Brokmerland

The Brokmerland is a landscape and historic territory located in western East Frisia in Germany, comprising the area in and around the present-day communities of Brookmerland and Südbrookmerland. The Brokmerland borders the Harlingerland to its east and the Norderland to its north. The historic Brokmerland is usually written with only one "o". Occasionally it is also spelt "Broekmerland" ("oe" pronounced as a long "o"),^{[clarification needed]} while today's communities spell the name with a double "o".

The name comes from the Old Frisian and Old Low German word brōk, which meant a moor-like carr landscape that had been very sparsely settled. It stretched from the western edge of the East Frisian geest ridge, from the Ley (Norder Tief) to the Flumm (Fehntjer Tief), and was characterised by numerous shallow lakes from the Großes Meer to the Sandwater. The suffix mer is derived from mann (English 'man') with the possessive suffix -er.

Until the early Middle Ages, the Brokmerland was largely uninhabited and provided a natural boundary between the Federgau and the Emsgau on one side and the provinces of Norderland and Östringen [de] on the other. This boundary also played a role in church history because it was the dividing line between the Diocese of Münster (Federgau and Emsgau) and the Archdiocese of Bremen (Norderland and Östringen).

Archaeological finds suggest a sparse population in the period up to 800 AD. The population grew from about 1100, because the construction of dykes in the region was completed and the Julian Flood [de] of 1164 forced many people to flee inland from the coast. The population increased further during the High Middle Ages, resulting in the sparsely populated or unsettled areas of East Frisia opening up to land development, in a process known as internal colonisation. As a result, the Brokmerland was reclaimed for agriculture by settlers from the Krummhörn marsh as well as the Norder and Auricher geests. In the 11th and 12th centuries, new settlements and the first churches were built on the borders of the geest. The result was the ribbon villages (Reihendörfer), which had a right (called Upstrecken) to claim land into the moor up to someone else's land.

The Brokmers are mentioned for the first time in the Östringen (Rastede) chronicles of 1148, which may indicate that by this time they had attained a certain importance. From 1251 the Brokmänner appeared as inhabitants of an independent territory, the Brokmerland, which was initially divided into three intermediate districts, each with two mother churches: Marienhafe and Engerhafe, Wiegsboldsbur and Burhafe (now isolated farms in the Victorbur marsh), Bedekaspel and Südwolde (Blaukirchen). The parishes belonged to the Diocese of Münster. The main place of assembly of the Brokmann was probably the Wiegboldsbur Church [de].

In the 13th century, the Brokmerland experienced its heyday. The construction of great churches was carried out during this time, of which the formerly three-aisled Marienhafe Church [de] is the largest. At the time, it was the largest church in northwest Germany. In 1462 Pope Pius II paid an indulgence for visiting the church, for donations towards furniture, and monetary donations for the preservation of the Church "curia beate Marie". The Bishop of Münster acknowledged the growing importance of the area in the middle of the 13th century by granting the church its own diocese. Previously, it had been assigned to the dean's office of Uttum and Hinte. The bishop also built a castle in Fehnhusen [de] in the parish of Engerhafe, later forming the nucleus of modern Oldeborg.

The Frisian territories had a consulate constitution under which consuls and judges were elected by the people for one year. Political leadership and the judiciary were directly in the hands of the population. Every year, meetings were held by representatives from the Frisian Seven Sealands. The Upstalsboom from that period is still a popular meeting place today. The Brokmerland had its own jurisdiction and a constitution, the Brokmerbrief. This document acts as the most detailed source of Frisian law from the territorial and judicial constitution in Brokmerland, whose law was based on the collective will of the people.

At the end of the 13th century, the Auricherland joined the Brokmerland and formed the fourth region in the territory. After the end of the reign of the tom Brok chieftains in 1450, the Auricherland separated again from Brokmerland.