Frisians & Jutes

From: Rick McCallister
Message: 61267
Date: 2008-11-02

Here's what Wik has to say about the Frisians. There is a note that Frisian pottery was found in England c. 150.
Does the wiki seems accurate?


... The Frisii were known and respected by the Romans and written about by several sources. Tacitus wrote a treatise about the Germanic peoples in 69, describing the habits of the Germanic people, as well as listing numerous tribes by name. [8] Of the many tribes he mentioned, the name 'Frisii' is the only one still in use to refer unequivocally to the same ethnic group. [9]
Friesland had been settled early, with evidence of terp-building, the distinctive raised settlements, starting in 700 BC. Frisii were mentioned by Roman historian Tacitus[10] and earlier by Pliny the Elder[11]. According to inscriptions found in Roman Britain [12] they served the Roman Army and used Frisiavones as a synonym. Expansion to the south-west occurred probably as early as 70 AD, when the westernmost parts of the rivermouth were abandoned by the Canninefates in the aftermath of the Batavian revolt by Julius Civilis.
Emigration to Flanders [13] and Kent [14] happened peacefully within Roman jurisdiction and probably reached a height in the 250s, due to heavy flooding.
Around 290 AD Constantius Chlorus mentioned Frisians among the pirates that were raiding Britain, but in the records the Saxons took over this reputation in the fourth century. This coincides with archeological evidence that habitation of the original area remained scarce for about 150 years and only recovered in the 400s. It has been suggested that by then a part of the Frisians had already merged with the Saxons, to whom they were closely related. The Frisian languages remain the closest surviving languages to English. [15]
. . .
They were probably a people of seafarers, the North Sea spanning from Britain to Eastern Denmark, was referred to as the Mare Frisia at that time.
Small groups of Frisians settled the surrounding lands and their settlements have been traced to England, Scotland, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, France and obviously to The Netherlands.
. . .
In the 5th century, during this period of historical silence, many of them no doubt joined the migration of the Angles and Saxons who went through Frisian territory to invade Great 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.