Like most other German tribes, Frisian origin rests in the 5th century with leaders who named themselves kings. The earlier kings must be considered as some kind of warleaders, whose side was chosen by local powers and only during the time they were at war. The power they had was defined by the way they could bind people to them; the limits were quite flexible.
Like the Anglo-Saxons world, the Frisian territory was original separated into a great number of small political areas each with his own king. The names of these kings are mostly unknown. Later on at the end of the 6th century and at the beginning of the 7th century a federation of Frisian tribes arose united under a central power.
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