The “Old Frisian” Tescklaow as Invented Tradition: Forging Friesland’s Rural Past in the Early Nineteenth Century

R.H. Bremmer jr., Ph.H. Breuker

Research output: Chapter in book/volumeChapterScientificpeer-review

Abstract

In 1823, the historian Jacobus Scheltema (1767–1835) published the text of the Frisian Tescklaow, with his learned commentary on it. This document, bearing the date of 1557 but with many elements apparently reaching back to the later Middle Ages, regulated the annual threshing of rapeseed (L. brassica napus). According to Jacobus’s remarks, the law and other documents related to it had been newly discovered by his brother Paulus (1752–1835), and many scholars took Jacobus at his word. Indeed, Paulus’s find soon attracted the enthusiastic support of many esteemed scholars, including Jacob Grimm, who appreciated the Tescklaow for its...
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationStudies in Medievalism XXXIII: (En)gendering Medievalism
EditorsKarl Fugelso
PublisherBoydell and Brewer Limited
Pages145-168
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Apr 2024

Publication series

NameStudies in Medievalism
VolumeXXXIII

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