Was it the proverbial two captains on the same boat that made the Frisians free?

The much-celebrated Frisian Freedom is the period between more or less 1250 and 1500, a time when the Frisian terrae ‘lands’, with beautiful names like Drechterland, Vier Noorder Koggen, Westergo, Oostergo, Humsterland, Hunsingo, Fivelingo, Rheiderland, Emsingo, Federgo, Norderland, Harlingerland, Wangerland, Östringen, Rüstringen, Wursten, and Butjadingen, were small people-governed communities. A string of so-called marsh republics along the Wadden Sea coast of Germany and the Netherlands. But how did this unique situation in Europe, where territories of states grew and were led by an ever-increasingly powerful central government, arise?

In our blog posts The Treaty of the Upstalsboom. Why solidarity is not the core of a collective and Magnus’ Choice. The Origins of the Frisian Freedom we have already elaborated on the Frisian Freedom, including the importance of not over-romanticizing both the freedom and the assumed egalitarian society. In reality, these cherished jewels of Frisian history must be put into perspective. Nevertheless, the political situation was still very different from nearly the whole of the rest of Europe. In the Frisian lands, feudalism crumbled and returned to a form of state that was a variant of self-governance with parallels to early-medieval Germanic society. Except for the fact that this might explain why people consider Frisians backward, what was the reason for this deviating socio-political development?

The condominium — a vacuum of power

Mid twelfth century, the county of Holland and the bishopric of Utrecht claimed hegemony over Frisia between the Vlie and the River Lauwers, i.e., the modern province of Friesland. Even Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (1122-1190) had to be involved. He ruled that both the count and the bishop had equal rights and sovereignty, a so-called condominium, and not to be confused with an apartment block. Both, bishop and count, had to elect together a viscount who would govern this part of Frisia on their behalf. Tax income would be split between the two quarrelsome eminences. This was decided in the year 1165.

HRE Frederick Barbarossa

The condominium worked as long as the bishop was a member of the House of West Frisia/Holland, the Gerulfing dynasty. Then, the interests of the county and the bishopric coincided, though this was only limitedly the case. The consequence of this remarkable construct was that neither the viscount, the count, nor the bishop could exercise real authority. This vacuum opened the door for the Frisians to invoke their freedom rights more strongly, privileges that were granted by Charlemagne himself (Janse 2013).

By the ’70s of the thirteenth century, the condominium had become a dead letter. From then on, the people of Friesland elected their own judges, made their own laws, organized their own militia defence, etc. The only authority they formally recognized was that of the Holy Roman Emperor, and none of his middlemen. Indeed, they considered themselves to be reichsunmittelbar. Never again would a count of Holland set foot on the territory of Frisia east of the Vlie, and if they did, they did not make it out alive. That was the case with the Battle of Warns in the year 1345.

Would Thou [Jezus] venture thither with Thy vague and undefined promise of freedom, which men, dull and unruly as they are by nature, are unable so much as to understand, which they avoid and fear? — for never was there anything more unbearable to the human race than personal freedom! 

Quote of the chapter The Grand Inquisitor from the novel The Brothers Karamazov; the inquisitor is questioning Jesus, who he has taken prisoner, when Jezus reappeared on Earth in the sixteenth century. The inquisitor accuses Jesus of having no right to mingle with mankind anymore because since God has given them freedom, the world had turned into disorder. Now the Catholic Church had established order and made the people unfree but given them bread instead, Jesus should not again come to speak of freedom (Dostoevsky 1879/80).

The flipside of the newfound freedom was that by the early 1300s, the province of Friesland was plagued by disruptive feuds and chaos. Local headmen were ‘free’ to accumulate as much power as they could and built small stone donjons everywhere to protect themselves. There was no higher power to control the violence anymore. It was a state of civil war that would last two centuries. The province of Friesland was not unique, but within the whole of free Frisia, local warlords fought each other for more power.

Zwischen Moor und Meer

The heading above translates to ‘between moor and sea’ as the Frisians say in the region of Ostfriesland. The condominium, namely, was not the defining factor for the Frisians of the territories of Westergo and Oostergo to gain their freedom from counts and bishops, and to become republics. The landscape helped them even more. From the town of Harlingen to the town of Cuxhaven, but also on the lower reaches of the River Elbe and the entire region of Dithmarschen, everywhere feudal state structures had vanished. As said earlier, a string of small republics thrived on the tidal marshlands of the Wadden Sea coast — ein freies Marschenvolk. And it was not that all these lands had their own condominium histories.

tidal marshland cultivated

No, the real advantage was the impenetrability of the landscape. On one side, they bordered at sea — a shallow, tidal sea that was difficult to navigate as well. Hence, it was hard to access with a full-fledged army. On the other side, the Frisian lands bordered on massive peatlands. This was a very watery and swampy landscape, making it hard to get across with a heavy army likewise. The marshlands themselves were also difficult to travel through, with many lakes and waterways, and the clay soil was soft for a great army with horses, provisions, and armour. Additionally, much of the year, the marshlands were inundated. The best time for military campaigns, therefore, was winter, when lakes and swamps were frozen, and the soil was much harder.

On top of this, the landscape made it possible for the Frisians to adopt guerrilla warfare too. Laying ambushes with small militia forces that were highly manoeuvrable through the watery landscape, using their kletsie 'leaping pole annex spear' to jump over the many ditches and creeks. A weapon and tool used all along the Wadden Sea coast, including the province of Holland.

At the same time, the salt marshes were fertile and suitable for the husbandry of cattle and sheep. Also, the peatlands provided fuel and could be mined for salt as well. Lastly, because the terrae of Frisia border the sea, they were not isolated. On the contrary, it offered connections to the wide world for trade. Indeed, zwischen Moor und Meer, and the sea was equally their lifeline, too.

---

Further reading

Janse, A., Grenzen aan de macht. De Friese oorlog van de graven van Holland omstreeks 1400 (2013)

Dostoevsky, F., The Brothers Karamazov (1879/80)

Porte, R., Een speer en een polsstok in één: de kletsie was hét wapen voor de middeleeuwse Fries (2022)