Excerpt from the family register concerning the Hovedissen estate
Hovedissen, located in the Free State of Lippe-Detmold, was a noble, free, knightly estate with representation in the state parliament and was successively owned by the von Wrede, von Kessel, and von Piderit families. Privy Councilor Franz Christian von Borries acquired Hovedissen in 1774 from the administration of the Count’s government in Detmold, after it (and Schuckenhof) had already been under the administration of the government in Detmold for five years, since 1768.
Hovedissen was originally a Meierhof (farmstead). The Meier (farm manager) fell into debt in 1566. When he was to be arrested for manslaughter in 1570, he resisted and was shot. The farm then passed to the bailiff Philipp von Wrede, who obtained noble freedom for the estate on May 18, 1609. He was granted fishing rights, hunting rights outside the large forest, which Count Simon zur Lippe retained for himself and sold to him on a special basis, and sheep farming rights for as many sheep as he could keep. The purchase price was 16,500 talers.
At that time, Hovedissen had to pay v. Münchhausen 1 bushel of rye, 1 bushel of barley, and 2 bushels of oats. This burden is now assumed by Count Simon zur Lippe. At the same time, Philipp v. Wrede acquired the Schuckmannshof estate and also gained noble freedom for it. Noble freedom for Schuckenhof was not acquired by Philip von Wrede, who owned the estate (with Hovedissen) from 1619 to 1633, but by Christoph von Piderit, who acquired both estates in 1726 through shady dealings.
Von Wrede was also the owner of Ulenburg and in 1613 pledged Ulenburg and Hovedissen to Albrecht Schwatze, Johann Borries’ father-in-law, for a loan of 3,000 talers. After Philipp von Wrede’s death, disputes arose between his heirs, Colonel Bornemann von Kessel and Alexander Günther von Wrede. In the settlement of October 20, 1650, Bornemann von Kessel received Hovedissen and Schuckenhof.
Colonel von Kessel died on January 1, 1670, and in 1719, Hovedissen was still owned by the von Kessel family. It is interesting to note that in 1651, a smallholder was fined for failing to attend a wolf hunt.
Hovedissen had to pay v. Kerssenbrock-Mönchshof a tithe of 6.5 bushels of oats. Grag Simon zur Lippe exchanged the tithe for 2 cartloads of oats from the Bösingfeld tithe. A dispute arose between v. Kerssenbrock and Philipp v. Wrede because the latter had purchased the property free of encumbrances. A settlement was reached in which von Wrede ceded half of the Pottenhausen tithe to von Kerssenbrock. There was much dispute regarding sheep grazing. In 1605, it was determined that Hovedissen was allowed to keep 24 sheep, the Vollspänner 12, and the Halbspänner 6.
In 1643, von Kessel requested permission to keep as many sheep as he could feed over the winter. In 1672, a new dispute arose with the inhabitants of Evenhausen, which was pending before the Imperial Chamber Court in 1684/85. The sheep pasture extended over Evenhausen, Ehrdissen, Hovedissen, Greste, Lüdinghausen, Eckentrupp, and Schuckebaum. The Hovedissen estate was subject to tithes in individual parts to the Wendlinghausen manor near Lemgo.
In 1778, von Reden from Wendlinghausen sued Privy Councilor von Borries for reducing the tithe levied on the Nielehnskämpen and the large garden. Von Reden is liable for the tithe on the Nielehnskämpe and is subject to the tithe on the large garden. (Judgments of May 6, 1779, and May 31, 1781).
A distillery and brewery had been established in Hovedissen, which Privy Councilor von Borries had taken over. In 1776, the Lippe treasury filed a lawsuit to stop distilling and brewing insofar as it exceeded the estate’s own needs, but this was dismissed by a ruling of the Chancellor and Council of Detmold on October 14, 1784, and on appeal by a ruling of the Faculty of Law in Erfurt in 1784, and finally by a ruling of the government in Detmold.
The Hovedissen manor had hunting rights in a large part of Lippe, private hunting rights with Ahmsen and Iggenhausen in the large Hovedissen forest, fishing rights on the Windweh river from the Schwabedissen bridge to below the oil mill of the Altrogge colony in Milse, and finally market rights in the Hovedissen and Schuckenbaumer market.
The buildings included: the stately residence, the steward’s house, the distillery, the bakery, the farmyard, the sheepfold, the large threshing house, the stable with barn, five cottages, and a pew in the church in Schötmar.
The land included: 11 bushels of garden, 396 bushels of farmland, approximately 50 bushels of meadows, as well as considerable woodlands and 5 fish ponds.
Peasants and tenants were required to deliver 21 bushels of rye, 61 bushels of barley, 232 bushels of oats, 2 pigs, 8 geese, and 17 chickens annually, as well as 328 days of labor and manual service, and finally 4 talers and 22 groschen in service fees. In addition, Hovedissen collected half of the Pottenhausen grain and blood tithe of 470 bushels of seed land, which was leased for 50 talers annually. Furthermore, 5 geese one year and 4 geese the next year, or 5 and 4 chickens, the 20th foal and the 20th calf were delivered to Hovedissen.
The noble estate of Schuckenhof is united with Hovedissen. It was an exempt farm that attained noble freedom in 1726. President Piderit sold it together with Hovedissen to Privy Councilor von Borries. It consisted of the Meierhaus, the corn mill, 10 Arröder dwellings, 4 men’s and 2 women’s pews in the church in Oerlinghausen, 40 Scheffelsaat of garden land near the cottages, 200 Scheffelsaat of arable land, 21 Scheffelsaaz of meadows, 73 Scheffelsaat of woodland, and 26 Scheffelsaat of ponds.
From 1619 to 1892, Hovedissen (like Schuckenhof) had 15 owners, some of whom were joint heirs between 1703 and 1713, and some of whom were subject to entailment between 1814 and 1849.