Frisians set foot in Britain as early as the Roman Invasion

As I argued in a recent post that regarded Roman Londinium, the first component ‘Lond-‘ in the name recommends a potential Germanic and more likely Frisian influence so poses the question whether the Romans actually deployed Germanic troops in their military campaigns over Britain.

The Romans were known to have already drafted in good numbers of Germanic troops by the late first century BC and early first century AD in their campaigns against Germania, a trend that increased with time.

As it turns out, the Romans indeed employed Frisian mercenaries as cavalry along their invasion of Britain (43 – 87 AD) so there is a possibility that some might have been stationed in Londinium during early Roman occupation.

Later on, the presence of Frisian auxiliary units (Cuneus Frisionum) is attested at Vercovicium⁽¹⁾, Housesteads in Hexham, between at least 222 and 235 AD and the Vinovia, near Bishop Auckland in County Durham, potentially starting even earlier among others in nowadays northeast England.

Cavalry units of the ala Vettonum, a Frisian cohort, could have also been stationed at the latter fort whilst the finding of terp Tritzum, trademark earthenware⁽²⁾ fashioned in fourth century Frisia, in Kent suggests the settling of Frisian laeti⁽³⁾ therein.

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(1) The mention of Tuihanti, Germanic people likely settled around nowadays Twente (Netherlands), on two memorial stones has them apparently as part of the formation of the Frisian force stationed there.

(2) Pottery made of baked clay.

(3) People from outside the Roman Empire allowed to settle within Roman territory on condition that they would provide recruits for the Roman army.

The meaning of the days of the week in English

Let’s have a little look at the names of the days of the week, as appear nowadays, in the English language as well as their (substantially Norse/Scandinavian) origins and meaning now:

Monday, to begin the week with, means ‘Day of the Moon’ and likely derives via the Middle English Monenday on the Old English Mōnandæg, which in turn most likely comes from the Old Frisian Mōna(n)deig.

That said, the Middle English version looks very much identical to the Old Frisian alternate form of Mōnendei, so it may well have been obtained directly from the latter instead.

Tuesday is ‘Tīw’s Day’ or ‘Týr’s Day’ where Týr (Tiwar in Proto-Norse) is a Norse god of war. The English name of the day comes likely via the Old Frisian Tiesdei, which is almost identical.

Wednesday, in turn, means ‘Day of Woden’ where Woden is no other than the mighty Norse king of the gods Odin. The English name apparently comes via the effectively identical Old Frisian Wednesdei.

Thursday is ‘Thor’s Day’ where Thor is no other than the well-known Norse god of Thunder. Its deep root lies in the Norse Þórsdagr (Thor’s Day, where ‘Þ’ is pronounced as ‘θ’) apparently as an influence on Old Frisian Thuner (Thor) and Thunersdei, with a loss of the ‘n’ through time.

Friday means ‘Day of Frig’ and Frig is no other than Odin’s consort goddess Frigg. The English name comes apparently either through the Old Saxon (Low German) name for the goddess of Fri or Old Frisian Frīadei or Fredei for the day.

Saturday has got its origins in the Roman Latin Sāturni diēs that means ‘Saturn’s Day’ but most likely came via the Old Frisian Sāterdei, with which the Middle English form (Saterday) is effectively identical.

Finally, Sunday means ‘Sun’s Day’ as can easily be made out. Its older form (Middle English) is Sunedai likely to have come in its turn from the Old Frisian Sunnandei.

Château de Val, Lanobre, virtual tour

Donjon

By and large, ‘donjon’ signifies the most heavily fortified area or building within a medieval castle, usually a large tower, where the defenders could withdraw to if the other lines of defence had fallen during a siege.

The Donjon de la duchesse Anne, Dinan in Brittany (northwest France)

It would usually contain a well, quarters, offices and service rooms while one front would command the bailey (grounds enclosed by the outer walls) and the other the field and approaches to the castle or fortified area.

The word is actually French (voiced as ‘/dɔ̃.ʒɔ̃/’), though it can be also found in Dutch (‘/dɔnˈʒɔn/’), and comes from the Old French donjon (‘/dunˈd͡ʒun/’) spelling ‘great/main tower’ or even ‘the lord’s tower’ since the lord of a castle or a fortified town usually lived there.

For that matter, the first component ‘don-‘ may come as a shortening out of Late Latin ‘domnus’ (master) and the rather Frankish/Franconian suffix ‘-jon,’ with a likely Latin origin, that carries the sense of ‘fortification.’

That said, I wouldn’t rule out an origin in Breton ‘don’ that means ‘deep’ so combined with Frankish/Franconian ‘-don’ could mean ‘deep defence/fortification’ instead.

The English word ‘dungeon’ originates from Old French ‘donjon,’ apparently arriving through the Normans, and initially held the same meaning but through time was eventually relegated as a term to denote the prison and torture chambers in the depths of a keep.

Virtual tour of Monteriggioni, Tuscany (Italy)

Alhambra, Granada (Spain), walking tour

Dinan, Côtes-d’Armor (France)

Picturesque Dinan (/dinɑ̃/ in French) is a walled medieval Breton town, doubling as a commune, in the department of Côtes-d’Armor in Brittany, northwest France.

On a hillside looking over the west bank of River Rance, the town is packed with half-timbered buildings that date from as early as the 13th and 14th century as well as lots of granite houses from the 18th century.

It is further streaked with charming cobbled streets and retains a good deal of its medieval walls, built in the 11th century, that stretch over roughly 2600m round the town, part of which is walkable.

The town’s old fortifications were helmed by the Château de Dinan (or Donjon de la Duchesse Anne), a sizeable keep with a moat and a drawbridge on the southwest corner.

An important figure that arose from Dinan was Bertrand du Guesclin, a Breton knight, who distinguished himself during the Hundred Years War while the town themselves held off twice attacks by the Anglo-Normans in the 14th century.

Virtual tour of the Tower of London (England)

Monteriggioni, Tuscany (Italy)

Monteriggioni is a medieval walled town, standing on a hillock, built by the Sienese (Republic of Siena) between 1214 and 1219 as a stronghold up front during their conflicts with the Republic of Florence so as to command the Via Cassia, a key Roman road.

It mainly served as a defensive fortification and held off many attacks by the forces of the Republic of Florence as well as those of the Bishop of Volterra.

Yet, when the Sienese assigned Giovannino Zeti, exiled from Florence at the time, in command of the town’s garrison in 1554 he betrayed their trust handing over the keys of the town to the forces of the Medicis, a well-known banking and political family of Florence.

The effectively oval walls measure roughly 570m in perimeter, built between 1213 and 1219, and feature twelve towers quite evenly spread around, with two opposite gates directly connected via the straight main street of the town.

Porta Fiorentina, as the name implies, faces north towards Florence and while Porta Romana, likewise, opens south in the direction of Rome.

Nowadays, Monteriggioni is a commune that falls within the bounds of the province of Siena in Tuscany, central north Italy.

PS Monteriggioni seems to mean ‘boundary (green) hillock’ out of ‘monte,’ from Latin ‘montem’ (mount, green hillock), and ‘riggioni,’ which looks like a likely Tuscan variation of ‘reggioni’ (of the boundary, potentially dated).

The North Sea Empire at its peak (1028-1035 AD) under Cnut the Great