Potestaat of Friesland

Potestaat (West Frisian pronunciation: [poːtəsˈtaːt]; pl.

potestaten) was the supposed title of a governor of medieval Friesland.

According to the legendary Karelsprivilege, a 14th-century forgery, Charlemagne had first granted the title of potestaat to Magnus Forteman.

He and most of his early successors were entirely fictional, invented later by pseudohistorians in order to argue in favour of the notion of Frisian freedom.

[citation needed] With the victory of the Schieringers against the Vetkopers, the newly installed office passed to the dukes of Saxony:

Sjoerd Wiarda and Haring Harinxma , two consecutively-serving potestaten