#frisii

Frisii

This is a rewritten post on the Frisii tribe, my previous post is over a year old so I wanted to update it by adding more information.

The Frisii were a Germanic tribe who lived above the Rhine in areas that are now known as modern day Noord-Holland, Friesland, Groningen, the Wadden islands in the Netherlands and East-Frisia in Germany. They should not be confused with the Frisians, a tribe which settled in the same area at a later time period, The Frisians and Frisii are however not completely foreign to each other, some Frisii stayed behind and were absorbed by the Frisians, the oldest still existing Germanic culture. The Frisii were neighboured by the Cananefates to the south and Chauci to the east, the west and north were part of the north sea.

The meaning of their name is derived from the Proto-Germanic word 'frisaz' which means 'curly'. There is a common misunderstanding that the word Frisii, and the later Frisian, comes from the word freeze/vriezen or freedom but this is not correct although understandably a good possible meaning.

The origins of the Frisii is still a bit unclear but there are viable theories. Unlike other tribes, like the Chatti, Lombards, Batavi, Cananefates etc.. who all migrated southwards and settled in their territories around 100BC, the Frisii are a lot older. In fact we do not know how old exactly they are but there are several theories:

The most likely theory is that the early Frisii, also called Proto-Frisians, migrated southwards from northern Germany and Denmark around 1000BC. Somewhere around 700BC they migrated from modern day Drenthe towards modern day Friesland, Groningen and Noord-Holland. There is however a more controversial theory that suggests the birth of the Frisii started with their patron-mother the Goddess Freya.

According to this theory a line of matriarchal rulers, known as folk mothers, were descendants of Freya herself and responsible for the creation of the Frisii, this would mean that the origin of the tribe is not around 700BC but around 2200BC. Here is a line of Frisii folk mothers starting with the Goddess Freya: Freya - somewhere around 2000BC Fasta, Medea, Thiania, Hellenia, Minna, Rosamond, Hellicht, Frana, Adela and Gosa. Of course if there was a continuous matriarchal line for about 1500 years long, this would include many more names but those are lost in time. This theory is based on the information found in the Oera Linda book, a highly disputed manuscript worthy of its own post so I will write about it in the near future.  An altar stone has been found near modern day Xanten however with the following description: "MATRIBUS FRISAVIS PATERNIS" which could refer to these ancient Frisii matriarchs making the Oera Linda book theory possible.

By 100BC the Frisii were quite a large and powerful tribe who had established themselves fully in their current territory. Their first encounter with the Roman empire was around 12BC when Drusus Germanicus, one of Rome's most succesful generals, invaded Germania with the intention to turn the land into a province of Rome.

Drusus Germanicus, not to be confused with the other Roman general called Germanicus, was incredibly succesful with his invasion. He subjugated every Germanic tribe in his path including the Frisii who were forced to be allies of Rome. The Romans also built a fort, their most northern one, at modern day Velsen to keep an eye on the Frisii. It is likely that all of Germania would have become a Roman province if Germanicus didn't die after a fall from his horse in 9BC.

The Frisii delivered auxiliary troops to Rome and they had to pay taxes which led to high tensions between the tribe and Rome. The taxes were incredibly unfair as the Romans demanded large skins of cows which did not even exist in Frisii territory, they only had a small breed of cows. This rising tension eventually led to the Frisii revolting against Rome in 28AD. The Frisii hung Roman tax collectors which infuriated Rome.

Olennius, a Roman centurion in charge of Frisii administration, escaped the lynching party and hid himself at Castellum Flevum, the most northern fort the Romans ever built. The Frisii however marched onwards to this fort but were unable to capture it, archeological research shows traces of heavy fighting at this fort. The Frisii retreated back towards their sacred grove dedicated to their Goddess of war, Baduhenna, luring the Romans with them.

The Romans chased the Frisii right into the sacred grove. This was however a dreadful decision since the Frisii knew their swampy estuary terrain very well and were extra motivated by being in the presence of their battle Goddess. Almost all of the Romans were slaughtered, 900 of them, some according to legends, were captured and sacrificed to Baduhenna right in her grove. Another 400 Roman soldiers killed each other out fear of treachery, the event has been quoted by Tacitus:

"Soon afterwards it was ascertained from deserters that nine hundred Romans had been cut to pieces in a wood called Baduhenna, after prolonging the fight to the next day, and that another body of four hundred, which had taken possession of the house of one Cruptorix, once a soldier in our pay, fearing betrayal, had perished by mutual slaughter." - Tacitus

The Frisii name thus became famous in Germania and Roman emperor Tiberius tried to keep the Roman defeat a secret, not wishing to entrust anyone with the war because of the shame. The Roman fort in modern day Noord-Holland was abandoned after the revolt and the Frisii became free people once again and remained so until the medieval ages.

The earliest known written record that we have about the Frisii comes from a Roman poet Albinovanus Pedo. In one of his poems, he describes a disaster that occured during Germanicus' campaigns to avenge the Teutoburgerwald battle. This disaster took place around the Eems river in Frisii territory around 16AD and involves a storm destroying parts of his fleet:

"For a long time they had left the day and the sunlight behind them, for a long time they looked exiles from the well known part of the world, who had dared to go through forbidden darkness to the boundaries of nature and the furthest coast of the earth.

From here they saw him, the sea, carrying huge monsters under slow waves with rising wild whales and the dogs of the sea on all sides grabbing ships. The fleet was already in the mud, left behind by a rapid storm. They believed that their unfortunate fate was to be torn apart by these wild sea monsters.

The world was robbed, nothing could be distinguished, his breath was taken from him, and thus he spoke from his heart: Where do we end up? The day itself is fleeing and nature closes the rest of the world with eternal darkness. Do we sometimes look for people untouched by wars? The gods call us back, forbid that mortal eyes see the end of everything. Why do we violate a strange and consecrated sea with oars? Why do we disturb the silent dwellings of the gods?" - Albinovadus Pedo

The next written mention is quite an interesting one. It involves a dispute about land on the Roman border area. Two Frisii leaders, Verritus and Malorix decided to travel to Rome in 58AD and defend their case about this piece of land. During their stay in Rome, they amused the Romans greatly by refusing to sit down amongst the common people in a theater exclaiming that: "No people can match the Germanics in loyalty and bravery!" They then proceeded sitting down next to the Roman senators present in the theater. The Roman emperor, Nero, found the whole event quite amusing himself and granted Verritus and Malorix roman citizenship. This account, described by Tacitus, is also the first account of foreign tourists visiting Rome who were mentioned by name.

In 69AD, during a particulary tough year for the Romans, the Batavi revolted against the Roman empire. The Frisii joined this revolt which was initially quite succesful. Unfortunately the revolt was put down by the Romans the following year, resulting in severe trust issues between the Romans and the Batavi and Cananefates.

By 98AD Tacitus published his work 'Germania' and also provices us with a small description on the Frisii. He separated the tribe in two parts, the Frisii Maiores and the Frisii Minores. The Minores lived in what is now Noord-Holland and the Maiores lived in what is now Frisia and Groningen. Here is a description on the Frisii landscape:

"The terrain is fierce, the climate is rough, life and landscape are bleak. You only come here if it's your homeland." - Tacitus

No significant recorded events exist after 98AD, the history on the Frisii between 100AD-300AD is pretty much unknown. We do know that parts of the Frisii joined the Cananefaat pirate/proto-viking Gannascus in his raids on several settlements, mainly in Gaul. These attacks infuriated Rome and led to improved defenses being built by them. Gannascus is eventually assassinated by the Romans under the pretence of a negotiation which caused great outrage amongst the Chauci, Frisii and Cananefates. The Roman emperor of that time, Claudius, feared a violent conflict with these tribes and withdrew Roman forces from the Rhine in order to ease tensions.

Around 300AD the Saxon confederation came into existence and bordered the Frisii directly to the east. The Western Roman empire started to decline rapidly during this time period as well leaving the borders vulnerable for invasions. With the Huns invading Europe, economic hardship, climate change, failed harvests and empty Roman borders, came the great migration. Many Frisii migrated either southwards to become absorbed by the Franks or to the west by invading Britannia together with the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. Only very few Frisii remained in their original homeland, we have archeological evidence that some did indeed stay.

Frisii lands were now almost completely deserted until the arrival of Saxons and Jutes who settled the area together with the few remaining Frisii. These new settlers started to call themselves Frisians, after the ancient Frisii. The Frisians still exist until this day and they have a rich history which deserves a post of its own, which will be coming very soon.

The last thing I want to mention is the auxiliary troops that the Frisii supplied Rome with. The Notitia Dignitatum, a Roman document that describes details of the administrative organisation of the empire, mentions a Frisii cohort stationed at Vindobala, a fort located at Hadrian's wall. This entry 'Tribunes cohortis primae Frixagorum Vindobala' however contains a possible spelling mistake, Frixagorum instead of Frisiavonum. This entry might however also refer to the Frisiavones tribe unrelated to the Frisii.

Ezinge Flute

This is a flute carved from a sheep bone which was found in the terp of Ezinge in Groningen, the Netherlands. The Ezinge terp has been inhabited since around 600BC and is a treasure trove for archeologists, as almost all terps are. In total the remains of around 85 farms has been found which date back between 600BC-500AD.

The flute itself dates back between 0-300AD and was most likely used by a Frisii or a Chauci tribe member. I love this image because it shows that the ancient Germanic people enjoyed making music as well. Unfortunately we will never know what kind of tunes they played as there is no written records of their music but it feels good knowing that 2000 years ago, someone was using this flute and creating his/her own tunes.

People still live on the Ezinge terp until this day and the small village has a museum I recommend visiting, once the lockdown ends.

Germanic Sea Raiders

Yes this post is about sea raiders, no this post isn't about vikings. The Germanic coastal tribes are in fact the earliest recorded sea raiders around the North Sea. Several accounts written by Romans, describe how Germanic warriors were a plague along the coasts of North Western europe, especially the coasts of Britannia and Gaul. The main target of these sea raiders? coastal Roman settlements.

Here is a small account described by Tacitus, the following event took place in 83AD in modern day Scotland:

"The same summer a Usipian cohort, which had been levied in Germania and transported into Britain, ventured on a great and memorable exploit. Having killed a centurion and some soldiers, who, to impart military discipline, had been incorporated with their ranks and were employed at once to instruct and command them, they embarked on board three swift galleys with pilots pressed into their service.

Under the direction of one of them ,for two of the three they suspected and consequently put to death, they sailed past the coast in the strangest way before any rumour about them was in circulation. After a while, dispersing in search of water and provisions, they encountered many of the Britons, who sought to defend their property. Often victorious though now and then beaten, they were at last reduced to such an extremity of want as to be compelled to eat, at first, the feeblest of their number, and then victims selected by lot.

Having sailed round Britain and lost their vessels from not knowing how to manage them, they were looked upon as pirates and were intercepted, first by the Suebi and then by the Frisii. Some who were sold as slaves in the way of trade, and were brought through the process of barter as far as our side of the Rhine, gained notoriety by the disclosure of this extraordinary adventure." - Tacitus, Agricola

Here it seems that a group of disgruntled Germanic auxiliary troops hijacked three galleys and went on a small tour of plunder before stranding on the coasts of the Frisii, modern day the Netherlands. But this is not the only account of piracy conducted by the Germanic people. One Germanic tribe in particular was quite infamous for raiding coastal settlements.

The Chauci tribe, who just like the Frisii lived on small terps right along the coast, mastered the concept of piracy. They were the neighbours of the Frisii, located to the east of them in modern day North-Western Germany. Just like the Frisii, it was for the Chauci absolutely essential that they knew how to sail/row, their landscape was one of water with virtually no trees or suitable ground for crops. Also unlike the Frisii, Batavi and Cananefates, their location was quite isolated, beyond the reach of the Romans.

The Chauci truly terrorised the coasts of Western Europe. Archeological research leads to the theory that raiding was pretty much essential for the development of the Chauci tribe and that they actually organized these raids quite carefully. The first wave of Chauci sea raids occured during the first century AD. Especially between 41-47AD, the Chauci plagued the coasts of Gallia Belgica, leading to much Roman frustration.

The second Chauci wave of raids is even more interesting. This time the Chauci raiders were led by a Cananefates man called Ganascus, the Cananefates were a Germanic tribe located in modern day Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands. Ganascus served as an auxiliary soldier in the Roman army but he deserted. This is the reason why the second wave was so succesful for the Chauci. Ganascus, as ex-Roman soldier, held a lot of knowledge about the structure of the Roman army, their defences, interesting targets and their strength.

The Chauci, under Ganascus, even managed to set a Roman fort on fire, Praetorium Agrippinae, which was located in modern day Valkenburg, the Netherlands. Their luck didn't last and eventually Ganascus was captured and executed.

Besides the Chauci, Usipeti and Cananefates, there was another tribe who took their ships to the sea and rivers to terrorize Roman forts/settlements along the borders of Germania, the Batavi. In 69AD the Batavi people revolted against the Romans, together with the support of neighbouring tribes like the Cananefates and the Frisii, the Batavi raided forts along the river Rhine and managed to capture an entire Roman fleet. The Batavi were even daring enough to engage in an open sea battle with the Romans near the mouth of the river Rhine.

After the Batavi revolt, a short time of relative peace returned to the rivers and coasts of Western Europe but the Chauci raids started to intensify again in 170AD. This time the Chauci raids were larger and more violent than ever. The Roman governor of Gallia Belgica was even forced to recruit more auxiliary troops in order to deal with these raiding Chauci pirates. The Chauci continued to raid the coasts for a few decades, their trail of destruction is still visible for archeologists until this very day.

Two villas in Armorica, modern day Bretagne, were destroyed. Several hidden coin treasures were found as well in Bretagne which shows that the Romans feared these Chauci raiders and tried to hide their valuables underneath the ground. Also modern day England wasn't spared. Several Roman settlements in modern day Essex were destroyed by the Chauci. The Romans desperately tried to defend themselves against these agressive sea raiders by building even more forts and by intensifying their patrols on the sea.

A small geographical change in the coastline of the North sea, from modern day Denmark to Flanders around 230AD, caused the sealevel to rise between 0,9-2,4 meters. This was of course a disaster for the coastal people who by then were part of the Saxon and/or Frankish confederation. Also the Romans were concerned about the rising waters and they began to pull back from the Rhine until around the location of the modern day city of Nijmegen. Together with the political struggles inside the Roman empire, this left the borders severely weakened and the Frankish saw their chance.

Yes even the Franks were known to have conducted sea raids and some of these Frankish sea raids didn't even occur in Western Europe. Around the year 260AD and the year 278AD, the Franks undertook two major sea raids along the coasts of modern day Spain and Morocco. They raided and terrorized settlements for about a decade before they were defeated by the Romans.

Ironically enough, a few captured Frankish pirates were send to the black sea to defeat raiding Goths. You can of course expect this to happen but the Franks stole a Roman galley and turned to piracy again. This was an incredibly dumb idea by the Roman emperor who gave this order, emperor Probus. Now the Franks were raiding settlements along the coasts of Greece, Libia, Sicilia and even Tunesia, until the Romans finally managed to beat them.

The Franks also raided the coasts of modern day England like the Saxons did. Archeological research shows that the Romans suddenly intensified the construction of forts between 250-280AD in Britannia. Eutropius, a Roman historian, described how the Saxons raided along the waters of Gallia Belgica, Armorica and Britannia. These raids eventually resulted in the invasion of Britannia by the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians.

The last Germanic folk, who sometimes made themselves guilty of piracy, were the Frisians. The Frisians flourished after the fall of the Roman empire. They were incredible traders and they were responsible for the creation of a huge trade netwerk and the growth of several trade settlements, which grew into modern day cities like: Dorestad, Medemblik, Ipswich, Norwich, Schleswig, Quentovic, Southampton and London.

Just like the earlier Chauci and Frisii, the Frisians lived, and still live, on terps. They were and still are surrounded by water so their ships were absolutely essential for their survival. They weren't agressive raiders like the Chauci but decided to focus more on trade instead. This rich trade network turned Frisia into a powerful kingdom and trade continued to grow even after their forceful conversion to Christianity. Unfortunately this all changed when the most famous Germanic people started to raid, the so called vikings.

Frisii Artifacts

What you see here are objects found in former Frisii territory, modern day Frisia and Groningen in the Netherlands. These objects found in terps provide us with some insight into the daily lives of the ancient Frisii.

Here you can see:

Structure Of An Average Germanic Family

Germanic families lived on farms together with their cattle, which they placed inside their homes during the winter. A Germanic farm had no windows, just a hole in the roof through which smoke could escape. Smoke created by the hearth which they left to smolder in the night so the fire could be quickly stoked up again in the morning.

Eight people, on average, lived in such a farm. A male, female, their children and often the parents of the male. Tasks were divided between men and women, the differences between men and women were the same in each Germanic tribe with the exception perhaps of the Sitones, who were ruled by women.

The male was the head of the family, only sons and brothers could inherit property. Despite this social difference, women were given the same type of names as males, names that expressed courage and strength, these qualities were appreciated in both genders. If a young woman married a man, she would move to her husband's farm.

Women cooked, took care of the children, created clothing and also cared for the livestock. Children learned all these tasks at a young age but they also had toys with which they played. Dolls made from straw, figures of clay, rattles, marbles made from bone and even miniature jars for cooking. Yes thousands of years ago, children played with miniature kitchens as well.

Pets were being kept as well, not in the way we hold them today but we know that they were attached to their pets. Dogs per example, were used to guard the cattle and were often buried in important spots like near the front door of the farm, they were even buried beside their owners which shows that they truly loved their pets.

Adults of course didn't use toys to entertain themselves but they often travelled to nearby farms, most likely to visit family and friends. They celebrated the seasons with feasts, told stories and made music. Drums, jaw harps and flutes are the most common musical instruments found. Adults also played games with dice made from foot bones, and later dice as we know them today which they copied from the Romans.

Games with dice and stories were most likely often told during the long winter nights in which a family spent quite a long period of time inside the farm. You couldn't really go outside at night because there was no light besides fire. The only thing you could do is to entertain yourself with games and sleep until the sun rose again. During the summer, life was a lot busier on the farms because there was just a lot more work to be done and more hours of sunlight.

The clothing that they made was quite simple, they made their clothes from linen, flax and wool. Wool was also used as filling for their pillows and blankets. Women were capable of weaving complicated patterns into the clothing and dye them with rich colours. So no, an average Germanic looked nothing like most of the images or films that you see.

Both men and women wore cloaks, woven with wool, on top of their clothing. Men wore thick tunics that reached until their hips, a belt from either rope or leather and long trousers. Women wore long dreses made from wool. Their dresses did not have sleeves and were kept together with a fibula at the shoulders. Underneath the dress, women often wore a tunic or skirt.

Both men and women wore woolen or leather hats. The shoes were made from patches of leather sewed together. They wore both closed shoes and open sandals. They also used leather to make bags.

They were very conscious about their appearance, richly decorated combs have been found and jewelry was popular as well, even amongst simple farmers. Both men and women wore jewelry like rings, bracelets, fibula and necklaces. Both genders also wore amulets which had a religious purpose. Both men and women grew their hair long. Long hair was seen a a symbol for a free man. They let their hair down, with some exceptions like the Suebi who made hairknots. Razors have also been found which were used by men to style their beards.

All in all, the Germanic people lived with the seasons and knew to entertain themselves during the long dark winter months. They cared a lot about their appearance which is seen in their complicated woven clothing patterns, combs and jewelry. Their clothing looked nothing like you see in the films and series, they wore richly coloured tunics, no leather armour. In fact armour was not used at all by the Germanics.  

Hilde

Hilde is a woman found in 1995 in Castricum, the Netherlands. What is so interesting about her is that she lived around 380AD. This is the exact same time in which the ancient Frisii migrated away from Frisia. Her grave is proof that the Frisii did not abandon their lands completely. The Frisii continued living in around modern day Castricum and Groningen.

The skeleton of Hilde and her skull are still intact, together with Cees, about whom I wrote before, they are one of the most important archeological finds of the Dutch province Noord-Holland. Not only was her body found, she was still wearing her necklace.

Hilde was around 24-30 years old and 1,59-1,66m tall. Her cause of death is still unknown. She has signs of a broken left arm, probably caused by fending off a blow. This broken arm however was healed, poorly healed, meaning that this was not the cause of her death.

She was placed in a small pit, most likely thrown in there. She was found lying on her stomach with both arms next to her body. This was not a common burial style. She might have either been dumped or buried in a hury. Hilde came from East Germany and most likely migrated here to marry. Young women were often sent far away to marry.

Canoe of Pesse

The Netherlands always had a special relationship with water. We can't deny or ignore it, water is everywhere. From the sea that surrounds us and the rivers bringing water from the mountains far away. Throughout the centuries, people in the Netherlands have fought against this water and lived with it, even Tacitus praised the Dutch Germanic tribes for their ability to cross waters. It is no surprise that the world's oldest boat comes from the Netherlands.

The canoe of Pesse was found by Hendrik Wanders in 1955 in the Dutch village of Pesse. The wood of the canoe has been dated to around 8200BC. This means that it is the oldest boat in the entire world.

The boat was made from a pine tree and hollowed out with flint and/or antler tools. The moor, in which this 2,98 meters long canoe was found, helped to conserve this wood for over 10,000 years. Now there were doubts if this object was really a functioning canoe, it might have been a trough. To put an end to these doubts, a replica was made back in 2001 and it functioned perfectly well as a canoe.

Canoes continued to be used by the ancient people of the Netherlands to navigate the countless bogs, rivers and small lakes. These little boats were used to hunt for fish, transport goods for trade and of course transportation. It is thought that every family who lived near water would probably have owned a canoe, so who knows how many more canoes still lie buried beneath our feet here.

The Frisii who later inhabited modern day Northern Netherlands, also used canoes for transportion, trade and the hunt. One Frisii canoe found in Uitgeest was 9 meters long and made from oak wood, it shows signs of repair so it was likely often used. In fact travelling between villages by boat was still the main form of transportation here in West-Frisia until after ww2.

Gannascus

Gannascus was a Cananefaat, the Cananefaten were a Germanic tribe located in modern day Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands. For those who want to know more about this tribe, I have written a post about them a few months ago so you can search for it.

Back to Gannascus the Cananefaat. Gannascus served in the Roman army during the first century. He however deserted the army around 46AD and fled to the North, to Frisii territory. The Cananefaten lived in Germania Inferior, controlled by the Roman empire under Roman Governor Sanquinius Maximus.

Sanquinius died around the same time Gannascus deserted the army. His death weakened the militairy structure of Germania Inferior. Gannascus saw this weakness and decided to exploit this by becoming a pirate (or as some have claimed, the very first viking).

It took a period of time before Sanquinius' successor was announced, Corbulo. During this period of time, Gannascus gathered a group of Frisii and Chauci raiders and they provided the ships since both the Frisii and Chauci were excellent seafarers. Well I think you could hardly call it ships, Tacitus described how Gannascus used large canoes (the same type I wrote about earlier this week) to raid settlements on the coasts of Brittannia and Gallia.

Gannascus, as a Cananefaat, possessed a lot of knowledge about the coastal areas and information about Roman troops from his time in the Roman army. His raiders operated from Frisia and from there they terrorised the Roman controlled area of the North Sea.

Gannascus was a very succesfull raider until Corbulo became the new governor. Corbulo immediately sent Roman patrol ships to patrol the Frisii waters. Eventually Corbulo managed to destroy Gannascus' raiding fleet and Gannascus himself fled to Chauci territory.

Corbulo set up a trap for the raider by trying to negotiate with the Chauci. Gannascus was murdered by Roman envoys shortly later. This sparked great anger amongst the Frisii and Chauci and it threatened to escalate into an armed conflit. Rome did not want another war with the Germanic tribes and ordered Corbulo to stop all military actions in Germania. This came as a surprise to Corbulo since the Roman emperor, Claudius, who gave this order, was the brother of the famous Germanicus who led several succesfull expeditions into Germania.

Emperor Claudius rather wanted to focus on conquering Britannia instead of battling the Germanics. Claudius pretty much viewed the Northern Netherlands as a miserable piece of land not worth all the trouble. After Claudius' orders, all Roman camps, forts and strogholds above the Rhine, including the fort Flevum which I wrote about last week, were abandoned permanently and contact between the Romans and the Frisii decreased considerably. The Romans never made another expedition into Germania.

In short, Gannascus can be viewed as the very first viking, raiding settlements in modern day England and France. His raids were so succesfull that the Roman emperor eventually decided to withdrawl completely from the Northern Netherlands resulting in the Frisii tribe to become completely free again. Gannascus is also the first recorded Dutch pirate.