The Frisian land on both sides of the Jade between the Weser mouth and the Maade, with Butjadingen and the Stadland.
Around 1200 the old district becomes a self-governing land-community whose people hold that no lord stands over them but the emperor. Its law survives in the Rüstringen law book (Asegabuch). In June 1220 sixteen of its representatives will make a treaty with the town of Bremen.
Who holds it
- Name
- no single holder
- Title
- the land's judges (redjeven) and lawspeakers (asega)
- Confidence
- low
Overlord
none resident; the counts of Oldenburg and the archbishop of Bremen both claim rights
How things stand that morning
Self-governing; the Jade bay is still small (it opens in the floods of the 13th to 15th centuries).
Threats
- the counts of Oldenburg
- the archbishop of Bremen
- storm floods
Law and courts
Rüstringen law (the Asega book: older statutes of the lawspeakers and newer ones of the yearly judges).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: de.wikipedia Rüstringen dates the land-community to about 1200.
On the map: Rough outline of the land as it stood before the great medieval floods reshaped the coast.
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
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.