Ladies and Gentlemen, 

We are standing right know here on the property of the Niedermeyer Farm in Berghausen at an outstanding historical place. Unfortunately there are no existing Documents left of the historical beginning but it’s safe to say that:

The Niedermeyer and Obermeyer Farm in Berghausen originally belonged together and in there origin that is to say that these both farm’s were a “Meyerhof”. In the early Middle ages in the change from the Saxon to the Carolingian times about 1200 Years ago there hade the Meyerhöfe still a specific function. The Meyerhöfe where intermediary between the aristocracy and the Farmers. There function was to sow the fields and to fill the barns of the aristocracy. They where also in choice for the completion of the services, so that the aristocracy could wag wars against there enemies.

In the following of the Middle ages the Meyerhöfe got more and more dispensable. The aristocracy hade now there own administrator and from now an they took over all the duties the Meyerhöfe just to do. From now on was the Berghauser Meyerhof just a big Farm with out any duties. On one point of time the Meyerhof got prorated and the Niedermeyer Farm where we are standing right know and the Obermeyer Farm originated. The legal status of the Niedermeyer Farm in the Middle ages was different to what we would imagine newer days. They where tributary to the landlord of Ravensberg. 

Lordship means the belongings on property and on the number of tributary. The tributary’s where supposed to serve there landlords and to pay tributes. The aristocracy financed out of the tributes there standard of living and there political and militariecel dedications. During the middle ages almost all farmers got in to the addiction of aristocracies ruler. Concretely applied about 85 % of the land living population in the Shire of Ravensberg as bond-farmers. In the middle of the 15th century 43% of the bond-farmers where in obedience to the Landlords. Almost 45% where in obedience to the ministerial nobility, about 11% to the church and only about 1% of the farmers where free. Bond-Farmer meant that the farmer hade an perishable right of use on his Farm but he was not the owner of his Farm. The actual owner of the farm was still the Landlord and because of that he had in the ideal case the right to assign a new Farmer on his farm. The bond-farmer was with his hole family in an official duty to his landlord, bondage hade concrete consequences which the farmer families could fell on there on body’s every now and than they hade to do immoderate duty’s.

Alongside to the above mentioned charges and restrictions where there a few more which needed to be financed. Regular services on the Farms of the Landlords, years of service for sons and daughters rental dues from the harvest of the land which belonged to landlord but also tributes e.g. as pigs or cows. That was not all what the farmers in the Middle ages hade to pay there where even more taxes.

Know let us look in which concrete dependence the Niedermeyer Farm in Berghausen was at the ending of the middle ages how many tributes hade to come from the farm and what the social status of the farm was. Out of a compilation from 1556 we adept that the farm was run by the time from a family called Diederich. The name of the Farm is not any more Meyer it is now called Niedermeyer. As a matter of course we also find at that times the Farm Obermeyer in Berghausen. Originally the two farms where the Meyerhof. They where now called “heelspänner”. It means roughly Translated that they belonged to the largest farms and an enormous number on acres hade and for that reason they hade to pay many tributes and hade a lot of services to do. The farm hade a lot of estates but not many cartels. Farmer Niedermeyer feed up 4 pigs a year and two of them where tributes two the landlord same as it was on the Obermeyer Farm. Let us look a little bit closer now on the tributes and services of the Niedermeyer farm in Berghausen. One day of the weak the Niedermeyer hade to work with two horses for his landlord the landlord of Ravensberg or he hade to pay gold gulden. Money was always rare so the farmer probably sent one of his farm labours with two horses to his landlord. In addition to that farmer Niedermeyer hade still to pay his tributes: great deals of rye, barley and oat where payable, also 2 cows, 2 pigs and 2 chickens a Year. Also two and a half Schilling to the church in Borgholzhausen and two and a half to the church of Bockhorst.

The legal status of the farms the dependence to the aristocracy stayed century’s. The farmers only hade confined easement on the farms. They where not allowed to sell any field or to borrow money and where not be abele to invest money in to the cultivation of the surrounding area  With abolishment of the bondage in the early 19th century the Farmers got free and owners of there own land. As from now on masses of the undeveloped area got cultivated and the still seen cultivated landscape got created.