mentioned as one of the witnesses. Starting in 1211 the "Herren von Bovenden" appear as the patrons of the local chapel. In the following decades the family of Bovenden succeeded in enlarging their property. Bovenden remained nevertheless the main village, in which seven farms, eleven and a half hooves of land, two meadows and the castle were included. The family of Bovenden appeared as Burgmanns at the Hardenberg, served as Mainzians, and were often witnesses at the Hardenbergers, a noble family of Lower Saxony. Despite the vicinity to the Electorate of Mainz the family of Bovenden also took feudal tenures from the House of Welf. In the 14th century the family of Bovenden sided mainly with the family of Braunschweig, for example in 1364 Knight Günther of Bovenden promised Duke Otto to help him with everything except the archbishop of Mainz. And in case Duke Otto managed to free him of the alliance with the Electorate of Mainz Knight Günther would serve only Duke Otto. The influence of the family of Boventen on the history of the area was significant for two centuries until the end of the 14th century. Only the line of Lenglern continued the name after 1500. The possessions of the Herren of Bovenden, which are referred to as nobiles and miles in documents, were transferred to the noble men of Plesse. Today, the key in Bovenden's emblem indicates the relationship to the Electorate of Mainz as Burgmans at the Hardenberg. The Herren of Bovenden are the most significant landowners in Bovenden since the 14th century. They gave their whole estate to Landgrave Louis I of Hesse in 1447 and received the estate again as a feudal tenure. Through this measure the Herren of Bovenden were able to obtain a higher degree of home rule in front of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. After the line of Plesse ended in 1571 the rule was transferred to the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel and the area turned into a Hesse enclave. Since the 16th century Bovenden received more rights as a consequence of being the most important location of the reign of the Plesse family. These rights included that Bovenden was designated a "Flecken" since 1587 which showed that the area has a market right and since 1605 Bovenden was also bestowed with brewing right. After Plesse Castle was abandoned in 1660, Bovenden turned into the administrative center. Starting in 1777,