DE FRIEZENNAAM EN HET LAATROMEINSE BEWONINGSHIAAT IN HET NOORDELIJK KUSTGEBIED

Samenvatting

New archaeological and toponymical evidence forces us to reconsider the continued use from the Roman period into the early Middle Ages of the tribal name of the Frisians: in the fourth and early fifth centuries, the population of Frisia was at an all-time low or even non-exis­tent. The author points to the fact that the Frisians are not mentioned in historical sources for more than three hundred years. This has not bothered earlier researchers because they thought the continued use of the Frisian name proved that the Frisians outlived the Dark Ages and held on to their essential values as a tribe. However, the author advances the possibility that the Franks should be held responsible for the reintroduction in the late sixth or seventh century of the name af the Frisian gens. They used a name familiar to them and to early and late classical sources to describe a situation which had become etnically confused during the fourth and fifth centuries.