Frisia Coast Trail.com

New York City, the Capital of the World. They call it a lot of things: Gotham, the Big Apple, the Empire City, Modern Gomorrah, even Baghdad-on-the-Subway. And of course, Times Square proudly calls itself the Center of the Universe—although the true center of the world is the village of Aegum. And in the middle of all this noise, lights, and skyscraper swagger, portraits of two quiet men from seventeenth-century Friesland—villagers from Peperga and Koudum—hang proudly in two

In 2004, archaeologists made a remarkable discovery at the early medieval burial ground of Solleveld, just south of the city of The Hague: a boat grave. It lies almost exactly two hundred kilometres in a straight line due east across the North Sea from the legendary ship burial at Sutton Hoo. With this extraordinary find, the Netherlands joined the select group of nations known for ship burials—a distinction not to be taken lightly. National pride soared. The discovery also e

Late in the afternoon, December 28, 2018. One of the Frisian bastards  arrives in the village of Anjum after a 30-kilometer hike along the coast, starting from Holwerd. It had been exactly 21 years since this quiet village was rocked by national news: the discovery of two male corpses buried in the garden of guesthouse Het Station. The killer? A woman—the guesthouse owner herself. Just to be safe, the bastard had booked a room at a different place: Hotel Wad Oars. But this ho

R1b/Hg1/Eu18; R-M213; R-M9; R1b-M45; R-M207; R-M173; R-M343; R-L278; R-L754; R-L389/R1b1a1; R-M415; R-P297/R1b1a1a; R-M269/R1b1a1a2;...

The earliest evidence of Frisian merchants—or kāpmon  in the Old Frisian language—engaging in the slave trade dates back to the first half of the seventh century. No less an authority than the Venerable Bede, the Father of English history, recorded this criminal activity. He described a merchant operating in the markets of London who also dealt in slaves. As Fleming (2010) puts it: “Frisian slavers in hopes of swapping luxury goods for a little human flesh.” In this blog post

Frisia could easily claim the title: land of Atlantis. 19 inhabited islands and 244 villages drowned along the old Frisian coast trail in the past 1,500 years. We bet there are more out there... Atlantis emerged in the writings of Greek philosopher Plato. That was around 350 BC. In two of his dialogues, the "Temaeus" and the "Critas", he mentions the lost city. Atlantis was not only known for its mysterious civilisation, but even more for its cataclysmic destruction some 7,

Is the seaport Maasvlakte the gateway to north-western Europe? No? How about Europoort? Still no? What about the Botlek port area? Or the...

On March 25, 2020, the coronavirus pandemic was climbing towards its second peak. There was uncertainty about how destructive the...

By the middle of the ninth century, the Vikings had carved out a more or less permanent foothold in Frisia, in the pagus  'territory' of Nordendi, also known as Norditi. But by the year 884, the Frisians had had enough. They forged swords and axes, raised an army, and drove the Norsemen out once and for all—at the cost of exactly 10,377 Viking lives. Out of this crisis came an unexpected innovation. The reclaimed land was managed in a new way: eleven centuries ago, the Frisia

Brooklyn. Named after the charming village of Breukelen in the Netherlands. Its original Frisian name was Attingahem. With only a twist...

Rex illiteratus est quasi asinus coronatus , ‘a king who cannot read is like a crowned donkey’. Or, if you prefer the literal translation, ‘an illiterate king is like a crowned arse’. These are almost thousand-year-old diplomatic words of Bishop John of Salisbury (ca. 1120-1180), expressing the notion that kings and other rulers, in general, should be educated in order to fulfil their task. There is a small area in Frisia where its people choose and crown their kings during t

Tidal marshlands and Frisians, a dual entity. The Chauci and the Frisians—referred to by the Romans as Frisii  or Fresones —had learned...

Master blacksmith Wayland is well known from Germanic mythology. According to legend, he was imprisoned on a small island at sea but escaped using wings of his own making. Saxons, Anglo-Saxons, Norwegians, Icelanders, Goths—in fact nearly all early Germanic peoples—preserved stories or artifacts relating to Wayland. Even the Franks did. All except one: the Frisians. And yet, as it turns out, Frisia may possess the oldest claim of all. Several early-medieval gold solidi  beari

The hearth was, in pre- and early medieval times, the Holy of Holies. The heart of the family. Where you would lay back and groove. Groove on the sound of the endless rains on the thatched roof, or on the sound of seawater at your feet below. Splashing against the grassy slopes of your house platform. A lifted place that was warm and soulful, filled with good spirits and minds. But how did those early Frisians manage to keep evil spirits, vile creatures, and sickness at bay?

According to medieval legend, around the year 800, Charlemagne and Pope Leo clashed with the citizens of Rome. The Pope was attacked and forced to flee the city. It was an army of 'naked' Frisians, led by Magnus, that stormed back in, retaking the citadel and the Urbs Aeterna —the Eternal City. In gratitude, Charlemagne offered the Frisians wealth, weapons, treasure, and more. But Magnus made a different choice: that all Frisians should be free, beholden to no one—except, of

In the year 516, King Hygelac of the Geats, a tribe in, probably, the southeast of Sweden, raided Frisia. Back then, this part of the Netherlands was an impenetrable land with big rivers, little streams, swamps, peat bogs, and damp forests covered with moss and mould. Hygelac's expedition into Frisia was less fortunate, as he was killed and not one of the other Geatish raiders made it home with booty. From the Old English epic poem Beowulf, we know that King Hygelac was weari

Who has not dined at least once in an '80s Chinese restaurant that carried the name 万里长城  ('Great Wall of China')? Certainly, you have been at least once at one of these restaurants for take-away, with the white plastic boxes wrapped in paper sheets, with prawn crackers and a small cup of sambal sauce ('chili paste'). Oh yes, you have! Part of the interior is, of course, an aquarium with big orange and white goldfish, and a relief painting of the magnificent wall, gliding lik

The monk Ecgberht of Ripon was the driving force behind the Christianization of the defiant heathens of Frisia. From the influential monastery of Rath Melsigi in Ireland, he launched wave after wave of monks, priests, and other clergy toward the Frisian coast. Among his spiritual soldiers were the monks Willibrord and Adalbert. After receiving their education at Rath Melsigi, both were fired off as well, and landed on the windswept beaches of Frisia. Their spiritual D-Day wa

We retrace our steps to the sixteenth century, a time when the potato was still an exotic newcomer. Today, children grow up on pasta,...

In the series Myths of Nations, we disclose to you this time that the Frisians, in fact, didn't come from India, as the old legends tell us. A bummer, we know. And, what's proven yet again in this post, we should listen more often to Led Zeppelin. In particular, to their Immigrant Song. Install yourself, click  this link  to listen to Robert Plant’s whining and crying voice, and, above all, read about the nonsense and truth behind the origin of nation myths. We come from the