"Reason I'm late for class? Well, you know, there was a strange cat in our barn this morning, and I stepped in its poop. Therefore, I first had to clean my shoes before I could go to school. That’s the reason, ma'am. Really!" A similar pretext was made by a bunch of Frisian seamen in the year 1040, who told they'd sailed to the North Pole, escaped many great dangers, and even saw World's End. It's a story of bribe and prejudice.

Below the English translation of this thousand-year-old lie recorded by magister Adam of Bremum -originally the city of Bremen was called Bremum- in his Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum 'deeds of bishops of the Hamburg Church' written circa 1075. Magister Adam came from the Margravate of Meissen. He was a chronicler connected to the church of Bremum. Why this context is important, will become apparent reading this blog post.

But also a warning before reading: this text is not suitable for underage because of violent scenes.

Archbishop Adalbert of blessed memory likewise told us that in the days of his predecessor [this is Alebrand, see below] certain noble men of Frisia spread sail to the north for the purpose of ranging through the sea, because the inhabitants claimed that by a direct course toward the north from the mouth of the River Weser one meets with no land but only that sea called the Libersee.

The partners pledged themselves under oath to look into this novel claim and, with a joyful call to the oarsmen, set out from the Frisian coast. Then, leaving on the one side Denmark, on the other Britain, they came to the Orkneys. And when they had left these islands to their left, while they had Norway on their right, the navigators landed after a long passage on icy Iceland. And as they furrowed the seas from that place toward the farthest northern pole, after they saw behind them all the islands spoken about above [namely Vinland -i.e. Newfoundland- and Greenland], they commended their way and venture to Almighty God and the holy confessor Willehad.

Of a sudden they fell into that numbing ocean’s dark mist which could hardly be penetrated with the eyes. And, behold, the current of the fluctuating ocean whirled back to its mysterious fountainhead, and with most furious impetuosity drew the unhappy sailors, who in their despair now thought only of death, on to chaos; this they say is the abysmal chasm – that deep in which report has it all the backflow of the sea, which to decrease, is absorbed and in turn re-vomited, as the mounting fluctuation is usually described.

As the partners were imploring the mercy of God to receive their souls, the backward thrust of the sea carried away some of their ships, but its forward ejection threw the rest far behind the others. Freed thus, by the timely help of God, from the instant peril they had had before their eyes, they seconded the flood by rowing with all their might.

No sooner had the mariners escaped the peril of darkness and the land of frost, than unexpectedly came upon an island fortified like a town by very high cliffs which encircled it. When they disembarked there to explore the place, they found men lurking in underground hollows at midday. Before the entrances lay a countless number of vessels of gold and of metals of a kind considered rare and precious by mortals.

When they had taken as much of the treasure as they could carry away, the happy oarsmen returned quickly to their ships. Of a sudden they saw coming behind them amazingly tall men whom our people call Cyclops. Before them ran dogs exceeding the usual size of these quadrupeds, who in their attack seized one of the comrades and in a twinkling tore him to pieces before their eyes. The rest, however, took to the ships and escaped the peril. The giants, as they said, followed them, with vociferations, almost out to the high sea.

Attended by such good fortune, the Frisians came back to Bremen (Bremum) where they told Archbishop Alebrand everything as it had happened and made offerings to the blessed Christ and His holy confessor Willehad for their safe return.

Would, nowadays, a schoolteacher believe such a story for being late for class? "I sailed to the Arctic and back, saw the end of the world, escaped from a maelstrom, found a lot of valuables and precious things just laying around on a treasure island, fled from Cyclops and huge dogs, bút I made it back alive from terra incognita; rowing. That's why I'm late, ma'am." No, of course, she would not.

These Frisians were clearly ordinary pirates, raiding with their shippe (pirate slang for 'ship') -who knows named the Merrimac (see further below)- the islands and coasts of the North Sea. It was a made-up story to explain to the ecclesiastical authorities all the booty this low-life was carrying, was obtained legitimately.

The Code - These eleventh-century pirates sailed under oath. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries pirates and buccaneers before embarking had to sign the code of the ship. These were the ship's articles how to behave, the penalties on misbehaviour, and how the loot was divided; the so-called pirate codes. Besides signing the code they had to swear an oath of allegiance too. Hence, an old pirate tradition dating to AD 1000 at least.

But Archbishop Alebrand, apparently, did believe the story. That is, after the Frisians had made offerings to Christ and Saint Willehad. That means some of the booty was donated to the church. Aha! Maybe Alebrand's judgement was clouded by the shining precious metals given to the church, and wanted to believe they had not been pirating, raiding and lord knows what more. A man of a pragmatic nature.

And the lie grew even bigger. Adam of Bremum recorded this story, which he must have heard from Alebrand, for true in his above cited Gesta. What was magister Adam's motive to record such a lie? Or, did he really believe the miraculous story? If the latter is the case, what does that say about the rest of his voluminous and by historians much appreciated work? Or, were these so-called euphemistic 'ranging trips' still going on when magister Adam wrote down his stuff, decennia later. Were these pirates still offering a percentage of their loot and prizes to Christ and to Saint Willehad? Was his judgement, therefore, clouded as well?

Puritans and pirates

The Frisian and internationally renowned writer Simon Vestdijk (1898-1971) from the port town of Harlingen on the shores of the Wadden Sea, one of the most significant writers of Netherlands literature ever, wrote the novel ‘Puriteinen en piraten‘ (‘Puritans and Pirates’). It is the story of the ship the Merrimac, built in the city of Boston in the year 1718. At first, it is unclear for what purpose the ship was built by its sponsors. Later, its purpose as a pirate ship became clear. The sponsors were Puritans who secretly wanted to make a mundane fortune. Simon Vestdijk, by the way, was the man who could write faster than God could read.

We can’t help but see parallels between Simon Vestdijk’s book and this high-medieval story: the faithful in league with pirates for booty. Moreover, it is a story of pirates operating from the mouth of the River Weser at the murky Wadden Sea, a sea where Simon Vestdijk lived too.

Note 1 – This region, the southern coasts of the North Sea, has a very, very old pirating tradition. It dates back to the period of the Great Wandering of Peoples. Check our blog post Our civilization – It all began with piracy to learn how a true pirate culture developed along these shores in Roman times. In our blog post Yet another wayward archipelago you can read about all the pirate activity in the Wadden Sea region during the late medieval and early modern periods. And, read also about the heathen Frisian pirates who settled on the Faroes in our blog post Latið meg ei á Frísaland fordervast! and who killed the bishop.

Note 2 - The bright side of that the whole expedition to the Arctic was a lie, is that another Frisian sailor and sea explorer, Willem Barentsz from the Wadden Sea island of Terschelling, still can claim to be the first Frisian to have wintered in the Arctic, i.e. on today's archipelago Novaya Zemlya in Russia in the year 1596. Soon after, when Frisians were at the whaling in the northern ice seas, many more stayed the winter in the Arctic, like on Greenland, Spitsbergen, Beereneiland, and on Jan Mayen Island. Read our blog post Happy Hunting Grounds of the Arctic to find more information about this piece of shivering history.

Note 3 - There is even a pirate who made it to pope. Baldassarre Cossa (ca. 1365-1419) from Naples raided, among other, the Adriatic Sea for some time. In the year 1410, Baldassarre was elected Antipope John XXIII.

Suggested music

Sex Pistols, Friggin' In The Riggin' (1979)

Further reading

Barrie, J.M., Peter Pan (1904)

Bremen, of A., History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen. Translated with an introduction & notes by Francis J. Tschan. With a new introduction & selected bibliography by Timothy Reuter (2002)

Defoe, D., A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates (1724)

Inspiring Elise (blog)

Kurowski, F., Die Friesen. Das Volk am Meer (2019)

Meier, D., Seefahrer, Händler und Piraten im Mittelalter (2004)

Puhle, M., Die Vitalienbrüder. Klaus Störtebekerund die Seeräuber der Hansezeit (2012)

Schröder, S., Piraterie und Hanse. Kaperkriege und Vitalienbrüder (2016)

Schroor, M., Harlingen. Geschiedenis van de Friese havenstad (2015)

Simpson-Housley, P., The Arctic: Enigmas and Myths (1996)

Stevenson, R.L., Treasure Island (1883)

Toorn-Piebenga, G.A., Friese ontdekkingsreizigers in de elfde eeuw (1986)

Vestdijk, S., Puriteinen en piraten (1945)