For many turbulent centuries, the town of Stavoren was a tightrope walker before it finally settled as a small harbour at the Lake IJsselmeer. Living in retirement from well-to-do owners of white yachts, sailing boats, and other pleasure vessels. Now it looks back on when Saint Odulf arrived in the ninth century to convert theContinue reading “Stavoren. Balancing on a Slack Rope of Religion, Trade, Land, Water, Holland, and Frisia”
Tag Archives: business men
A Croaking Ode to the Haubarg by the Eiderstedter Nachtigall
Haubargs. Cathedral-like farmsteads with hipped roofs soaring up to twenty meters high, icons of the Eiderstedt peninsula in the region of Nordfriesland. These monumental farms embody the peak of the friesische Großhäuser building tradition — yet also its end. This tradition, characteristic of the marshlands along the southern North Sea coast from Amsterdam to Husum, flourishedContinue reading “A Croaking Ode to the Haubarg by the Eiderstedter Nachtigall”
Late Little Prayers at the Lorelei Rock. Reckless Rhine Skippers in Distress
On the west bank of the mighty River Rhine, halfway between the cities of Koblenz and Mainz, lies the town of Sankt Goar. Named after Saint Goar of Aquitaine, a hermit who retreated here in the sixth century. Diagonally across the river stands the famous and mystical Lorelei Rock: steep and over 130 meters high.Continue reading “Late Little Prayers at the Lorelei Rock. Reckless Rhine Skippers in Distress”
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”
Happy Hunting Grounds in the Arctic. The Way the Whale’s Doom Was Sealed
If you want to track down who killed the whale, the Frisia Coast Trail region is the place to start. Stop people on the streets along this southern North Sea littoral and ask whether they know anything, and you will likely hear: “I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing.” Politicians and officials —Continue reading “Happy Hunting Grounds in the Arctic. The Way the Whale’s Doom Was Sealed”
The Batwing Doors of Dorestad. A Two-Way Gateway of Trade and Power
“Is the seaport Maasvlakte the gateway to north-western Europe? No? How about Europoort? Still no? What about the Botlek port area? Or the town of Vlaardingen? No again? Surely it must be the city of Rotterdam then! Wait — neither? Alright, last guess: since you guys only talk and brag about Frisia, could it beContinue reading “The Batwing Doors of Dorestad. A Two-Way Gateway of Trade and Power”
Merciless Medieval Merchants and Slavers
The earliest evidence of Frisian merchants — or kāpmon in the Old Frisian language — engaging in the slave trade dates back to the first half of the seventh century. No less an authority than the Venerable Bede, the Father of English history, recorded this criminal activity. He described a merchant operating in the marketsContinue reading “Merciless Medieval Merchants and Slavers”
Porcupines Bore U.S. Bucks. The Birth of Economic Liberalism
On May 5th, 2018, it was exactly two centuries since Karl Marx was born. When the good man published the first volume of Das Kapital in 1867, he was, in fact, about 1,300 years too late to turn the tide. The ship had already sailed — quite literally. Ships of selfish and ruthless Frisian merchantsContinue reading “Porcupines Bore U.S. Bucks. The Birth of Economic Liberalism”
Haute Couture From the Salt Marshes
It was not the city of Parisius (‘Paris’). Nor that of Londinium (‘London’). Believe it or not, the early-medieval center for expensive cloth and chic clothing in the northwest of Europe was the muddy Wadden Sea coast. Here the highly sought-after pallia Fresonica (‘Frisian cloth’) was fabricated and distributed to the wider world. It possessedContinue reading “Haute Couture From the Salt Marshes”
In Debt to the Beastly Westfrisians
This blog post is about the town of Medemblik — the grande dame of the Westfriesland region in the province of Noord Holland in the Netherlands. A place steeped in legend, said by some to have been the seat of the heathen King Radbod. But more than myths, Medemblik stands at the heart of aContinue reading “In Debt to the Beastly Westfrisians”
Frisia Coast Trail 