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FRISIAN FOLK
By Redbad
(redbad@hotmail.com)
The origins of the Frisians lie in an area that roughly covers South
Scandinavia, Denmark and the Weser/Oder region. In the period
between 1750 and 700 B.C. they were still part of a larger group of
peoples called the Germanics. This larger group was of the mainly
of the Nordic race (dolichocranic). (Among the Nordics there also
lived a -smaller- group of brachycranics whom probably had the
position of slave).
Terpbuilders
In 250 A.D. the sealevel rising and the coinciding storm flooding
was so dramatic that almost all of the Frisians left the clay district
only to return in 400 A.D..
Under Emperor Tiberius the taxes became to high, and the Frisians
could no longer comply with them. The result was that: first the
Romans would take their cattle, after that their land and at last
their women and children were taken to be sold in slavery. In 28
A.D. the Frisians rebelled, and hung the taxmen. To retaliate, the
Romans sent their legions to punish and conquer Friesland. But
the Roman army was slain in a battle at the Baduhennawood. The
name of the Frisians was now a feared one in Rome.
There was no Roman reprisal, since Rome had its own internal
problems. For the next 20 years Friesland was free.
In 47 A.D. the Frisians made another truce with the Romans. This
time with Corbulo. An agreement was made in which their was a
mutual understanding that the Rhine was to be the border that
both parties had to respect. Friesland would fall under a Roman
sphere of influence, but it would no longer be occupied.
Around 250 A.D. almost all Frisians disappear from the Frisian
coastal-clay districts. The rising of the sealevel makes it
impossible to live in the coastal areas of Friesland for the next 150
years (250 - 400 A.D.). In this period a fraction of the Frisians and
the Chaukians (a Germanic tribe neighboring north of Friesland)
form a new tribal alliance called the Franks. This is the tribe that
will emigrate south and form the Frankish Empire (currently known
as France).
After 400 A.D. the rising of the sealevel halted. Frisian people and
their nobility returned to the Frisian clay-district which, by then,
had already been colonized by peoples from the Elbe and
Sleeswick/Holstein region. These tribes assimilated and continued
as the Frisian tribe we know today.
In 300 A.D. other smaller West Germanics tribes had also formed
larger tribal-groups known as: Allemandes, Saxons, Thuringers,
and Bayerns. The Chaukian tribe disappears altogether. It has
assimilated in the Frisian- and Saxon-tribe.
For two centuries (350 - 550 A.D.) the tide of the Migration of
Nations sweeps over Europe. Germanic tribes migrate all over
Western Europe after the collapse of the Roman Empire. Thereby
forming new tribes in the newly conquered areas, and for the first
time large organized Germanic states. In Europe the major
Germanic states were the Jutish, Saxon, Anglo-Saxon, Frankish,
Burgondish, West-Gothic, East-Gothic, Vandal and Frisian.
Around 500 A.D. Clovis had formed his Frankish Empire, which
was to be the heir of the Roman Empire with blessings of the pope
in Rome. The most northerly border of this empire was formed by
the cities Utrecht and Dorestad, neighboring to the Frisians.
After the death of Clovis in 511 A.D. the Frisians took advantage of
the internal Frankish power struggle and captured Utrecht and
Dorestad. Both cities would stay Frisian for over a hundred years
(511 - 628 A.D.). The capture of these cities was of very great
interest to the Frisians, since they were the gateways of trade from
the Saxon and Frankish hinterlands to the North Sea. In the sixth
and the seventh century the Frisians were the major traders on the
North Sea. The North Sea was even called 'Mare Frisicum' during
this period.
From a religious point of view the Frisian heatenisme was no
longer under threat of Frankish Christianity since there was no
sally port (Utrecht).
King Eadgils ( ? - 677 A.D.) King Eadgils is the first Frisian king
known by name. Two Christian scribes, Beda and Eddius, name
him in their works. Under the rule of Eadgils the Frisians and the
Franks live in peace with one and other. There are two reasons for
this: The Franks were still in internal division, as to whom was to
be the heir of the Frankish empire Clovis built, and Eadgils let
bishop Wilfried (a pawn of Rome and the Franks) preach
Christianity freely in the Frisian regions. This peaceful time was to
change drastically ten years later, when the Redbad had become
king of Friesland and Pippin leader of the Franks.
King Redbad (679 - 719 A.D.) The heathen king Redbad is the
greatest folk hero of the Frisians. He is the defender of the Frisian
freedom against the invading Frankish armies and against the
Church of Rome. Redbad was a devout heathen. So when the
Franks were internally divided as whom was to rule, he attacked
the Franks, conquered Utrecht and distroyed the church.
Christianity was then forcefully removed from the Frisian empire.
In 689 A.D. Pepin II leads the Frankish conquest in the Frisian
lands and he takes Dorestad. Between 690 and 692 A.D. Utrecht
also falls into the hands of Pepin. Thereby controlling the
important gateways of trade from the Frankish hinterland to the
North Sea via the river Rhine.
In 714 A.D. Pepin dies. Redbad takes advantage of this and he
beats the Frankish armies under Charles Martel in 716 A.D. at
Cologne, thereby winning back the Frisian Empire. King Redbad
dies in 719, leaving behind a Great and Heaten Friesland.
King Poppa (Hrodbad) (719 - 734) Fifteen years after Redbad's
death Charles Martel reached the peak of his power and he saw the
opportunity to deal with Friesland. In 734 A.D. he sent his forces to
Friesland. In the heart of the Frisian land, on the river Boorne
('Middelsea'), the decisive battle was waged, with Poppo (in full
Hrodbad) at the head of the Frisian land- and sea-forces. Poppo
was the son of Redbad, but not as successful as his father. He was
killed in battle, and the Frisian forces (in disarray) were slain.
Friesland, uptill the Lauwers, was incorporated in the Frankish
Empire. It lost its freedom and the church got a foothold.
The son of Poppa, Abba (in full Alfbad), became the first Frisian
count under Frankish rule (749 - 775 A.D.).
During the eight century the Frisian language is born. This birth
can be traced by sound changes in the language. Thereby setting
the Frisian language apart from other Inguaeonish languages.
In 793 A.D. Liudger meets the only Frisian skald known by name
"Bernlef". Bernlef sang epic songs of the Frisian Heroic Age (like
Beowulf).
In 807 A.D. a war starts between Charlemagne and the Danish king
Godfried. Godfried raids Friesland with a fleet of 200 ships,
mocking the Frankish defenses. Shortly after Godfried dies (810
A.D.). After Godfrieds death, the Danish raids concentrate mostly
on the British Isles and less upon Friesland.
After the death of the Frankish emperor Lewis the Pious in 840
A.D., the Carolinian defense of Friesland had collapsed. Since
there was no Frisian King to organize a defensive force, the Danish
raids on this Carolinian outpost intensified. And in the rest of the
9th century the Frisians frequently lived under Danish rule and had
to pay taxes to the Danish feudal-tenants.
The Danes forced the weakened Carolinian Kings to give them
Friesland as a feudal estate.
Feudal tenants in Friesland were:
Battle of Warns