Imagine this: one day your husband brings home a young, unmarried woman. A virgin, even. He simply takes her into your house, openly shows her affection — and who knows what else. But that is not all. He also gives this maiden full access to your pantry and your savings account, which she — forContinue reading “Don’t Believe Everything They Say About Sweet Cunera”
Category Archives: history
From Patriot to Insurgent: John Fries and the First Tax Rebellions
On the Facebook page ‘Frisian Americans‘, the question popped up regarding the role certain Frisians played in the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania in 1794. We checked, and the short answer is: none. The Whiskey Rebellion was a revolt of the so-called Pennsylvania Dutch farmers resisting the taxation of whiskey. It was crushed — without iceContinue reading “From Patriot to Insurgent: John Fries and the First Tax Rebellions”
Joan of Arc, an Inspiration for Land Wursten Too
In the year 1500, when the people of the farmers’ republic of Dithmarschen achieved a stunning victory over a large professional Danish–Holstein army of Landsknechts at the Battle of Dusenddüwelswarft, a girl named Tjede Peckes was born. She came into the world in the hamlet of Padingbüttel, in the region of Land Wursten on theContinue reading “Joan of Arc, an Inspiration for Land Wursten Too”
To the End Where It All Began: The Ribbon-Like Town of Ribe
Let’s go to the omega. To the end of the Frisia Coast Trail. To Ribe in southern Jutland, Denmark. The oldest town in Scandinavia. A town located on the banks of the Ribe Å. A modest river that flows out into the Wadden Sea stoically slow, opposite the islands of Fanø and Mandø. Ribe startedContinue reading “To the End Where It All Began: The Ribbon-Like Town of Ribe”
Dissolute Elisabeth and Her Devil
In the Middle Age lived a once promiscuous girl named Elisabeth. She had come to repentance, found honourable employ as a maid, and had established herself at the hamlet of Vrieswijc, modern Friezenwijk. This hamlet is located near the scenic village of Heukelum in the region of Batavia (viz. the region of Betuwe) in theContinue reading “Dissolute Elisabeth and Her Devil”
Walfrid, You’ll Never Walk Alone
This blog post is not about Aindreas Ó Céirín (1840–1915), better known as Brother Walfrid, the Irish founder of the Scottish football club Celtic F.C.. No, this post is about the original — the one and only: the Frisian Walfrid. The one who, according to legend, was murdered by a band of roaming Vikings inContinue reading “Walfrid, You’ll Never Walk Alone”
Harbours, Hookers, Heroines, and Women in Masquerade
Dockyards, quays, terminals, warehouses, wharves, anchorages, lighthouses, and beacons. Craftsmen, shipping companies, customs offices, pilot services, and other port authorities. Fish auctions, boarding houses, lodgings, packing sheds — you name it. Seaports exist to meet the needs of everything that arrives from the sea or sets out to it. But beyond commerce, ports have traditionallyContinue reading “Harbours, Hookers, Heroines, and Women in Masquerade”
Movie Star Ben-Hur Made Peace With Frisian Raiders
Who does not know the epic film Ben-Hur, released on the big screen in 1959? In this classic, Hollywood actor and civil rights activist Charlton Heston (1923–2008) portrayed Judah Ben-Hur, a performance that earned him an Oscar. Six years later, Heston took on the role of Chrysagon in The War Lord — a much braverContinue reading “Movie Star Ben-Hur Made Peace With Frisian Raiders”
Pagare il Fio. How the Romans Fared in the Wet Woodlands and Salt Marshes
Pagare il fio is Italian for ‘paying the penalty,’ though literally it means ‘paying the fee,’ a phrase inherited from the northern peoples — the so-called Barbarians — who toppled the Western Roman Empire. The English word fee comes from Old English feoh, which survives as fee in Mid Frisian, vee in Dutch, and ViehContinue reading “Pagare il Fio. How the Romans Fared in the Wet Woodlands and Salt Marshes”
♪ They Want You as a New Recruit ♪
‘In the navy’, a song by the Village People. Of the small villages along the southern coast of the North Sea. A water people once united in the mythical Seven Sealands. Moreover, a people who laid the foundations of two of history’s most impressive navies: that of the Kingdom of England and that of theContinue reading “♪ They Want You as a New Recruit ♪”
Frisia Coast Trail 