Daniel Oetjen posted the following on my Facebook page in January 2016[1]:

You probably asked yourself where the land of your Scheeßel ancestors is located and how it looked like in the past. I have provided four maps to enlighten you a little on that topic.

Scheeßel Parish

The first map shows how the parish itself was structured with the church in Scheeßel, castles, bridges and roads. The parish was a little larger than Washington D.C. and each village had 1-11 farms, depending on how much farmland there was between the large and wet bog areas. The people from the parish usually married someone from the same parish. Family and friends met each other every sunday in church. Only 2% married someone from outside the parish, so it was a close community for centuries.

Diocese of Verden

The second map shows where the Scheeßel Parish was located in the Diocese of Verden. The bishop of Verden was the spiritual head and mightiest landowner in the area and he managed his properties from the castle of Rotenburg.

The diocese of Verden existed from the 8th century to the late 17th century and most farms in the area belonged to the bishop of Verden. The farmers only had to pay a tithe to the bishop. Farms that belonged to secular lords had to pay both, a tribute to the lord and a tithe to the church. In the 18th century Scheeßel became part of the duchy Brunswick-Lüneburg, ruled by the duke George I, who later became King of Great-Britain. His descendants George II., George III, George IV. and William IV. were Kings of Great-Britain and Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

Saxon Tribe

The third map shows where the territory of Verden was located within the land of the Saxon Tribe, which includes the (Anglo) Saxon colonies in Great Britain.

This third map shows the situation in the 5th century, when the germanic tribes invaded europe. It was a period of migration, which can be compared with the migration to the Americas. Franks invaded Gallia, Langobardi invaded Italy. Vandals invaded north Africa. Goths invaded Spain and Italy. And our ancestors, the Saxons (with Angles and Jutes), invaded Great Britain where they founded the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Kent, Wessex (West-Saxony), Essex (East-Saxony), Sussex (South-Saxony) and England (Land of the Angles). The Saxon land in Germany was called Old Saxony in this period.

Location in the World

And lastly, the fourth map shows where the Saxon Tribe was located on a world map.

Notes

1. The chapter as presented is an edited composite of several communications.