Igo Galema was the fifth potestaat (or elected governor) of Friesland

Friesland

Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...

, now a province of the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

.

Biography

Not much is known of his life. However the history of Friesland says that Galema was elected in 876 as potestaat. He would have been an excellent soldier, who did everything possible for the peace and prosperity of the Frisian people. He also reinforced the seawalls and erected several facilities to inhibit the incursion of the Vikings. The old custom of coastal surveillance, which was neglected by his predecessors, was reintroduced by Galema.

Sometimes, the name of Igo is written as Ygo II Galema, to avoid confusion with Ygo Gales Galama

Ygo Gales Galama

Ygo Gales Galama was a 15th century Frisian warlord and Galama-patriarch.- Family and marriage :He was the son of Gale Yges Galama and Trijn Douwesdr Harinxma. The marriage of Gale and Trijn was an attempt to create a provisional peace between the warring factions of the Vetkopers and Schieringers...

, or Ygo I Galama who would have been the Frisian king Beroald (540-597), and according to the stories won a victory over Dagobert

Dagobert I

Dagobert I was the king of Austrasia , king of all the Franks , and king of Neustria and Burgundy . He was the last Merovingian dynast to wield any real royal power...

 (born 603), the son of the Merovingian king Chlothar II (613 - 629).

Also Ezonstad would agree Galema residents have particularly to be on their guard against the Vikings. On that occasion, he would have said:
Haadet goede wacht tyan da Nordera oordt, Want vuyt da Grimma herna comt ws all quaed voort.

(He waits at the northerly place, because from this sector comes trouble for us all)

Galema probably died in 910. According to some sources he already died in the first years of his reign.

His coat of arms is seen in the shield of Oudega

Oudega

Oudega is a small village in Gaasterlân-Sleat in the province Friesland of the Netherlands and has around the 270 citizens ....

 (town in Gaasterlân-Sleat

Gaasterlân-Sleat

Gaasterlân-Sleat is a municipality in the northern Netherlands. Its official name is in West Frisian. The name in Dutch is Gaasterland-Sloten .- Population centres :...

). It contains a fleur-de-lis and a stins.

He was preceded by Hessel Hermana

Hessel Hermana

Rodulf Haraldsson , sometimes Rudolf, from Old Norse Hróðulfr, was a Viking leader who raided the British Isles, West Francia, Frisia, and Lotharingia in the 860s and 870s. He was a son of Harald the Younger and thus a nephew of Rorik of Dorestad, and a relative of both Harald Klak and Godfrid...

 and succeeded by Gosse Ludigman

Gosse Ludigman

Gosse Ludigman was the sixth potestaat of Friesland, now a province of the Netherlands.Gosse lived at Staveren, and was married with Tetta Brederode. In the chronicle of Egmond, by the fifteenth century Carmelite John of Leiden, he said...