The
part of the province of Noord-Holland, where I live is called "West-Friesland" and used to be
part of the lands the Frisians lived in
Roman Times. Frisian culture was replaced by Saxon culture, but the names of Friesland and Wes-Friesland remained. In Charlemagne's time everything was
part of
his empire, but after that it was supposed to be
part of the Holy
Roman Empire, of which the
German lands were the most important. In those days the local nobles of the province of
Holland consisered themselves to be the vassals of the Holy
Roman Emperor and held the lands in
his name as Counts of
Holland. The
part which was
still called West-Friesland, did, however, not belong to their jurisdiction, although they claimed that to be a fact. It resulted in war which took the form of a guerilla. Surprise-attacks and looting of towns, revenge because of...etc.
To add insult to injury,
Holland and West-Friesland suffered from severe flooding in those days. The Westfrisians
had meanwhile made some low dikes and higher dwelling-mounds to be safe from water, especially during the wet season. Just outside my hometown Schagen, there is one of the biggest mounds, rising nearly three meters above the surrounding lands. In 1892, a farmer, who was digging a whole in the mound, discovered a leather pouch containg nearly 1200 small silver coins. Having informed the Major of Schagen, the
hoard was taken to the Royal Dutch Coin Cabinet in The Hague. The coins were cleaned and appeared all to be the same! A so far unknown
type, issued probably in
West friesland by someone using the effigy of a
bishop on the
obverse and a simple
cross on the
reverse. No coin revealed any legible
legend if present at all.
The farmer who discovered the
hoard, was given a single coin as a memento......
In the late '70s when I gave a lecture on archeology in my
home town, an old lady addressed to me and told me that she was the granddaughter of the farmer who found the
hoard, and that she
still had that one coin apart from the 1200-1 that
still reside at the Royal Coin Cabinet. That information was very nice, but the old woman would never
part with the coin.
Years later I received a
catalogue of a Dutch coin dealer in which I saw this coin: I called her immediately and was the first customer that day.. Later she told me she could have sold the coin ten times...
Yet, I have it, here in Schagen, where it
had been buried for some 900 years. And up to this day, it is the only example on the market.
Frans