used atriangle with cross-bars over the two lower corners - looking like the"sparre" (truss) on a house. Possibly this is just a mistake, or avariation, since some people at that time called a "sparre" a "husgavl"(house-gable) or a "gavl-sparre" (gable-truss).
The same phenomenon can be found in with another Bornholmer family.Jørgen Gagge's seal from 1522 shows a half wheel in the second part ofthe shield, but in the first part there is a triangle instead of theusual "sparre" (chevron). The Gagge-family had, as far as is known, noconnection to the Uf-family at that time (22).
Allan Tønnesen has proven (H.T. II, s. 275f) that it was common practicefor the arms-carrying families to carry an emblem (bomærke) for somesituations and in other situations a coat of arms (våbenmærke). It seemsa little strange though, that it was Otto W carrying an emblem, if he wasbrother to Cecilia, who gave the chalice to Nyker Church and carried thechevron in her coat of arms.
We can safely acknowledge that the Gelre Armorial's "Joenz U", whocarried a red chevron on a white background in his shield, is the manwhose coat of arms is carved on the pew-door in St. Klemens Church, andthat the family's helmet-design had 2 red Vesselhorns. Furthermore,there is no doubt that Joenz U was also known as Johannes/Hans/JensLawesen Uf, the archbishop's nephew as well as his commander atHammershus fortress.
We might even dare to say that the Splid-family carried a white halflobster claw (halv hummerklo) on a red background in their shield-design,and on the helmet two white vesselhorns. Thus we can add a few morepieces to our heraldic puzzle thanks to a simple pew-door in a remoteBornholmer church.
Notes:
1) The first known member of the Uf-family is mentioned in 1299 - he mustbe the father of the hitherto oldest known member: coat of arms carryingNicholaus Wf, who is mentioned with "his father" in 1302.
2) Document of 1493 found in "Den Arnamagnæanske Samling", København.Also printed n "Suhms Samling".
3) In Anders Galen's funeral testament of 1511 - see Thiset, StateArchives.
4) Letter on paper from 1533 in State Archives, printed in J.R. Hübertz"Aktstykker til Bornholms Historie 1327-1621", København, 1852.
5) Archbishop Niels Joensen's coat of arms can be seen in HenryPetersen's "Danske gejstlige sigiller fra Meddelalderen", København,1886, tables 20 & 21.
6) Johannes Uf: 1379 in the archbishop's funeral testament, Kr. Erslev"Testamenter fra DK's Middelalder", from the original parchment, SwedishState Archives; and in "Trap Bornholm" page 553; in 1387 witness forPeder Munk (in Thiset's files, State Archives); in 1407 as witness forMarine Clausdatter, original on parchment in State Archives - reprintedin Hübertz nr. 11.
7) An old handwritten paper by prefect Urne, found in an attic in Rønne,early 1900, (see "Bornholmske Samlinger", vol. 3, 1908) which tells us ".. denne Hans Uff regner Resen ej med, skjønt Hvitfeldt l.e. sigerudtrykkelig: Han var Selvhersker paa Hammershus paa Bornholm" (Resen doesnot pay any heed to this Hans Uff, although Hvitfeldt clearly states: Hewas the sole Commander for Hammershus on Bornholm), see: Hvitfeldt l.e.page 78.
8) This letter is printed in Laurids de Thurah's "Omstændelig ogtilforladelig Beskrivelse over den Øster-Søen liggende. . . Øe Bornholmog. . . Christiansøe. . .", København, 1756, page 209.
9) Johannes Uf's oldest seal can be seen in Henry Petersen's "Danskeadelige sgiller fra det 13' og 14' Aarh.", København, 1897, nr. 785.
10) Thiset has erroneously placed this seal under the Kofoed-family,because that family also carried a "sparre" coat of arms, the firstKofoed to carry it was probably Chief Justice Jens Kofoed of Kyndegård inNyker. A document from 1514 by the archbishop of Lund, introducing theKofoed's "sparre" coat of arms has been branded as a falsehood - butregardless of this, a Kofoed could have used a "sparre" coat of arms orhave been commander of Hammershus on Bornholm as early as 1407.
11) Hans Olufsen (Uf) has also wrongly been categorized as Kofoed byThiset (see note 10), a close look into Kofoed genealogy will show thatno one has the name Oluf. Hans Olufsen (Uf) was the owner of Vardøhus inSkåne and died in 1601.
12) Thurah's "Bornholmskbeskrivelse" (see note 8).
13) The name of Jørgen Gagges wife was really Margrethe and she was thedaughter of Peder Hansen (Uf). She and her sister Merete (married in1606 to Hans Grabow of Pederstrup) were the two last members of theSparre-Uf's. Note that the year the altar-tablet was given to thechurch: 1596, is the year Peder Hansen (Uf) died. Jørgen Gagge (theyounger) is of the Borholm-branch of that family; Gagge III in "DanskeAdelsvåbener". In the year-book from 1893 you find their family-tree,but it's wrong in several instances. At the time this is written, I justnow found the following in P.N. Skovgaard's "Beskrivelse over Bornholm",København, 1804, page 315:
"Paa Altertavlen læses: 'Ao. 1596 da gaf Jörgen Gage oc hans hustruMerete Peder Hans datter denne altertafle til st. Knudskirke, vort haabtil Gud alene'. Derved ere begge Giveres Vaabner udhgne. Gagges Vaabener et Gavlspænde, et halvt Kaggehjul o.s.v. Hendes Vaaben: etGavlsspænde omvendt, i rødprikket Feldt."
(On the altar-tablet you'll read: "In 1596 Jørgen Gagge and his wifeMerete (sic!) Peder Hansen's daughter gave this altar-tablet to St.Knud's Church, our Hope in God only." Both of their coats of arms arecarved into the tablet. Gagge's coat of arms shows a gable-truss and ahalf wheel. Her arms: an upside down gable-truss, on a red-dottedbackground.)
If the red-dotted background is on both of their emblems is difficult toascertain.
14) State Archives - Private Archives, new chronological order onparchment: March 23, 1416.
15) The family known as "Myre on Bornholm" and the coat of arms is knownfrom Hans Myre's seal. He died in 1518 as the last male of that familyon Bornholm, but he had a sister, Bodil, who married a man named Jacob ofthe family Kyrning-Myre. Their descendants took the name Myre only, andsome of them resided on Bornholm as well.
16) M.K. Zarthmann: "Optegnelser om Almegård i Knudsker sogn", in"Bornholmske Samlinger", volume 21.
17) Not to be mistaken with the Hans Olufsen (Uf), mentioned in note 11,as being the Uf-family's last male. This man is his father's father.
18) Thiset's files in State Archives under Jep Splid. The original issaid to be in the Swedish State Archives.
19) Oluf Ottensen (Uf) whose seal is the very first to carry ahelmet-design. He has been erroneously mentioned in "DanskeAdelsvåbener" to be the last man in his family, but Hans Olufsen (Uf),mentioned in note 11, was the last.
20) The letter regarding this is printed in Hübertz, nr. 83. Original onpaper of 1533 in State Archives with Mogens W's seal.
21) To be found in Hübertz, nr 87. Contrary to common belief this familyis not from Skåne, but is an old Bornholmer noble-family. That Mogens Wis connected to Oddersberg in Skåne, is due to his marriage to Berete(Kyrning/Myre).
22) This Jørgen Gagge (senior) comes from the family mentioned in note13. He carried a "sparre" in the first half of his shield and a halfwheel in the second half. The same goes for his son Henning Gagge, andre: Skovgård (see note 13), also for Jørgen Gagge (junior). This beingopposite to the design of the Skånsk branch of the family. I know theseal carried be two of Jørgen Gagge jr.'s sons (namely Claus' andSivert'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 thechevron in the second half. We can wonder if the older Gagge'sdeliberately changed the design, for the elder Jørgen Gagge was said tobe an illegitimate son of the Skånsk Gagge-family?
* * * * *
Extracted from the article "Strangesønnerne", by Sigvard Mahler Dam,published by Personalhistorisk Tidsskrift, 1993:
In the fall of 1378 (Archbishop) Niels (Jensen) journeyed to Bornholm toinstall his nephew as Commander of Hammershus. Archbishop Niels took illthat November, and started to prepare a testament, although he did notfeel ill enough to finalize it. He survived over Christmas, but inJanuary his illness worsened, and on February 3rd he had his finaltestament recorded. He died two days later.His testament provides valuable information about his family. His nephewJens Uf was appointed as the executor of the testament. The Archbishopwilled Jens his largest drinking-horn of gilted silver, and some bottlespainted with Niels Jensen's coat of arms. Jens Uf's fiancee (Accordingto Aage Kure she was Marine/Maren Pedersdatter Munk - Norman Madsen)received 80 pieces of fur for a coat, as well as the chess set Niels hadreceived from Queen Margrete. Jens Uf's daughter Cecilie was given agold-ring. From the records we find that Cecilie's mother must havedied, and her father had just been betrothed.
Jens Uf's sister, Marine, received Niels' best chest and a furlinedcape. Since Tage Mus' daughter Marine received a cape also, we canpresume that the first mentioned Marine was married to Tage Mus. Next asum is given to the Archbishop's brother's son Peder Larsen, as Nielsowed him and his step-brothers 26 mark silver "which their father, LarsJensen, our brother" lent him so that he could travel to Rome, a journeyhe apparently had to pay for himself.
"Our frænke, Estrid, Mogens Mogensen's wife" was the next personmentioned in the testament. "Frænke" was a word used for femalerelations far removed, and since Estrid is mentioned among nieces andnephews, she must belong to "inheritance class 4" to which aunts anduncles also belong. Estrid must have been the daughter of one of NielsJensen's uncles or aunts, as Niels by this time was pretty old.
Katerine, Mogens Ringsen's wife is the last relative mentioned, and shemust be a sister of Jens Uf, because in the testament she is referred toas "nepte nostre" (our niece), while Jens Uf is referred to as "neptonostro" (our nephew), whereas Peder Larsen is referred to as "fratruelinostro" (our brother's son). Katerine being the last mentioned must bebecause she is the least prominent, i.e. poorly married; her husbandpossibly was a Bornholm soldier - the name "Ring" was very common on theisland at that time.
This database researched and compiled by Norman Lee Madsen, Toronto,Ontario, copyright 2006.
1 MISC Coat of arms (Våben): a red chevron on white (en rødt sparre i hvidt)
The following is a translation of the article "De bornholmske væbnerslægter Uf og Splid - noget nyt om deres våbener", written bySigvard Mahler Dam, published in Heraldisk Tidsskrift, 1982.In "Heraldisk Tidsskrift" (Heraldic Periodical), nr. 23, page 111, Sven Tito Achen made the assumption that the Danish "sparre-våben" (sparre =chevron, våben = coat of arms) - shown in the Gelre-Armorial belongs to aperson of the Bornholm/Skånsk family Uf. This caused an extensive bit ofresearch, and I would like to present you with the results thereof inthis article. ("Skånsk" means someone from the region of Skåne, which ison the southern most coast of Sweden.)
The "sparre-våbenet" is pictured in the above mentioned HeraldiskTidsskrift and shows a red chevron on a white background, and Sven Achentells us that it probably was painted no later than 1375. Furthermore itseems that since the person was placed as the fourth-last of the 25eligible, he was situated well below the governing-plateau of the highestsocial class. The name attached to this coat of arms is: Joenz U. Youmight argue that "U" can not so easily be interpreted to mean "Uf", butif you follow the members of that family through the years, you find themsometimes documented as "We", others as "Wff" or simply "W". Forinstance a "Johannes dictus Wff" from 1299 (1), and another: "Otte Wff",in 1493 (2). "Anders og Peder W", in 1511 (3), and "Maaghns W" in 1533(4). You may remember that there was no distince difference between theletters "u", "w" and "v" in the middle ages. Therefore Gelre's "Joenz U"could easily belong to the Uf-family.
The "Hjelmfiguren" (Helmet-design) is not shown in the Gelre-Armorial,neither is it pictured in the "Nyt dansk Adelsleksikon" (New DanishNoblemen's Encyclopaedia), nor in the "Danske Adelsvåbener" (DanishNoblemen's Coats of Arms), even though the helmet-design has beenpreserved in the design of numerous seals! The reason for thedisappearance of the helmet-design seems to stem from the youngerBornholm generation of the Uf-family, they rejected the family-name andonly used their patronym (=father's name).
The rejection of the family-name seems to have come from the fact thatthere were two Uf-family lines on Bornholm. To distinguish between thesetwo related families, I shall - likewise as there is a Sparre-Kås" and a"Mur-Kås" - introduce the name "Sparre-UF" for the family of "Joenz U",and the name "Agern-Uf" for the related women line of the family (thesefamilies are mentioned as "Uf I" and "Uf II" in "Danske Adelsvåbener").The Sparre-Uf's rejected the family-name in the same generation that theAgern-Uf's adopted it - possibly on purpose. Note: "Agern" is Danish foracorn.
Notes:
1) The first known member of the Uf-family is mentioned in 1299 - he mustbe the father of the hitherto oldest known member: coat of arms carryingNicholaus Wf, who is mentioned with "his father" in 1302.
2) Document of 1493 found in "Den Arnamagnæanske Samling", København.Also printed n "Suhms Samling".
3) In Anders Galen's funeral testament of 1511 - see Thiset, StateArchives.
4) Letter on paper from 1533 in State Archives, printed in J.R. Hübertz"Aktstykker til Bornholms Historie 1327-1621", København, 1852.
This database researched and compiled by Norman Lee Madsen, Toronto,Ontario, copyright 2006.
1 MISC Paradisgårde, 34 Slg. Ibsker, Bornholm
From the 1845 census of Rutsker parish:
45 Slg.: Niels Sonne, 37 years old, married, born in Klemensker parish,farmer; Karen Kirstine Rømer, 45, married, Olsker parish; their daughter:Christine Marie Sonne, 7, born Rutsker parish.This database researched and compiled by Norman Lee Madsen, Toronto,Ontario, copyright 2006.
1 MISC Vasegård, 42 Slg. Åker, Bornholm