FRISI (FRISIAN). - A Germanic people who, from the earliest times recorded in history, have been settled on the shores of the North Sea between the mouths of the Scheldt and the Weser and the Cimbrian Peninsula. Tacitus, who mentions them (Germania, 34), distinguishes the Frisii maiores and the Frisii minores; Roman historians speak of Rome’s repeated efforts to subdue them. In the face of these invasion attempts, they managed to maintain their territory, which was much larger than the present-day Dutch province, and it seems that together with the Angles and Saxons they took part in the conquest of Britain. They still speak their own dialect today, though it has lost ground to the neighboring and related Low German dialects. Their resistance against the neighboring Franks was fierce and culminated at the beginning of the 8th century with the uprising of the national hero RADBODO. This hostility delayed the penetration of Christianity among them, which had been initiated by St. Eligius of Noyon under the Frankish king Dagobert and by Wilfrid of York; their apostle was St. WILLIBRORD (d. 736), who established himself at Utrecht (the ancient Trajectum Romanum), in Frankish territory, and was consecrated bishop by Rome. For more than 46 years he traversed the land and, with the help of Anglo-Saxon and Frankish monks from Echternach, succeeded in giving the country a Christian aspect.
Once the conquest was complete, Charlemagne, respecting local traditions, had their laws compiled into a single body, resulting in the *Lex Frisionum*. In the partitions of the
Carolingian Kingdom in 843, Frisia was annexed to Lotharingia; in 880, to Austrasia. Subsequently, while Western Frisia became the County of Holland, Central and Eastern Frisia, though nominally subject to the Empire, remained in fact autonomous, divided into peasant communities, torn by internal strife, yet united in mutual defense against invaders—a task made easier by the canals and numerous lakes. The 14th and 15th centuries passed without any single power dominating the region. In 1523, Charles V took possession of part of it, though Groningen continued for some time to remain independent; the Frisian Islands and Eastern Frisia, however, retained their autonomy. At the death of the last count, Charles Edzard Cirksena, in 1744, the States-General of the United Provinces did not accept the offer of union, and the country passed under Prussian rule. As a result of the religious wars that in the second half of the 16th century had thrown all the Netherlands into turmoil, it had adhered in 1579 to the Protestant Union of Utrecht.