The Frisian lands on the west bank of the Ems estuary, before the Dollard flood: the Oldambt round Winschoten and Reiderland round Weener, Bunde and Jemgum, with villages now under the Dollard.
Who holds it
- Name
- No single holder: the lands of the Oldambt and Reiderland
- Title
- The land's own assembly and judges
- Confidence
- low
Leading families that winter are not pinned.
Overlord
The bishop of Münster as spiritual lord; no count
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: The Dollard did not yet exist; the Ems is the eastern edge, beyond which the nsw researcher's lands begin.
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.