Bart Schultz
In a previous contribution to Flevolands Geheugen about Overseas polder development activities by Dutch experts, I stated that the first mention concerns priest Heinricus, who, with a group of colonists, reclaimed peatlands northwest of Hamburg in 1106 in the area known as Altes Land. Initially, this wasn't so much impoldering, but over time, due to oxidation and shrinkage of the peat, flood protection became necessary, and polders were made.
Priest Heinricus came from the now-defunct village of Jacobswoude. According to the information plate at the monument commemorating the village, it originated during the reclamation of the peatlands. Since 985, this area had been under the jurisdiction of the Count of Holland. He granted parcels of land in his territory to colonists for reclamation and agriculture. These were called cope reclamations. Such reclamations took place in various peatlands in the Netherlands during the late Middle Ages. After reclamation, the colonists had to pay a portion of the harvest to the landowner. Because landowners were effectively selling land in peatlands in this way, these reclamations were called copen.
While in the Netherlands, after reclamation the soil in peatlands subsides by about a centimetre per year due to oxidation and compaction, the areas eventually became too wet, and ultimately only livestock farming, if at all, was possible. The lands were then abandoned or impoldered. From the fifteenth century onwards, a great need for peat for fuel also played a role, leading to peat excavation in several peatlands, creating lakes. During storms, bank erosion often occurred along these lakes, causing several villages in the west of the Netherlands to disappear under the waves. For Jacobswoude, these conditions became more or less untenable, and the village fell into ruin in the 16th century. Incidentally, there has also been debate about whether the village ever existed.
Back to priest Heinricus. There is a statue of him at both the St. Martini-et-Nicolai church in Steinkirchen in the Altes Land region in Germany and at the Woudse Dom cathedral in Rijnsaterwoude. The statue in Steinkirchen dates from 1992, and the copy in Rijnsaterwoude is from 2001. The memorial stone at the statue in Rijnsaterwoude states that priest Heinricus was from Jacobswoude. This seems to me to be a sign that Jacobswoude did indeed exist.
It also states that in 1113, apparently seven years after the beginning of colonization in 1106, as mentioned on the statue in Steinkirchen, he and five fellow countrymen concluded a cope agreement with Archbishop Frederick I of Bremen and Hamburg for the reclamation of parcels of peat along the western bank of the Elbe River in the Altes Land region. The original land divisions are still clearly visible in the landscape. Names like Hollerland and Hollerdeich also recall the reclamation by the Dutch.
In 2001, we visited the area on our way to Norway for a holiday. It was very similar to the landscapes of the peatlands in the Netherlands. The initiative of priest Heinricus and his followers was subsequently followed by many others, as is still clearly visible in various places along the Baltic Sea coast.
