Briesen (Brzezin), Kreis Pyritz, Pommern
Briesen is a village that was formerly a
manorial farm. This estate was created by the Dukes of Pommern in 1255 and granted to Catholic Church for a monastery (see below). Later the village was confiscated by the Prussian Government and became a royal village. In the 19th the land was broken up into separate farms. We did not find remnants of the manorial house or manorial farms. Just a pleasant village.
It has a nice 15th century church that was initially Catholic, became Lutheran in the 16th century, and returned to being a Catholic Church following the Second World War. The structure of the building is probably on the site of earlier churches but is of an 19th century Lutheran design.
The church above is where the marriage of Christian Freidrch Remus and Regine Rudiger occurred on 05 October 1865. They lived and had their children in
Wobbermin, Kreis Pyritz. She was from Lettnin.Such estates were created by the Dukes of Pommern in the 13th century. Some estates remained the property of the Dukes (royal villages), some were granted to the nobility (largely German and Slavic Knights) that supported the Duke (noble villages), and some were granted to the church. The church held villages might contain a monastery or might be a manorial farm controlled by a church official like a bishop whose management was contracted out.
In the 15th century, the village owners throughout Kreis Pyritz seemed to compete with each other in building beautiful Pommern style churches for their manorial farms. They largely controlled the church, its records and the clergy for the church. Around 1820, the Prussian government required the churches to keep duplicate church books and provide them to the Prussian government. These are the church books they Mormons have microfilmed. In the late 1870’s civil records were also required and many are also available from the Mormons.
Click here to go to other villages.
Please send any queries to Bill Remus at
August 5, 2010