Free land · The free Frisian lands · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Humsterland, Langewold and Vredewold

Three small Frisian lands between the Lauwers and the Reitdiep, west of Groningen, where the Cistercians of Aduard (founded 1192) are at work.

Who holds it

Name
No single holder: the three small lands west of Groningen
Title
The land's own assembly and judges
Confidence
low

Leading families that winter are not pinned.

Overlord

The bishop of Utrecht claims rights through Groningen; the bishop of Münster is their spiritual lord

How things stand that morning

Self-governing.

Law and courts

The land's own law (the Seventeen Statutes, compiled about 1080, and the general Frisian landrights, with the land's own statutes) declared by the asega, the law-finder, in the land's courts; the elected judges called redjeven and the written land-laws of each terra appear in the thirteenth century (not pinned for 1200). Church courts of the bishop's synod (send) through the provosts.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Rough.

Primary sources for Frisia

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • Annals of Egmond (12th century to about 1205). The house annals of Egmond, the counts of Holland's abbey, and the main native source for Holland around 1200. Read online
  • Chronicle of the abbots of Wittewierum (Bloemhof), Emo of Wittewierum (from 1219 to 1237, continued by Menko to 1273). The chronicle opens only in 1204 with the founding of Emo's Premonstratensian house in the Groningen Ommelanden, so it has nothing for 1200 itself. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. Friesische Freiheit (de.wikipedia)
  2. Hunsingo (de.wikipedia)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.