Freedom, Feuds, Purgatory - Leeuwarden, The Netherlands - Until 7-5-2023

[dognose]

Fries Museum
Wilhelminaplein 92
8911 BS Leeuwarden
The Netherlands


Freedom, Feuds, Purgatory

Until 7th May 2023

Women adorned with glittering jewels, warriors with ‘kletsies’, a type of spear that could be used as a vaulting pole, and shorn hair. Violent feuds between clans. A landscape where an extraordinary number of castles, churches and monasteries dominated the horizon. This is not the fantasy world of a newly launched computer game, but a description of Friesland during the full and late Middle Ages, based on new research.

Freedom, Feuds & Purgatory: The Middle Ages in the North shares new scientific insights about life in the North during the full and late Middle Ages. At that time, Friesland (Tota Frisia) extended from the present province of Friesland to the Weser River in Ostfriesland, Germany. Unlike elsewhere in Europe, the Frisians governed themselves, elected their own judges, spoke their own language and had their own distinctive clothing style. The idiosyncratic, lost world of Friesland between 1067-1567 is brought to life using the Fries Museum’s wide-ranging archaeological collection of medieval objects, supplemented with (inter)national loans. The exhibition runs until 7 May 2023.

The Fries Museum brings this hitherto underexposed chapter of medieval history to life with glittering coin treasures and jewels, beautiful texts and centuries-old relics. Diana Spiekhout, curator of mound culture and the Middle Ages, compiled this exhibition and the accompanying publication. Spiekhout obtained her PhD on the medieval castle landscape from the University of Groningen in 2020. In her thesis, she analysed the development of bishop’s castles and noble houses in relation to the landscape and society in the north-eastern Netherlands between 1050 and 1450. Spiekhout is a much sought-after expert in the field and earlier this year she appeared in the NPO television series Het verhaal van Nederland, in the episode about the early Middle Ages, Friezen en Franken.

Spiekhout continues the research from her dissertation in this exhibition, resulting in an interdisciplinary approach in which archaeology, landscape, anthropology, architecture and history unite in a reconstruction of Friesland of that time. The exhibition addresses questions such as: What did the society and landscape of medieval Friesland look like? What does that tell us about the customs and habits of its inhabitants? To what extent is our current understanding of the Middle Ages correct?

Opening hours: Tuesday – Sunday 11.00 – 17.00 - Closed Mondays

Admission: €15

https://www.friesmuseum.nl/en/see-and-d ... -purgatory