Menko of Bloemhof

[Erik Springelkamp]

This is part of the Chronicles of Bloemhof, started by Emo of Bloemhof

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo_of_Friesland

and later continued by Menko.

I translated a small part of it in English (but please correct errors
if you like), and intend to do more.

There is a copy of the latin text online:
http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb00000886_00464.html

This particular section follows the description of a severe flooding of
the area, leading to famine, and important political repercussions.

What I find interesting is the political constellation in the Free
Frisian shires Fivelgo and Hunsingo, that were without a Count in that
period, but they still managed have some form of administration through
national councils of judges. The Church played an important role
through monasteries and the regular deaneries.

Also interesting is that the old Germanic laws of weregild (blood
money) are still in use here mid-13th century, as opposed to the rest
of the Holy Roman Empire. (The Free Frisians still regarded themselves
full members of the HRE though).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weregild

The city of Groningen, with the surrounding shire 'Gorecht' was ruled
by the Bishop of Utrecht, through his Prefect Koenraad of Groningen.

This episode, and its continuation, will describe the events that would
severely restrict the power of the Prefect over the city.


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Menko of Bloemhof [34]

In 1250 AD the weather was once again much too dry, and a contagious
disease spread among the animals. Almost all the cattle in the
Wolden[1] that had survived last year or that was bought to replace
what had perished, died. And in the heat of the summer the corpses
rotted and there was a terrible stench, that also made people ill. Like
Galenus says, rotten air is even worse than rotten food.

In the Wolden a new kind of plague appeared among the people. A
poisonous blister appeared between the skin and the flesh, in the
beginning the size of an acorn. People thought is was some kind of
sting from an insect, but those who studied it more thoroughly said
that a few days before it appeared they had felt that the balance in
their bodies had been disturbed. It seemed to travel all through the
body looking for a way out, and very often it broke out in the neck,
above the shoulders. If the blister was cut out on the first day, and
the wound burnt with a hot iron, the person could recover. If not, one
died in seven days. Without surgical treatment almost nobody survived.

[..about Galenus and Vergil on illness and rotten air ..]

We include this in case of a - hopefully not - similar pestilence in
the future, that one may, especially in the summer, bury the corpses
deep into the ground. [..]

In the same year Pope Innocentius returned from Lyon to Rome.

In the same year, while the Frisians were hit so hard, the Groningers
seemed to mock them. Without mercy they raised the prices of the grain
they imported by ship from other countries. But behold, they suffered a
different peril. Because. Koenraad of Groningen, the knights Adolf and
Rudolf of Peize and their following, as well as the majority of the
citizens of Groningen, have done the Frisians injustice, and they
disturbed the peace of the horse market - they confiscated the best
horses of their choice for themselves. They even imprisoned nobles from
Fivelgo, and caused a lot of damage and discomfort to people from
Hunsingo. So then the people of Fivelgo and Hunsingo finally made
peace, after twenty-two years of conflict over the island of the people
of Uithuizen. It appeared as if God had arranged for the destruction of
Groningen. The peace was brokered by Sicco, dean of Farnsum, an
eloquent man skilled in worldly affairs, together with other wise men,
both monks and laymen. Thus the fight that had kept on for so long and
had cost so much blood was ended. It was ruled that one quarter of the
island would go the those of Eenrum, who had tried to acquire half of
it originally, and the other three quarters would go to those of
Uithuizen. For all those fallen in the war, the headmen of both parties
paid weregild. The party of Fivelgo had killed about hundred men, the
other party short by eighteen the same. The ransoms for the prisoners
were returned, by the headmen, not by those who had received them. For
the clearly by them committed plunder and arson those of Eenrum gave to
those of Fivelgo and their headmen, namely those of Uithuizen, 24,000
mark in Fivelgo coinage. Those of Uithuizen gave those of Hunsingo 900
mark. The plundering of cloths and weapons, and all inflicted wounds,
except those of the six limbs, was forgiven, for God and the good of
peace.

[to be continued]

[1] Wolden: (lit. Woods) the (partly developed) peat areas between the
coastal clay lands and the sandy high ground of the inland.
[2] Hunsingo: Frisian shire around the river Hunze, NW of Groningen
[3] Fivelgo: Frisian shire around the river Fivel, NE of Groningen
[4] Uithuizen: coastal border-village of Fivelgo
[5] Eenrum: coastal border-village of Hunsingo

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