Frisian participation in the Crusades
Encyclopedia
Frisians
The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia, that was a part of Denmark until 1864. They inhabit an area known as Frisia...
participation in the Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
is attested from the very beginning of the First Crusade
First Crusade
The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...
, but their presence is only felt substantially during the Fifth Crusade
Fifth Crusade
The Fifth Crusade was an attempt to reacquire Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering the powerful Ayyubid state in Egypt....
. They participated in almost all the major Crusades and the Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
. The Frisians are almost always referred to collectively by contemporary chroniclers of the Crusades and few names of individual Frisian crusaders have come down to us. They generally composed a naval force in conjunction with other larger bodies of crusaders.
The first Frisians to participate in the First Crusade were part of the army which was led to the Holy Land
Holy Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...
by Godfrey of Bouillon
Godfrey of Bouillon
Godfrey of Bouillon was a medieval Frankish knight who was one of the leaders of the First Crusade from 1096 until his death. He was the Lord of Bouillon, from which he took his byname, from 1076 and the Duke of Lower Lorraine from 1087...
and they are only mentioned in passing by Fulcher of Chartres
Fulcher of Chartres
Fulcher of Chartres was a chronicler of the First Crusade. He wrote in Latin.- Life :His appointment as chaplain of Baldwin of Boulogne in 1097 suggests that he had been trained as a priest, most likely at the school in Chartres...
, who mentions that the Frisian language
Old Frisian
Old Frisian is a West Germanic language spoken between the 8th and 16th centuries in the area between the Rhine and Weser on the European North Sea coast. The Frisian settlers on the coast of South Jutland also spoke Old Frisian but no medieval texts of this area are known...
was one of the many tongues spoken by the crusaders. William of Tyre
William of Tyre
William of Tyre was a medieval prelate and chronicler. As archbishop of Tyre, he is sometimes known as William II to distinguish him from a predecessor, William of Malines...
, drawing his information from Fulcher, mentions Frisians as part of the troops led by Godfrey at the Siege of Antioch
Siege of Antioch
The Siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098. The first siege, by the crusaders against the Muslim city, lasted from October 21, 1097, to June 2, 1098. The second siege, against the crusaders who had occupied it, lasted from June 7 to June 28, 1098.-Background:Antioch...
in 1097. According to Albert of Aix
Albert of Aix
Albert of Aix-la-Chapelle or Albert of Aachen , historian of the First Crusade, was born during the later part of the 11th century, and afterwards became canon and custos of the church of Aachen....
, there was also a fleet of pirates, hailing from Denmark, Frisia, and Flanders and led by Guynemer of Boulogne
Guynemer of Boulogne
Guynemer or Guinemerz was a Boulognese pirate who played a role in the First Crusade.He assembled a fleet of Danes, Frisians, and Flemings and set out from northern Europe for the eastern Mediterranean in Spring 1097...
, who assisted Baldwin of Boulogne at Tarsus
Tarsus (city)
Tarsus is a historic city in south-central Turkey, 20 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea. It is part of the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Turkey with a population of 2.75 million...
.
Although unsubstantiated by known contemporary writings, the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Frisian chroniclers Ocko Scharlensis and the monk Ubbo Emmius
Ubbo Emmius
Ubbo Emmius was a German historian and geographer.-Early life:Ubbo Emmius was born on 5 December 1557 in Greetsiel, East Frisia, Germany. From the ages of 9 to 18 Emmius studied in a Latin school, before having to leave on the death of his father, a Lutheran preacher...
wrote in some detail of eight Frisian nobles who allegedly took up the cross and followed Peter the Hermit
Peter the Hermit
Peter the Hermit was a priest of Amiens and a key figure during the First Crusade.-Before 1096:According to Anna Comnena, he had attempted to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem before 1096, but was prevented by the Seljuk Turks from reaching his goal and was tortured.Sources differ as to whether he...
to the Holy Land during the Peasants' Crusade of 1096. Of the eight—Tjepke Forteman, Jarig Ludingaman, Feike Botnia, Elke and Sicco Lyauckama (cousins), Epe Hartman, Ige Galama, and Obboke (Ubbo) Hermana, son of Hessel—only two, Botnia and Sicco Lyauckama, were said to have survived the pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
With news of the fall of Edessa
County of Edessa
The County of Edessa was one of the Crusader states in the 12th century, based around Edessa, a city with an ancient history and an early tradition of Christianity....
in 1144, a large force of Danes, Swedes, Scots
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
, Welshmen, Englishmen, Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
, Frenchmen, Flemings, Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
, and Frisians assembled in connection with the Second Crusade
Second Crusade
The Second Crusade was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade by Baldwin of Boulogne in 1098...
about 200 ships, which left from Dartmouth
Dartmouth, Devon
Dartmouth is a town and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is a tourist destination set on the banks of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes...
in 1147 on the way to the Holy Land through the Straits of Gibraltar. Though there is no further mention of Frisians, they probably participated in the successful Siege of Lisbon
Siege of Lisbon
The Siege of Lisbon, from July 1 to October 25, 1147, was the military action that brought the city of Lisbon under definitive Portuguese control and expelled its Moorish overlords. The Siege of Lisbon was one of the few Christian victories of the Second Crusade—it was "the only success of the...
in late summer and early fall.
In 1189, as they were en route to the Siege of Acre as contingent of the Third Crusade
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...
, a fleet of Frisians, Danes, Flemings, and Germans, assisted by a small Portuguese
Kingdom of Portugal
The Kingdom of Portugal was Portugal's general designation under the monarchy. The kingdom was located in the west of the Iberian Peninsula, Europe and existed from 1139 to 1910...
presence, in about 50 ships attacked and took Alvor
Alvor
-Portugal:* Alvor , a civil parish in the municipality of Portimão* Alvor Castle, a castle in the parish of Alvor, district of Faro...
, massacring its Muslim inhabitants. Frisian ships, perhaps the same ones as took Alvor, are mentioned as present at Acre under the command of James of Avesnes
James of Avesnes
James was a son of Nicholas d'Oisy, lord of Avesnes and Matilda de la Roche. He was the lord of Avesnes, Condé, and Leuze from 1171. He participated in the Third Crusade as leader of a detachment of French, Flemish, and Frisian soldiers which arrived in the Holy Land in 1189...
: these Frisians arrived in connection with Danish ships according to the Itinerarium Peregrinorum or Breton and German ships, according to Ernoul
Ernoul
Ernoul is the name generally given to the author of a chronicle of the late 12th century dealing with the fall of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.-Biography:Ernoul himself is mentioned only once in history, and only in his own chronicle...
.
Around 1209 there were Frisians in the army of the Albigensian Crusade
Albigensian Crusade
The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade was a 20-year military campaign initiated by the Catholic Church to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc...
and around 1215, the Frisians responded to the preacing of the Fifth Crusade
Fifth Crusade
The Fifth Crusade was an attempt to reacquire Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering the powerful Ayyubid state in Egypt....
by Oliver of Cologne and promised a fleet. Under the count of Holland
Count of Holland
The Counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century.-House of Holland:The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf, Count in Frisia...
, William I
William I, Count of Holland
William I , Count of Holland from 1203 to 1222. He was the younger son of Floris III and Ada of Huntingdon.-Life:...
, they arrived in a mixed army consisting of Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and Flemish soldiers. They participated in the Siege of Damietta
Siege of Damietta
The Siege of Damietta of 1218 was part of the Fifth Crusade. The city, under the control of the Ayyubid Al-Kamil, was besieged by and taken by the Crusaders in 1219....
in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, but the Frisian contingent returned home early and the siege ended in failure.
A large bloc of Frisians vowed to join the Seventh Crusade
Seventh Crusade
The Seventh Crusade was a crusade led by Louis IX of France from 1248 to 1254. Approximately 800,000 bezants were paid in ransom for King Louis who, along with thousands of his troops, was captured and defeated by the Egyptian army led by the Ayyubid Sultan Turanshah supported by the Bahariyya...
in 1247 and 1248, but their vows were commuted by Pope Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV , born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was pope from June 25, 1243 until his death in 1254.-Early life:...
in order to allow them to join their lord, William II of Holland, in fighting the pope's enemy, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
. Frisians, however, were involved in Saint Louis's
Louis IX of France
Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...
Eighth Crusade
Eighth Crusade
The Eighth Crusade was a crusade launched by Louis IX, King of France, in 1270. The Eighth Crusade is sometimes counted as the Seventh, if the Fifth and Sixth Crusades of Frederick II are counted as a single crusade...
which assaulted Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
in 1270. They were under the protection of Charles I of Naples when travelling through his lands, because he ordered the seneschal
Seneschal
A seneschal was an officer in the houses of important nobles in the Middle Ages. In the French administrative system of the Middle Ages, the sénéchal was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration in southern provinces, equivalent to the northern French bailli...
of Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
to reimburse them and two Dominicans
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
travelling with them for some 300 marks that were stolen in Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
.
In the Late Middle Ages
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages was the period of European history generally comprising the 14th to the 16th century . The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern era ....
and the early modern period the prestige of participation in the Crusades coupled with the legendary nature of what most people knew about the First Crusade encouraged many Europeans to invent fictitious genealogies making their ancestors warriors who had helped take Jerusalem in 1099 or to commission the writing of supposed histories of their ancestors to prove that they too had participated in the early Crusades. Some of these legendary accounts were probably outright fabrications while others were based on tenuous and shaky premises. Much the same type of arguments — "if so-and-so was present at Jerusalem in 1099, then certainly my ancestor of the same period must also have been there" — have been employed in England to attach one's ancestors to the Battle of Hastings
Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...
.
Sources
- David, Charles Wendell. "Narratio de Itinere Navali Peregrinorum Hierosolymam Tendentium et Silviam Capientium, A. D. 1189." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 81, No. 5. (Dec. 31, 1939), pp 591–679, esp. 663–666.
- Mol, Johannes A. "Frisian fighters and the Crusade." Crusades: The Journal of the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East, v.1 (2002) pp 89–110. See abstract.
- Housley, NormanNorman Housley-Background:Educated at the University of Cambridge, Housley was a research student of Jonathan Riley-Smith. He was research fellow in history at Girton College in 1979 and came to the University of Leicester in 1983.-Work:...
. The Italian Crusades: The Papal-Angevin Alliance and the Crusades Against Christian Lay Powers, 1254–1343. Oxford University Press, 1982. - Jordan, William Chester. Europe in the High Middle Ages. London: Viking, 2003.
- Siberry, Elizabeth. Criticism of Crusading, 1095–1274. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985. ISBN 0 19 821953 9.