First Documentary Evidence @museum.de

M: The first written reference to Lette occurred in 890. A rent roll known as the Werdener Urbar lists a small farming settlement called "Lietti". In general terms, an Urbar – or Urbarium – is a list of the property rights of, say, a monastery or a feudal lord. Such rent rolls not only listed the property itself in great detail, but also the services the respective tenants had to provide.

F: For example: from the rent roll of Werden’s Benedictine monastery, we know that in the 10th century, there were three farmers in Lette who were liable to pay taxes. These would have been paid in kind. So the monastery regularly received 20 bushels of barley, 12 bushels of wheat, plus malting barley and oats, one pig, 24 loaves of bread and 16 denarii.

M: A bushel is a measure of grain – though the size could vary considerably. In some areas, a bushel was equivalent to 17 litres. But in others, it might be up to 310 litres. In Münster, it was 23.25 litres to the bushel – a shade over fourteen hundred cubic inches. However, the three farmers in Lette who owed taxes to the monastery were a minority. Most locals during that period had to pay tax to the Lords of Lette.