Jancko Douwama

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Jancko Douwama was a Frisian nobleman that fought to free Friesland from foreign rule. He was born in 1482 near Oldeboorn, Friesland, as the son of the chieftain Douwe Douwama and his wife Riem Eesckes.

Jancko Douwama and his third cousin, Pier Gerlofs Donia (Greate Pier) are considered the heroes of Friese freedom. Jancko Douwama lived in much troubled times during the final stages of a civil war in Friesland between the monastical factions called the Schieringers and the Vetkopers. The Schieringers employed the assistance of the Saxon ruler Albrecht in 1498 gaining the upper hand over the Vetkopers. Douwama a supporter of the Vetkopers then began his fight against the Saxon overlord. He did this firstly from Groningen, where his wife came from and where he has also had lived. In 1502 he returned to Friesland and recognized duke Albrecht in 1504 as its lord. Following the assassination of Albrecht in 1512 by the Vetkopers he escaped to Gelre and became employed by Duke Karel of Gelre (Charles Duke of Guelders). Karel had long held plans to conquer Friesland.

In 1514 Douwama was leader of Karel’s Gelder army that invaded Friesland. In 1517 disagreements between the Duke of Gelre and Jancko concerning the planning of the governing board of Friesland, and Gelre refusing to recognize Douwama as hereditary-lord eventually led to Jancko changing allegiances. In 1521 Jancko swore an oath of allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the arch-enemy of the Duke of Gelre. The Frisians chose Jancko Douwama as their imperial stadtholder in 1522.

The emperor Charles V, however, suspected that Jancko was an infiltrator for the Gelderse and in 1523 Jancko was locked up in castle Vilvoorde, Belgium, where he died in 1533.

Jancko wrote many accounts of Frisian history.

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