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46-687: The Samtgemeinde Land Wursten consisted of the following municipalities: The Land of Wursten was a rather autonomous Frisian farmers' republic in Northern Germany under only loose overlordship of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen . Bremian knightly families aimed at subjecting the Wursten Frisians . The Lords of Diepholz owned the Hollburg Castle between Holßel  [ nds ] and Midlum on

92-476: A part of the Netherlands ever since. The eastern periphery of Frisia would become part of various German states (later Germany) and Denmark. An old tradition existed in the region of exploitation of peatlands. Though it is impossible to know exact numbers and migration patterns, research has indicated that many Frisians were part of the wave of ethnic groups to colonise areas of present-day England alongside

138-703: A series of wars , which (with a series of lengthy interruptions) ended in 1422 with the Hollandic conquest of Western Frisia and with the establishment of a more powerful noble class in Central and Eastern Frisia. In 1524, Frisia became part of the Seventeen Provinces and in 1568 joined the Dutch revolt against Philip II , king of Spain, heir of the Burgundian territories; Central Frisia has remained

184-542: Is described as assimilated and most people of Frisian descent do not consider themselves Frisian. In regards of the Frisian language, very few may speak it as first language but it was traditionally spoken in several polder hamlets near the border with Germany. One estimate puts the Frisian population in Denmark somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000. This number, however, might be grossly exaggerated. Frisian identity in Denmark

230-702: Is officially recognised in the Netherlands (in Friesland ), and North Frisian and Saterland Frisian are recognised as regional languages in Germany. Prior to the appearance of the modern Frisians, their namesake, the ancient Frisii , enter recorded history in the Roman account of Drusus 's 12 BC war against the Rhine Germans and the Chauci . They occasionally appear in the accounts of Roman wars against

276-477: Is spoken by around 350,000 native speakers in Friesland, and as many as 470,000 when including speakers in neighbouring Groningen province. West Frisian is not listed as threatened, although research published by Radboud University in 2016 has challenged that assumption. Today, there exists a tripartite division of North , East and West Frisians ; this was caused by Frisia 's continual loss of territory in

322-595: The Anglo-Frisian family. Old Frisian is the most closely related language to Old English and the modern Frisian dialects are in turn the closest related languages to contemporary English that do not themselves derive from Old English (although the modern Frisian and English are not mutually intelligible). The Frisian language group is divided into three mutually unintelligible languages: Of these three languages both Saterland Frisian (2,000 speakers) and North Frisian (10,000 speakers) are endangered. West Frisian

368-690: The Battle of Alsum , trying to subject them to his feudal overlordship. John's son, Hadeln's Regent Magnus, the heir apparent of Saxe-Lauenburg tried to grind out his father's notch and hired the Great or Black Guard in order to subject the Land of Wursten. On 26 December 1499 the Wursten Frisians defeated the Black Guard in the Battle of Weddewarden . In 1517 Prince-Archbishop Christopher

414-510: The Lappes  [ de ] . Gilbert provided for the convent richly after its transfer to Wolde. On 17 April 1289 Gilbert assigned the tithe of Northum to the convent. Even after the move the convent asserted most of its feudal possessions and privileges in the Midlum parish, then a part of Wursten. In 1331 the commoner Gerhard de Merne (= Marren, Süder- and Nordermarren near Midlum) usurped

460-599: The Middle Ages . The West Frisians, in general, do not see themselves as part of a larger group of Frisians, and, according to a 1970 poll, identify themselves more with the Dutch than with the East or North Frisians . Feudal duties Feudal duties were the set of reciprocal financial, military and legal obligations among the warrior nobility in a feudal system . These duties developed in both Europe and Japan with

506-759: The Wursten War (1256–1258) the Wursten Frisians repelled a knightly invasion to subject them to manorial (seigniorial) jurisdiction . The array of knights, among them members of the Diepholz and the Rahden families  [ de ] , then still landed in Rhade , was led by the Knight of Bederkesa. The defeated knights hat to withdraw deep into the Bederkesa Bailiwick and exposed the boundary adjacent to

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552-469: The peasant population, such as abergement . Feudal duties ran both ways, both up and down the feudal hierarchy; however, aside from distribution of land and maintenance of landless retainers, the main obligation of the feudal lord was to protect his vassals , both militarily from incursion and judicially via court justice. In addition to lands, the lord could grant what were called "immunities", but were rights to conduct governmental functions such as

598-470: The ' Frisian freedom ', a period in which feudalism and serfdom (as well as central or judicial administration ) did not exist, and in which the Frisian lands only owed their allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor . During the 13th century, however, the counts of Holland became increasingly powerful and, starting in 1272, sought to reassert themselves as rightful lords of the Frisian lands in

644-774: The Angles, Saxons and Jutes , starting from around the fifth century when Frisians arrived along the coastline of Kent. Frisians principally settled in modern-day Kent, East Anglia , the East Midlands , North East England , and Yorkshire . Across these areas, evidence of their settlement includes place names of Frisian origin, such as Frizinghall in Bradford and Frieston in Lincolnshire. Similarities in dialect between Great Yarmouth and Friesland have been noted, originating from trade between these areas during

690-525: The Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia (which was a part of Denmark until 1864). There are several theories about the origin of the name of the Frisians, which is derived from Frisii or Fresones , names used by the Romans to describe a Germanic tribe that inhabited the same region but disappeared during the 5th century before the appearance of

736-470: The Frisian populace to Christianity , in which Saint Willibrord largely succeeded. Some time after the death of Charlemagne , the Frisian territories were in theory under the control of the Count of Holland , but in practice the Hollandic counts, starting with Count Arnulf in 993, were unable to assert themselves as the sovereign lords of Frisia. The resulting stalemate resulted in a period of time called

782-712: The Frisians. Most probably the name is derived from the verb fresare in Vulgar Latin, meaning 'milling, cutting, grooving, crushing, removing shells'; this name may have been given to the Frisii because they 'cut the land': digging ditches and dykes to irrigate the wet marshlands where they lived. Compare fresar el paisaje in the Romance language Spanish . Another theory is the name derives from frisselje (to braid, thus referring to braided hair). The Frisian languages are spoken by more than 500,000 people; West Frisian

828-812: The Germanic tribes of the region, up to and including the Revolt of the Batavi around 70 AD. Frisian mercenaries were hired as cavalry to assist the Roman invasion of Britain . They are not mentioned again until c. 296, when they were deported into Roman territory as laeti (i.e., Roman-era serfs ; see Binchester Roman Fort and Cuneus Frisionum ). The discovery of a type of earthenware unique to fourth century Frisia , called terp Tritzum , shows that an unknown number of them were resettled in Flanders and Kent , probably as laeti under Roman coercion. From

874-412: The Land of Wursten, among others the Midlum parish. After the victory the Land of Wursten occupied the Midlum parish. The unsettled geest strips within Midlum's municipal boundary are called Wursten Heath (Wurster Heide) since. However, the convent and the nuns were treated with great care not to deliver Prince-Archbishop Gebhard of Lippe  [ de ] any pretext. The Wursten Frisians remembered

920-770: The Later Middle Ages Frisians farmers settled around Tøndermarsken west of Tønder . The evidence for this are the dwelling mounds or terps ( værfter ) in the area that are built after the same method as the ones alongside the Wadden Sea further south. Colonists from the south also settled down in Misthusum in the Ballum marshes near Skærbæk during the 12th of 13th century. According to documents around 1400 at least some of them were considered as "Hollanders". In modern times, Frisian culture in Denmark

966-681: The Middle Ages. Frisians are also known to have founded the Freston area of Ipswich . In Scotland, historians have noted that colonies of Angles and Frisians settled as far north as the River Forth . This corresponds to those areas of Scotland which historically constituted part of Northumbria . The earliest traces of Frisians in modern-day Denmark date back from the 8th century, when Frisian traders and craftsmen settled down in Ribe . In

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1012-467: The Midlum parish and its peasant population became integral parts of the Land of Wursten. The convent declined and blamed this to its location among the "perverse and bad people [the Wursten Frisians], striving for criminal and unallowed aims", as recorded in a convent deed. For them and Bremen's Prince-Archbishop Gilbert of Brunckhorst  [ de ] (ruling from 1273 to 1306) hindering

1058-540: The Spendthrift  [ de ] opened a campaign to subject the Wursten Frisians. The prince-archiepiscopal government demanded to levy taxes from newly dyked lands and the Wursten Frisians, claiming them as self-acquired, refused to pay. Thus Christopher the Spendthrift sent mercenaries into the Land of Wursten and on 23 December Wursten succumbed in the Battle at the Wremer Tief during which Tjede Peckes

1104-519: The Wursten Consuls donated several estates left by people without heirs to the convent in order to pray requiem masses for the deceased. In 1399 the consuls of the Land of Wursten concluded with the convent that they guaranteed safe-conduct through the Midlum parish for the pilgrims on their way to Wolde (present Altenwalde). In 1484 the Wursten Frisians repelled John V, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg , also ruling in close-by Hadeln, and his troops in

1150-691: The Wursten Frisians to feudal dues and duties and prince-archiepiscopal bailiffs (Vögte), wielding authoritarian force over the Wursten Frisians. In 1648 the elective monarchy of the Prince-Archbishopric was transformed into the heritable monarchy of the Duchy of Bremen , which was first ruled in personal union by the Swedish Crown and from 1715 on by the House of Hanover . In 1823 the Duchy

1196-536: The advocacy ( Vogtei ) over the nunnery, later passed on to the Knights of Bederkesa who were related by marriage. The convent's actual original affiliation to a monastic order is not documented. No hint is recorded that the convent strove to be incorporated into the Cistercian Order. It is also possible that the convent followed Cistercian customs without formal incorporation. However, the convent started

1242-463: The ancient Frisii. It is these 'new Frisians' who are largely the ancestors of the medieval and modern Frisians. By the end of the sixth century, Frisian territory had expanded westward to the North Sea coast and, in the seventh century, southward down to Dorestad . This farthest extent of Frisian territory is sometimes referred to as Frisia Magna . Early Frisia was ruled by a High King , with

1288-607: The brink of the Wesermünde Geest ridge, allowing a good view over the lower Land of Wursten. In 1219 six Diepholz Lords, related as cousins, owning estates in and near Midlum, founded the Midlum Nunnery and endowed them to it. Rather than establishing the nunnery as their proprietary monastery the Diepholz family made it over to the cathedral chapter of the Bremen archdiocese. However, the Diepholz family adopted

1334-560: The collecting of taxes and tolls, the holding of judicial proceedings, and even the coinage of money. In addition there were contingent duties the lord owed such as the duty to take back a fief that was rejected by an heir ( droit de déguerpissement ). Sometimes, particularly in the Frankish kingdoms, a lord would grant a fief to an assemblage of men rather than to a single vassal. These grants were called bans and included extensive governmental autonomy, or immunities. Duties owed by

1380-515: The convent's demesne . On outlying estates the convent founded its Vorwerk of Kransburg  [ nds ] which today forms a locality of Midlum. All over the parish of Midlum, e.g. in Sorthum, Northum, Wenckebüttel and Esigstedt, the convent acquired the overlordship to farmlands from those lords who held it before, in order to round off its demesne. The convent cleared the latter two villages from peasants which were thus abandoned. Along

1426-514: The convent's demesne and manorial expansion could be nothing else but an unallowed aim. This finally led to the relocation of the convent out of Wursten Frisian control. So 1282 the convent was moved to Wolde, present Altenwalde , since 1972 a part of Cuxhaven . Prince-Archbishop Gilbert considered the convent his outpost to wield influence in the free peasant areas of the Lands of Hadeln and of Wursten as well as among separatist noble vassals such as

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1472-527: The decentralisation of empire and due to lack of monetary liquidity, as groups of warriors took over the social, political, judicial, and economic spheres of the territory they controlled. While many feudal duties were based upon control of a parcel of land and its productive resources, even landless knights owed feudal duties such as direct military service in their lord's behest. Feudal duties were not uniform over time or across political boundaries, and in their later development also included duties from and to

1518-624: The earliest reference to a 'Frisian King' being dated 678. In the early eighth century, the Frisians mostly worshipped Germanic gods such as Thor and Odin outside the vicinity of Utrecht . Slightly later, the Frisian nobles came into increasing conflict with the Franks to their south, resulting in a series of wars in which the Frankish Empire eventually subjugated Frisia in 734. These wars benefited attempts by Anglo-Irish missionaries (which had begun with Saint Boniface ) to convert

1564-502: The end the Wursten Frisians slew Dean Cordt Klencke  [ de ] , archdeacon of Hadeln and Wursten, Engelbert von der Malsburg, prince-archiepiscopal landdrost , and 16 more prince-archiepiscopal envoys. For the upcoming prince-archiepiscopal response the Wursten Frisians allied with their former enemy Duke Magnus I of Saxe-Lauenburg, who confirmed their autonomy in return for rendering him homage. On 8 September 1518 ducal forces arriving by ship and Wursten fighters attacking from

1610-567: The fish as fasting dishes at lent . The convent's demesne expansion meant the exclusive usage of geest forests, mires and heaths , previously also commonly used by the free Frisian peasants from the mostly treeless Land of Wursten in order to gain turf , firewood, timber and the fertilising plaggen . Thus the demesne expansion posed a massive threat for the material survival of the Wursten Frisians as free peasants. Without fuel, timber or fertiliser they could not help it but would sooner or later have to commendate themselves to feudal lords from

1656-441: The geest. The free Wursten Frisians disliked the noble establishment of a convent in their vicinity and treated the nuns with resentment. In the same time knightly families from the geest aimed at subjecting the Wursten Frisians to their feudal overlordship in order to gain more from unpaid feudal labour and by compelling feudal dues and duties . The convent's desmesne but also manorial expansion just added up to these tensions. In

1702-521: The land side razed the brandnew prince-archiepiscopal Morgenstern Castle  [ nds ] in Weddewarden  [ de ] . The Wursten Frisians saw their chance and covered the borderland adjacent to Wursten, including the Neuenwalde convent seigniorial bailiwick, with raids and attacks. In 1518 Prioress Wommella Wachmans appealed to the Wursten Consuls not to incite or even undertake

1748-598: The low side of the Wesermünde Geest ridge towards the marshy Land of Wursten there is a narrow swampy strip of wasteland called the Wursten Sietland . While the Wursten Frisians claimed the Sietland as their commons , the convent started to include it into its demesnes. In the valley cuts of the geest between Holßel and Nordholz the convent impounded little becks in order to lay out stewponds for

1794-401: The ordeal of the free Stedingen peasants in 1234, who refused to accept feudal overlordship too, but whom Gebhard had excommunicated and against whom he induced and fought a papally confirmed crusade , all after few Stedingers had slain an itinerant monk. Under the rule of the sixteen elected consuls of the Land of Wursten the demesne expansion of the convent was successfully hindered. Soon

1840-539: The ravaging of houses and looting of grain and firewood from the convent's feudal tenants. The troops of Christopher the Spendthrift finally subjected the Wursten Frisians in the Battle of Mulsum on 9 August 1524. In 1525 the Wursten Consuls had to conclude the Treaty of Stade , which incorporated Wursten into the prince-archbishopric, did away with the Wursten constitution, including the election of consuls and subjected

1886-579: The third through the fifth centuries, Frisia suffered marine transgressions that made most of the land uninhabitable, aggravated by a change to a cooler and wetter climate. Whatever population may have remained dropped dramatically, and the coastal lands remained largely unpopulated for the next two centuries. When conditions improved, Frisia received an influx of new settlers, mostly Angles and Saxons . These people would eventually be referred to as 'Frisians' ( Old Frisian : Frīsa , Old English : Frīsan ), though they were not necessarily descended from

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1932-464: The tithe from Esigstedt, protested by the convent, the enfranchised beneficiary, and left it again to the nuns only after the pastors of the Wursten parishes had intervened. The still hostile Wursten Frisians looted pilgrims on their way to the convent in Wolde, causing the nuns' decision to move from Wolde on to Neuenwalde . The relations of the Land of Wursten with the convent improved and on 24 June 1383

1978-552: The typical Cistercian practice to build up a large autark integrated production (Eigenwirtschaft). Unlike unsettled and undeveloped areas where Cistercians usually founded new monasteries the farmlands donated to the convent were held by feudal tenants and sparsed in and around Midlum. The convent cleared its feudal farmlands from the unfree peasants tilling them  [ de ] (cf. Lowland Clearances ) transforming them into dependent agrarian workers or cotters (smallholders who need additional work) and (most of) their fields into

2024-596: Was abolished and its territory became part of the Stade Region within the Kingdom of Hanover . Frisians The Frisians are an ethnic group indigenous to the coastal regions of the Netherlands, north-western Germany and southern Denmark, and during the Early Middle Ages in the north-western coastal zone of Flanders , Belgium. They inhabit an area known as Frisia and are concentrated in

2070-703: Was promoted by the Eiderstedt farmer and political activist Cornelius Petersen, who built a traditional Frisian farmstead in Møgeltønder in 1914 and founded the rural protest movement Bondens Selvstyre ("Farmers' self-government"). More recently, the retired journalist Benny Siewertsen wrote a partisan pamphlet on Frisian heritage in Denmark. As both the Anglo-Saxons of England and the early Frisians were formed from similar tribal confederacies, their respective languages were very similar, together forming

2116-512: Was slain. Christopher the Spendthrift declared Wursten's autonomous constitution nul and void and obtained his imperial enfeoffment with Wursten at the Diet of Augsburg of 1517. On 4 August 1518 the Consuls of the Land of Wursten, and envoys of the prince-archbishop met on the Wursten thingstead in order to fix the amount and to discuss the levying of the taxes. The parties flew into a fury and in

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