Frisii

The Frisii were an ancient tribe, who were neighbours of the Roman empire in the low-lying coastal region between the Rhine and the Ems rivers, in what what is now the northern Netherlands. They are not mentioned in Roman records after the third century, and archaeological records show that there was population decline, and frequent flooding caused by sea level rise. It is probable that many Frisii were among the early "Saxons" who settled in Britain. They are nevertheless also likely to be ancestors of the Frisians of today, whose material culture can be traced back to new settlements in the early Middle Ages.

Before the entry of the Romans into the area, settlers started to colonize the area in newly formed marshlands in the 6th or 5th centuries BC. As sea levels rose and flooding risks increased, the inhabitants learned to build their houses on village mounds or terps. The way of life and material culture of the Frisii hardly distinguished itself from the customs of the Chauci, east of the Ems.

During the 1st century BC, Romans took control of the Rhine delta but Frisii to the north of the river managed to maintain some level of independence. There was a lot of interaction, however, as the Frisii and Chauci were enlisted in the Roman army, and Roman traders established themselves north of the limes. There may have been Roman military outposts in Frisii territory. Some or all of the Frisii may have merged with Frankish and Saxon migrants in late Roman times, but they would retain a separate identity in Roman eyes until at least 296, when Frisian, Frankish and Chamavian groups were forcibly resettled as laeti. Archaeological findings suggest that they may have been transported to Flanders and Southeastern England.

The area where the original Frisii lived was largely deserted during the Migration Period, probably due to political instability and piracy, as well as climatic deterioration. When changing environmental and political conditions made the region attractive again it was repopulated in the 5th century by Anglo-Saxon settlers from Northwestern Germany and Southwestern Denmark, who adopted the old name Frisii. These new 'Frisians' lived in the coastal fringe stretching roughly from present-day Bruges to Bremen, including many of the smaller offshore islands. They incorporated the remainer of indigenous groups that lived in the area and successfully conquered what would become their new homelands. Medieval and later accounts of 'Frisians' refer to these 'new Frisians' rather than to the ancient Frisii.

What little is known of the Frisii is provided by a few Roman accounts, most of them military. Pliny the Elder (AD 23–79) said their lands were forest-covered with tall trees growing up to the edge of the lakes. They lived by agriculture and raising cattle. In the late 1st century the Romans referred to the 'Greater Frisii' as living to the east of the Lake Flevo, and the 'Lesser Frisii' to the west of it, so-called for their proportional power, and with the settlements of both stretching along the border of the Rhine to the ocean.

In his Germania Tacitus would describe all the Germanic peoples of the region as having elected kings with limited powers and influential military leaders who led by example rather than by authority. The people lived in spread-out settlements. He specifically noted the weakness of Germanic political hierarchies in reference to the Frisii, when he mentioned the (apparently Celtic) names of two kings of the 1st century Frisii and added that they were kings "as far as the Germans are under kings".

Early Roman accounts of war and raiding do not mention the Frisii as participants, though the neighboring Canninefates (to the west and southwest, in the delta) and Chauci (to the east) are named in that regard. The earliest mention of the Frisii tells of Drusus' 12 BC war against the Rhine Germans and the Chauci. The Romans did not attack them after devastating the lands of the Rhine Germans, but merely passed through their territory and along their coast in order to attack the Chauci. The account says that the Frisii were "won over", suggesting a Roman suzerainty was imposed, although the Romans never outright took over the lands of the Frisii.

Over the course of time the Frisii would provide Roman auxiliaries through treaty obligations, but the tribe would also appear in its own right in concert with other Germanic tribes, opposing the Romans. Accounts of wars therefore mention the Frisii on both sides of the conflict, though the actions of troops under treaty obligation must have been separate from the policies of indigenous groups.