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German Roots Trip 2003 - Contents

SEEKING OUR GERMAN ROOTS

Chapter III    
May 16 - 20, 2003

MECKLENBURG
Von Pressentin Family History - Sternberg

Saturday, May 17 - Sternberg

Our next stop after Wamkow was Sternberg--this small town is almost 750 years old and from 1275 to 1913 it was the seat of the Regional Assembly of Mecklenburg. It was in Sternberg in 1549 that the Assembly decided that Mecklenburg would adopt Luther's Reformation--a decision that still has repercussions today. There are many references to Sternberg in the von Pressentin family history books that Karen translated and we were anxious to see this town.

Nearing Sternberg, we passed two colorful relics of days past--gaily decorated wagons being pulled by horses who had little "ear muffs" covering their ears. (Karen said this is to keep flies out of their ears.) Each corner of the wagon had a colorful bouquet. The reason for their journey was obvious when we got to Sternberg--posters all around town announced that today was the start of a 3-day Rape Blumen Fest--a festival to celebrate the blooming of the colorful Rapeseed.

As we walked toward the town center, we could hear amplified music and then saw that the market square had been fenced off for the festival. We were tempted to pay the 3 Euros and join the fun, but decided to continue our historical sightseeing instead. Our goal in Sternberg was the big Gothic cathedral where Friedrich-Franz said we would find much evidence of von Pressentins. All around the town, shops and street corners sported bright yellow balloons.

With notes from the von Pressentin histories in hand, we entered this impressive church. The notes told us that the von Pressentins had a "seat" in the city of Sternberg as long ago as 1397 and this property was continuously under family ownership until the 19th century. The "seat" was a "solid residence and spacious courtyard with outbuildings" and was referred to as the "Rittersitz" (the place where a knight lives.) No evidence of these buildings exists today. The family histories record the many times the manor burned to the ground, as did almost all of Sternberg. The property also changed hands among family members with the rise and fall of their fortunes.

This painting in the vestry depicts the meeting in 1549 when the Mecklenburg Assembly gathered in Sternberg to choose whether or not to join the Reformation. The crests of the participating families of the nobility are shown along the top (including this bull with its red tongue sticking out, representing the Duke of Mecklenburg - unfortunately it wasn't a very good picture...).

The von Pressentin crest is not there, though family representatives apparently were at this event -- perhaps an indication that they did not wholeheartedly support the decision to go with the Reformation. (There are stories in the family history books of the nuns of the nearby convent steadfastly refusing to leave their convent and take up worldly lives.)

There WAS considerable evidence of the von Pressentins within the cathedral. On September 29, 1601 a von Pressentin bought a place for a family crypt in the southeast corner of the church. On the south side of the church tower is the entrance to a little chapel which is used for services in winter. Large Gothic churches must get very chilly in the cold months!

In this chapel, we saw a huge gravestone which once covered the grave of Bernd v. Pressentin who died in 1624. A later descendant discovered the stone, and had it installed here. (The little bush hung with colored eggs seems to have been chapel decoration for the rapeseed festival.)

The same descendant who had the gravestone installed also paid to have the von Pressentin coat of arms done in stained glass for a church window.

Beneath the church floor is a von Pressentin family burial vault and its presence under the church is noted on a memorial flagstone near the altar, inscribed, "burial crypt of the von Pressentins, 1605." The span of time, and history, suddenly had personal meaning for us, standing in a church that held evidence of our family for so many centuries--we were in a once-Catholic church that endured firestorms and underwent the upheaval of the Reformation and the bitter wars it spawned. Coming from the USA where our entire national history only encompasses three centuries it was all a bit mind-boggling.

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