Frisians

The Roman historian Tacitus, in his Germania, mentioned the Frisians among people he grouped together as the Ingvaeones. Their territory followed the coast of the North Sea from the mouth of the Rhine river up to that of the Ems, their eastern border according to Ptolemy's Geographica. Pliny the Elder states in Belgica that they were conquered by the Roman general Drusus in 12 BC, and thereafter the Frisians largely sank into historical obscurity, until coming into contact with the expanding Merovingian and Carolingian empires. In the 5th Century, during this period of historical silence, many of them no doubt joined the migration of the Anglo-Saxons who went through Frisian territory to invade Britain, while those who stayed on the continent expanded into the newly-emptied lands previously occupied by the Anglo-Saxons. By the end of the sixth century the Frisians occupied the coast all the way to the mouth of the Weser and spread farther still in the seventh century, southward down to Dorestad and even Bruges. This farthest extent of Frisian territory is known as Frisia Magna.

Related Topics:
Tacitus - Germania - Ingvaeones - Rhine - Ems - Ptolemy - Pliny the Elder - Drusus - Merovingian - Carolingian - Frisian territory - Britain - Anglo-Saxons - Dorestad - Bruges

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