Emo of Friesland

Emo of Friesland (c. 1175–1237) was a Frisian scholar and abbot who probably came from the region of Groningen, and the earliest foreign student studying at Oxford University whose name has survived.

Around 1209, he took the vows of a monk in order to assist his uncle, Emo of Romerswerf, in founding a monastery in Holwierde near Groningen.

Under Emo's direction as first abbot, the monastery of Floridus Hortus [nl] (Wittewierum, Bloemhof) joined the Premonstratensians and became a daughter house of Prémontré Abbey in 1217.

Besides information about the abbey he helped found, it also covers the secular history of Frisia and Groningen and even the Crusades to the Holy Land.

This text is known as the De itinere Frisonum and it provides a lot of details about the naval voyage and the crusading motivations of the Frisian participants.