The name was first recorded in a 12th-century document. At the time, the islands differed considerably from the mainland regarding both their social constitution and political status. Today parts of the former Uthlande are submerged in the Wadden Sea — especially large parts of the islandStrand — or have themselves become a part of the mainland by the construction of dikes or land reclamation. On the Danish mainland the Hundreds later became the largest administrative subdivisions. They were composed of several parishes. In mainland Jutland there were also the syssels which used to comprise a number of Hundreds, but were completely unknown in the Uthlande. The localNorth Frisians became direct subjects of the Danish king and fought for him against the Holy Roman Empire and Holstein. However they succeeded in gaining a large-scale autonomy in the Middle Ages. They were exempt from the Code of Jutland of 1241 and were allowed to judge according to Frisian law. When Eric IV of Denmark tried to collect the plogpennig, a tax of one penny on every plow, in the Uthlande as well, he was forced to leave the area after having lost a number of knights due to resistance against the new tax law. His brother, killer and successor Abel even lost the greatest part of his army and his life when he tried to again enforce the plogpennig in Frisia in 1252. In 1261 the city ofHamburg signed a peace treaty with Utlandia but it is unclear whether this meant only the three Hundreds of Eiderstedt or the entire Uthlande. Until 1284, central administrative powers had become established in a way that Valdemar IV, Duke of Schleswig was able to contract a treaty with Bremen in the name of the Frisians.
Hundreds of the Uthlande
During the Middle Ages, the following Hundreds were part of the Uthlande:
This list of areas varies according to sources and years and the shape of the coastline has changed considerably during the last centuries. Important sources include the Danish Census Book of king Valdemar II of Denmark, and historicising maps by Johannes Mejer. In the Census Book there is a separate list of all inhabited islands of the west coast. The three placenames Gaestaenacka, Hwaelae major and Hwaelae minor that are mentioned there cannot be found and confirmed today. The common assumption that these islands lay west off Strand and were destroyed in 14th centurystorm surges is contested. The names may have resulted from faulty transcriptions by a scribe who tried to translate the names of DeStrand, Eydaerstath and Hewerschop into Latin language.
Uthlande Region
In 2002 the association Regionale Partnerschaft Uthlande e.V. was established which aims to promote the "Region Uthlande" that comprises the islands and halligen of Nordfriesland.
