The Bourtanger Moor was once the largest moor in Northern Europe. It stretched from the northern border of Bentheim
almost all the way to the North Sea (about 60 miles), making passage from Northern Germany into Holland extremely difficult.
According to one source, the Hanseatic League went through Nordhorn on its way from Germany to Holland in order to go around the moor.
Additionally, peat, harvested from the moor, was a primary source of fuel and income for this region.
The paper on "Conserving Mires" doesn't talk specifically about Bourtanger, but has a wealth of information about bogs, moors, mires, and fens.
According to this article, Holland was originally 36% moorland. The moors have been reduced to less than 1% of the area of Holland.
In the middle of the former moorland, there is a spectacular fort with a double star-shaped moat, dating to the 16th century.
Dutch Bible
The Dutch translation of the Bible, the Staten-Bijbel, of 1619-1637, was one of the first major works in Modern Dutch.
It was commissioned by the Protestant Church, and was widely used in Calvinist families in Holland, Bentheim, and East Friesland.
The Lutherans used a German version of the Bible, which had been translated into German by Martin Luther. The Staten Bijbel
was most strongly influenced by the southern dialects of Dutch, which sounded more sophisticated, and didn't have much influence from
plattdeutch.
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was a league of merchant associations within certain cities in Northern Europe and the Baltic. Its
prime years of importance were roughly from 1200 to 1700. It is relevant for two reasons. First, because of the huge bog
to the north of Nordhorn, the only viable trading route from the Hanseatic cities of Bremen and Munster in Germany to the Hanseatic cities of
Zwolle and Amsterdam in the Netherlands was through Nordhorn. This helped bring prosperity to the region during these years.
Secondly, plattdeutsch, the language spoken in Bentheim, was at one time the main language of commerce used
throughout the Hanseatic cities.
heuermann
Within a family, only the oldest son could inherit the farm (see colon). An option for younger sons was to
become a heuermann (or heuerling or huurman). This is more than just a "hireling" which is the literal translation.
The heuerman would also get the use of a small house and a small piece of land, but with no hereditary rights.
Plattdeutsch
This is the native language of the people who originally lived in Bentheim and the eastern Dutch
provinces (and many other regions as well). Holland, Germany, Scandinavia and England were settled by several waves of Saxons,
and each dialect or language corresponds to the migration of a different Saxon tribe. Plattdeutch is known by many names, including
Low Saxon and Low German.
The survival or dominance of a language depends to some extent on who is in power. In medieval times,
plattdeutch was widely used in Europe by the Hanseatic League as the language of commerce. But the German language
became dominant on one side, and the Dutch language on the other, and plattdeutch was never officially
recognized as a national language.
Nevertheless, there may be as many as 10 million people in Germany and Holland who still speak or understand its various dialects.