Frankish Kingdom
Carolingian Dyn.






The Saxons



In the 4th century A.D., the SAXONES emerged as a Germanic people, formed as a conglomerate of earlier, smaller peoples, on which Saxon identity was forced. The Saxons were pagans and warlike. They had no clear state organization, no instituted kingship; the country was divided in four parts, Westphalia, Engern, Eastphalia and North Albingia. The society was divided in strata of noblemen, freemen and serfs (men of semi-free status). Common bands unifying the Saxons were their religion and most importantly their SAXON LAW.
The Saxons continued to press on neighbouring, non-Saxon areas. Normandy in late Roman times was referred to as LITUS SAXONICUS (the Saxon coast, or more properly the coast frequently raided by the Saxons). Saxony, i.e. the lands inhabited by the Saxons in the 5th to 7th century, of course was where many of the Anglo-Saxons came from (Anglo referring to Anglia, a region in eastern Schleswig).

The Saxons were farmer-warriors; there were no towns in Saxony. The Saxons mostly lived on isolated farms or small villages. As central institutions there were sacred sites such as the IRMINSUL, the EXTERNSTEINE or gatherings where court was held, in the open.
To occasional attempts of missionaries to preach among them, they reacted with scepticism and violent resistance.
In 772, Charlemagne subdued the Saxons; the forced the people to baptize and had Saxon law codified, overformed Saxon law that is, including provisions protecting the clergy and improving the position of the Saxon nobility, which he thus hoped to tie to the Frankish cause. Under WIDUKIND, the Saxons rose in revolt, burnt down the churches and killed the priests. It took the Franks several years of campaigning to subdue the Saxons (-804).
Saxony became a Duchy within the Frankish Kingdom; the kings acquired property at DORTMUND, LIPPSPRINGE and around GOSLAR at the foot of the Harz mountains. The Frankish kings (and their East Frankish/German successors) would frequently stay at these places. 804 marks the integration of Saxony into the Christian Frankish Kingdom, although pagan revolts sporadically took place in the course of the 9th century. Ecclesiastically, Saxony was split among the Archdioceses of Cologne, of Mainz and the Archdiocesis of Hamburg-Bremen, established in 833.



EXTERNAL
LINKS 		Widukind, from Catholic Encyclopedia
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2000, last revised on November 12th 2004

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