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The Second World War. Despite a clear warning from the German Wehrmacht to buzz off, the nosy and inquisitive Hanso Idzerda returned to the crash site of a V2 rocket on Parkweg Road in Scheveningen—not far from his own home. Ignoring the warning, he was caught a second time by a Wehrmacht patrol. This time, there would be no friendly asking anymore. On November 3, 1944, Idzerda was executed on charges of espionage at the estate of Oosterbeek. He had been investigating the cra

Breaking! Great Pier measured around 2.30 meters in height! This question has been bugging the Frisians for centuries. Now we know. How? Keep reading… Granted. We asked ourselves this very same question in a previous blog post . We explored how great Pier was… as a leader. This time we are asking the same question, but taking it quite literally: how tall was Great Pier? No, we did not find and measure Great Piers remainings. We know where he is buried, but we don’t know exact

Most Frisians know the name of Great Pier, or ‘ Grutte Pier ’ in Frisian. But what do we really know about him? Well, all we know for sure is that he was tall. Very tall (read how tall exactly ). Spoiler alert: his name gave away that he was tall, right? If you would ask your friends and family what they know about Grutte Pier, then most of them would be able to tell you a handful of characteristics. Some might be even able to add a small story to that name. What most of them

Who’s afraid of Jóða Fenris , 'the offspring of Fenrir'? Afraid of hund hrynsævar hræva , 'the hound of the roaring sea of corpses'? Who, today, fears the wolf? The dark creature that once haunted the shadowed forests of the East is rising again in Europe. Nearly two centuries have passed, yet the wolf has returned to the southern shores of the North Sea. Returned to former Frisia, rekindling ancient fears thought long extinguished. It is killing sheep. More unsettling still,

Where the English Channel meets the Celtic Sea, the ships of the Frisian brothers Corsold and Coarchion are said to have sailed, raided, and held sway in the early sixth century. For a time, they may even have established a short-lived kingdom in Brittany. Breton legend holds that the village of Kersaout—modern-day Corseul—was once the residence of dux  Corsold. The place name (Haut)-Bécherel, known for its Roman ruins, might derive from the Old Frisian word beki , meaning ‘s

On the west bank of the mighty River Rhine, halfway between the cities of Koblenz and Mainz, lies the town of Sankt Goar. Named after...

Imagine this: one day your husband brings home a young, unmarried woman. A virgin, even. He simply takes her into your house, openly shows her affection—and who knows what else. But that is not all. He also gives this maiden full access to your pantry and your savings account, which she—for crying out loud—starts spending on charity. And when you dare to speak up, your husband brushes you off by comparing you to the jealous queen in Snow White , or Cinderella’s evil stepmothe

The name Frisii  for the people who lived along the southern coast of the North Sea is ancient—very ancient. It dates back to Late...

On the Facebook page ' Frisian Americans ', the question popped up regarding the role certain Frisians played in the Whiskey Rebellion in...

In the year 1500, a girl by the name Tjede Peckes was born in the hamlet of Padingbüttel in the region of Land Wursten on the eastern banks of the River Weser. It was a salt marsh area the Wurstfriesen  'Wurst-Frisians' had managed to embank and cultivate. For centuries, they had enjoyed living in a lord-free farmers' republic. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, the Wurstfriesen came into conflict with the bishop of Bremen and the duke of Sachsen-Lauenburg, powers tha

Let’s go to the omega. To the end of the Frisia Coast Trail . To Ribe in southern Jutland, Denmark. The oldest town in Scandinavia. A town located on the banks of the Ribe Å. A modest river that flows out into the Wadden Sea stoically slow, opposite the islands of Fanø and Mandø. Ribe started as a seasonal marketplace. Year-round settlement began around the year 700. Everything in peaceful times yet. Only with the raid on the island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland in 793 did

This blog post is not about Aindreas Ó Céirín (1840-1915), better known as Brother Walfrid from Ireland and who founded the Scottish...

Dockyards, quays, terminals, warehouses, wharves, anchorages, lighthouses, and beacons. Craftsmen, shipping companies, customs offices, pilot services, and other port authorities. Fish auctions, boarding houses, lodgings, packing sheds—you name it. Seaports exist to meet the needs of everything that arrives from the sea or sets out to it. But beyond commerce, ports have traditionally also responded to another, persistent demand: sex. Since the Frisia Coast Trail tells the sto

Pagare il fio  is Italian for 'paying the penalty,' though literally it means 'paying the fee,' a phrase inherited from the northern peoples—the so-called Barbarians—who toppled the Western Roman Empire. The English word fee  comes from Old English feoh , which survives as fee  in Mid Frisian, vee  in Dutch, and Vieh  in German, all meaning 'cattle.' The Anglo-Frisian rune ᚠ, feh , likewise signified 'wealth.' The literal sense of pagare il fio  is therefore 'paying the cattl

'In the navy', a song by the Village People. Of the small villages along the southern coast of the North Sea. A water people once united in the mythical Seven Sealands . Moreover, a people who laid the foundations of two of history’s most impressive navies: that of the Kingdom of England and that of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It should not come as a surprise we are talking about Frisians. In spite of the Latin saying Frisia non cantat  ‘Frisia does not sing

The Battle of Tours in 732 was a turning point in the wars against the Umayyad Caliphate. The Caliphate was one of the biggest empires in history, but it lost this battle. At the confluence of the rivers Clain and Vienne, the Franks, led by statesman majordomo  Charles Martel, only just managed to defeat the great army of Emir Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, governor of al-Andalus  ‘Andalusia’. Historians estimate tens of thousands of soldiers died. In the run-up to this historic ba

The heart of Western democracies is the joint assembly of Parliament, Cabinet, and High Councils of State. Its Celtic-Germanic origin is the thing , also called ting , ding , or þing  in other writings. Today, national assemblies in Scandinavian countries still refer to this ancient tradition. For example, the parliaments of the Faroes Løgting , of Greenland Landsting , of Iceland Alþingi , and of Norway Storting . However, the oldest written attestation of the thing  institu

At the end of the eighth century, by decree of Charlemagne and under the supervision of the wise men Wlemar and Saxmund, the customary law of the Frisians was codified. It is called the Lex Frisionum . Its jurisdiction included the land between the Flehum and Sincfalam rivers 'between Vlie and Sincfalam River'. The River Flehum flowed into the North Sea, where the sea strait Vlie is located today, between the islands of Terschelling and Vlieland. Sincfalam , also written as

In 1934, while dredging the River Scheldt near the village of Appels in the region of Flanders, workers unearthed an extraordinary ship’s figurehead (see featured image above). Dated to around AD 400, scholars generally agree it is Germanic in origin and hails from the southern North Sea coast. Yet, to this day, no people or nation has laid rightful claim to this remarkable carving. The Vikings may come to mind, but they only began their raids four centuries later—so, these n

"If you don't care about your own history, you may as well leave the classroom." Words from the geography teacher at high school Simon Vestdijk in the port town of Harlingen in 1988. We, the two Frisian bastards , were about sixteen years old and in the fifth grade of VWO, i.e., pre-university education. The annoyed words were addressed to two giggling girls from the villages of Arum and Witmarsum , sitting in the back of the classroom. The teacher had already opened the door