The discovery was made by Dr Han Nijdam, an Old Frisian specialist and historical anthropologist at the Fryske Akademy, the Frisian Academy for research into the history, language and culture of Fryslân, while examining a centuries-old text about King Redbad.
Embedded within the text, Dr Nijdam identified a song that the research team argues preserves what was presented as the king's own voice. It recounts how the ageing and gravely ill ruler wrestled with the decision of whether to accept Christian baptism, at a time when Christianity was steadily gaining ground in Frisia at the expense of pre-Christian belief.
In the dream, the god Woden appears and urges Redbad not to abandon the old faith, promising him a glorious afterlife in return. The researchers suggest that the song originated in East Frisia, which at the time had not yet come under Frankish rule. According to the tradition, Redbad ultimately refused baptism.
Reinterpreting One of Frisia's Best-Known Legends
The discovery also offers a new interpretation of the best-known story about Redbad: the legend in which the king withdraws his foot from the baptismal font rather than convert to Christianity. The episode is preserved in the Vita Wulframni, the Christian Life of Saint Wulfram.
In the Vita Wulframni, the account of Redbad's failed baptism is immediately followed by the story of his dream. Read in this order, however, the narrative appears incomplete.
Dr Han Nijdam explains:
"If these two episodes are understood as the Christian adaptation of an earlier song about Redbad and Woden that circulated during the second half of the eighth century in the still non-Christian regions of Frisia, everything falls into place. In the original narrative, the dream came first, followed only afterwards by the failed baptism. Redbad already knew what Woden had promised him after death and could therefore withdraw his foot from the baptismal font with complete confidence."
Confirmation from Scandinavian Sources
To test this interpretation, historian Hilbert Vinkenoog and Dr Petter Jensen, a specialist in Old Norse language, literature and religion, compared the reconstructed narrative with Old Norse poetic sources in which dreams, Odin and Valhalla likewise play a central role. Their analysis strengthens the case that the Frisian story of Redbad and Woden formed part of a wider North Sea tradition of pre-Christian royal narratives and deathbed visions shared across the Germanic world.
A More Powerful Frisian Kingship Than Previously Thought
Alongside the discovery concerning Valhalla, the research also presents a more nuanced picture of Frisian kingship. Whereas Redbad has traditionally been studied through Christian and Frankish sources, this project is the first to examine his reign from a comparative Germanic perspective, drawing on evidence from across northern Europe, including Scandinavia.
The findings suggest that Redbad ruled as a sacral king, presiding over rituals and sacrificial ceremonies. They also indicate that the Frisian kingdom, which at its height stretched from the Belgian coast to Denmark and extended inland to the river region around Utrecht, functioned as a network of regional rulers who acknowledged Redbad as their overlord. Together, they formed a political force powerful enough that even the Franks were compelled to reckon with it.
Experience the Discovery Before Reading the Research
These new insights form an important foundation for the exhibition Redbad: The Legendary King, on display at the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden from 5 September 2026 until 7 February 2027. The exhibition presents Redbad as the overlord of Frisia and culminates in an immersive interpretation of Valhalla, which forms the centrepiece of the final gallery.
Visitors will not have to wait for the scholarly publication to explore this discovery. From this autumn, they will be able to experience the research and its findings in the exhibition itself. The academic research behind the discovery will be published in the chapter "Sacral Kingship: A Song of Redbad and Woden", by Dr Han Nijdam, Dr Ewoud van Aalst, Dr Petter Jensen, Dr Arjan Sterken and Hilbert Vinkenoog, in the peer-reviewed scholarly volume accompanying the REDBAD project, to be published by Brepols in February 2027.
The exhibition is presented by the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden, the capital of Fryslân in the northern Netherlands. As European Capital of Culture in 2018, Leeuwarden has developed a strong international profile in the fields of culture and heritage. The city is also home to the Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics, the Netherlands’ national museum dedicated to ceramics.
Part of a Major European Research Project
The REDBAD project is a Dutch-German collaboration bringing together archaeologists, historians, museums and educational institutions. It is supported by the Interreg VI Germany–Netherlands Programme.
Alongside the exhibition and the scholarly publication, the project includes a public book, an educational programme and the historical role-playing game Mythwatch: The Age of Redbad.
The researchers note that new insights into the earliest history of Frisia are emerging only gradually because very few written sources from this period have survived. By combining archaeological discoveries with new historical research, the REDBAD project is helping to fill this gap and reshape our understanding of the early medieval North Sea world.
Redbad: The Legendary King will be on display at the Fries Museum from 5 September 2026 until 7 February 2027, after which it will travel to the Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum Emden in Germany.
