Seven Sealands

According to a medieval Frisian historiographical work, the Gesta-cycle,[b] after Thomas the Apostle traveled to Christianize India, God led three Christian brothers – Friso, Saxo, and Bruno – from their native home, called Fresia,[c] in northern India to northern Europe.

[4][6] The Frisian version may have been adapted from Saxon sources and show similarities to the Anglo-Saxon origin myth as well.

[6] Although the Gesta offers one example of the origin myth, there are other versions, though all agree that there were three foundational people or groups who sailed over the sea from an island home to their new European homeland.

[8] The Seven Sealands were used as an ideological reference to all of Frisia as early as the 14th century in the Old Frisian law text known as the Statutes of Upstalsboom, instituted on 18 September 1323.

[5] The idea of the Seven Sealands helped to define Frisian identity in the late Middle Ages as "elect, Christian, and free".

[19] The document defines each sealand, its range, its main cities, and reflect on their position in the Holy Roman Empire and the Church.