Year: 2000

Germanic Lore

Germanic Lore

by Justin Durand

Germanic swan myths, preserved in fairy tales, are similar to those of the Norse and Celtic. In many stories women who take the shape of swans can be prevented from doing so if their plumage is taken. In other household tales a wicked step-mother throws white skirts over her step-children, and they are at once transformed into swans.

A German Nobleman

A nobleman was hunting in a forest, when he emerged upon a lake in which bathed an exquisitely beautiful maiden. He stole up to her, and took from her the gold necklace she wore; then she lost her power to fly, and she became his wife. At one birth she bore seven sons, who had all of them gold chains round their necks, and had the power, which their mother had possessed, of transforming themselves into swans at pleasure. [Sabine Baring-Gould, Curious Myths of the Middle Ages (1866-1868).]

A Hessian Forester

A Hessian forester saw a beautiful swan floating on a lonely lake. Charmed with its beauty, he prepared to shoot it, when it exclaimed, “Shoot not, or it will cost you your life!” As he persisted in taking aim, the swan was suddenly transformed into a lovely girl, who swam towards him, and told him that she was bewitched, but could be freed if he would say an “Our Father” every Sunday for her during a twelvemonth, and not allude to what he had seen in conversation with his friends. He promised, but failed to keep silence, and lost her. [Sabine Baring-Gould, Curious Myths of the Middle Ages (1866-1868).]

Southern Germany

A hunter in Southern Germany lost his wife, and was in deep affliction. He went to a hermit and asked his advice; the aged man advised him to seek a lonely pool, and wait there till he saw three swans alight and despoil themselves of their feathers, then he was to steal one of the dresses, and never return it, but take the maiden whose was the vesture of plumes to be his wife. This the huntsman did, and he lived happily with the beautiful damsel for 15 years. But one day he forgot to lock the cupboard in which he kept the feather-dress; the wife discovered it, put it on, spread her wings, and never returned. [Sabine Baring-Gould, Curious Myths of the Middle Ages (1866-1868).]

The Woodcutter and the Swan Maiden

There was a woodcutter who lived in the heart of the Black Forest, in what is now Germany. He was lonely, so he decided to consult a witch. He took many presents to the witch — a golden bracelet carved with ancient runes, silver necklaces, and jars of the finest mead — but the only gift she would accept was the figure of a swan he had carved from a piece of ivory.

The witch prepared her spell, then told the Woodcutter to go to a certain pond, where he would find a woman preparing to bathe there. The Woodcutter would see a swan land near the pond. The swan would take off her cloak of feathers and become a beautiful woman. The Woodcutter should then take the cloak and keep it. If the Woodcutter did this, the woman would stay with him for the rest of his life. But, if he let the woman have her cloak back, she would put it on, become a swan, and fly away and never return.

The Woodcutter did what the witch told him to do. The woman followed the Woodcutter home and became his wife. They lived happily together for ten years, until one day the Woodcutter forgot to lock the chest where he kept the cloak. He returned home to find the chest empty and his wife gone.

The Magic Swan

A boy was abused by his two older brothers. He was advised by an old woman to run away. She told him he should go to a certain pear tree at sunset, where he would find a man asleep and a swan tied to a tree by a red cord. He  should take the swan without waking the man. Everyone he met would fall in love with the swan’s plumage. When they touched it, he could say “Swan, hold fast” and they would be stuck to the swan until he touched them with a stick she would give him. The old woman predicted he would come to a town with a princess who had never laughed. If he could make the princess laugh, his fortune would be made.

The boy did as the woman advised. He successively captured a youth working in a building yard, a girl washing clothes in a stream, a chimney sweep, a clown from a traveling circus, a Mayor and the Mayor’s wife, As the old woman predicted, the boy and his procession came to a princess, who saw them and laughed. The delighted king offered the boy his choice of 1,000 crowns of gold or a piece of land. The boy chose the land, then released his captives. The Princess, attracted by the swan’s plumage, reached to touch it, and the boy captured her as well. He married her, but the swan flew away. The boy became a duke, and the old woman became his housekeeper. For the full story, see Andrew Lang, Green Fairy Book (1892).

The Six Swans

Six brothers are turned into swans by their evil stepmother. They can only take their human forms for 15 minutes every evening. In order to free them, their sister must make six shirts out of starwort, and neither speak nor laugh for six years. A king found her doing this, was taken by her beauty and married her. The Queen gave birth to a child, but the King’s wicked mother stole the child and accused the Queen of killing it. The same thing happened with the Queen’s second and third children. The third time, the King no longer believed his wife to be innocent. He sentenced her to be burned at the stake as a witch. On the day of her execution, the Queen was almost finished making the shirts for her brothers; the last shirt was missing the left arm. When she was brought to the stake, she took the shirts with her. As she was about to be burned, six swans came flying through the air. She threw the shirts over them, and they became her brothers in human form, except the youngest, who was left with a swan’s wing instead of a left arm. (In some versions the Queen did not finish the sixth shirt in time, and her youngest brother was left as a swan.) The Queen, now free to speak, defended herself against the accusations, and the evil mother-in-law was burned at the stake instead. For the full story, see Jacob Grimm & Wilhelm Grimm, Household Tales, No. 49. Andrew Lang, Yellow Fairy Book (1894) gives a variation. This German story is similar to the Irish story of the Seven Swan Brothers, and Hans Christian Andersen’s The Wild Swans. In the Aarne-Thompson classification system for folktales, there are dozens of European stories in which a woman saves or is saved by her brothers, who have been turned into various types of birds (type 451).

Updated May 20, 2020 to repair broken link.

Swedish Soldiers

Swedish Soldiers

by Justin Durand

Sweden was once one of the superpowers of Europe but by 1672, when Carl XI came of age, its power was beginning to decline. The country was too poor to maintain the troops it needed to defend its borders. It had become a client state of France and was expending its energies in foreign wars to serve French interests. In 1680, Carl XI reorganized the Swedish military.

Under the new system, called the indelningsverket, each province was required to maintain one regiment of foot soldiers. For the cavalry, the government contracted with wealthy individuals to provide riders and horses. The new system gave Sweden an army of 25,000 foot soldiers (18,000 from Sweden and 7,000 from Finland) and 11,000 cavalrymen (8,000 from Sweden and 3,000 from Finland). As part of the reforms, roads were improved and hostelries were built for the mobilized troops.

The system was created just in time. The period following the death of Carl XI in 1699 was a bad time for Sweden. There were bad harvests, starvation, and unrest in the countryside. Denmark, Saxony, Poland and Russia signed a treaty under which they proposed to attack Sweden. In the spring of 1700, Sweden faced war on two fronts, in Holstein and in Livland. The Dutch writer, Justus Van Effen, after traveling in Sweden the year following Carl XI’s death, wrote:

I can even ensure, that in the whole of Sweden I saw not a single man between 20 and 40 years, other than soldiers. The cruel war that was so long and had so many battles and sieges in so many different lands had taken all the youth from this unfortunate land. In the north, it was even worse, we had young boys, 11 and 12 years old, who were driving the wagons we traveled with; they did the work as fast and well as their father and grandfathers should have done. In more than 20 stages, we were transported by young girls, who did their duty very well.

The resulting war lasted 20 years, until the Peace of Nystad in 1721. Toward the end of the war, the front line was no longer in Sweden’s overseas territories; Russian Cossacks were plundering and burning farms on the Swedish mainland. The war reduced the population of Sweden by 15%. Despite the horrors of the war, the new military system was successful, and endured for over 200 years, until 1892/1901.

The Rota System

To create the regiments of foot soldiers, each province was divided into rota (service lists). The farms in each rota were required to join forces in order to equip a soldier and provide him with a croft and house (the soldattorp). The soldier had to support himself and his family from his work on the croft, but also had to attend military drills and, in time of war, had to report for duty, wherever that might be. These soldiers were called indelta-armen (”tenement soldiers”).

Each of the farms in the rota was assessed a percentage of the soldier’s upkeep. This assessment was called a mantal (”man-count”). For example, two farms that were each assessed at one-half mantal were each required to contribute one-half to the support of the rota’s soldier. The mantal of a farm might be as low as 1/32. Farms smaller than 1/32 mantal could not feed a family, contribute to the upkeep of the rota’s soldier, and pay taxes as well.

Every rota had a name and number, often an animal name as Korp (raven), Dufva (dove), Myra (ant), or some item associated with the army: Kanon (cannon), Haubitz (howitzer) or Wapen (weapon).

The Rusthåll System

The system for cavalry soldiers was similar to the system for the infantry. The cavalry equivalent of the rota was therusthåll. A rusthållare, or farmer in a rusthåll, was the proprietor of an independent farm. He had a private contract with the government to provide a cavalryman, with horse and uniform. The cavalry soldier (ryttare) received a croft (ryttartorp) and land to farm, like the soldattorp of the infantry.

Soldiers

The rota chose the men who became soldiers, although the soldier could be rejected in the genaralmönstringen (”general-inspection”) that took place every year and often was attended by the king. Soldiers could be anyone. They could be from some other part of the country or from the nearest village, but often they came from the same village. Typically, they were drängar (farm-hands) or some other low status but handy person in the village. When the soldier was killed in war or was unable to serve for any other reason, he was replaced as soon as possible. When there where many wars in a short time, villages sometimes had to replace the soldier with the farmer himself or with one of the farmer’s sons.

When a soldier died or retired, the rota was responsible for the support of his widow. The new soldier was often pressured into marrying the old soldier’s widow. Because of the poverty among the peasantry, it was easier on everyone if the new soldier married the widow instead of some other. That way, the soldier’s croft only had to support two people instead of three (not counting the children). There were cases where the widow was 16 years older than her new husband. The same custom was common among priests, where the new priest was pressured to marry the old priest’s widow. The custom was called änkekonservering (”widow preservation”).

Whatever the soldier’s background, he acquired some status in the parish. The soldier was a person to count on. The farmers had to loan him a horse and carriage every Sunday so he and his family could get to the church. After church, he would exercise outside the church with other soldiers from the neighborhood. He got an annual salary, a piece of land, seed, cows and sheep, food, clothes, the loan of a horse to transport wood from the forest, and the use of a cottage. Still, although the uniform gave him some respect, he was required to be available to the farmers of the rota for work in the fields, so he once again became a dräng.

Related Information

Swedish Soldiers’ Names

Quarmby

Quarmby

by Justin Durand

The Quarmby family takes its name from the manor of Quarmby, near Huddersfield in Yorkshire. At the time of the Norman Conquest the manor was part of the barony of Pontefract, which the king bestowed on Ilbert de Lacy, who in turn gave it to one of his retainers, who took the surname Quarmby. In 1311 the manor passed with the heiress Alice de Lacy to her husband Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and in 1399 passed with the duchy of Lancaster to the English crown.

In 1307 a jury was impaneled to inquire into terrible deeds happening at the castle and reported that “a certain stranger had been murdered in the dungeons and his body thrown outside, that his body when discovered was a ‘complete mass of corruption’ as if it had been ‘devoured by worms, birds and dogs.'”

In 1341, in the reign of Edward III, the Lord of the Manor, Sir Hugh de Quarmby quarreled with the Sheriff. He and his allies John de Lockwood and Sir Robert de Beaumont were all murdered by the sheriff in a single night, and the castle at Quarmby was utterly destroyed. In the words of a local ballad:

He rais’d the country round about,
His friends and tenants all,
And for his purpose picked out
Stout sturdy men, and tall:

To Quarmby-Hall they came by night,
And there the Lord they slew;
At that time Hugh of Quarmby hight,
Before the country knew.

Lineal Genealogy

1. Joseph Quarmby (c1766-?), of Huddersfield, Yorkshire. He married Elizabeth “Betty” Gledhill (c1768-?).

2. John Quarmby (1801-1845), a music teacher in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire and Nauvoo, Illinois. He married Anne Wagstaff (1802-1846). They converted to Mormonism about 1842, came to America in 1845 and settled at Nauvoo. John died soon after of the swamp fever. His widow then died, leaving an orphaned daughter Annie who was adopted by Joseph Bates Noble, the man who performed the first plural marriage.

3. Anna Quarmby (1842-1904), of Salt Lake City, Utah. Annie went with the Noble family to Salt Lake, and in later life received a Golden Jubilee pin as one of the pioneers who came the first year. She grew up in Salt Lake as Annie Noble. She left home when she was 15 because her foster father wanted to marry her. After a brief marriage to William Washington Camp, she married Wilford Woodruff Luce (1838-1906).

Coat of Arms

The Quarmby coat of arms are canting arms: Argent two bars and in chief a Cornish chough Proper. No crest is recorded. A Cornish chough is also called a “corbie.”

Birth Brief

Birth Brief

by Justin Durand

In the Middle Ages members of noble families often had birth briefs prepared, showing that a person was noble in all branches, and therefore acceptable for a noble marriage. The most famous form of birth brief was the Seize Quartiers, showing that all of the person’s 16 great great grandparents were noble. Today, the idea of a birth brief can be used to present a snapshot of a person’s ancestry. Mine shows, not nobility in 16 branches, but a diversity typical of the American Experience:

1. Charles Hamilton Howery (1847-1918), a farmer at Fremont, Dodge County, Nebraska. His ancestors were 18th century German and German-Swiss immigrants to Pennsylvania. His paternal ancestor Jakob Hauri (c1711-c1780) came to Pennsylvania about 1737. Another ancestor, Jacob Howry (c1735-1809) founded Howrytown, Virginia.

2. Embrozina Wallace (1851-1924). She came from a Loyalist family that fled to Canada at the time of the American Revolution. She was German and English on her father’s side, and English on her mother’s side. Her paternal ancestor Anton Walliser (1729-1800) served in the 60th Royal American Regiment and later settled in New York. Most of her ancestors were 17th century immigrants to New England and 18th century immigrants to New York.

3. Benton Dudley Alloway (1852-1918), a farmer at Madison, Madison County, Nebraska. Most of his ancestors were 17th century immigrants to Virginia, with one line of Quakers who moved down to Virginia from New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the early 19th century. He was a descendant of Edward I of England.

4. Mary Augusta Dutton (1854-1908). Her ancestry was primarily English, with a bit of Dutch, all from 17th and 18th century immigrants to New York and New England.

5. William Steven Horne (abt 1832-1896), a blacksmith and farmer at Rock Port, Atchison County, Missouri. He belonged to a distinguished family, but was kicked in the head by a mule during the Civil War. He and his wife led a nomadic life, and were extremely poor. His ancestry was English, with perhaps a bit of German, in North and South Carolina. His immigrant ancestor Dr. John Horne studied at the University of Edinburgh and came to America about 1760.

6. Rachel Jane Roberson (1857-1943). She was Pawnee, adopted by a Cherokee family settled in Missouri after the Trail of Tears.

7. James Robert Quillen (1853-1940), a carpenter at Homer, Dakota County, Nebraska. He and his wife divorced. She re-married, he never did. His ancestry was primarily English (settled in Maryland and Delaware), but his paternal ancestor Teague Quillen (c1615-?) came from Ireland.

8. Clara Etta Weight (1869-1940). Her ancestors were mostly Germans settled in Pennsylvania in the 18th century, but she also had Irish and Dutch ancestry through the Linns and Van Sycocs.

9. Carl Johan Svanström (1823-after 1895), a soldier in the Royal Kalmar Regiment (Sweden). He lived at Sundet in Ukna Parish, Kalmar. In retirement he built Strömsborg (”River Castle”). He lived and died in Sweden.

10. Anna Sofia Jaensdotter (1826-after 1895). She lived and died in Sweden.

11. Anders Johan Reinhold Andersson (1831-1887), a farmer at Löckerum.

12. Johanna Carolina Fyrstén (1846-1917). She lived and died in Sweden.

13. Wilford Woodruff Luce (1838-1906), a farmer in South Cottonwood Canyon, outside Salt Lake City, Utah. He was born in Maine just after his family converted to Mormonism, and was named for the missionary who converted them. As a child he became a pioneer of both Nauvoo, Illinois and Salt Lake City, Utah. In his youth he and his brothers were members of the Bill Hickman Gang. In 1862 they were prosecuted for an assault on the governor of Utah. His ancestry was English with a touch of Scottish, all from 17th century immigrants to New England. He was a descendant of Gov. Thomas Mayhew (1592-1682), of Martha’s Vineyard, and of Peter Grant (c1634-1709) and John Sinclair (1634-1700), Scots deported to America during Cromwell’s conquest of Scotland. Through those lines he was descended from the Grants of Auchterblair and the Earls of Caithness, as well as from James IV of Scotland. He was also a descendant of Edmund Cranmer, younger brother of the famous Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury in the time of Henry VIII. His paternal ancestor Henry Luce (c1640-before 1689) came from Wales to Martha’s Vineyard.

14. Anna Quarmby (1842-1904). Her parents converted to Mormonism in England, came to America, and died leaving her an orphan. She was raised by Joseph Bates Noble, the man who performed the first polygamous marriage.

15. John C. Wilson (1832-1883), a farmer and blacksmith in Tuscola, Douglas County, Illinois. His ancestry was mixed English and Scotch-Irish from 17th and 18th century immigrants to Virginia and Maryland. His most distinguished ancestor was Gov. Thomas Greene (about 1610-1652), of Maryland, the first Catholic governor in America.

16. Elizabeth Ann Mallory (1846-1909). Her ancestry was English, mostly from 17th century immigrants to Virginia but with one line that came to Virginia in the 18th century from New York. She belonged to the numerous Mallory family of Virginia, descended from Capt. Roger Mallory (about 1630-after 1695), himself a descendant of Sir William Mallory (c1525-1603), of Studley Conyers, Yorkshire.

Hauri Family in Beromünster

Hauri Family in Beromünster

by Justin Durand

The earliest connected pedigree of the Hauri family begins with the Hauris at Beromünster. There is little doubt that they were connected with the Hauris of Steffisburg and Jegenstorf, perhaps coming from the Aare Valley to Beromünster with one of the von Steffisburg or von Jegenstorf Canons. Hugo von Jegenstorf was a Canon at Beromünster, 1250-1279.

Ulrich Hauri appears as Hörinus in charters at Beromünster in 1313 and 1324. He might have been a descendant of the Conrad Hauri, who was living at Steffisburg in 1282, a generation earlier. Ulrich’s descendants, wealthy farmers, millers and bailiffs (Vögte), spread into the surrounding villages of Reinach, Staffelbach and Sursee.

Beromunster
Beromünster, ancestral home of the Hauris”Pagus et ecclesia collegiata Munster in Argaea”

Stift Beromünster was a collegiate church, that is, it was a monastic-style religious house with priests called Canons Regular. Congregations of Canons Regular had constitutions inspired by the Carta Caritatis. Their superiors were generally called Abbot in France, Prior in Italy, and Provost (Probst) in Germany and Switzerland, but these titles are interchangeable for them. Several of the early Hauris were Canons at Stift Beromünster. Through the 13th century, most of the clergymen at Switzerland’s religious foundations came from noble families but the restrictions were relaxed in the 14th century.

Beromünster was founded about 980 in honor of the Archangel Michael by Count Bero, whose son is said to have been killed by a bear on that spot. The church served as a burial place for Bero’s successors, who ultimately included the Counts of Lenzburg. The Lenzburgs became extinct , and theKastvogtei of the church was inherited in 1173 by the Counts of Kyburg, and in 1264 by the Counts of Habsburg. [Fritz Bossardt, Ein Heimatbuch: Sursee, Sempach, Beromünster(Zürich 1946), p. 112.]

The castle, Schloss Beromünster, was built about 1200. It probably first served as a residence for the klösterlichenmanager. In the 14th century the Truchsessen of Wolhusen,ministeriales of the Habsburgs, lived at the castle. Truchsess Johannes von Wolhusen, and his wife Margaritha von Beinwil, the daughter of the Knight Peter von Hallwil, lived there. Johannes, their son (died 1359), was a Canon of Beromünster. The Knight and Truchsess Peter von Wolhusen and his wife Agnes von Heidegg also lived there. The castle was devastated in 1352 and 1386 by attacks from the Swiss confederates, and in 1415 was conquered by them. Thereafter, the church and its lands were part of Canton Lucerne. In the 1500s the castle came into the possession of Canon Helyas Helye, of Laufen. (Bossardt, 134)