Editing History of the Netherlands (section)

===The Frisians===
The language and culture of most of the people who lived in the area that is now Holland were originally [[Frisia]]n. The sparsely populated area was known as "West Friesland" (''Westfriesland''). A common theory states that Frankish migration from either Flanders, Utrecht or both displaced the Frisians in Holland, however no evidence has been found in support of this theory and more recent studies have suggested that Frisians from the mouth of the Rhine adopted the Franconian language, feudal system and religion,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dijkstra |first=M.F.P. |title=Rondom de mondingen van Rijn & Maas: landschap en bewoning tussen de 3e en 9e eeuw in Zuid-Holland, in het bijzonder de Oude Rijnstreek |publisher=Sidestone Press |year=2011}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Vaan |first=Michiel de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eEVADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA42 |title=The Dawn of Dutch: Language contact in the Western Low Countries before 1200 |date=15 December 2017 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |isbn=9789027264503 |pages=42–44 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Levelt |first=Sjoerd |title=Jan van Naaldwijk's Chronicles of Holland |publisher=Verloren |year=2011 |pages=37}}</ref> spreading this new 'Hollandic' identity northward over the centuries (the part of North Holland situated north of [[Alkmaar]] is still colloquially known as West Friesland).

The rest of [[Friesland]] in the north continued to maintain its independence during this time. It had its own institutions (collectively called the "[[Frisian freedom]]") and resented the imposition of the feudal system and the patriciate found in other European towns. They regarded themselves as allies of Switzerland. The Frisian battle cry was "better dead than a slave". They later lost their independence when they were defeated in 1498 by the German [[Landsknecht]] mercenaries of [[Albert III, Duke of Saxony|Duke Albrecht of Saxony-Meissen]].