Poppo (Friesland)

Poppo (* 674 ; † 734 ), also known as Popo , Bubo or Bobbo , was the last ruler of the Great Frisian Empire (reign from 719 to 734), which is also known under the Latin name "Magna Frisia". He was the successor to Radbod . Poppo's death in the Battle of the Boorne marks the end of this great Frisian empire.

The dominion of the Frisians extended over a wide stretch of coast on the North Sea from Bruges , over the Rhine-Maas delta to the Weser . The core area was between today's IJsselmeer and the Ems .

Poppo's predecessor Radbod had waged war against the neighboring Franks. In the battle of Wijk bij Duurstede on the banks of the Rhine, he was defeated by the ruler of the Franconian Empire Pippin the Middle and had to cede the western part of Friesland to the Franks. In the Franconian-ruled areas, Willibrord began missioning the pagan Frisians from 690 onwards .

After the death of Pippin the Middle, Radbod gathered his troops and in 716 recaptured the previously lost territories in a battle against the Frankish caretaker Karl Martell . Radbod died in 719 and Poppo succeeded him. Under his rule, the Franks began to recapture western Friesland and by 720 all of the former Frisian parts of the country west of the Vlie were again in Franconian hands.

In 734 Karl Martell sent his troops again to Friesland and the battle of the Boorne broke out , in which the Franks were able to destroy the Frisian troops. Poppo was killed in the battle and the Franks also annexed the Frisian area between the Vlie and the Lauwers .

The Frisians only had a much smaller area of ​​dominion. Over time, he was absorbed in the ever-growing Franconian empire.

literature

• Franz Kurowski : The Frisians. The people by the sea. Türmer-Verlag , Berg am Starnberger See 1984, ISBN 3-88199-356-8 , page 12 f.