Frisians of the Early Middle Ages

Frisian is a name that came to be identified with one of the territorially expansive, Germanic-speaking peoples of the Early Middle Ages, occupying coastal lands south and south-east of the North Sea. Highly varied manifestations of Frisian-ness can be traced in and around the north-western corner of the European continent in cultural, linguistic, ethnic and political forms across two thousand years to the present day. The thematic studies in this volume foreground how diverse "Frisians" in different places and contexts could be. They draw on a range of multi-disciplinary sources and methodologies to explore a comprehensive range of social, economic and ideological aspects of early Frisian culture, from the Dutch province of Zeeland in the south-west to the North Frisian region in the north-east. Chronologically, there is an emphasis on the crucial developments of the seventh and eighth centuries AD, alongside demonstrations of how later evidence can retrospectively clarify long-term processes of group formation.The essays here thus add substantial new evidence to our understanding of a crucial stage in the evolution of an identity which had to develop and adapt to changing influences and pressures. Table of Contents List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgements Abbreviations 1. Frisians of the Early Middle Ages: An Archaeoethnological Perspective Nelleke IJssennagger-van der Pluijm, John Hines and Ian Wood 2. For Daily Use and Special Moments: Material Culture in Frisia, AD 400-1000 Egge Knol 3. The Frisians and their Pottery: Social Relations before and after the Fourth Century AD Annet Nieuwhof 4. Landscape, Trade and Power in Early-medieval Frisia Gilles de Langen and J. A. Mol 5. Law and Political Organisation of the Early Medieval Frisians (c. AD 600-800) Han Nijdam 6. Recent Developments in Early-medieval Settlement Archaeology: The North Frisian Point of View Bente Sven Majchczack 7. Franks and Frisians Ian Wood 8. Mirror Histories: Frisians and Saxons from the First to the Ninth Century AD Robert Flierman 9. Structured by the Sea: Rethinking Maritime Connectivity of the Early-medieval Frisians Nelleke IJssennagger-van der Pluijm 10. Art, Symbolism and the Expression of Group Identities in Early-medieval Frisia J. A. W. Nicolay 11. Religion and Conversion amongst the Frisians John Hines 12. Traces of a North Sea Germanic Idiom in the Fifth-Seventh Centuries AD Arjen P. Versloot 13. Runic Literacy in North-West Europe, with a Focus on Frisia Tineke Looijenga Final Discussion List of Contributors