Edward I

**Edward I**(Dutch: *Eduard*; d. 886) was the first king of Great Frisia, and the first Frisian king since its annexation by the Franks almost a hundred years prior. He was a founding member of the House of Nordan, and was a frequent foe of the Carolingian Kingdom to the south and Saxon tribes to the east.

## Ancestry and early life

Edward was either born in Groningen or in the area around the town sometime in the 830s or early 840s. He was the eldest son of Folkward, count of Nordan, and Gautlandis, the reigning duchess of Louwert. Folkward's ancestors had been counts of Nordan, a county which had expanded to control nearly all of eastern Frisia under Folkward and his father, Leo the Younger. Leo the Younger's father, Saint Leo of Nordan, lived in the late 8th century and was likely the founder of the dynasty. Gautlandis was from a Burgundian family, and her father, Badegisel, was given Ljouwert by King Karl II.

Set to inherit all of Frisia, Edward's parents ruled from the same court in Groningen to give Edward knowledge in how to rule both parts of his future kingdom. Edward's father and mother died in 858 and 861 respectively, and upon inheriting his mother's lands he declared himself to be the King of Frisia, a title which hadn't existed since the death of Radbod II in 775. This caused controversy, especially with King Marcomer of the Franks, as Gautlandis was a subject of his Kingdom until her death, and Edward was effectively declaring himself independent from him.

## Reign

### Conflicts with the Franks

In late 861, King Marcomer sent an ultimatum to Edward, which stated that he either had to renounce all of his titles or face war with the Frankish Kingdom, which had an army many times the size of Frisia's. However, Edward was lucky when the Umayyads in Iberia began harrassing the majority of the Frankish forces who were stationed near Toulouse, far away from Frisia. This proved to distract Marcomer, and he sent only an army of 5,000 into Frisia in early 862, which was led by a minor nobleman.

This army, ununified and lacking in strong leadership, outnumbered the Frisian one (at around 4,000) but was slow-moving and had a weak supply chain. Edward supposedly noticed this and circled south of the army, which by this time was somewhere in Hamaland, cutting them off. After a short struggle the Frankish army fled back south and joined Marcomer's forces to continue fighting off the Umayyads to the south.

A later invasion from the Franks in the spring and summer of 882 also proved unsuccessful.

### Conflict with Saxony

Boddic, the Grand Chief of Saxony, was officially christian but it was doubtful that he geniuniely believed in the faith, at least according to the catholic church at the time. In the summer of 877, he led a raiding party which nearly burnt Groningen to the ground and looted most of the town. Edward was enraged by this, and in response launched a full scale invasion of Angria at the end of the summer. The Saxons had superior numbers though, and Edward was beaten back into the winter. However, by the spring of 878, the Saxons were fracturing and beginning to fight amongst themselves, making things much easier for Edward's forces.

By early 879, Edward had taken all land west of the Weser, supposedly founding Oldenburg the following year. In 882 Bremen was also taken from the Saxons, who never were a major threat to Frisia again.

### Domestic rule

Edward, though one of the most talented military commanders of his time, was also skilled in administrating his new kingdom. He arranged several marriages between his children and nobles from Anglo-Saxon England and Francia, giving his kingdom the legitimacy it needed to be recognized as a sovereign nation, much to the Carolingians' disgust. Edward himself married a daughter of the Earl of Cumberland.

Edward died in early 886 in Groningen. He was succeded by his son Radbod, and his son Folkward who ruled all of the lands not traditionally Frisian from Angria.

## Family

Edward had two named sons:

* Radbod, King of Frisia
* Folkward the Younger, High Chief of Angria