Hans Madsen Kofoed (1595-1641)

The information below was found at this site and translated from Danish to English by Google.

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