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

The Zevenwouden

The southern peat and woodland of Frisia, from Gaasterland and Lemmer to the Stellingwerven, being cleared and settled by Frisian colonists in the twelfth century.

William of Holland sits at Oosterzee in its western part. Whether it already acts as a land of its own in 1200 is not pinned.

Who holds it

Name
No single holder: the peat colonies of the south of Frisia
Title
The land's own assembly and judges
Confidence
low

Leading families that winter are not pinned.

Overlord

Claimed with Westergo and Oostergo by Holland and Utrecht

How things stand that morning

Frisian settlers under the same loose claims as Westergo and Oostergo.

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 name and the land's organization are better attested in the thirteenth century.

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)

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