European Kingdoms

Kings of Frisia (Ubbo) / Frisavones (Netherlands) (Low Countries)

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During this period, as noted by Tacitus, the Frisii were already located to the west of the Zuyder Zee in the Low Countries, making them the most westerly of the Germanic peoples of the north of Europe, occupying parts certainly not originally Germanic in speech. The Batavi were located to their south. Tacitus indicates a division of them which probably also integrated Celtic peoples as the Lesser Frisians, west of the navigable lakes, while the main body of the people remained the Greater Frisians, free from Roman control in the still little-known or explored marshes and fens to the north and east, lands into which the Romans scarcely ever ventured.

Pliny the Elder has the little-known Sinuci tribe of Belgae living between the Frisavones and the Tungri (remembering that the Tungri have been settled on the former territory of the Eburones for the past century). The Frisavones (Frisævones or Frisiabones) would appear at first sight to be a division of the main body of Frisii. Pliny appears to differentiate between the two, with the Frisavones settled to the south of the Frisii, and seemingly very close to the Batavi. This location makes it usual to equate the Frisavones with the Lesser Frisians of the subsequent Offo period of Frisian history.

(Additional information by André Kloer and Edward Dawson, from the Alan Bliss/JRR Tolkein examination of the fragment known as The Fight at Finnesburg, from Histories, Annals, Tacitus, and from External Links: The Works of Julius Caesar: Gallic Wars, and The Natural History, Pliny the Elder (John Bostock, Ed).)

58 - 70

58

The lower Rhine has recently been cleared out by Rome to serve as a buffer zone between the empire and tribal Germania. The Frisii are under the mistaken belief that they will be exempt from any retaliation by Rome if they reoccupy this area. They begin to cultivate the land but Rome demands that they vacate it immediately, They send two princes, Malorix and Verritus, to Rome to plead their case, and when he finally sees them, Emperor Nero grants them Roman citizenship, but does not grant their request to keep the land. In the end it takes the arrival of a Roman cavalry expedition to sweep them out. Then the homeless Ampsivarii tribe petitions Rome to be able to settle the area but this attempt also fails.

Both names of the princes, Malorix and Verritus, are Celtic, not the Germanic that should be expected of the Frisians. Malorix breaks down as the name Malos, which means 'slow', plus 'rix', which means 'king'. Verritus is 'truth' in Latin. Perhaps his actual name was the Celtic Veritos, which means 'earth', perhaps after some minor deity? The Romans clearly respelled the name to their familiar word for truth. 'Truth' in Celtic seems to have been 'viro' ('wiro'), the same word as 'man'. In any case this is strong evidence for Celtic influence, if not outright mixing with Celts among the Frisians and their splinter tribes

Sections of the lower Rhine were cleared by Rome in AD 58 in order to create a buffer zone between the empire and the barbarians on the other side of the Rhine

69 - 70

Gaius Julius Civilis leads a Batavian insurrection against a Rome which is distracted by the events of the Year of the Four Emperors. Supported by the Bructeri, Canninefates, and Chauci, while the Sinuci are also mentioned as a people who live in the region (although their involvement in the revolt is uncertain). The tribes send reinforcements, and Civilis is initially successful, with Castra Vetera being captured and two Roman legions being lost. But to illustrate the dual nature of Chauci policy towards Rome, both they and the Frisii have auxiliaries who are serving with the Romans. A cohort of these are trapped and burned at Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensis (modern Cologne). Eventual Roman pressure, with aid from the Mediomatrici, Sequani, and Tungri, forces Civilis to retreat to the Batavian island where he agrees peace terms with General Quintus Petilius Cerialis.

It is around this period that the little-known Sinuci are mentioned by Pliny the Elder and Tacitus. Pliny places them between the Frisavones and the Tungri (remembering that the Tungri have been settled on the former territory of the Eburones for the past century). The Frisavones receive two mentions by Pliny and one by Tacitus, and they are usually equated to the Lesser Frisians of the subsequent Offo period of Frisian history.

70 - ?

98

In his work on Greater Germania, the Roman writer Tacitus locates the Frisians to the west of the Zuyder Zee (in the modern northern Netherlands and north-western Germany), with early groups of Saxons on their eastern flank, along with the Chauci. To the south-east are the Chamavi and Bructeri, to the south the Batavi and the little-known Canninefates, while to the north-east, across the Elbe, are the Aviones and Reudigni.

? - 286

286

The last of the Ubbo kings is replaced by the first of the Offo kings.