Frans RiemersmaNov 3, 20183 minTake a virtual hike through Zuid-Holland and UtrechtThis blog is a virtual hike. Grab a coffee and go 200 kilometers per hour. When ploughing through piles of research on where the Frisians...
Frans RiemersmaOct 27, 20188 minLiudger, the first Frisian apostleLiudger succeeded where other evangelists failed. He finally managed to convert the pagan Frisians to Christianity, because he “spoke...
Hans FaberOct 14, 201811 minBeacons of NordfrieslandNordfriesland or North Frisia. The western coast and islands of region Schleswig. Stretching from the Danish town Tønder in the north, to...
Hans FaberOct 12, 20188 minSupport for the Corsican Cause in jeopardySeptember 2018, one of the bastards hiked the Grande Randonnée 20 in Corsica. Or, as the French say, la GR-vingt. The GR20 is considered...
Frans RiemersmaSep 1, 20186 minIs Magna Frisia fact or fiction?Here are some maps that help you locate the Frisians in the early Middle Ages (500-800 AD). We combined old maps, archaeological finds,...
Frans RiemersmaAug 19, 20189 minFollow the footsteps of Five Frisian KingsWe plotted the exact locations of the whereabouts of the five Frisian kings Finn, Audulfus, Aldgils, Redbad and Poppo. We might have even...
Hans FaberJul 1, 201829 minOne of history’s enlightening hikes, that of BernlefThis post is not about the Westfrisian writer Hendrik Jan Marsman (1937-2012), whose pen-name was Bernlef. Nor is this post about the...
Hans FaberJun 24, 201818 minUpstalsboom: why solidarity is not the core of a collectiveSo many supranational organizations, whether governmental or juridical, are struggling with their legitimacy and survival, it is almost...
Hans FaberJun 20, 201819 minForeign Fighters returning from Viking war bandsFrom 2012 around 5,000 foreign fighters from European countries went to the Levant to fight. Six years later, an estimated fifteen...
Frans RiemersmaJun 16, 20184 minKing Redbad’s last actNot much is known about Redbad’s death. Many Frankish fragments use his year of death as a historical point of reference for many events....
Frans RiemersmaJun 9, 20186 minFinally, King Redbad made his point in the European Commission - via Facebook“I can not live without the company of my forefathers”, Redbad said in an interview in 718. In 2018 this sentence caused turmoil in the...
Hans FaberJun 1, 201816 minHaute couture from the salt marshesIt was not the city of Parisius. Nor that of Lundenwic. Believe or not, the early-medieval center for expensive cloth and chique clothing...
Hans FaberMay 23, 20189 minRacing the Wadden Sea with a Silt SledThe mud flats of the Wadden Sea are endless. But what to do with it? How do you give meaning to mud? Yes, one cubic-meter mud flat...
Hans FaberMay 13, 20189 minBil. A wasteland of non-integrated migrants?This is the story of the reclamation of the former Middelzee in the Netherlands. The Middle Sea was a shallow inland sea that used to cut...
Hans FaberMar 31, 20184 minWaiting on a terp 2.0 to be liberatedAugust 21, 1930, Wieringermeer. The reclamation was completed. Of land that used to be called the Creil Woods, in province Noord Holland...
Hans FaberMar 2, 201816 minFrisian mercenaries in the Roman ArmyAfter the Roman Empire had incorporated a big chunck of the British Isles in the first century AD, the empire needed a military force to def
Hans FaberJan 19, 201832 minHow the porcupine gave birth to the U.S. buckOn May 5th, 2018, it was exactly two centuries ago that Karl Marx was born. When in 1867 the good man published the first part of Das...
Frans RiemersmaJan 13, 20186 minHalf a million deaths. A forgotten North Sea disaster...Did you know that between 328,770 and 502,190 people lost their lives around the North Sea? On the flip side: millions of possible...
Frans RiemersmaJan 10, 20181 minDid you dance with the blue light, yet?Want some magic while walking the Frisia Coast Trail? If you happen to walk the beach at night, expect the unexpected. Sure, you might...
Frans RiemersmaJan 6, 20186 minWhy was Redbad skinny dipping in eau de Cologne?In March 714, Redbad's army reached the shores of Cologne. That is deep in the Frankish heartlands and way out of the traditional Frisian...