The Making of the Frisian Clay Landscape 800–1600

Abstract

The Frisian Clay area consists of a northern part, the Bouwhoek (‘arable corner’), and a southern and older part, the Greidhoek (‘grassland corner’). In both areas, the terpen are the original areas of residence, containing the farms. The terpen formed hamlets which during the Middle Ages expanded to villages. In the Greidhoek, the corresponding land stretched in all directions, whereas in the Bouwhoek, it stretched in elongated parcels on either side. The land in the Greidhoek was bordered by natural streams, slenken, whereas the Bouwhoek land was delimited by dug maren, dating from the early Middle Ages. The Greidhoek also has dug waters, the leien, mainly dating to the early and high Middle Ages. The land of a hamlet was called hemrik: some of it was the fixed property of the farms (the staten), whereas the land further afield was used commonly. Later, hemrik changed its meaning and came to indicate only the common land. The word then coincided with meenschar and fell into disuse. From 1200 the meenscharren became ever smaller in size due to their continuous assignment to farms, until they had nearly all been divided up in the sixteenth century.