A family from Hugstetten. That’s where our story begins. In 1281 a resident of Holzhausen was named after the neighboring village Hugstetten. His name was Bertschi or Berthold. This wasn’t unusual. Around 1320 two people in Holzhausen shared this name. They were possibly brothers.
Hugstetten’s history stretches far back. The village’s first documented mention is in 1291. A certain Johannes von Hugstat lived there. He owned a farmstead near the red well. He paid rent to the Tennenbach monastery. Another Johannes the Black von Hustat ran a farm in Hugstetten. Its owner was the prominent Freiburg citizen Konrad Beischer.
The von Hugstetten family were farmers. Their land wasn’t fully owned. They paid taxes to monasteries or Freiburg citizens. Despite their ‘von’ they weren’t nobles. Nobles had extra titles like ‘dominus’ or ‘knight’. The von Hugstetten were part of the peasant upper class. Some were wealthy estate managers. They managed large farms for their landlords. They had connections outside Hugstetten.
Berschin von Hugstetten married interestingly. His wife was called the Ihringerin. She owned property in Holzhausen. A farm belonging to her was there in 1327. In Ihringen around 1341 lived Ruedeger von Hustat. Was this pure coincidence or a result of marriage?
The von Hugstetten family is a puzzle. Did Meier Lutold von Hustat belong to it? He witnessed a document of Freiburg’s Heiliggeist Hospital in 1299. The hospital owned land in Hugstetten from 1311. Lutold must have been wealthy. He made a year’s offering to the hospital chapel in Freiburg.
Hugstetten was more than a small outpost of Buchheim. A well-off farming family lived there before 1300. They were proud of their origin. They maintained family and economic ties outside Hugstetten. They managed the property of foreign landlords.
Hugstetten’s early history is somewhat mysterious. Even detailed research might not reveal the exact date of its first mention. We can only guess how Hugstetten might have looked before 1281/1291. The Hugstetten church and its 1291 mentioned priest Burkhard are also part of this early history. Their story will be told another time. The Hugstetten of today owes much to these early inhabitants and their enduring legacy.