- 791

SUMMARY

The Frisian and lived

people on the of

can boast

that for

they

have kept

their

own name years.

sane lands their

nore in

than

two thousand

The footprints

anoestors deposits

the rron

Age have been of the vlie-stream. their culture

found ou the nud-fLat There is, noreover,

on both sides believe of

every reason to of that

that

was the direct

coutinuation

the nud-fIat of

farmers

who cane to settle

in westfriesl-and in the Bronze Age. The etymorogy of the name trFrisiantt has not yet been determined, though the word should be Germanic. gianr the nirr . cl-assical sians in writers view of bestowed considerably the fact that attention upon the FriTiberius, rnitially their language was the so-calred Belw h i c h s t o o d b e t w e e n G e r m a n i c a n d . c e r - t i c . r n R o r n a nt i m e s rrFrisiitt thought of themselves as belonging to the rtGerma-

on the creek deposits

Drechterland

expeditions

by Drusus,

Gernanicus,

and corbulo

to the mouth of and along

the Eems, the ln/ezer, where they dwelt. renown

and the Elbe went through subjugated by Drusus in

the regions

the year

12 Bc, they gained great their rebellion against

among the Germans by the success of their Roman governor defeated the olennius in

AD 28. They besieged. casterlum to relieve this military in 42:

Flevum,

Roman army sent

stronghold, and could only again be brought to heel rrClarun inde inter Germanos Frisiun nomenil. Shortly thereafter, Augustust tributary, EIbe policy

was abandoned, and

the Neder-Rijn and its into of the North

the Oude Rijn, which empties sea at Katwijk, were declared. to be the 'rlimesrl The territory of the Frisians, juet outside arttransthe empire. of l_and unpoputhe next

t h e R o r n a ne n p i r e .

rhenana gensrt, accordingly To ensure along lated. three the the safety northern of this

came to lie frontier, the

a wide strip

border

of

Rhine-lines of

was kept for

For the rest, centuries

the territory to

the Frisians

was confined

the area between the Oude Rljn

-792and the nouth row fringe per rt inland of the Eens. the great Their clay dwelling-nound.s along the coast, lay in a nardee-

spread. over around the that

and also

lakee. by cattle raising and con-

was a society orientated Frisians

was doninated transport.

pletely that the

on water were quite

Exca.vations have shown owned. rarge farmorna-

pro'perous,

steads nentsr At the

and were abre to obtain and the like tine fron

bronze utensirs,

pottery,

the Gallo-Roman hinterland. the Frisians take u n d e r t h e c o r n m a n do f of new dwerling-

of Enperor Nero, tried to

verritus -ground prevented of the

and ualorix on the etrip fron doing

possession nilitary

depopulated so by force. of Frisian

for

reasons but were the arrival swarned the Fri-

But even before emigrants

Ronans, groups

had already a branch of of

southward. sians. rivers.

The Frisiavones

r4'ere probably

They settled

between the estuaries

t h e l " l a a s a . n d .S c h e l d r,ater on they and

The Romans did not di.sturb forrned their own rrcivitastf, siniLar the cananefates, tion of Britannia Frisians and supplied until

them there. to those of troops

the Batavi for the

auxiriary

occupatroops and. the

the fifth call

century.

Among these

t ere also

who did. not

themselves voluntarily, regions military

Frisiavones, since after

who apparently year 4/,

served in of

the arny the coastal into

inhabitants

north

of

the oud.e

Riin were no longer

con6cripted

service.

As soon as the written after prove the period

sources

of history

again

start

to

flow

of nass enigration renained loyal to

of peoples, their

the Frisians and

to have botii

ord hone sites,

to have expanded. thein consid.erabry. The tseowulf epic nentions ItFrEscyni.ngtt whose kingdon a on the nouths of the Rhiue was alarned took by an attack around the by Eygelac, year J2J. Aldgisl" the rn swedish ru1er. is Thie event a place

528 there

once agaia at utrecht

Frisian

king,

called

He probably for

resided

where he extended hospitarity friedr the vho had fled fron York, rn

the winter

to Archbishop hirn against

t,liI-

and protected.

Ebroin,

Frankish

maior-domo.

those

days busy trade

rel"ationshipe

:i
{!

k I

+
already existed between the land of the Frisians provided

_793and York, the impetus as to

vrel1 as London' Wilfried.rs the arrival brord, Liafvrin, of various

experiences

Anglo-Saxon rnissionaries, l{i11ehad,

o f w h o r nW i l l - i alias

Boniface, are

al-ias Winifred.,

and Lebuinus,

the best known. ulil-librord arrived in Friesland in the year 59O,

By the time AIdgisI

was no longer there, and King Redbad or Radbod ruled over the rrregnum Fresonumrt. Although this king did nothing to Willibrord and his eleven companions, his faith did not foster negative atti-

hinder

tude towards condition shortly southern Utrecht, was in be the

the Christian Wil-fried

the favourable Atdgisl. Iuloreover, the

that before,

had formerly

had with

major-domo Pepin II

had d.eprived Radbod of

part of the Frisian kingdonr, including Dorestad and ffciterior Fresiarr, as Beda expresses it. The Oude Rijn between Pepin and Radbod recognized R a d b o d .h a d t o s u r r e n d e r reflection, For to

the peace treaty frontier

between the area that he was allowed

and the area that V/illibrord a while Left

to keep. On further call

Friesland in

again and went to and from there Frankish

on Pepin.

he stayed

Antwerp, Brabant.

to missionary not

work in

he applied. himself sources call Radbod ftduxtr, who was of Meo-

rrrexrr, and make it

appear that

Radbod was a usurper, of

compelled by war to give the Scheld, vingian

up the occupation Ia

the estuaries this view,

Maas, and Rhine. l-aid a cLaim to

accordance with of

kings

the ruins

the limes-castell-a the crown

along the Neder- and Oude Rija, and so added them to estates. There are also

and Radbod had that Aldgisl indications ItVetus Traiectumtt or rfVetus ciintended one of these castella, vitasrr, Utrecht, to be their trpalaciunrr. As soon as Itciterior and his faith. quently eleven Willibrord Fresiart was pacified, that Pepin sent triillibrord

companions to

area to preach the Christian bishop of at Rome in 695. Subseso

was consecrated

Pepin gave him possession establish the see of

the Utrecht

castellum, archbishopric of

that he could there. later

the Frisian the

In so doing, bishopric

Pepin not

on)-y laid

foundation

lhe

of Utrecht

but also

of the Kingdon of the Nether-

-794lande, core of in so far that this bishoprio forns the geographical the death of pepin ttciterior Fresiaft. Ln f1), however,

the Dutch nation. war that broke out in Fraace after to retake hirnself

The civil in

714 gave Radbod the the d.eath of

opportunity

After

the Frisiaa this the

ruLer territory frontier

charl-ee }lartel to itr so that was fixed

regained thereafter by the

and added Kennenerland uitb nor-occupied Fries-

land

Vlie-Btream.

The power of nay also pared for

the Frieian fron

kings the

nuet great

have been considerable. care with which pepin before

This pre-

be gathered his the

expedition fJ-ight

to Doreetad ehortly hls

59O, which not

ended in to the

of King Radbod. ret of part

d.efeat did king

conpJ.ete erinination hin to keep that

the Frisian of his

read pepia because extended between soa and

alrowed north of

kingdon

which took

the oud.e Rijn. Moreover, Theudeeinda, the in

a marriage and Grinoald, was to

prace

Radbodrs daughter, of Pepia.

the youngest the Frisian death nothing. was at of

Apparentry, fanilies

intention

Join

carolingiaa both

this

way. Due to

the

earry

partners,

however, of

the narriage

accomplished KLng Rad.bod.stirl

Another ead of bling bring.

indication hie life

hov pouerful

tbe

was that

the nevs that fiLr arr sighs

he was engaged in with in fear

aagetr-

an army uaa enough to Radbodfs death st -

France of

and, trem-

produced

relief

many quarters. on Rad.bodrs Boniface

Fron Engrand, denise could ra the it

Boniface

received

eongratulations fron Heaven,

nust

have been a sign to convert

so that

finally year

uadertake 115, Boniface path,

the Frisians fact

to Christianity. enough to rr/a6

had been in via Dorestad.

courageous

nake his placed dared tour but ia to of with

way to Utrecht his

Although

ao hiadrance that no one

the atnoophere christianity. Boniface

was 60 tense After returned

speak up for

naki-ug aa exploratory to Englancl safely

Radbodrs kingdon, nothing but

accoupliehed,.

IIe was to make a second attempt 6tar.

Ln l1),

then under a luckier

-795With Radbodrs death, have dissipated. the strength of his kingdom also seerns to

Nothing is known of a successor or the contirrregia stirpstr, nuation of a and it apparently.'required ef fort on Charles l"lartelr s part to occupy trciterior little lrresiarr, across including the V1ie. Kennemerland. tn 734 he was ready for In that year he defeated a tr'risian the leap the

arny at

mouth of

the Boorne, the boundary between Oostergo and Westergo, i n w h i c h b a t t l e t h e F r i s i a n ? r d u x t tl o s t h i s l i f e . The border of the -b-rankish empire shifted eastward to the Lauwers, at the

boundary between Oostergo and Humsterland. lrihen Will-ibrord died, the monastery mission that he had founded at Utrecht faced with an authoMore-

to be the base of his rity over,

to the Frisions

vacuuttt, due to the lack it had failed to follow

of a successor of his up the recovery of it

stature.

the territory to Christiaa ready

between the Vlie

and the Lauwers by converting of Colo64nesar,r in this

i
!

nity.

The Archbishop

situation

reason to put an end to the special deeply offended ned l'risian the elderly

status of Utrecht. Ihis Boniface. As ncustosrr of the orpha753 he l-eft his off for high office for in

archbishopric, itself

in

Mainz to ]ook after time. Fron there region of

end set

Utrecht

the third to the of 754, 754, a him-

he undertook the Vlie. to him.

two missionary one, in

journeys

coastal

The last In his

the spring

was to prove a gang of

fata]

the early tented

morning of

! June,

robbers attacked

camp on the bank of Boniface

creek and killed

more than fifty

peoplerincluding

self. On the spot where Boniface was felled by the sword, a r r t u m u l u s r r w a s e r e c t e d b y o r d e r o f t h e r r p r a e fe c t u s r r , A b b a , C o u n t of Oostergo, and was to serve as the base for the church was necessary a memorial church. the proxiarea.

This mound for mity to

because of

the sea, which regularly from this

inundated tumul-us.

the surrounding

Mociern Dokkum derives The sensational of the adjoining attack

di-d not lead to the immediate annexation area between the Lauwers and the iiems, For the time being, it was enough

coastal

where the murderers came from.

-?96to despatch of King a single in punitive expedition. only after the death the

Pepin

758 d.id the wars of the army - the

Charlemagne against The missioneries being

saxons provide on the heels experience littte, of

euch an opportunity.

followed that earlier

justification expedition risked

had proved that a solitary

a single

accomplished his life need-

and that

missionary

lessry. Just as willibrord had waited for the pacification of rrciterior Fresiatt, and Boniface the occupatioa of the river area of first the Utrecht-Vecht nissionary, and Kennemerl_and, now Liudger, went into him in dtd the action coastal after the

Frisian

charlemagne si-

had smoothed the way for des of on both the Eems. willehad sides of

areas on both the coastar after

the sane in

regions Hamal_and

the Wezer, and so did

Liafwin,

had been opened up frorn Deventer. The written nature the sources only superficial information trfana et delubratr, within paganisnrthe provide on the which

of Frj-sian

tridolatt were placed., and the gruesone sacrificial source is the Vita of Vulframni,

practices.

The most detaiLed us with ready ga8as.

which surprj-ses

many details all

on the life the motifs

King Rad.bod, and which alin the Rad.bod

contains

which we encounter

The Norman invasions the Frisian indigenous a Frisian r*hich tvo tant part. in coastal society.

of

the ninth but it

century did not

took

a heavy toll-

of

areae,

tota13,,y disrupt the Dane to

the found in

The attempt only

by Godfried

Nornandy could Frisian counts,

be foiled.

by a conspiracy, played

GeruLf and Gardulf, Godfriedts star

an impor-

The story

ended with

nurder was in

at Spijk, near

Lobith, his

BB5. Thereafter most probably

Gerulfts

the ascendant; His eldest son

ancestors

came from Westergo. Teisterbant did

Waldger built region, his

up an empire in youngest

and the Utrecht-Vecht the coastal wa6 county

son Diederik

the sane in Waldger's

area between the Scheld and the Vlie. short-lived, of Hol-l-and. but Diederik laid the

empire for the

foundations

-797 The name of waldgerrE son, Radbodo, raises the question the Frisian as to rrregia

what the relationship stirpsrt. tree after

could have been with dieappeared his fron

The name Gerutf the early

death of

the genealogical grandson, rrGerolf iuvenisrl, nane. Gardolf we rneet

to be replaced

by Diederik

as the reading

once again as count of suthergo, 'fowards

the hinterland

of staveren.

the first signs became apparent of a tendency which was to lead to the establishnent of thett],ibertas Fresonumrrin course of the next two centuries. The inaccessibility of the l-risian coastal- areas obliged the l-ords to make concessions which in independence for the Frisians, some cases ended in rather rn other complete a situation

the

end of

the tenth

century,

simil_ar to cases, events

contemporary developnents in switzerland. took an opposite al-ienated from its This turn

because the popuration but rather

did not become became alienated of Hol]and.

lord, is

the l-atter

frorn the king.

what happened to the counts

Demographic differences rn the county

nay perhaps explain this development. of ilolland, the rrsil-vae, or riparian wood.s recraiscale since the tenth century, acquired already much inhabicar-cuthan the sandy an cray soiLs time past. By introducing

med on a large greater tated lated

dimensions for so long to

1 - a n d .r e n t s ,

according

the land area under cultivation, grip on the category

the count

of his subjects, who in number began to rival with the population of the ad.joining Itord landrt. The lord had rittre d.ifficurty in subjecting these newly acquired areas to the process of feudarization. rn doing sor of the focal point of his county shifted cray to the river having artery region had a of the the oude Riin, which - its of cultivation banks arready

obtained

a strong

long history

- became the great in

immense, newly reclaned

peat bog polders

the former wildername from along the

ness of the hinterland. The county even derived its ttHol-lant,r originally a modest,rcomitatusrr situated Oude R{jn hal-f-way between Leiden and Utrecht.

_?98_
Recl,anation The process ther tive side of work on such a scale evolved, ae it the VLie, and the it did in did the not occur in Weetfrieeland. on the far-

coastal retained

regioas

where society feudal is or systen

a Eore consr?aopportunity to out and aay of

character,

had little

take ho1d. in the

There too,

the ripuarian higher

voode,

truo, recLanations were carried trsilvaerr, betwecn the terp areas However, the Lords no longer county

sandy soiLs of

beyond.

any posaibillty Eolland, or

d.rawing as nuch profit as in the Utrecht rrSticht and Overstichttr. in the county of Hollancl uere

the

Developnents the fact that

largely

reeponsj-bLe systen sya-

for

the Frisian to

language

and Frisian and the in

judicial judicial the

had to ten.

yield

the Dutch language wan coopleted the sane tine, which

county

The transition ubile Frisian at

the course of

twelfth was reduced and on the surand

century, in the of

the lordre 1ay north of

authority

districts,

Kennemerland tracea in

east Dutch vival

the VIie. to

These prooessee have J.eft their the present Frisian day,

society of

aa can be obeerved in of

a national

coneciouaneag on both sides

Westfriesland the Vlie.

the province

of Friesland,