Alfons Eggert can chronicle the history of his farm further back than one thousand years by the means of documents, archaeological finds and family deliverance. The estate has been at its current location for almost a thousand years, hundreds of people have worked here, lived off it, bled for it. These tithing peasant farmers were, for the most part of their existence, bound to the Münster Cathedral Chapter and played little to no role in any history book. They, however, were the ones supporting the powerful and wealthy, that were filling the pages of our history books, by rendering duties and services to their lords, who in return would hold them responsible if they were pillaged, burnt and forced into military service.

From the pioneering settlement in the deserted forests around Münster of 950 to the local recreation area on the outskirts of the city – quality life surrounded by nature, farm café and organic store – the thousand-year history of “Schmiemann/Eggert” in Münster/Mecklenbeck is told in representation for all the peasant farmers of this time and region.

Eggert, Alfons und Ruth Damwerth: Vom Roden des Urwalds bis zur Flächenstilllegung. Einblicke in tausend Jahre Leben und Geschichte westfälischer Bauern am Beispiel des Hofes Schmiemann/Eggert in Münster-Mecklenbeck.
ISBN: 978-3-937772-29-5, large-size hardcover, 212 pages, full-color print, 262 images, 24,90 EUR

In 1888 the unwed heiress to a family estate, with over 900 years of family history, handed the farm over to their long-standing caretaker Bernhard Eggert and with it many relating records and documents. A stroke of luck for his grandson Alfons, born in 1928, who is now collating a book about the history of the farm. A stroke of luck also for his co-author the historian and German studies specialist Ruth Damwerth, whose primary area of expertise lies in creating biographical work: “1000 years of estate history – the historical scale of this seemed too large at first. I spent weeks ‘digging’ through the state archives and was amazed to realize that the fate of this individual farm was representative for all the peasant farmers of this region, the rural existence – their history – wrapped up”, she says.

Münstersche Zeitung, 12.03.2014, on the book “Vom Roden des Urwalds bis zur Flächenstilllegung. Einblick in 1000 Jahre Leben und Geschichte westfälischer Bauern am Beispiel des Hofes Schmiemann/Eggert“