FRISIA

WESTERN.

A decorative initial letter 'F' depicts a landscape scene featuring figures and a gabled building in the background.

The Frisians are divided today by the river Amisia Ems into Western and Eastern. Western Frisia, which we place before your eyes here, claims the very name of Frisia as if it were its own by most ancient right, and it has always been considered the more distinguished. For in the past, the region shone with a royal crown, up to the times of Charlemagne; from the time of his death, this tract was stirred by various troubles, although even before his time it endured the very harsh rule of the Danes and Norwegians. Furthermore, the Ocean itself, a perpetual and most infested enemy to this land, has exercised it—not sluggishly—by flooding, washing away, and tearing it apart, nor has it yet called a truce. Finally, I think it is obscure to no one that the Frisians were once gravely afflicted by the Bishops of Utrecht and the Counts of Holland. But at last, under the Emperor Charles V, a truly peaceful Prince, the region attained halcyon days.

Today they divide it into three parts, namely Westergo, Oostergo, and the Seven Forests; these are again distinguished into twenty-nine Gretaniae administrative districts/judicial seats, as they call them in the native language. The territory of the illustrious city of Groningen is also described in this map, as is the tract they call Ommelandia. With these are joined Transijsalia, together with Drenthe and Twente, regions abounding in rich soil, most cultivated with villages and buildings, and rejoicing in a joyful abundance of livestock.

The cities of this Frisia are thirteen in number: GROENINGA, famous for the birth of Rodolphus Agricola; DAMMA; LEEUWARDEN, with its citadel, the seat of the entire region’s Court or supreme Senate, and the Chancery, as it is commonly called; DOKKUM, the homeland of Gemma Frisius, the most celebrated mathematician; FRANEKER, the retreat and home of the nobles of this region; BOLSWARD; SNEEKA, from where Joachim Hopper, a man celebrated for his letters and dignity, originated; ILSTA; SLOTEN; HARLINGEN, which has a harbor on the bay of the German Sea, which they call the Suÿder-zee Southern Sea, which a strong citadel defends from all hostile insult. WORKUM and HINDELOPEN appear on the same bay; finally, STAVOREN is a city once powerful, but today, having suffered so often from the flooding of the Ocean, it is not so flourishing. There are, besides, four hundred and ninety villages in it, some of which are endowed with privileges and abound in farmers and riches; there is also a large number of monasteries, so that they yield to none in the splendor of their towns, the cultivation of their fields, and the fame of their cloisters. However, the fact that in this region, beyond those distinguished solely by nobility—whose houses and estates may be seen here—no Barons or free lords are found, occurs partly because of the aforementioned calamities, and partly because, content in the past with their own liberty alone, they did not court the courts of foreign Princes.

Petrus Oliverius says in his annotations on Mela, where he speaks of Western Frisia, that he had never seen a region so narrow have so many parishes. He says that there were some who offered this reason for so many temples: they recount that a contention once arose among the nobles of that tract regarding the place they should occupy in those temples, for everyone wanted to have the first place; and since this contention increased daily, those who were able decided to build their own parishes in their own villages; and thus, each person took the first place for himself in his own seat: and hence so many temples. Thus he writes, and one may find more with him. See also the Saxonia by Albert Krantz. Whoever desires a more ample knowledge of this region should read the description of the Lower Germany by Lodovico Guicciardini. Aelfius Edouardus Leon Frisius also described this region in heroic verse, addressed to Viglius Zwichemus; and it is described quite prolixly in specific books by Cornelius Kempius and Suffridus Petrus. The antiquities of this region were recently promised by the most learned man, Hieronymus Verrutius.

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DEPT. No. 41