Vetkopers and Schieringers

Hoofdelingen were Dutch nobility; they were wealthy landowners who possessed fortified stone houses and a surrounding farming estate (stins and state).

[1] The hoofdelingen were farmers who worked for their wealth and status by acquiring farmland and consolidated their positions by holding important local administrative and judicial roles (such as that of grietman).

Officially, Friesland had a communal government structure with a central board called the Recht en Raad, which was populated by 30 rural grietmen and 11 city mayors.

[2] The availability of these mercenaries increased following the death of Charles the Bold in 1477, and the consequent unrest in various regions, such as the Burgundian Netherlands, the prince-bishopric of Utrecht, and the Duchy of Guelders, especially during times of war.

[2] Their presence resulted in further destabilization since the Landsknechte would turn rogue if their wages were not paid, leading them to pillage and set fire to the surrounding areas.

[2] Of course the hired Landsknechte of Tjerk Walta did not want to fight their own, those who were under the command of Albrecht III, so they simply returned to Saxon service under the Duke.

The most significant provision of this agreement was that they would pay the Landsknechte mercenaries 30,000 Rhine guilders and, in doing so, relinquish their rights to Westergo and Oostergo to Albrecht, the Duke of Saxony.

Albrecht, now known for his impressive military skills and with the support of his highly trained Landsknechte mercenaries, gathered his army near Laaxum in June 1498 to defeat the Schieringers once and for all.

[2] The Schieringer forces were made up of local Frisian militia headed by hoofdelingen, and they were no match for the well-equipped German army led by Albrecht.

[2] Henry IV circulated letters of bidding to the Schieringer hoofdelingen to implement harsh new taxes under an extremely short timeline, with severe consequences, in order to raise money.

[2] Although the Schieringers and Vetkopers united with support of the Duke of Gelderland against Henry IV and the Saxon Landsknecht army, they were unable to regain their old freedoms.

[2] In the years 1516 to 1517, a significant number of confiscations were recorded that involved the forced transfer of property from the Vetkoper-supporting families in Friesland to non-Frisian nobility.