Warning:
The data on this page may contain spoilers for episode 01x02.
The name of the USS Greate Pier was taken from a Frisian freedom fighter and pirate who was born around the year 1480.
Real
name: Pier
Gerlofs Donia |
|
Nicknames: |
|
Frisian: |
Grutte
Pier / Greate Pier |
Dutch: |
Grote pier / Lange Pier |
English: |
Tall Pier |
Latin: |
Pierius Magnus |
Born: |
~1480 |
Died: |
|
Greate Pier illustrated in 1622
Incorrectly showing a 17th century outfit
Legends
Many
legends surround this historical man who started out as a farmer in Kimswerd… Pier
was ascribed to have measured no less than 2 meters a 15 centimeters tall (7
feet), the same length as his equally legendary sword. He was reputed to have
had superhuman strength, which seems to be ‘confirmed’ by a myriad of
legendary tales that are told of him:
-
He could bend coins between his thumb and index finger.
-
He could lift a horse over his head.
-
Perhaps he didn’t need the horse, as he could plough the fields without one.
-
He was able to wield his huge sword (2.15m / 7 ft and 6.6 kg / 14.5 lbs).
-
He was able to cut the heads off of multiple victims with one swing of his
sword.
No
doubt some of these stories must have been at least slightly exaggerated over
the years. Probably much like the next story that has been passed along over the
centuries, Fivefal (English: “Five fall”).
Back
in those days, Frisia (Today: Fryslân; Dutch: Friesland) was not yet a part of the
Greate Pier during a 1516 raid, painted by
Johannes Hinderikus Egenberger during the 1800's
His life and death
When
his farm was burnt down by Saxon troops in 1515, something snapped. He developed
into a fierce opponent of the Saxon and Dutch enemies. An army of around 4.000
peasant rebels from Frisia and Gelre was formed, known as the Arumer Zwarte Hoop
(English: “The Black Gang from Arum”). Under the command of Pier they
pirated Dutch and Burgundian ships on the Zuiderzee (English: Southern Sea),
todays Ijsselmeer
(English: Lake
Pier
is also credited to have invented a famous shibboleth. A shibboleth usually is a
sentence which has to identify whether or not the speaker belongs to a certain
group. In this case, Pier’s shibboleth contained Frisians words that
could not be properly pronounced by the Dutch or any other foe. He used this to
identify whether a ship was Frisian or not. The shibboleth he used:
“Bűter, brea en griene tsiis, wa't dat net sizze
kin, is gjin oprjochte Frysk.”
It
doesn’t rhyme or even sound poetic in English, but this is the literal
translation:
“Butter, bread and green cheese, who cannot say that, isn’t a real Frisian.”
Statue of Greate Pier in Kimswerd by Anne Woudwijk
The
loot from the ships who failed this test and the coastal villages that were
raided, was supposedly given to Duke Karel van Gelre who promised support in the
war against the Dutch. When, in 1517, Karel van Gelre tried to obtain a position
of power in Frisia himself, Pier was disappointed. So disappointed in
fact, that he gave command of his army to his nephew Wijard Sybrans Donia in
1518. Pier spent the rest of
his life in Snits (Dutch: Sneek), where he died in his bed on
The person Greate Pier is mentioned in the episode entitled "Meat and circuses" (01x02).
Where did Pier come from?
Fryslân |
|
Frisian: |
Fryslân |
Dutch: |
Friesland |
Old
Frisian (In Pier's time): |
Frisia |
The Frisian flag
Today
Fryslân is a province in the north of The Netherlands, but it used to be
independent. Fryslân is known for its water; the
The
Frisian language is the official second language of the Netherlands, spoken by
about 440.000 people (in 2004) mainly in Fryslân and parts of the neighboring
province of Groningen. A publication in 1967 estimated that around 700.000
people worldwide speak the language.
The Frisian coat of arms
Frisian
history
in a nutshell
This is a brief history of the Frisian people. By no means a complete
history, but just some highlighted events and periods.
Between 400 and 200 BCE a protofrisian culture formed. The Frisii, as the
Romans called them, heavily revolted against the conquerors from Rome.
In the year 12 CE however, Nero Claudius Drusus beat them and made them pay
taxes from that day on, mostly in the form of ox skins. But after a dispute
about the ox skins they rebelled against the Romans again in 28 CE in the battle
at Baduhenna, helped by the Batavians and Cananefates. The result was that a
number of tax collectors was crucified and around 1300 Romans were killed.
Between
500 and 734 Magna Frisia (English: Great Frisia), as is was then
called, was at its peak, stretching from the Zwin in Belgium
to the river
Magna Frisia (500-734 CE)
The pagan Frisians whom honored gods like Wodan weren’t too keen to see
Boniface (Bonifatius / Bonifacius) trying to convert them to the christian faith. He
visited the Frisians 3 times between 716 and 754. Escorted by 52 fellow
missionaries and probably a large number of armed guards he returned for the
last time in 754. They were all murdered by Frisians near Dokkum. Boniface is
mentioned both in the text and the title of the religiously themed episode
called "Bonafide Boniface" (01x14).
In 754 Bonifatius tries to convert the Frisians to the christian faith again, but get's killed
From 834 to around the year 1000 there were the necessary battles with
the Vikings. Many battles lost and won by both sides…
Around the 10th century the Old Frisian language slowly
started to form.
In 1345 Count Willem IV of
The monument at Warns reads "Leaver dea as slaef"
("Rather dead than slave")
The last war between the Frisians and the Dutch, from 1515 to 1524, was
the war that made Pier Gerlofs Donia
an immortal legend. Better known as Greate
Pier.
In the centuries to come, the rule over the Frisian lands changed hands
many times and it became smaller and smaller. Near the end of that era, in 1782,
the Frisians were the first to acknowledge the independence of the United States of America
under the leadership of their second president, John Adams.
In
1795 Fryslân became a province of
the
Netherlands,
which it still is today. Here's a map of the Netherlands as it is today.
The Netherlands today
The name of the province officially changed from the Dutch “
The proud, stubborn and independent nature of the Frisians throughout history is still present in modern day Frisians, including yours truly. And if we have to believe the stories of USS Greate Pier, it will continue to be so in the future.
Lord Thanatos