FRISIANS 



3 m. broad, lies S. of Sylt and has 

 1,000 inhabitants. 



The East Frisian Islands form an 

 almost continuous line masking the 

 German coast between the mouths 

 of the Ems and the Weser. Nor- 

 derney (pop. 3,400) is 8 m. long by 

 1 m. broad. Its mild climate and 

 magnificent stretch of sandy beach 

 make it a favourite summer resort. 

 Borkum (pop. 3,300), situated at 

 the mouth of the Ems, 9 m. N. of 

 the Dutch coast, is 5 m. long by 2 

 m. broad, and is perhaps the most 

 popular holiday resort, and its breed 

 of milch-cattle is much esteemed. 

 Wangeroog, 5 m. long by 1 m. 

 broad, formerly belonged to Olden- 

 burg. About 2 m. W. of the present 

 village are the ruins of an older 

 inhabited site overwhelmed by a 

 violent storm. Spiekeroog, re- 

 garded as part of Prussia, is 5 m. 

 long by 1J m. broad and attracts 



3355 



connected with the other Low 

 German peoples along the coast, 

 notably the Angles and Saxons, 

 and the old Frisian dialect survives 

 in the Dutch and German Fries- 

 lands and in parts of W. Slesvig, 

 especially in the coastal country 

 near Tondern. 



The Frisians were partially con- 

 quered by the Roman general 

 Drusus, c. 12 B.C., but their early 

 history is obscure. Numbers of 

 them were probably associated 

 with the Angles and Saxons in their 

 incursions into Britain during the 

 4th and 5th centuries. Friesland 

 generally was made tributary to 

 the Frankish empire of Pepin II 

 in 689, and after a revolt was re- 

 conquered by Charles Martel in 736. 

 It fell to Charlemagne in 784. It 

 retained a fair degree of inde- 

 pendence during the Middle Ages. 

 For a short time in Saxon posses- 



FfclTH 



e particularly barley, of north- 

 Europe. It is not found in 



more 



ern Europe. 



Britain, though there its allied 



species, C. taeniopus, frequently 



attacks barley. 



Frith, JOHN (1503-33). Eng- 

 lish martyr. The son of a Kentish 

 innkeeper, he was educated at 

 King's College, Cambridge, after- 

 wards becoming a member of Christ 

 Church, Oxford He helped Tyndal 

 to translate the Bible, and his 

 abilities and scholarship soon made 

 him prominent among the advo- 

 cates of the reformed faith. This 

 led to his enforced departure from 

 England, and for about six years he 

 lived in Germany and Holland. 

 Having returned to England, he 

 was arrested. In prison and on ex- 

 amination, he defended by pen and 

 word his beliefs ; consequently he 

 was burned to death at Smithneld, 

 July 4, 1533. 



William Powell Frith. Bai 



e Sands, an example of one of the artist's larger compc 

 Academy in 1854 and purchased by Queen Victoria 



comparatively few summer visitors. 

 Langeoog is 8 m. long by 1 m. 

 broad, and has five thousand in- 

 habitants. 



The Dutch Frisian group, of 

 which the most important islands 

 are Terschelling, Vlieland, and 

 Texel, screens the mouths of the 

 Zuider Zee. The inhabitants are 

 chiefly concerned with agriculture 

 and dairy-farming, and though 

 honest and good-natured, are back- 

 ward. Frisian, the original speech 

 of these islands, bears a remarkable 

 resemblance to the older forms of 

 English. 



Frisians. People of Teutonic 

 race originally inhabiting the 

 country now covered by the Dutch 

 provinces of Friesland and Gro- 

 ningen and the German district of 

 East Friesland. They were closely 



sion, Friesland was ceded to tho 

 emperor Charles V in 1523, but 

 joined the United Provinces in 

 1579, remaining one of these until 

 1795, when it was merged into the 

 Dutch territories. 



East Friesland became distinct 

 from the rest of the Frisian lands 

 in 1430, when it became a fief of 

 the powerful Cirkensa family, by 

 whom it was ruled until 1744, when 

 it was incorporated in Prussia. 

 Transferred to Holland in 1808, 

 and in French possession 1810-13, 

 it was recovered by Prussia and 

 ceded by her to Hanover in 1815. 



Frit. Name popularly applied to 

 certain small dipterous insects de- 

 structive to corn crops. The one 

 generally so named is Chlorops frit, 

 a small black fly which sometimes 

 causes havoc among the crops, 



Frith, WILLIAM POWELL (1819- 

 1909). British painter. Born at 

 Aldfield, Yorks, Jan. 9, 1819, son of 

 an innkeeper, 

 he studied 

 at Sass ' s 

 Academy, 

 Bloomsbu ry, 

 and at the 

 R.A. schools. 

 Founding his 

 style on that 

 of Daniel 

 Maclise, h e 



^%2 ^ ^ anto p ai f 



7 /TesfrJu historical sub- 



^~1 ^ jects, his Mai- 

 volio being 

 hung at the R.A., 1840. He was 

 elected A. R.A. in 1844, and R.A. 

 in 1852. He scored popular suc- 

 cesses with Ramsgate Sands, 1854 ; 



