Koefoed-stamtavle A side 1
Opl. fra Michael Eneriis

Occupation: Land-owner (Proprietær)
Reference: KGD note
At the "Frimandsmødet" held on September 6, 1572 there were 17 men
named as being in attendance: the brothers Jens and Hans Madsen
Kofoed, Peder Poulsen Kofoed, Oluf Bagge, Peder Uf, Peder Myre,
Jørgen Gagge, also ten other men only listed by their father's name;
and at which occassion three Danish Parlimentary advisers (Rigsråder)


had been sent to preside over the meeting. This special meeting was
held to establish who on Bornholm had the right to call themselves
"Frimand" (Free-man), a title which conveyed the upper-class standing


of the landed-gentry. Hans Kofoed, named as a "Frimand", was one of
the delegates who on May 6, 1608, in København, selected and
confirmed Prince Christian as the future King of Danmark. He also,
along with Peder Poulsen Kofoed, took part in the
following festivities in Lund, Skåne (now part of Sverige/Sweden),
where the nobility swore their allegiance to Prince Christian in the
year 1610. Their written authorization to attend is stated as
follows: "We, the hereafter stated signatories: Jens Kofoedt of
Kyndegaard, Hanns Kofoedt of Blykobbegaard, Peder Koefoedt of
Bagisgaard, Matz Koefoedt of Eskiilsgaard, and Niels Berilldsen of
Gadebygaard, all Free-men of Borringholm, and present here together
hereby declare . . . . . The honest and noble man: Hanns Lindenow,


Commander of Hammershus Fortress, has according to our consent,
requested these two persons: the honourable Hans and Poffuill
Koefoedt to travel to Kiøbenhaffn with our authorized document and be


our representatives (at Prince Christian's election) . . . . as
further documentation we have in our own handwriting signed and
sealed this our open-letter." Dated: Borringholm, May 6, Anno 1608
With the signatures of: Jenns Koefoedt, Hans Kofod, Peder Koefoedt,
Matz Koefoedt, Jacob Køller, Hans Berillsenn, Niels Berendtzen.
(Jørn Klindt notes that Hans Kofoed's signature is not like that of
his brother the Judge Jens Kofoed - the Judge was experienced and
fluent at handwritting - while Hans Kofoed, being a farmer, was
unaccustomed to feather and ink, which easily made blotches!) From
the seven seals affixed we can see that Hans, Jens and Mads Kofoed
used the Kofoed coat-of-arms in their seals, but Peder Kofoed did not


- his seal was simply marked "P.K." Also, note that "Borringholm"
and "Kiøbenhaffn" are the old style spellings of Bornholm and
København (Copenhagen). In 1595 Hans Kofoed had incorporated the
image of a truss (gavlsparren) in his seal; this later became the
most widely incorporated image in later Kofoed seals and coats-of-
arms. A truss is that part of a building which forms the foundation
upon which its roof is built. As depicted in the Kofoed coat-of-arms


it looks rather like an upside down "V", i.e. the two beams of a
roof's supporting structure. That image was used to convey the idea
that the Kofoed family was a foundation upon which others could rely
for strengh of leadership. His oldest son Mads Kofoed used this
image from 1608, and his descendants (the "Rønne family" or "branch
B" as this line of the family was referred to by Julius Bidstrup)
used it as well. Hans Madsen Kofoed lived long enough to see his
children prosper. They were privileged to have been born as free-men
and have wealthy and influential relations. Through marriages they
further built up their family position. The "Danish Coat-of-Arms"
registry includes no less than 18 families carrying the truss as part


of their coat-of-arms. The image of the truss seems to have come
from the Uf family of Skåne province. Noblemen of the Uf family
settled on Bornholm around the year 1400, and quite a few of the
native Bornholmer Kofoeds married into that family, and it seems that


they adopted the Uf's coat-of-arms with its depiction of a truss.
Later, as the "Rønne family" and the "Østermarie family" began to
inter-marry the image of the "truss" can be seen together with the
"cow-foot" image of the Østermarie line descended from Poul Kofoed
(before 1520-before 1584). Blykobbegård is classified as a "frigård",


later called a "proprietæir" farm. On Bornholm there were three
classes of farms:
1) Proprietægård (Propr.), earlier called a Friegård - meaning
property owned by a "free-man" ("frimand", later called a
"proprietær");
2) Selvejergrd (Slg.) - meaning a farm owned independently, free of
obligations to a property owner - it could be occupied by its owner
or rented out to a peasant farmer (bonde);
3) Vornedegrd (Vdg.), also spelled Vornedergård - meaning a farm
leased out long-term by a land-owner (proprietær) to a tenured
peasant farmer; these farms were "attached" to a proprietærgård, and
entailed accompanying work obligations by the peasant for the
proprietær who held the rights on the farm's lease. These rights
were known as the "Herlighedsright" (Glory-right). On Bornholm the
farms (in Danish "gård", or old style "gaard") had long standing
official names and numbers. A map drawn in 1851 shows 17 estate-
farms classified as Proprietær: 3 in each of Åker, Ibsker and Nyker
parishes; 2 each in Østermarie and Klemensker; and 1 each in
Pedersker, Bodilsker, Østerlars, and Olsker. There were hundreds of
farms comprising the other two classifications. The typical farm is
arranged in a joined U shape, with the farmhouse, barn, pig-stall,
and utility-shed all built around a square cobble-stone courtyard.

1606: Blykobbegård i Nyker
Jørn Klint: På spor af de første Kofoed'er, side 75:
Den tredie af de unge frimænd fra 1572, Hans Kofoed er af Bornholms
første historiker Rasmus ravn nævnt som bror til
landsdommer Jens Kofoed. da han ikke er med på den lybske
familieliste har han måske været en halvbror. Hans frimandsgård var
Blykobbegård i Nyker, og hans indsats i Kofod-slægtens historie var
ikke mindre end de fornemme brødres. Han sikrede nemlig slægtens
blomstring ved at få fem fremadstræbende sønner, hvoraf de 4 kom til
at besidde store frimandsgårde i Rønnes omegn: Vellensgård,
Kyndegård, Ladegård og Blykobbegård, og den femte midt i byen som
borgmester. Det blev disse brødre, der kom til at arve landsdommer
Jens Kofoeds store formue, sammen med en vis Albert Hansen på sin
hustru Karine Mikkelsdatters vegne. Også hende giver den lybske
fortegnelse forklaring på, for hvem skulle arve Jens Kofod i 1625,
udover Blykobbegårdssønnerne? Broderen Peder var forlængst død, og
hans evt. børn ligeså. Søsteren Boels børn med Oluf Bagge var borte.
Men søsteren Anna (Anneken) var jo gift med Mikkel Abraham - et
almindeligt bornholmsk navn, og en datter af dette ægteskab måtte jo
hedde: Mikkelsdatter. Hans Kofoed nåede at se sin store børnefolk
komme godt i vej. Priviligerede var de allerede født ind i
frimandsslægten, og med mægtige og fornemme slægtninge. Ved giftermål


udbyggede de yderligere slægtens position og formue, og børnebørnene,


hvoraf alene 4 Mads'er, 3 Hans'er, Jens'er og Per'er, begyndte at
myldre frem, inden Hans Kofoed omkring 1623 lukkede sine øjne på
Blykobbegård.
Førte "gavlsparren" som våbenmærke