Brooklyn. Named after the charming village of Breukelen in the Netherlands. Its original Frisian name was Attingahem. With only a twist of history, the borough of Brooklyn would have been named Attingahem today, and the Brooklyn Bridge, therefore, Attingahem Bridge. The streets of Brooklyn, the set of movies like The Warriors ('79), The French Connection ('71), Once Upon a Time in America ('84) and, of course, Saturday Night Fever ('77). But many, many more.

The name Breukelen, or Breuckelen, was brought to the New World in the first half of the seventeenth century when Nieuw Amsterdam 'New Amsterdam' was founded and now known to the whole world as New York City. Many other place names remind of the Dutch immigrants back then, like Flushing (town of Vlissingen), Harlem (town of Haarlem), Staten Island (Staten Eylant), Broadway (Brede Weg), Bowery (bouwerie, meaning farmstead; property of the Frisian statesman Peter Stuyvesant), boss (baas), the small porch called stoop (stoep), cookies (koekjes), and so forth. And, we must not forget, the name Yankee itself. Named after the zillion Dutch guys called Jan and Kees living in Nieuw Amsterdam. Even the name dollar originates from the Dutch currency name daalder. Then again, daalder originates from the coin struck around the year 1500 in the Joachimsthal 'Joachim Valley' in Bohemia, abbreviated to thaler.

If interested in more Dutch and Frisian influence on American history, read our post History is written by the victors – a history of credits.

Pagus Niftarlake

The village of Breukelen in the Netherlands today is a quiet and fly village of nearly 11,000 inhabitants, located on the western bank of the River Stichtse Vecht in the center of the country. Mostly wealthy inhabitants, and the opposite of its progeny Bed-Stuy in New York City. A small village but one with a rich history. Not only because the Dutch-American actor Rutger Hauer was born here. No, there is much more to its history.

Pieter Stuyvesant - Bed-Stuy, or Bedford Stuyvesant, is one of the oldest neighborhoods of Brooklyn. Stuyvesant was the former governor of New Amsterdam in the seventeenth century. Pieter Stuyvesant originates from province Friesland, and he has been indicted by the ITCF for being one of the biggest slave owners in the New World. Read our PRESS RELEASE: Consensus Frisia Tribunal.

Already in Roman times, River Stichtse Vecht was an important route between the River Rhine and Lake Almere, now IJsselmeer 'Lake IJssel'. It's even the most probable location of the so-called Drususkanalen 'Drusus' canals'. These were a series of canals that Roman army commander Drusus had dug between 12 and 9 BC to make passage possible from the fortress of Vechten to Lake IJsselmeer. By the Early Middle Ages, Frisians had taken control over the River Stichtse Vecht and the wider area. It was an area called pagus 'territory' Niftarlake, also written as Nifterlake or Nifterlaca. Niftar meant 'along' and lake/laca meant 'stream'. The first documented reference of pagus Niftarlake is in the year 723, and the last entry in history is in 953. From then on, the territory is called by its Latin name luxta Vechtam 'along the (Stichtse) Vecht'. The component luxta is the same as niftar.

Pagus Niftarlake encompassed the area between the settlement of Amuthon, the current village of Muiden, in the north of the shire/district, and the settlement of Feht or Fethna in the south, the current town of Vechten. At the settlement of Amuthon, the River Stichtse Vecht flowed into Lake Almere. At the settlement Feht, a name that originates from the Roman fortress Fectio, the River Rhine split into the rivers Stichtse Vecht and (Old) Rhine. Three smaller streams named Aa, Angstel, and Het Gein also belonged to pagus Niftarlake.

At the settlement of Amuthon in the tenth century, ships had to pay a teloneum 'toll' by order of the Frankish king. This toll was collected by the Frisian nobleman Count Waldger and his son, Count Radbod, afterward. Count Radbod is not to be confused with the heathen King Radbod, also known by his pet name, "the Enemy of God." King Radbod was the overking of the western part of Frisia and lived at the end of the seventh and beginning of the eighth centuries. So, a few centuries before Count Radbod walked on planet Earth. Nor should Count Radbod be mixed up with Saint Radbod, who was the bishop of Utrecht at the end of the ninth century.

Count Radbod probably died without offspring. After Waldger and Radbod, Hatto was count of pagus Niftarlake. Counts Waldger, Radbod, and Hatto were probably not merely counts of pagus Niftarlake, but also of pagus Teisterbant and pagus Lek-and-IJssel as well. In the year 953, Count Hatto somehow forfeits his rights, and Holy Roman Emperor Otto donates pagus Niftarlake to the bishopric of Utrecht. The toll at Amuthon, or control over pagus Niftarlake for that matter, was very lucrative for a long time. It was the ancient gateway of trade between the great trading hub Dorestat and the wider North Sea, including southern Scandinavia. Read our post Porcupines bore U.S. bucks, to know more about the magnitude of the early-medieval maritime trade of the Frisians, and eventually how free trade and economic liberalism was kind of a Frisian invention, inherited by the Dutch and brought to Manhattan in the seventeenth century.

So, pagus Niftarlake is of Frisian origin and was ruled by Frisian noblemen in the Early Middle Ages. When in the year 719 King Radbod dies of an illness, the Franks seized the opportunity and took possession of this part of Frisia as well. Interestingly, pagus Niftarlake continued to be administered by Frisian noble families, albeit under Frankish control. Only in the already mentioned year of 953, the Frisian ruling class is finally side-lined by the bishop of Utrecht.

Boss Wurssing aka Atte

An important Frisian big man who lived in the Stichtse Vecht region before it became part of the Frankish Empire in the beginning of the eighth century was the Frisian nobleman UUrssing (also Wrssing), or easier Wurssing, meaning 'son of Wurso'. His wife was named Adalgard, and he had two sons named Thiadgrim and Nothgrim. He also had nine daughters, whose names are unknown. Unfortunately, six of these daughters died young. Wurssing lived around 700 and was a contemporary and acquaintance of King Redbad. At some point, Wurssing, shortly after getting married, came into conflict with King Radbod and had to flee with his wife. They sought protection at the Frankish court. It was during this period that Wurssing converted to Christianity, and most of his children were born (and died). It was only after the death of King Radbod in 719 that Wurssing dared to return to 'his' pagus Niftarlake, which the Franks had taken possession of in the meantime.

Read also our post King Redbad’s last act to learn more about the complicated interaction between Radbod (also Redbad) and Wurssing.

Weisenheimer Wurssing was also the grandfather of Saint Ludger. Ludger's father was Wurssing's son named Thiadgrim. Ludger's mother was named Liafburg. She was the daughter of a certain Nothrad and Adelburg, also written as Elburga (see note). Saint Ludger was born in the settlement of Suecsnon, currently Oud-Zuilen, further upstream on the River Stichtse Vecht. Therefore, also in pagus Niftarlake. Saint Ludger was not the first within the family to become an influential cleric. Wurssing's brother, Hildigrim, became the bishop of Helmstadt in Germany and the bishop of Châlons in France. But, the area of the River Stichtse Vecht was an important center of influential families within Frisia, even in the seventh century.

And why Wurssing is relevant for this post. The ninth-century Vita sancti Liudgerii tells that Wurssing's nickname was Ado or Atte. Indeed, he gave the settlement its name: Attingahem, which translates as 'Atte's home'.

Friezenbuurt - Today, near where the settlement of Suecsnon (i.e. Oud-Zuilen) was located, exists today the Friezenbuurt, 'Frisians borough'. However, the area only developed after the Great War, when the Frisian company Twijnstra set up a plant there, and built housing for their employers also from province Friesland. An initiative with historical memory. Or, was it just by chance?

A stream dug in bog

In the year 722, a few years after most of Frisia was incorporated into the Frankish kingdom, it was the Anglo-Saxon monk Wynfrith, later known as Saint Boniface, who used the settlement of Attingahem as his base to convert the then-still heathen Frisians. Perhaps he founded the parish church dedicated to Saint Peter. In the year 1705, the location of this church was probably pinned down after several sarcophagi of tuff were excavated. The type of sarcophagi, i.e. without a base, suggests that they are early Carolingian coffins. Hence, the beginning of the ninth century.

Attingahem changed its name to Breukelen around 1050, with a possible range of a century earlier or later. So, it's a bit unclear when exactly, but it definitely happened. The settlement of Broclede appeared in the year 1139. Broc or broek means 'wetland or bog'. Specifically, a circumneutral bog. Lede means '(dug) stream'. Therefore, Breukelen translates to 'dug-stream-in-circumneutral-bog'. The Brooklynites will be more than thrilled with this sexy and edgy translation. Smokin'.

We do not know why Attingahem changed into Breukelen, but many other place names of Frisian origin disappeared as well in the region of the River Stichtse Vecht and the wider area. This might have had to do with the de-Frisianization process of western Frisia that had started in the ninth century already. Western Frisia was the territory that is now the combined provinces of Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, Zeeland, and part of the province of Utrecht. The influence of the Frankish orientated bishopric of Utrecht expanded, and it gained control over pagus Niftarlake in the tenth century. As mentioned, it was in the year 953 that Holy Roman Emperor Otto took the pagus away from Count Hatto. However, the de-Frisianization also had to do with the large-scale, commercial peat reclamation in the High Middle Ages, known as the Great Reclamation. The fundamental reshaping of the peat landscape that resulted in a total shift of identity.

Read our post The United Frisian Emirates and Black Peat to get a basic idea of this brown-gold revolution.

Well, imagine the catchy names: the Attingahem Dodgers, the Attingahem Cyclons, Attingahem College, the Attingahem Nets, the movie Attingahem Rules, Attingahem Nine-Nine, and Attingahem Bridge. And, of course, we should not forget that the movie Saturday Night Fever would then be shot in the streets of Attingahem instead of Brooklyn.

So, the name Brooklyn is, in fact, fugazy. Fuggedabautit!

Note 1 - Besides grandfather Wursing of Saint Ludger, we also know the name of one of his grandmothers on his mother's side, namely Atelburga, also spelled Adelburg or Elburga. The amazing thing is an enigmatic, incomplete Latin-Romanesque inscription in the doorposts of the north portal of the Willibrord Church in the village of Nederhorst den Berg, which speaks of her. Nederhorst den Berg is situated on the east bank of the River Stichtse Vecht and was known as Werinon when it was still part of West Frisia during the Early Middle Ages.

The Willibrord Church stands atop a small sand rise in the landscape, and dates from the late eleventh century. From old records of Werden Abbey in Germany near Essen, we know there was already a (wooden) church dedicated to Willibrord at Werinon around the year 900. To build a chapel or church on this spot, on a sand rise and strategically halfway the River Stichtse Vecht, might be that it was a former place of cult or a thing assembly site. Later, Ludger donated the Willibrord Church to Werden Abbey. An abbey which he had founded. Werden, originally Wertina, perhaps refers to Werinon (Cruysheer 2013).

The inscription reads:

Whoever goes to this aula [hall/court/church] prays for the salvation of Elburga. And no one enters unless [...]

Under what conditions were you allowed to enter the space, and what would happen if you did not respect them, remains mysterious. The text stops. So, be careful when you step over its threshold!

From the Vita sancti Liudgerii we know Elburga must have lived around the year 700 (Kloek 2013). The inscription on the door post dedicated to her can mean that the Willibrord Church was founded by her. When a new stone church replaced the old one, the inscription commemorated this (Kuiken 2005). Elburga is also considered to be an ancestor of the powerful Van Amstel family of Amsterdam and its surroundings, the so-called Heeren van Aemstel 'lords of the Amstel [river]' during the High Middle Ages (Van Damme 2007).

Saint Willibrord (658-739) from Northumbria, the Apostle to the Frisians, travelled to Frisia in 690. Noble woman Elburga received Saint Willibrord at Nederhorst den Berg/Werinon, just like noble woman Meinsuit would receive Saint Ludger at Helwert/Helewyret (in the modern province of Groningen) almost a century later; see our post One of history’s enlightening hikes, that of Bernlef.

Note 2 - In his novel Friezen in Rome (2024), writer Atte Jongstra, apparently inspired by our blog post, wrote that the Brooklyn Bridge just as well could have been named Attingahem Bridge if Brooklyn (Breukelen) would have been founded before the year 1050. We are glad our blog post was one of the 'building blocks' for Atte Sixma (i.e. the main character of the novel) to construct his version of the history of the Frisians.

Suggested music

Lou Reed, Perfect Day (1972)

Bee Gees, Stayin' Alive (1977)

Further reading

Bemmel, van A.A.B., Cohen, K.M., Doesburg, van J., Hermans, T., Huiting, J.H., Poppe, E.L., Renes, J. & Vliet, van K., De dam bij Wijk en het Kromme Rijngebied in de middeleeuwen (2022)

Breugel, van A. & Thoor, van M.T., De geschiedenis van Maarssen in een notendop (2001)

Buitelaar, A.L.P., De Stichtse ministerialiteit en de ontginningen in de Utrechtse Vechtstreek (1993)

City Between, Ep 6 – A Pirate Farm in Brooklyn – The Turk’s Plantation (2018)

Cruysheer, A.T.E., Eeuwenoude mysteries te Nederhorst den Berg. Enkele bevindingen over kasteel en kerk te Nederhorst den Berg II (2013)

Damme, van E.N.G., De familie van Aemstel en de strategische 'Berg Ter Horst' (2007)

Henderikx, A.A., Land, water en bewoning. Waterstaats- en nederzettingsgeschiedenis in de Zeeuwse en Hollandse delta in de Middeleeuwen; Het Cartularium van Radbod (2001)

Hondius, D., Jouwe, N., Stam, D. & Tosch, J., Dutch New York Histories. Connecting African, Native American and Slavery Heritage. Geschiedenissen van Nederlands New York (2017)

Jongstra, A., Friezen in Rome (2024)

Kloek, E., 1001 vrouwen uit de Nederlandse geschiedenis (2013)

Kuiken, K., De Liudgeriden (ca. 711-877). De oudste bekende adellijke familie van Nederland (2005)

Langen, de G. & Mol, J.A., Landscape, Trade and Power in Early-Medieval Frisia (2021)

Manten, A.A., Hoe oud is Breukelen? (1986)

Sierksma, K., In stikje famyljeûndersiik úte de midsieuwen. Ingwierrum en Omkriten. Oarsprongskrite fan de Eardingers (“Liudgeriden”) (2007)

Sierksma, K., Liudger Thiadgrimszoon. Leven en voortleven van een Christus-prediker (742-809) (1995)

Tuuk, van der L. & Cruysheer, A., De Utrechtse Vecht. Levensader in de vroege middeleeuwen (2013)

Tuuk, van der L. & Mijderwijk, L., De Middeleeuwers. Mannen en vrouwen uit de Lage Landen, 450-900 (2020)

Tuuk, van der L., Het ‘familiebedrijf’ van de Utrechtse geestelijke Liudger (2021)

Verhagen, J.G.M., Op zoek naar de kanalen van Drusus. De Utrechtse Vecht in de Romeinse tijd (2022)