The eastern of the two old Frisian lands, from the Middelzee to the Lauwers, with Leeuwarden and Dokkum and the islands of Ameland and Schiermonnikoog; the Cistercians of Klaarkamp and the Premonstratensians of Mariëngaarde are clearing and diking its land.
Who holds it
- Name
- No single holder: the land of Oostergo and its judges
- Title
- The land's own assembly and judges
- Confidence
- low
Leading families that winter are not pinned.
Overlord
Comital rights shared by Holland (held by William) and the bishop of Utrecht
How things stand that morning
Self-governing; its Frisians backed William in 1195.
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: Boundaries 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
- Friesische Freiheit (de.wikipedia)
- P. J. Blok, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche volk, deel 1 (DBNL)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.