Old Frisian ethnic community.

Geographical The Roman historian Tacitus, writing in Germania, mentioned the Frisians among people he grouped together as the Ingvaeones. Their territory followed the coast of the North Sea from the mouth of the Rhine river up to that of the Ems, their eastern border according to Ptolemy's Geographica. Pliny states in Belgica that they were conquered by the Roman general Drusus in 12 BC, and thereafter the Frisians largely sank into historical obscurity, until coming into contact with the expanding Merovingian and Carolingian empires. In the 5th century, during this period of historical silence, many of them no doubt joined the migration of the Anglo-Saxons who went through Frisian territory to invade 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.

Cultural One of the most important cultural expressions of a people is their language. The Frisians mothertongue is 'Frisian'.
Frisian is a 'Germanic' language. The Germanic languages can be divided in North, East and West Germanic. Frisian belongs to the 'West Germanic' language group. Other languages belonging to this group are High/Low German, Dutch and English. Of these four languages Frisian is the closest in relation to English. Frisian, High and Low German, Dutch and English can also be classified as Inguaeonish languages. They have a common origin. In the 8th century A.D. Frisian starts to set itself apart from the other Inguaonish languages. This is the birth of the Frisian language. In the 8th century the Frisian language is spoken in the coastal areas from Holland up to Denmark.
As any language, Frisian started to develop dialects. Three dialects can be distinguished: East, North and West Frisian.

The current spread of the Frisian Language: West-Frisian, East-Frisian (Saterland), North-Frisian.

Frisian Runes
The runes are an ancient alphabet used by the Germanic peoples. They were in use by the peoples of Northern Europe since the beginning of the Christian era (1 A.D.). Inscriptions were initially carved in wood, hence their angular shape. Inscriptions of the 'old' runic script (100 A.D. till 700 A.D.) are very rare, and are found on only 200 items. The first runes were carved in Southern Juteland in Denmark (also the place of origination of the proto-Frisians).The Germanic tribes called the runic alphabet after the soundvalue of the first six letters, Futhark. The Futhark comprises a 24 letter alphabet arranged in a unique order. This is the Germanic futhark:

f u th a r k g w h n i j ï p z s t b e m l ng o d
The runes were used for two purposes: to send messages of a plain nature, and for religious, ritual and magical purposes.
In areas populated by Angles, Saxons and Frisians, new letters were developed, to a total of 26 runes. This alphabet is known as the Anglo-Frisian Futhorc. This is Frisian futhork:

In Friesland only 21 runic inscriptions (Frisian) have been found on items of wood, bone, antler, ivory and gold. These inscriptions date from 450 A.D. to 750 A.D..

Religious Beliefs. Christianity came early to Friesland with the dominion of the Franks in the eighth and ninth centuries, but it did not succeed in completely eradicating Indigenous tradition. Pre-Christian beliefs, called byleauwe, are derived from the larger Germanic folk tradition, and they retain some currency especially in rural areas and the forested region. These folk beliefs, modifying and being modified by the newer Christian faith, now consist of an interwoven tapestry of folktales and superstitions regarding supernatural beings such as devils, spooks, and ghosts; "white ladies" who lived underground and kidnapped travelers in the night; a more beneficent category of female spirits who provided help to travelers in distress; and elves, witches, wizards, and trolls. Belief in oracles and predictive visions were common in the relatively recent past. Predominantly, Frisians are Protestant: 85 percent are members of the Calvinist Dutch Reformed or Reformed churches, with another 5 percent being Mennonites.

OE Heptarchy. Wessex.

Heptarchy – is the seven kingdoms into which Anglo-Saxon England is thought to have been divided from about the 7th to the 9th centuries AD: Kent, East Anglia, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, Mercia, and Northumbria.

Heptarchy is a collective name applied to the supposed seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of south, east, and central Great Britain during late antiquity and the early Middle Ages which eventually unified into the Kingdom of England. During the same period, what is now Scotland and Wales were also divided into comparable petty kingdoms. The term has been in use since the 16th century but the initial idea that there were seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms is attributed to the English historian Henry of Huntingdon in the 12th century and was first used in his Historia Anglorum

By convention the label is considered to cover the period from AD 500 to AD 850, approximately representing the period following the departure of Roman legions from Britain until the unification of the kingdoms under Egbert of Wessex.

The period supposedly lasted until the seven kingdoms began to consolidate into larger units, but the actual events marking this transition are debatable. At various times within the conventional period, certain rulers of Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex (such as Penda of Mercia) claimed hegemony over larger areas of England; yet as late as Edwy and Edgar, it was still possible to speak of separate kingdoms within the English population.

In reality the end of the Heptarchy was a gradual process. The 9th century Viking raids that led to the establishment of a Danish-controlled enclave at York, and ultimately to the Danelaw, gained considerable advantage from the petty rivalries between the old kingdoms. The need to unite against the common enemy was recognised, such that by the time Alfred of Wessex resisted the Danes in the late 9th century, he did so essentially as the leader of an Anglo-Saxon nation. Successive kings of Wessex (and especially Athelstan) progressively reinforced the English unitary state, until the old constituent kingdoms in effect became irrelevant.

Recent research has revealed that some of the Heptarchy kingdoms (notably Essex and Sussex) did not achieve the same status as the others. Conversely, there also existed alongside the seven kingdoms a number of other political divisions which played a more significant role than previously thought. Such were the kingdoms (or sub-kingdoms) of: Bernicia and Deira within Northumbria; Lindsey in present-day Lincolnshire; the Hwicce in the southwest Midlands; the Magonsæte or Magonset, a sub-kingdom of Mercia in what is now Herefordshire; the Wihtwara, a Jutish kingdom on the Isle of Wight, originally as important as the Cantwara of Kent; the Middle Angles, a group of tribes based around modern Leicestershire, later conquered by the Mercians; the Hæstingas (around the town of Hastings in Sussex); and the Gewissæ, a Saxon tribe in what is now southern Hampshire later developing into the kingdom of Wessex.

Certainly the term Heptarchy has been considered unsatisfactory since the early 20th century, and many professional historians no longer use it, feeling that it does not accurately describe the period to which it refers. However, it is still sometimes used as a label of convenience for a phase in the development of England.

The unification of England and the Earldom of Wessex.

After the invasions of the 890s Wessex and English Mercia continued to be attacked by the Danish settlers in England and by small Danish raiding forces from overseas, but these incursions were usually defeated, while there were no further major invasions from the continent. The balance of power tipped steadily in favour of the English. In 911 Ealdorman Aethelred died, leaving his widow, Alfred's daughter Aethelflaed, in charge of Mercia. Alfred's son and successor Edward the Elder, then annexed London, Oxford and the surrounding area, probably including Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, from Mercia to Wessex. Between 913 and 918 a series of English offensives overwhelmed the Danes of Mercia and East Anglia, bringing all of England south of the Humber under Edward's power. In 918 Aethelflaed died and Edward took over direct control of Mercia, extinguishing what remained of its independence and ensuring that thenceforth there would be only one Kingdom of the English. In 927 Edward's successor Athelstan conquered Northumbria, bringing the whole of England under one ruler for the first time. The Kingdom of Wessex had thus been transformed into the Kingdom of England.

Although Wessex had now effectively been subsumed into the larger kingdom which its expansion had created, like the other former kingdoms it continued for a time to have a distinct identity which periodically found renewed political expression. After the death of King Eadred in 955, England was divided between his two sons, with the elder Edwy ruling in Wessex while Mercia passed to his younger brother Edgar. However, in 959 Edwy died and the whole of England came under Edgar's control.

After the conquest of England by the Danish king Cnut in 1016, he established earldoms based on the former kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia, but initially administered Wessex personally. Within a few years, however, he had created an earldom of Wessex, encompassing all of England south of the Thames, for his English henchman Godwin. For almost fifty years the vastly wealthy holders of this earldom, first Godwin and then his son Harold, were the most powerful men in English politics after the king. Finally, on the death of Edward the Confessor in 1066, Harold became king, reuniting the earldom of Wessex with the crown. No new earl was appointed before the ensuing Norman Conquest of England, and as the Norman kings soon did away with the great earldoms of the late Anglo-Saxon period, 1066 marks the extinction of Wessex as a political unit.