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| Saxon Wars | |||||||||
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 Frankish expansion from 481 to 814 | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Widukind  | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown |
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TheSaxon Wars were the campaigns and insurrections of the thirty-three years from 772, whenCharlemagne first enteredSaxony with the intent to conquer, to 804, when the last rebellion oftribesmen was defeated. In all, 18 campaigns were fought, primarily in what is now northernGermany. They resulted in the incorporation of Saxony into theFrankish realm andtheir forcible conversion fromGermanic paganism toChristianity.[1]
The Saxons were divided into four subgroups in four regions. Nearest to the ancient Frankish kingdom ofAustrasia wasWestphalia, and farthest wasEastphalia. In between the two kingdoms was that ofEngria (or Engern), and north of the three, at the base of theJutland peninsula, wasNordalbingia. Despite repeated setbacks, the Saxons resisted steadfastly, returning to raid Charlemagne's domains as soon as he turned his attention elsewhere. Their main leader,Widukind, was a resilient and resourceful opponent, but eventually was defeated and baptized (in 785).
In mid-January 772, the sacking and burning of the church ofDeventer by a Saxon expedition was thecasus belli for the first war waged by Charlemagne against the Saxons. It began with a Frankish invasion of Saxon territory and the subjugation of the Engrians and destruction of their sacred symbolIrminsul nearPaderborn in 772 or 773 atEresburg. Irminsul may have been a hollow tree trunk, presumably representing the pillar supporting the skies — similar to theNordic treeYggdrasil and apparently a common belief among the Germanic peoples. Charlemagne's campaign led all the way to theWeser River and destroyed several major Saxon strongholds. After negotiating with some Saxon nobles and obtaining hostages, Charlemagne turned his attention to his war against theLombards in northernItaly; but Saxon free tenants, led byWidukind, continued to resist and raided Frankish lands in theRhine region. Armed confrontations continued unabated for years.
Charlemagne's second campaign came in the year 775. Then he marched through Westphalia, conquering the fort ofSigiburg, and crossed Engria, where he defeated the Saxons again. Finally, in Eastphalia, he defeated them, and their leaderHessi converted to Christianity. He returned through Westphalia, leaving encampments at Sigiburg andEresburg. All of Saxony except Nordalbingia was under his control, but the recalcitrant Saxons would not submit for long.
After warring in Italy, he returned very rapidly to Saxony (making it toLippe before the Saxons knew he left Italy) for the third time in 776, when a rebellion destroyed his fortress at Eresburg. The Saxons were once again brought to heel, though Widukind fled to theDanes. Charlemagne built a new camp atKarlstadt. In 777, he called a national diet at Paderborn to integrate Saxony fully into the Frankish kingdom. Many Saxons werebaptised. TheCarmen de conversione Saxonum celebrates this event.
The chief purpose of the diet was to bring Saxony closer to Christianity.Missionaries, mainlyAnglo-Saxons fromEngland, were recruited to carry out this task. Charlemagne issued a number ofdecrees designed to break Saxon resistance and to inflictcapital punishment on anyone observingheathen practices or disrespecting the king's peace. His severe and uncompromising position, which earned him the title "butcher of Saxons", caused his close adviserAlcuin of York, laterabbot ofMarmoutier Abbey,Tours, to urge leniency, asGod's word should be spread not by the sword but by persuasion; but the wars continued.
In summer 779, Charlemagne again went into Saxony and conquered Eastphalia, Engria, and Westphalia. At a diet nearLippspringe, he divided the land into missionary districts and Frankishcountships. He himself assisted in several mass baptisms (780). He then returned to Italy, and there was no Saxon revolt. From 780 to 782, the land had peace.
Charlemagne returned in 782 to Saxony and instituted acode of law, theLex Frisionum, and appointed counts, both Saxon and Frank. The laws were severe on religious issues, namely the native paganism of the Saxons. This stirred a renewal of the old conflict. That year, in autumn, Widukind returned and led a revolt that resulted in many assaults on the church. The Saxons invaded the area of theChatti, a Germanic tribe already converted by SaintBoniface and firmly in Charlemagne's empire. Widukind won over a Frankish army at theBattle of Süntel while Charles was campaigning against theSorbs. It was in response to this setback that Charlemagne, at theBlood court of Verden, ordered the beheading of 4,500 Saxons who had rebelled. Upon thisBlutgericht, some historians have stated the massacre did not happen, or that it was actually a battle, but according to Alessandro Barbero, none of these claims are credible.[2] The action led to two straight years of constant warfare (783–785), with Charlemagne wintering in central Saxony, atMinden. Gradually, the Franks gained the upper hand. The turning point came in 785, when Widukind had himself baptized and sworefealty to Charlemagne. It was with the conclusion of this war that Charlemagne could have claimed to have conquered Saxony, and the land had peace for the next seven years, though revolts continued sporadically until 804.
In 792, the Westphalians rose up against their masters in response to forcible recruitment for wars against theAvars. The Eastphalians and Nordalbingians joined them in 793, but the insurrection did not catch on as previous ones and was completely put down by 794.
An Engrian rebellion followed closely in 796, but Charlemagne's personal presence and the presence of loyal Christian Saxons andSlavs immediately crushed it. In the battle ofBornhöved in 798, theObotrite allies of Charlemagne underThrasco defeated theNordalbingian Saxons, killing 2,800–4,000 of them. The last insurrection of the Engrian people occurred in 804, more than thirty years after Charlemagne's first campaign against them. This time, the most unruly tribe of them all, the Nordalbingians, found themselves effectively disempowered to rebel. Charlemagne deported 10,000 of them toNeustria and gave their now vacant lands to the loyal king of the Obotrites.Einhard, Charlemagne's biographer, said on the closing of the conflict:
The war that had lasted so many years was at length ended by their acceding to the terms offered by the King; which were renunciation of their national religious customs and the worship of devils, acceptance of the sacraments of the Christian faith and religion, and union with the Franks to form one people.
Towards the end of the wars, Charlemagne had begun to place more emphasis on reconciliation. In 797, he eased the special laws, and in 802, Saxoncommon law was codified as theLex Saxonum. This was accompanied by the establishment ofecclesiastic structures (includingbishoprics in Paderborn,Münster,Bremen,Minden, Verden andOsnabrück) that secured the conversion of the Saxon people. The last Saxon uprising was theStellinga, which occurred between 841 and 845.
Alluding to the Saxons, the contemporary poet of thePaderborn Epic praises terror as a means of conversion: "What the contrary mind and perverse soul refuse to do with persuasion, / Let them leap to accomplish when compelled by fear."[3]
One of Charlemagne's famed capitularies outlined part of the religious intent of his interactions with the Saxons. In 785, he issued theCapitulatio de partibus Saxoniae which asserted, "If any one of the race of the Saxons hereafter concealed among them shall have wished to hide himself unbaptized, and shall have scorned to come to baptism and shall have wished to remain a pagan, let him be punished by death."[4]
However,Alcuin took issue with the emperor's policy of forcing pagans to be baptised on pain of death, arguing, "Faith is a free act of the will, not a forced act. We must appeal to the conscience, not compel it by violence. You can force people to be baptised, but you cannot force them to believe." His arguments seem to have prevailed – Charlemagne abolished the death penalty for paganism in 797.[5]