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Thesis ‘The Holy Roman Empire and Frisian freedom’ republished after 40 years

Guest Research

History and heritage

Publication

The dissertation with which historian Oebele Vries obtained his doctorate in 1986 has been republished after 40 years. According to Steven Sterk of Noordboek Publishers, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the medieval history of Friesland. “There has always been a romantic aura surrounding the golden age of the Frisian Middle Ages. This book presents the facts, but with the sharp wit that is characteristic of Oebele.”

 

Frisian freedom

The book “The Holy Roman Empire and Frisian Freedom” is about Friesland in the late Middle Ages, which was the area between the Suder Sea and the Weser River. There were no counts, dukes, or bishops to rule over it, but it developed into a kind of ‘republic’. Elected judges, later called magistrates, exercised a weak form of justice there. Better known as ‘Frisian freedom’. All this played out against the backdrop of the Holy Roman Empire. The book explains how Frisian freedom came to an end in 1498, despite the fact that in 1417 it had been placed under the protection of the Holy Roman Empire with the granting of a freedom privilege. In terms of content, the book is not updated, says Vries. “I did add a new chapter with an overview of the publications on the subject of the thesis that have appeared since 1986, with an appendix of any additions or corrections that could be made.”
 

“Phenomenon and underestimated”

The reason Noordboek decided to republish the thesis is that the book explains medieval history so well. “When you read this book, you can understand how Friesland came to be what it is today: Wâlden, Clay, village after village.” His admiration for the expert on the Middle Ages and Old Frisian is clear: “This man is a phenomenon and still greatly underestimated.”
 

Guest lecturer Fryske Akademy

Oebele Vries (Westergeast) worked until his retirement for the Frysk Ynstitút at the University of Groningen as a university lecturer in Old Frisian and Frisian history. In 2009, he was awarded the Joast Halbertsma Prize by the province of Fryslân for his entire oeuvre. Since 2014, he has been a guest lecturer at the Fryske Akademy.

(His 1986 thesis was published by De Tille publishers as Akademynûmer 663; this new edition, with a new introduction, has been assigned a new Akademynûmer number: 1151.)

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