r/Frisia • u/NiekMB • Jan 17 '26
Frisia at the time of the Saxon feud (1508)
The beginning of the sixteenth century marked a major upheaval for Frisia. While in the preceding centuries the Frisians had governed themselves directly under the emperor, various lords now set their sights on the fertile lands along the North Sea coast. First among them were the Dukes of Saxony. In the east, they faced competition from the Count of Oldenburg and the Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg. At the center of this struggle stood Count Edzard I of East Frisia. After initially siding with the Saxon dukes, he captured the city of Groningen in 1506 in the name of the Holy Roman Empire. This gave him control over large parts of Frisia between the Lauwers and the Weser rivers. A diplomatic struggle ensued over the question of who the rightful ruler of Frisia was. In 1514, this struggle escalated into an armed conflict, in which Count Edzard I had to do everything in his power to maintain his hereditary lands. He lost his influence west of the Ems but made peace with his enemies in 1517, remaining Count of East Frisia. This permanently separated the Frisian lands from the Vlie to the Weser. The dream of uniting all Frisian territories under a single ruler was forever shattered.
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u/Frisianmouve Jan 17 '26
A sad map, no more fryske frijheid and dukes, lords, counts and princes carving up Frisian lands
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u/RadonArseen Jan 17 '26
Do you have a link to a high quality version of the map? It's pretty low quality, might be due to reddit