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This is a list of historically verifiable, legendary and fictitious rulers of Frisia, whether they were called chieftains, counts, dukes or kings. The earliest names of Frisian rulers are documented by the chronicles of the Merovingian (Frankish) kings, with whom they were contemporaries. In these chronicles, these rulers were styled dux, a Latin term for leader which is the origin of the title duke and its cognates in other languages. English sources refer to them as kings.
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After coming under Frankish rule, the Frisian districts were governed by counts, later on also by dukes and bishops exerting the count's privileges. The power of these counts was restricted, however, due to the decentralized nature of the maritime landscape, which prevented large-scale military operations. After the Treaty of Verdun (843) Frisia was allocated to Middle Francia, after the Treaty of Meersen (870) it became part of East Francia, i.e. the German Kingdom. The foreign - largely Saxon - magnates that held office were dependent on local nobles helping them to exploit privileges, administer justice and raise troops. Only in the coastal districts of Holland a local dynasty developed, due to extensive royal domains.
In fact, the Frisians were ruled by local officials such as the frana and skelta, that were in most cases appointed by counts. As the power of counts waned during the 12th century, these functionaries were replaced by elected grietmannen (prosecutors) in Friesland or redjeva (judges or advocati) in Groningen and East-Frisia. The position of grietmannen evolved towards a government office and was ultimately transformed into the office of mayor in 1851.
Note that a supposed "House of Frisia" as well as the names of most members of the house are mythological or fictitious. Early modern historians created the story of a continuous dynasty.
After the Migration Period, several Frisian Kingdoms may have emerged in the districts northwest of the Frankish Kingdom, each districts characterized by a distincive style of ornaments. One of these kingdoms may have been ruled by the legendary Finn, son of Folcwald, well known from Beowulf, Widsith and the Finnesburg Fragment. According the legend, Finn was killed by the Saxon leader Hengist, who migrated to Britain in 449 and founded the Kingdom of Kent thereafter.
The early medieval Frisians were in fact, like Hengist and Horsa, immigrants from Anglo-Saxon descent, absorbing the older name of the Frisii that inhabitated the area in Roman times. Under Radbod of Frisia the Frisian kingship reached its maximum geographical extent, covering the coastal districts of North and South Holland (Frisia ulterior) with parts of Utrecht and the town of Dorestad (Frisia citerior). Radbod may also have extended his power to the province of Fryslân, but his rule did not extend farther East. The province of Zeeland may already have been under Frankish rule during his lifetime.
In 722 the Frisian land west of the River Vlie came under Frankish rule and were christianized. In 734, after the Battle of the Boarn, the area west of the Lauwers (nowadays Friesland) was occupied by the Franks. The Frisians east of the Lauwers (Groningen and East Frisia) were subjugated in 785. The Frisians immigrants of the isle of Helgoland and in Schleswig-Holstein remained under Danish or Jutish rule.
| Name | Lifespan | Reign start | Reign end | Notes | Family | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finn Folcwalding | before 449 | legendary | ||||
| Audulf | c. 600 | c. 630 | disputed, probably in Westergo, but may have been a Frankish moneyer; attested only in a small number of Merovingian-style golden coins and ;[1] | |||
Aldgisl
| 650/77 | 679 | first Frisian monarch attested in historical sources | |||
Radbod of Frisia
| 679 | 719 | son of Aldgisl | |||
Poppo
| 734 | called a dux (count) in Frankish sources, ruled East of the River Vlie |
During the 15th and 16th centuries historians from Holland and Friesland invented a series of Frisian monarchs. The historian Goffe Jensma states in his introduction to a course at the University of Amsterdam:
Several names of Frisian kings appear in 14th- and 15th-century chronicles from Holland and Hainaut. Among these names three stand out. The name Gondebald or Gondebuef is derived from the 12th-century Historia Caroli Magni. Here he is introduced as a Christian king, who fell at Roncevalles and was buried in a collective mound in Belin-Béliet. He plays a role in Hainaut-Bavarian historiography, because his name was linked to dynastic claims regarding the Kingdom of Friesland. Aldgisl II and Radboud II are doubles of Aldgisl I and Redbad I, and were also depicted as Christian Kings and ancestors of several noble families in Holland. Radboud II was supposed to have been the first Lord of Egmond, married to a Princess Amarra of Hungary (i.e. of the Huns) and according to the legend buried on Lord Radbod's cemetery (Heer Raetbouts kerckhof) in Rinnegom near the Abbey of Egmond. The historian Eggerik Beninga from East Frisia introduced a King Ritzart, who was supposed to have lived 625.
The classicist Suffridus Petrus (1527-1597), professor in Cologne and official chronicler of the Estates of Friesland and his successor in Friesland Bernardus Furmerius (1545-1616) constructed a series of fictitious princes, dukes and kings, beginning with Prince Friso, son of Adel, who had allegedly migrated from India during the time of Alexander the Great. The list was completed by Martinus Hamconius in his chronicle Frisia seu de viris rebusque illustribus (1609, 2nd. ed. 1623). According to the latter, there had been seven princes of Frisia, followed by seven dukes and nine kings. The dynasty of kings was succeeded by seventeen podestàs (stadtholders or governors), of which only the last one was historical.[3][4] All four lists focused on the province of Friesland and not on the other parts of Frisia.
Seven Princes
Seven dukes
Nine kings
Medieval chivalric romances contain the names of other fictitious Frisian kings. French romances refer to Enguerran, Galesis, Gondelbuef, Hugon (de Vauvenice), Louhout, Polions, Rabel and Raimbault de Frise, the last two as corrupted forms of Radbod. The 13th-century Old Norse Þiðreks saga, translated from a lost Lower German original, contains the names of the Frisian kings Osid and his son Otnid, supposedly the father and brother of the famous Atli (Atilla) the Hun. Layamon's Brut mentions King Calin of Frisselond (corrupted to Kinkailin) as one of the regional kings who was subordinate to King Arthur.
A 19th century pseudo-chronicle, the Oera Linda Book (1872), embellished these stories further by describing an ancient and glorious history for the Frisians extending back thousands of years. Originally, they were supposedly ruled over by a line of matriarchs known as folk-mothers, founded by the eponymous goddess Frya as an ancestress of all Frisians. The authorship is uncertain, but the book is generally considered to be a hoax or parody. Several legendary princes from 16th-century mythical historiography were also incorporated in the story.
Fictitious goddesses and folk-mothers
Fictitious kings
Poppo's defeat generally marks the conquest of Frisia by the Franks, following the defeat Frisia is divided in three parts:
It is further divided in Gaue
In 785 the Franks under Charlemagne took control of what remained of the Frisian territory (East Frisia) and incorporated it into their kingdom. Counts appointed by the Frankish rulers were:
Godfrid was ambushed and killed, count Gerolf is believed to have been one of the nobles involved in the attack as he is rewarded shortly after with most of Godfrid's domain: the coastline from Vlie to Meuse and upriver the Gaue Nifterlake, Lek & IJssel and several properties in Teisterbant. However, this 'reward' was granted four years after Godfrid's death by Arnulf of Carinthia, and not by Charles the Fat, his predesessor, who was behind the plot to kill Godfrid.[5]
In 775, Charles the Great made Frisia officially part of the Frankish Kingdom. The wars ended with the last uprising of the Frisians in 793 and the pacification of them. Counts were appointed by the Frankish monarchs. However, Danish Vikings raided Frisia in the end of the 9th century and established Viking rule. After the division of the Frankish Kingdom in West Francia and East Francia, they gained more autonomy.
| Name | Lifespan | Reign start | Reign end | Notes | Family | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alfbad
| 749 | 775/786 | possibly son of Redbad | Frisia | .svg) | |
| Nordalah | 786? | 806? | son of Alfbad | Frisia | | |
| Dirk | 806? | 810? | Frisia | | ||
| Godfrey | 807/08 | 839? | invader | Danish |  | |
| Rorik | ca. 841 | ca. 873 | cousin of Godfrey; invader | Danish | | |
Gerulf I
| before 839 | after 855 | son of Dirk or Nordalah?; reeve of the Frisians between Vlie and the river Weser | Frisia | |
Otto III failed to establish his rule in Frisia, and the land reverted to the bishop of Utrecht. Utrecht and Holland fought over the rights to Middle Frisia, and from 1165 administered it in condominium. With the Hollandic counts and Utrecht bishops failing to agree under whose authority the Frisians would fall, they were left to rule themselves.
The Frankish kings divided the region in at least two parts. How the region between the Lauwers and the Eems is defined remains unclear. The western part of East Frisia was centered around the mouth of the Eems roughly corresponding to Emsgau and Federgau. The eastern part was centered around the mouth of the Weser, encompassing the Nordendi, Astergau, Wangerland, Östringen and Rüstringen, assumed to be the county that Harald Klak received.
Not much is known about the region following the Brunonen, it eventually joins into the Upstalboom treaty. The city of Groningen, at the time in Drenthe becomes very powerful. It quickly becomes an important member of the free Frisian lands and towards the end of the 14th century comes to rule over the Ommelanden. Groningen joined the other six provinces in Februari 1595 and formed the seventh province of the Seven Provinces
Given to the Bishop of Bremen
The house of Calvelage likely never stepped foot in east Frisia and lost their belongings when the region entered into the Upstalboom treaty.
Directly ruled under the following dukes of Saxony
Following the end of house Billung in 1106 the east of Riustringen is slowly being conquered by the county of Oldenburg, the remainder joined into the Frisian alliance, continues in Potestaat of Friesland
Dux should not be confused with Duke, the Frisian Dux was a military commander responsible for the defence of the Frisian territory, particularly against the Norse raiders.
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