Nyker -1416-

"Petrus Wf" is mentioned in a document dated March 23, 1416. (See:
Danish State Archives - Private Archives, new chronological order on
parchment.)

The article "Landet Borringholm", by Sigvard Mahler Dam, (Saxo,
1986), states the following on pages 78-79: Paternal line Uf: A great
span of time, around 30-35 years,
surrounds the March 23, 1416 document in which time Peder Uf acts as
a witness at a land-transaction in Nyker. It is not until 1493 that
his son "Otte Pedersen Wff" appears in
the Bornholmer records, as an older man with adult sons from two
marriages. Where have they been during that time? The records are
silent, and a person is prone to provide a
reason for the gap in the documentation, for there should not be so
few entries for a man with such an occupation, he should be found
mentioned in the island's written documents
rather more frequently.

Above was suggested the possibility to Peter Ufs marriage with a
woman from Fyn, and an odd occurance by chance supports this
hypothesis. In the first half of the 1400s a Tue
Pedersen lost his seal in Nørrekås Harbort, north to Rønne; which was
recovered in a later century. He is, however, not the Tue Pethersön
of the Rani family, which we know had
Harebjerg estate, for his coat-of-arsm displays the Bild/Strangesen's
transversed shield - therefore the same family as the Archbishop
Niels Joensen, Johannes Ufs mother's
brother. His father may be Peder Strangesen. The latter's brother
lived only on Fyn: Otte Strangesen recorded in 1377 and 1397!
Possibly Tue Pedersen came to Bornholm looking
to found kinship, and stood at the gunwale of the ship and fumbled
with his seal, so it fell in the water? Was Peter Uf married to Otte
Strangesen's daughter, and so came the name
Otte in this way into the Uf-family? - a name which otherwise is
entirely unknown on Bornholm in that social circle. Did the family
move to Fyn after this marriage, allowing their
adscript peasants to run their Bornholmer farms? Was Cecilia Uf on a
visit with Peter after her second husband's death, and there met
Mister Hartvig Limbek, her third husband?
Is this the reason for the relative lack on Bornholm of written
documents mentioning Peder Uf?

Otte Uf's his first marriage was with an widow of Skåne origin,
namely Anders Galen's daughter from Skåne, and perhaps it is this
connection that eventually brought him back to
Bornholm. Their two sons inherited from their mother's brother,
Anders Galen the younger, who died childless in Lund in 1522 - he had
written a will in 1511, where his
heirs are mentioned: "Mister Peder W, Cannik in Lund, my dear
Relative. . . . Item my dear Relative Anders W."

Notes: Otte Wff placed seal on a letter of 1493 printed in Suhms
Assemblies I. II. s. 43, and in 1497 10/8 placed seal on "Aatte
Persz" and "Olloff Aattesz" with same seal
that was used in 1493 - document is reproduced by Hübner 35.
Anders Galen's will of 1511, 19/11, Thisets reproduces in
Rigsarkivet, Copenhagen.

The assurtion by Sigvard Mahler Dam that Peder Uf's wife was the
daughter of Otte Strangesen (before 1350-after 1397) of Tange in
Gudme district on Fyn, seems to be based on
two facts: 1) Otte Strangesen's brother Peder Strangesen's son Tue
Pedersen is thought to have been on Bornholm in the early 1400s.
Sigvard speculates that it is possible that
Tue Pedersen arranged the marriage of his cousin to Peder Uf; 2)
Peder Uf's sister Cecilie's third marriage was to Hartvig Limbek of
Jelsore and Nebbegård in Vejle county,
Jylland. Sigvard speculates that Cecilie's marriage must have been
arranged by Peder Uf through his wife's relatives on Fyn. How else
could a widow living in Hardeberga in Skåne
gotten a husband from Jylland?

Michael EneRiis' database speculates that Peder Uf's wife might be
the daughter of a Laurids Jensen (of Yrwæ near Landskrona?). That
Laurids might be the son of Jens Pedersen
(-1360-1377-), of Bellinge, "markmand" of Falster island, and his
wife - the daughter of Jens Falster. Possibly because one of Jens
Pedersen's other sons was named Otte Jensen
(died 1397-1401), Commander (Høvedsmand) of Saltø (near Næstved,
Sjælland)?

From "Landsdommer Patriciatet på Bornholm", article 1, by Sigvard
Mahler Dam: On July 16, 1448 we meet the new chief justice
(landsdommer) Sevid Nielsen, and he had
apparently only just been appointed because on that date he confirms
to the Archbishopric in Lund that he and his wife Kirstine have, as
their fief for life, received one estate farm
(hovedgård) and eight other farms in five parishes. These farms were
most likely part of the domains of the office of the chief justice,
and this letter it the first letter of
endowment of a chief justice we know of on Bornholm. From the
preserved seal of his daughter we see that the family had a coat-of-
arms which is divided vertically and that the
first field is half a lilac; which is exactly the same coat which the
descendants of Claus Kjøller used at a later date. During Sevid
Nielsen's tenure as chief justice there is a long
period between documents, and the next time he is mentioned is the
last time while he was alive: February 1, 1469 the Archbishop orders:
"Sevid Landsdommer is to summon
Peder Lauridsen's heirs in Ibsker Parish for a claim by Per Lang in
Walløse (Færs county in Skåne) against them." Twenty years as chief
justice is a long time and soon after he
died.

Anders Uf, son of Otte Persen Uf and a woman of the Galen family, had
married Sevid Nielsen's daughter, Anne, and an undated letter is
known by which letter this couple is
endowed with a hovedgård and the eight farms which Sevid had before
them. The former endowment of 1448 stated that Sevid was to possess
the farms as long as he lived, and
this has to mean that he is now dead, and that the son-in-law Anders
Uf had succeeded him as chief justice. An "Anders Uf my dear
relative" is mentioned in the will of Anders
Galen of 1511, but the chief justice Anders Uf had been dead for many
years. This Anders Uf, who in 1499 was admitted to the University of
Greifswald on November 26th under
the name: "Andreas W de Bornholm". In a later section of this
article, a reference is made to Jacob Splidt, who after the death of
Anders Uf married his widow, and became chief
justice after Anders Uf, which Sigvard Mahler Dam states might be as
early as, or before, 1487.

The Anders Uf of Store Kannikegård was a nobleman (adelsmand) and is
described as a "Storbonde"; I am not sure of the word's exact
meaning, however: stor=great and
bonde=farmer, so I suspect it means he was the holder of large
amounts of land farmed by "vornedskabe" peasants.