University of Groningen Frieslands oudheid Halbertsma, Herrius IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 1982 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Halbertsma, H. (1982). Frieslands oudheid. s.n. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date: 24-09-2021 - 791 SUMMARY The Frisian people can boast that they have kept their own name and lived on the sane lands for nore than two thousand years. The footprints of their anoestors in the rron Age have been found ou the nud-fLat deposits on both sides of the vlie-stream. There is, noreover, every reason to believe that their culture was the direct coutinuation of that of the nud-fIat farmers who cane to settle on the creek deposits of Drechterland in westfriesl-and in the Bronze Age. The etymorogy of the name trFrisiantt has not yet been determined, though the word should be Germanic. rnitially their language was the so-calred Bel- gianr which stood between Germanic and. cer-tic. rn Rornantimes rrFrisiitt the thought of themselves as belonging to the rtGerma- nirr . cl-assical writers bestowed considerably attention upon the Fri- sians in view of the fact that expeditions by Drusus, Tiberius, Gernanicus, and corbulo to the mouth of the Eems, the ln/ezer, and the Elbe went through and along the regions where they dwelt. subjugated by Drusus in the year 12 Bc, they gained great renown among the Germans by the success of their rebellion against their Roman governor olennius in AD 28. They besieged. casterlum Flevum, defeated the Roman army sent to relieve this military stronghold, and could only again be brought to heel in 42: rrClarun inde inter Germanos Frisiun nomenil. Shortly thereafter, Augustust EIbe policy was abandoned, and the Neder-Rijn and its tributary, the Oude Rijn, which empties into the North sea at Katwijk, were declared. to be the 'rlimesrl of the Rornanenpire. The territory of the Frisians, arttrans- rhenana gensrt, accordingly came to lie juet outside the empire. To ensure the safety of this frontier, a wide strip of l_and along the northern border of the Rhine-lines was kept unpopu- lated. For the rest, the territory of the Frisians for the next three centuries was confined to the area between the Oude Rljn -792- and the nouth of the Eens. Their dwelling-nound.s lay in a nar- row fringe spread. over the clay along the coast, and also dee- per inland around the great lakee. rt was a society that was doninated by cattle raising and con- pletely orientated on water transport. Exca.vations have shown that the Frisians were quite pro'perous, owned. rarge farm- steads and were abre to obtain bronze utensirs, pottery, orna- nentsr and the like fron the Gallo-Roman hinterland. At the tine of Enperor Nero, the Frisians under the cornmandof verritus and ualorix tried to take possession of new dwerling- -ground on the etrip depopulated for nilitary reasons but were prevented fron doing so by force. But even before the arrival of the Ronans, groups of Frisian emigrants had already swarned southward. The Frisiavones r4'ere probably a branch of the Fri- sians. They settled between the estuaries of the l"laas a.nd.Scheld rivers. The Romans did not di.sturb them there. r,ater on they rrcivitastf, forrned their own siniLar to those of the Batavi and the cananefates, and supplied auxiriary troops for the occupa- tion of Britannia until the fifth century. Among these troops t ere also Frisians who did. not call themselves Frisiavones, and. who apparently served in the arny voluntarily, since after the year 4/, inhabitants of the coastal regions north of the oud.e Riin were no longer con6cripted into military service. As soon as the written sources of history again start to flow after the period of nass enigration of peoples, the Frisians prove to have botii renained loyal to their ord hone sites, and to have expanded. thein consid.erabry. The tseowulf epic nentions ItFrEscyni.ngtt a whose kingdon on the nouths of the Rhiue was alarned by an attack by Eygelac, the swedish ru1er. Thie event took place around the year J2J. rn 528 there is once agaia a Frisian king, called Aldgisl" He probably resided at utrecht where he extended hospitarity for the winter to Archbishop t,liI- friedr vho had fled fron York, and protected. hirn against Ebroin, the Frankish maior-domo. rn those days busy trade rel"ationshipe :i {! k I + _793- already existed between the land of the Frisians and York, as vrel1 as London' Wilfried.rs experiences provided the impetus to the arrival of various Anglo-Saxon rnissionaries, of whornWill-i- brord, Boniface, al-ias Winifred., l{i11ehad, and Lebuinus, alias Liafvrin, are the best known. By the time ulil-librord arrived in Friesland in the year 59O, AIdgisI was no longer there, and King Redbad or Radbod ruled over the rrregnum Fresonumrt. Although this king did nothing to hinder Willibrord and his eleven companions, his negative atti- tude towards the Christian faith did not foster the favourable condition that Wil-fried had formerly had with Atdgisl. Iuloreover, shortly before, major-domo Pepin II had d.eprived Radbod of the southern part of the Frisian kingdonr, including Dorestad and Utrecht, ffciterior Fresiarr, as Beda expresses it. The Oude Rijn was in the peace treaty between Pepin and Radbod recognized to be the frontier between the area that Radbod.had to surrender and the area that he was allowed to keep. On further reflection, V/illibrord Left Friesland again and went to call on Pepin. For a while he stayed in Antwerp, and from there he applied. himself to missionary work in Brabant. Frankish sources call Radbod ftduxtr, not rrrexrr, and make it appear that Radbod was a usurper, who was compelled by war to give up the occupation of the estuaries of the Scheld, Maas, and Rhine. Ia accordance with this view, Meo- vingian kings l-aid a cLaim to the ruins of the limes-castell-a along the Neder- and Oude Rija, and so added them to the crown estates. There are also indications that Aldgisl and Radbod had intended one of these castella, ItVetus Traiectumtt or rfVetus ci- vitasrr, Utrecht, to be their trpalaciunrr. As soon as Itciterior Fresiart was pacified, Pepin sent triillibrord and his eleven companions to that area to preach the Christian faith. Willibrord was consecrated bishop at Rome in 695. Subse- quently Pepin gave him possession of the Utrecht castellum, so that he could establish the see of the Frisian archbishopric there. In so doing, Pepin not on)-y laid the foundation of lhe later bishopric of Utrecht but also of the Kingdon of the Nether- -794- lande, in so far that this bishoprio forns the geographical core of the Dutch nation. The civil war that broke out in Fraace after the death of pepin in 714 gave Radbod the opportunity to retake ttciterior Fresiaft. After the d.eath of the Frisiaa ruLer hirnself Ln f1), however, charl-ee }lartel regained this territory and added Kennenerland to itr so that thereafter the frontier uitb nor-occupied Fries- land was fixed by the Vlie-Btream. The power of the Frieian kings nuet have been considerable. This nay also be gathered fron the great care with which pepin pre- pared for his expedition to Doreetad ehortly before 59O, which ended in the fJ-ight of King Radbod. ret hls d.efeat did not read to the conpJ.ete erinination of the Frisian king because pepia alrowed hin to keep that part of his kingdon which extended north of the oud.e Rijn. Moreover, a marriage took prace between Radbodrs daughter, Theudeeinda, and Grinoald, the youngest soa of Pepia. Apparentry, the intention was to Join the Frisian and carolingiaa fanilies in this way. Due to the earry death of both partners, however, the narriage accomplished nothing. Another indication of hov pouerful KLng Rad.bod.stirl was at tbe ead of hie life was that the nevs that he was engaged in aagetr- bling an army uaa enough to fiLr arr France with fear and, trem- bring. Radbodfs death produced sighs of relief in many quarters. Fron Engrand, st Boniface received eongratulations on Rad.bodrs denise - it nust have been a sign fron Heaven, so that Boniface could finally uadertake to convert the Frisians to Christianity. ra the year 115, Boniface had been in fact courageous enough to nake his way to Utrecht via Dorestad. Although ao hiadrance rr/a6 placed ia his path, the atnoophere was 60 tense that no one dared to speak up for christianity. After naki-ug aa exploratory tour of Radbodrs kingdon, Boniface returned to Englancl safely but with nothing accoupliehed,. IIe was to make a second attempt Ln l1), but then under a luckier 6tar.