Frisian literature is works written in the

Frisian languages The Frisian (, ) languages are a closely related group of West Germanic languages, spoken by about 500,000 Frisian people, who live on the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany. The Frisian languages are the closest l ...

, including that of West Frisian spoken in the province of

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...

in the Netherlands, from which most texts were produced or have survived. The first texts written in Frisian emerge around the 13th century.

Medieval and early modern periods

Texts written in Frisian first appear in manuscripts from the late

medieval period In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. Records of these, however, are fairly scarce and would generally not constitute literature, even if they did show some poetic merit. In 1498, Dutch became the official language in Friesland for all purposes of writing but Frisian would survive as a spoken language among the common people. Through the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

, some authors would consciously attempt to preserve their language in short written works. Middle Frisian would generally be considered to begin around this time in the mid-16th century. The greatest impact came from the seventeenth-century schoolteacher from

Bolsward Bolsward (, West Frisian: ''Boalsert'') is a city in Súdwest-Fryslân in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. Bolsward has a population of just under 10,200. It is located 10 km W.N.W. of Sneek. History The town is founded on thr ...

Gysbert Japiks Gysbert Japiks or Japicx or Japix (1603–1666) was a West Frisian writer, poet, schoolmaster, and cantor. Life Japiks was born in Bolsward, Friesland, as Gysbert Japiks Holckema or Holkema. Japiks used his patronym and not his surname in his ...

, whose poetry attempted to prove Frisian's worth as a written language and brought about a revival amongst other Frisian authors in appreciating their native language, an appreciation that had slowed by the eighteenth century, the end of the Middle Frisian period.

Modern period

Friesland

Modern West Frisian, beginning around 1800 with the

Romantic movement Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

, went through a rebirth. Many authors once again came to appreciate their language, and scholars studied West Frisian from an academic standpoint. Organizations were formed that drew supporters from upper and middle-class backgrounds. A further push of Dutch influence from the education system prompted three brothers,

Justus Justus (died on 10 November between 627 and 631) was the fourth Archbishop of Canterbury. He was sent from Italy to England by Pope Gregory the Great, on a mission to Christianize the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism, probably arrivin ...

, Eeltsje, and Tsjalling Halbertsma, to create works in West Frisian, including '' De Alde Friezen'', which became the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...

of the Western Frisian people. Their works were collected and published as the famous ''

Rimen en Teltsjes ' ('Rhymes and Tales', ) is the national book of West Frisian language, Western Frisian literature, written by the three Brothers Halbertsma. It is an extensive collection of short stories and poems, the first of which was published in 1822 under ...

'' in 1871. The Frisian language was firmly established as an academic study in the twentieth century ( Rolf Bremmer is the current professor of

Old Frisian Old Frisian was a West Germanic language spoken between the 8th and 16th centuries along the North Sea coast, roughly between the mouths of the Rhine and Weser rivers. The Frisian settlers on the coast of South Jutland (today's Northern Fri ...

at Leiden University), and the language is available for study in secondary education as well. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, from around 1945 to 1963, Frisian literature experienced another period of growth with important authors and literary ambassadors like Anne Wadman, Fedde Schurer, Fokke Sierksma, and Lolle Nauta, though Wadman went to his grave disappointed that he had not succeeded in creating a rapprochement between Dutch and Frisian literatures. Still, Frisian literature continues to flourish at least within Friesland: Frisian authors were being promoted to the Dutch readership, and there are dozens of Frisian-language authors and literary magazines. At the same time, declining sales of literature in the Netherlands have affected Frisian literature as well, with estimates of the decline in sales of Frisian literature estimated at 30 to 40% since 2000, and library loans of Frisian books in one area declining from 152,000 in 2005 to 135,000 in 2007.

North Frisia

Literature in the various dialects of the North Frisian language developed only in the age of

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

. Earlier texts are extremely rare and the oldest sample of a North Frisian writing dates to ca. 1600, a translation of

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

's ''Kleiner Katechismus'' (german: link=no, Little Catechism) into two North Frisian dialects. Early 19th century literature includes a comedy in Söl'ring, the dialect of

Sylt Sylt (; da, Sild; Sylt North Frisian, Söl'ring North Frisian: ) is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian ...

island, and a novel by the same author Jap Peter Hansen, ''Di lekkelk Stjüürman he lucky helmsman'. An approach to introduce a North Frisian magazine and a dictionary in the 1840s failed because of the upcoming national rivalries between either Danish or German oriented parts of the population. Other 19th century authors include Christian Peter Hansen, son of Jap Peter Hansen of Sylt, Christian Johansen of

Amrum Amrum (; ''Öömrang'' North Frisian: ''Oomram'') is one of the North Frisian Islands on the German North Sea coast, south of Sylt and west of Föhr. It is part of the Nordfriesland district in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein and has a ...

or Simon Reinhard Bohn, and Stine Andresen from

Föhr Föhr ( ''Fering'' North Frisian: ''Feer''; da, Før) is one of the North Frisian Islands on the German coast of the North Sea. It is part of the Nordfriesland district in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. Föhr is the second-largest No ...

. Also the North Frisian mainland produced authors in North Frisian language such as Johannes Hansen from the Bredstedt area or Moritz Momme Nissen from Enge. Nissen is known to have created the most comprehensive North Frisian dictionary which however remained unpublished. The 20th century brought a new development in North Frisian literature which started again on Sylt and spread across the islands to the mainland. Lorenz Conrad Peters, Jens Mungard, Albrecht Johannsen and

James Krüss James Krüss (31 May 1926 – 2 August 1997) was a German writer of children's and picture books, illustrator, poet, dramatist, scriptwriter, translator, and collector of children's poems and folk songs. For his contribution as a children's writ ...

are notable authors of the early and middle 20th century. The first ever held North Frisian literature competition was won in 1991 by Ellin Nickelsen with a novelette in Fering. Weblink in German and Fering. The problems of North Frisian literature include the limited number of speakers, the dialectal divisions which are mostly mutually unintelligible, a lack of writing tradition and a rural background without urban cultural centres and a late standardisation of orthography for the main dialects.

References

External links

Collection of articles on Frisian language and literature
{{European literature European literature