TheSaxons, sometimes called theOld Saxons orContinental Saxons, were theGermanic people ofearly medieval "Old" Saxony (Latin:Antiqua Saxonia) which became aCarolingian "stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany.[1] Many of their neighbours were, like them, speakers ofWest Germanic dialects, including the inlandFranks andThuringians to the south, and the coastalFrisians andAngles to the north who were among the peoples who were originally referred to as "Saxons" in the context of early raiding and settlements in Roman Britain andGaul. To their east wereObotrites and otherSlavic-speaking peoples.
The political history of these continental Saxons is unclear until the 8th century and the conflict between their semi-legendary heroWidukind and the Frankish emperorCharlemagne. They do not appear to have been politically united until about the generations leading up to that conflict, and before then they were reportedly ruled by regional "satraps". Previous Frankish rulers ofAustrasia, bothMerovingian andCarolingian, fought numerous campaigns against Saxons, both in the west near the Lippe, Ems and Weser, and further east, nearThuringia andBohemia, in the area which later medieval sources referred to as "North Swabia".
Charlemagne conquered all the Saxons after winning the longSaxon Wars (772–804), and forced them to convert toChristianity, annexing Saxony into the Carolingian domain. Under the Carolingian Franks, Saxony became a single duchy, fitting it within the basic political structure of the laterHoly Roman Empire. The early rulers of thisDuchy of Saxony expanded their territories, and therefore those of the Holy Roman empire, to the east, at the expense of Slavic-speakingWends.
Long before any clear historical mention of Saxony as a country, the name "Saxons" was also used to refer to coastal raiders who attacked theRoman Empire from north of theRhine, in a similar sense to the much later termViking. These early raiders and settlers includedFrisians,Angles andJutes, and the term Saxon was not at that time a term for any specific tribe. There is however a single possible classical reference to a smaller and much earlier Saxon tribe, but the interpretation of this text ("Axones" in most surviving manuscripts) is disputed. According to this proposal, the original Saxon tribe lived north of the mouth of theElbe, close to the probable homeland of theAngles, in the Saxon area which came to be known later asNordalbingia.[2]
Today the Saxons of Germany no longer form a distinctive ethnic group or country, but their name lives on in the names of several regions andstates of Germany, includingLower Saxony (German:Niedersachsen) which includes most of the original duchy. Their language evolved intoLow German which was thelingua franca of theHanseatic League, but has faced a long and gradual decline since the Late Medieval period as a literary, administrative and, to a significant extent, cultural language in favor ofDutch andGerman.
The remains of a seax together with a reconstructed replica
The name of the Saxons has traditionally been said to derive from a kind of knife used in this period and called aseax in Old English, andsachs inOld High German.[3][4]
The term "Saxon" was first definitely used in written records to describe coastal raiders who attacked theRoman Empire from regions north of theRhine using boats. At this time, the term had a similar sense to the much later term "Viking".[5] These early raiders and settlers called Saxons includedFrisians,Angles andJutes, whose countries stretched from what is now the Netherlands to what is now Denmark, and included coastal parts of the territory which came to be called Saxony. It has been proposed that these coastal Saxons and the later Saxons of Carolingian times should be seen as distinct but related peoples, who were referred to by the same name, such as theDutch andDeutschen (Germans) today.[6]
Significant numbers of these early Saxons settled within the empire, in what later became northern France and England. England, rather than Saxony, was sometimes written of as the Saxon homeland. To avoid confusion, later writers in the eighth century such asBede and the author of theRavenna Cosmography referred to the Saxons of Saxony in Germany as the "old Saxons", and their country as "old Saxony", and this differentiation is still often used by historians today when discussing this period. In contrast, the settlers once called Saxons in England became part of a newOld English-speaking nation, now commonly referred to as theAnglo Saxons, or simply "the English". This brought together localRomano-British populations, Saxons, and other migrants from the same North Sea region, includingFrisians,Jutes, andAngles. The Angles are the source of the term "English" which became the more commonly-used collective term. The term "Anglo-Saxon", combining the names of the Angles and the Saxons, also came into use by the eighth century, initially in the work ofPaul the Deacon, to distinguish the Germanic-speaking inhabitants of Britain from continental Saxons. However, both the Saxons of Britain and those of Old Saxony in northern Germany long continued to be referred to as "Saxons" in an indiscriminate manner.
Map of the Roman Empire and contemporary indigenous Europe in 125AD, showing the location of the Saxons in Northern Germany, according to some copies of Ptolemy's work
Ptolemy'sGeographia, written in the second century, is sometimes considered to contain the first mention of the Saxons. Some copies of this text mention a tribe calledSaxones in the area just to the north of the lowerElbe, and there were also three islands north of the Elbe's mouth which were called the Saxon islands.[7] However, other versions refer to the same tribe asAxones. Some scholars such as Mathias Springer have proposed that this may be a misspelling of the tribe thatTacitus in hisGermania calledAviones. According to this theory,Saxones was the result of later scribes trying to correct a name that meant nothing to them.[8] On the other hand,Schütte, in his analysis of such problems inPtolemy's Maps of Northern Europe, believed thatSaxones is correct. He notes that the loss of first letters occurs in numerous places in various copies of Ptolemy's work, and also that the manuscripts withoutSaxones are generally inferior overall.[9] According to Liccardo "Even though the reference is found in a section of theGeographia difficult to interpret, the scholarly consensus considers this passage to be genuine".[7]
For the majority of scholars who accept the existence of Saxons in Ptolemy, their reappearance as a much more important and widespread people in third century records is nonetheless remarkable.
Eutropius the historian, a contemporary and companion of emperorJulian (died 363), claimed that Saxon and Frankish raiders had already attacked the North Sea coast nearBoulogne-sur-Mer almost a century earlier in about 285, whenCarausius was posted there to defend against them. However, because the terms Saxon and Frank were used for peoples from north of the Rhine in the time Eutropius and Julian, it is very likely that he was using the terms anachronistically.[10] ThePanegyrici Latini, which were written soon after those events instead mentionFranks,Chamavi andFrisians, but not Saxons, indicating that these and possibly others entered the Rhine and Scheldt delta areas within the empire and held control of it for decades. The panegyrics seem to imply that the Chamavi and Frisians were types of Franks, at this time. The area was brought under Roman governance, byConstantius Chlorus, who settled many of the conquered in underpopulated parts of Gaul. Constantius also defeated the rebel Carausius in Britain, and his Roman forces are said to have slaughtered barbarian mercenaries there, and "those who lately imitated the barbarian in their mode of dress and flowing red hair".[11]
The first undisputed mentions of the Saxon name come from the 4th century. In about 314 AD theLaterculus Veronensis mentions the Saxons in a list of barbarian peoples under the influence of Rome. By about 400 AD theNotitia Dignitatum shows that the Romans (perhaps already much earlier) had created several military commands specifically to defend against Saxon raiders. TheLitus Saxonicum ('Saxon Shore'), was composed of nine forts stretching around the south-eastern corner of England. On the other side of the English channel two coastal military commands were created, over theTractus Armoricanus in what is now Brittany and Normandy, and the coast ofBelgica Secunda in what later became Flanders and Picardy. TheNotitia Dignitatum also lists the existence of a Saxon military unit (anAla) in the Roman military, which was stationed in what is now Lebanon and northern Palestine. ThisAla primum Saxonum already existed by 363 when Julian used them in Arabia against thePersian empire. Roman military accessories are found in northern Germany in the 4th and 5th centuries apparently indicating the return of soldiers who had served the empire.[12]
During the 4th century Julian himself mentioned the Saxons in a speech as close allies ofMagnentius in 350 when he declared himself emperor inGaul. Julian described the Saxons and Franks as kinsmen of Magnentius himself, living "beyond the Rhine and on the shores of the western sea".[13] In 357/8 Julian apparently came into conflict with Saxons himself when he campaigned in the Rhine regions againstAlemanni, Franks and Saxons. The later historianZosimus, writing about 500 AD about this period, reported the involvement of the Saxons, "who exceed all the barbarians in those regions, in courage, strength and hardiness". They sent out, according to Zosimus, the "Quadi", a part of the Saxons, against the Roman lands but they were blocked by the Franks who resided near them. These "Quadi" therefore used boats to get around the Franks, and made it to Batavia (Betuwe) in the Rhine delta.[14] Scholars generally believe the name "Quadi" to be a mistake, perhaps by a copyist. Based upon other more contemporary reports of these campaigns it is likely he was referring to theChamavi, who were however normally listed as Franks. This implies that the term "Saxon" was probably not a clear ethnic distinction at this time, but perhaps rather designated those who attack by boat.[15]
Several more records mentioning 4th century Saxons can be dated:
In 368, during the reign ofValentinian I, Ammianus (books 26 and 27) reported that Britain was troubled by theScoti, two tribes ofPicts (theDicalydones andVerturiones), theAttacotti and the Saxons.Count Theodosius, the father of the future emperorTheodosius I led a successful campaign to recover control in Britain. In an inscription preserved inStobi inNorth Macedonia Theodosius was described as the terror of Saxony. This is the earliest known reference to a country of the Saxons apart from the disputed mention by Ptolemy, but this Saxony is likely to be in Britain.[16] A poetic account of his battle with the Saxons associates it with theOrkney islands off Scotland, but he probably also battled Saxons in the Rhine delta region.[17]
In Gaul in 370 (Ammianus, books 28 and 30) the Saxons "overcoming the dangers of the Ocean advanced at rapid pace towards the Roman frontier" invading the maritime districts in Gaul. Valentinian's forces tricked and overwhelmed them, by a "device which was treacherous but expedient", "and stripped of their booty the robbers thus forcibly crushed had almost returned enriched with the spoils which they took".
In 373 Saxons were defeated at a place called Deuso which was in Frankish, but not Roman territory. This was therefore probably an early mention of an inland force of Saxons.[18]
Not long before the usurper emperorMagnus Maximus died in 388, according toBishop Ambrose of Milan, he was attacked by Franks and Saxons as divine retribution for his rebuilding of a synagogue burned down in Rome.[19]
In many cases the Saxons were associated with using boats for their raids, although the first mentions also involve attacks within the Rhine-Maas delta region. Special mentions of the fearful 4th-century Saxon coastal surprise attacks were made not only by Ammianus, but also by the poetClaudian.[20]
In the 5th century, many records link Saxons with Britain and Gaul, although a rough description of the homeland of these Saxons was given byHilarion who says the Frankish homeland lay between the Saxons andAlemanni, placing them therefore north of the Franks.[21] It is likely that the term Saxon was still mainly being used to describe northern raiders in general, and not a specific people. Writing in the Byzantine empire in the 6th century, the historianProcopius described only three large nations living in "Brittia", Angles, Frisians, and Britons, and he does not mention Saxons at all.[22] The reputation for shocking coastal raids continued. In the late 5th century a dramatic description of Saxon raiding was written bySidonius Apollinaris writing to a friend who was assigned to a coastal defensive post inSaintonge nearBordeaux.
Early in this period it is believed that Stilicho, the most powerful military leader in the western Roman empire until 408, campaigned in Britain and northern Gaul, and reorganized the defences against the Saxons. Later in his career a series of crises in Italy, Gaul, Iberia and North Africa meant that military resources were not available for Britain. According to theChronica Gallica of 452, which was probably written in present day southern France, Britain was ravaged by Saxon invaders in 409 or 410. By this time,Constantine "III" was declared emperor in Britain and Gaul. He was killed in 411. The Romano-British citizens reportedly expelled their Roman officials during this period, and never again re-joined the Roman empire.[23] Writing in the mid-sixth century,Procopius states that after the overthrow of Constantine "III" in 411, "the Romans never succeeded in recovering Britain, but it remained from that time under tyrants."[24]
In 441–442 AD, Saxons are mentioned in theChronica Gallica of 452 which says that the "British provinces, which to this time had suffered various defeats and misfortunes, are reduced to Saxon rule".[25][26]Gildas, writing in the 6th century, apparently knew of these same events from his grandparents' generation. According to him, a Saxon force based in the east of Britain (Bede writing in the eighth century believed they were based on theIsle of Thanet) were invited asfoederati to Britain, in order to help defend against raids by Picts and Scots. They revolted over their pay and plundered the whole country, initiating a long war which theRomano-British eventually won. However, Britain was now divided into corrupt "tyrannies". There are very few records of the period, but by the time of Bede in the 8th century most of England was ruled by Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.[27]
In what is now France, during the 460s, an apparent fragment of a chronicle preserved in theHistory of the Franks ofGregory of Tours, gives a confusing report about a number of battles involving one "Adovacrius", who led a group of Saxons based upon islands somewhere near theLoire. He took hostages atAnger in France, but his force was subsequently retaken by Roman and Frankish forces led byChilderic I, a Frank. A "great war was waged between the Saxons and the Romans but the Saxons, turning their backs, with the Romans pursuing, lost many of their men to the sword. Their islands were captured and ravaged by the Franks, many people being killed." Though there is no consensus, many historians believe that this Adovacrius may be the same person asOdoacer, the future king of Italy, who is mentioned in the same part of Gregory's text as a person who subsequently allied with Childeric to fight Alemanni in Italy.[28][29][30]
In comparison to mentions of the early Saxons raiders and settlers in Britain or Gaul, there are few mentions of the Saxons in Germany before the 8th century. Interpretation of the records is also complicated not only by the continuing references to the other Saxons, but also because the Saxons living in present day Germany probably weren't originally unified within one Saxon political entity. It is therefore not clear whether some early continental "Saxons" could also sometimes have come under other designations such asWarini,Frisians orThuringians. Nevertheless some records during Merovingian times are clearly about Saxons living within what is now Northern Germany, north of the Franks.
In about 531 the Franks, led by the eldest son of Clovis I,Theuderic I conquered the still independent kingdom ofThuringia, which henceforth became a kingdom under Frankish overlordship. Centuries later, medieval writers claimed that the early Saxons had assisted the Franks, and even that they had been brought from England for this purpose, but no contemporary sources mention this, and historians doubt that there was any conflict between the Saxons and the Thuringian kingdom.[31]
In 555, after the death of Theuderic's grandsonTheudebald, Theuderic's younger half-brotherClothar I (also spelled Lothar) inherited rule over the Rhine regions. It is reported by Gregory of Tours (IV.10) andMarius of Avenches that Saxons "revolted", and the new ruler Clothar led an army in 556 to ravage Saxony and Thuringia. Thuringia, both authors mention, had supported the Saxons.[32] In a possibly separate incident Gregory reports that Chlothar fought Saxons in 556 or 557 who had been stirred up by his own brotherChildebert I to attack his territory, going as far asDeutz on the Rhine. (Springer argues against assuming that this was one incident, or involved one single group of Saxons, because Thuringia is quite far from Deutz.)[32] Gregory of Tours (IV.14), pursuing an ethical topic which he is known for, reported that Chlothar was forced to fight by the Franks who did not want to negotiate, and that the Franks were subsequently beaten. However, later records indicate that a group of Saxons began paying tribute to the kings of Austrasia during Chlothar's reign.[33]
Sigebert I, the son of Clothar I who ruled Austrasia until 575, was praised by the poetVenantius Fortunatus for defeating the "Thuringian Saxons". (Springer suggests that this was his way of distinguishing the mainland Saxons from the Anglo-Saxons of Britain.)[34]
In 612, Sigebert's grandsonTheuderic II attacked his own brotherTheudebert II atZülpich, with a force of Saxons, Thuringians, and other people from east of the Rhine.[35]
Heroic stories set in the 620s were written centuries later about Sigbert's nephew and eventual successor in Austrasia,Chlothar II and his defeat of Saxons led byBerthoald near theWeser, together with son Dagobert I.[36]
In 632,Dagobert I, son of Clothar II, and the most powerful king of the Franks at that time, was met by Saxon messengers inMainz in a period of war with theWends underSamo, who were attacking Thuringia. These Saxons negotiated, or attempted to negotiate, the end of a tribute of 500 cows per year which they had been paying, in return for a promise to defend against the Wends at their own expense.[37]
There were also Saxon populations in this period who were living in neither England, nor what would become Saxony.
In 568/9, some Saxons were living in the Austrasian kingdom ofSigebert II, possibly in the Champagne region, and they accompanied theLombards into Italy under the leadership ofAlboin and settled there for some time. Sigebert in the meantime allowed aSuevian group to replace them in Austrasia. In 572, they returned to Gaul from Italy, raiding south-eastern Gaul as far asStablo, nowEstoublon, and were defeated by theGallo-Roman generalMummolus. They were allowed to return to Italy, gather their families and belongings and return to pass through the region again to go north. After once again plundering the countryside, they were stopped at theRhône by Mummolus and forced to pay compensation for what they had robbed.[38] Upon arrival at their original home they were furious about the Suevian settlers, and refused to negotiate against them. Gregory of Tours, our main source for these events, claims that there was divine intervention, allowing the much smaller Suebian group to utterly defeat the Saxons in two battles.[39]
One notable group lived on the Normandy coast, nearBayeux. In 589, the Saxons from the Bessin region near Bayeux wore their hair in theBreton fashion at the orders ofFredegund and fought with them as allies againstGuntram.[40] Beginning in 626, the Saxons of theBessin were used byDagobert I for his campaigns against theBasques. In 843 and 846 under kingCharles the Bald, other official documents mention apagus calledOtlinga Saxonia in the Bessin region, but the meaning ofOtlinga is unclear.
In southwestern France, in the late 6th century Chulderic the Saxon became a Duke north of theGaronne forChilderic II, after having previously been a subject of KingGuntram. A century later,Aeghyna, aDuke of Gascony, died in 638.[41] Both men are likely to have been Bayeux Saxons, although they may for example have come from Britain.[35]
The continental Saxons appear to have become consolidated by the end of the eighth century, partly as a result of interaction with the powerful Frankish kingdoms. The ancestors of Charlemagne, theArnulfings, took control of the neighbouring Austrasian kingdom of the Franks and sought to assert power over the peoples to the east including not only the Bavarians, Swabians and Thuringians, which were long under Frankish rule, but also the Saxons and Frisians. They also pressured the Saxons and Frisians to convert to Christianity. In 804 the emperorCharlemagne conquered the Saxons, and incorporated the Saxons into the Frankish empire as a Stem Duchy, similar to the older ones although there is no evidence that it had previously been a single kingdom. TheDuchy of Saxony (804–1296) covered Westphalia, Eastphalia, Angria and Nordalbingia, which is roughly equivalent to Holstein, the southern part of modern-day Schleswig-Holstein state, now bordering on Denmark.
In the 690s, Bede reported that a people known as theBoructuari were invaded by the pagan Saxons during a period when theSaint Suibert, an Anglo-Saxon missionary bishop assigned to Frisia at that time, who was doing missionary work in the area. This was probably near Frisia, and the area is widely believed to correspond to the Roman-eraBructeri, who lived had once lived near theLippe river.
From the same report of Bede about English missionaries in the 690s theTwo Ewalds were killed somewhere in Saxony while trying to convert one of the "satraps" of Saxony. The Ewalds apparently had the support of this local ruler, and alsoPepin of Herstal who was the effective ruler of Frankish Austrasia at this time.[42]
In 715, not long after the death of Pepin of Herstal, Frankish annals report that Saxons took control of "Hattuaria". In later centuries this name was given to the Frankish country nearCleves andXanten, between Rhine and Maas, but the area involved in this takeover may have been on opposite side of the Rhine.[43] It is named after a Roman era Frankish tribe, theChattuarii, who had once been the eastern neighbours of the Bructeri.Ammianus Marcellinus reported them to be living north of the Rhine in the 4th century.
In 718,Charles Martel, the son of Pepin, invaded Saxony as far as theWeser. He campaigned there again in 720, 724, 738, and possibly also in 722 and 728.[44]
In the 730s, Bede wrote hisEcclesiastical History of the English People, which mentions, for example, that the land of the Angles was once between those of the Saxons and Jutes, but was now empty.
Also in about this period theRavenna Cosmography was written which uses the same term "Old Saxony" to refer to the apparent continental homeland of the British Saxons who the writer understood to have came from this Old Saxony with their leader namedAnsehis. It describes the lands of the Saxons as lying on the Ocean coast between Frisia and the Danes. It also borders on Thuringia and contains the rivers "Lamizon", "Ipada", "Lippa" and "Limac" (generally interpreted as theEms,Pader,Lippe andLeine). This work names its source as a Gothic geographer named Marcomir, who had written an earlier study of Saxony.
In 743 two of the sons of Charles,Pepin the Short andCarloman, marched againstOdilo of Bavaria, who was nominally a Frankish subject. Carloman then turned north towards Saxony, or a part of it, which had sent troops to support Bavaria. After conquering thecastrum of Ho(o)hseoburg forced the Saxon duke (war leader)Theoderic to surrender at aplacitum held at that same place.[45] The brothersinvaded Saxony again the next year (744) and Theoderic was captured.[46]
In 748 Pepin the Short marched through Thuringia to Saxony, during a period when his half brotherGrifo was attempting seize power in Bavaria. The part of Saxony beyond Thuringia where he went is referred to in theAnnals of Metz as "North Swabia" and many of the Saxons there converted to Christianity at this time. The continuation of theChronicle of Fredegar claims that they accepted to return to go back to paying a tribute of 500 cows.[47]
In 751 Pepin was crowned as king, and in 753 he attacked the Saxons northeast of the Rhine in the area ofBad Iburg andBad Oeynhausen.[48]
In 758 Pepin attacked Saxony once more and agreed to a tribute of 330 horses per year from the defeated Saxons.[49]
The Saxons were conquered by Charlemagne after a long series of annual campaigns, theSaxon Wars (772–804). With defeat came enforcedbaptism andconversion as well as the union of the Saxons with the rest of the Frankish empire. Their sacred tree or pillar, a symbol ofIrminsul, was destroyed. Charlemagne deported 10,000Nordalbingian Saxons toNeustria and gave their largely vacant lands inWagria (approximately modernPlön and Ostholstein districts) to the loyal king of theAbotrites.Einhard, Charlemagne's biographer, says on the closing of this grand 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.
The Saxons long resisted becomingChristians[50] and being incorporated into the orbit of theFrankish kingdom.[51] In 776 the Saxons promised to convert to Christianity and vow loyalty to the king, but, during Charlemagne's campaign inHispania (778), the Saxons advanced toDeutz on theRhine and plundered along the river. This was an oft-repeated pattern when Charlemagne was distracted by other matters.[51]
UnderCarolingian rule, the Saxons were reduced to tributary status. There is evidence that the Saxons, as well as Slavic tributaries such as theAbodrites and theWends, often provided troops to their Carolingian overlords. The dukes of Saxony became kings (Henry I, the Fowler, 919) and later the first emperors (Henry's son,Otto I, the Great) of Germany during the tenth century, but they lost this position in 1024. The duchy was divided in 1180 when DukeHenry the Lion refused to follow his cousin, EmperorFrederick Barbarossa, into war inLombardy.
During theHigh Middle Ages, under theSalian emperors and, later, under theTeutonic Knights, German settlers moved east of theSaale into the area of a western Slavic tribe, theSorbs. The Sorbs were graduallyGermanised. This region subsequently acquired the name Saxony through political circumstances, though it was initially called theMarch of Meissen. The rulers ofMeissen acquired control of theDuchy of Saxe-Wittenberg (only a remnant of the previous Duchy) in 1423; they eventually applied the nameSaxony to the whole of their kingdom. Since then, this part of eastern Germany has been referred to asSaxony (German:Sachsen), a source of some misunderstanding about the original homeland of the Saxons, with a central part in the present-day German state ofLower Saxony (German:Niedersachsen).
Old English, associated with the Saxons in England, was closer to later recorded dialects ofOld Frisian than theOld Saxon language. Old Frisian apparently once stretched along the North Sea coast from the northernNetherlands to southernDenmark, while Old Saxon originally didn't extend to the coast. Linguists have noted that Old Frisian and Old Saxon, although neighbouring and related, did not form part of the same dialect continuum. In contrast, the Saxon dialects became part of the much largerContinental West Germanic continuum which stretched to the Alps, and can all be considered to be types of German.
According to the historical linguistElmar Seebold, this development can only be explained if continental Saxon society prior to the migration to Britain was effectively composed of two related, but different forms of West Germanic. In his view, the group of people who, in the3rd century, first migrated southwards to what is now the northwestern portion ofLower Saxony spoke North Sea Germanic dialects closely related toOld Frisian and Old English. There, these migrants encountered an already present population whose language was significantly different from their own, i.e. belonging to theWeser–Rhine Germanic grouping, over whom they then formed an elite, lending their name to the subsequent tribal federation and region as a whole. Later, during the 5th century, as the Angles started migrating to Britain, the descendants of this elite joined them, while the descendants of the native inhabitants did not, or at least not significantly. As the languages of the Angles and this particular Saxon group were closely related, a continuum between Anglian and Saxon could form in Britain, which later becameEnglish. In the land of the Saxons itself, the departure of a large part of this former elite caused the sociopolitical landscape to change, and the original population, after the departure of the majority of the elite's descendants, became so predominant that their dialects (presumably the language of theChauci, the language of theThuringians, and possibly other ancient tribes) prevailed and ultimately formed the basis for theLow Saxon dialects known today, while their speakers retained the tribal name.[52]
Evolution of Saxon within North Sea Germanic according to Seebold:[52]
Position of North Sea Germanic dialects before the migration period (3rd century CE).
Migration of the Saxons from the territory of the Angles (A.).
Migration of Weser Rhine Germanic speakers towards the Roman limes (1.), southward migration of Elbe Germanic speakers (2.).
Position of North Sea Germanic dialects during the 5th and 6th century.
Migration of North Germanic speakers (including the Saxon elite) to England (A.) and Frisia (B.)
Migration of Weser Rhine Germanic speakers (1.), migration of West Slavic speakers (2.), migration of North Germanic speakers (3.).
Position of North Sea Germanic dialects (Old English & Old Frisian) directly following the migration period.
Bede, aNorthumbrian writing around the year 730, remarks that "the old (that is, the continental) Saxons have no king, but they are governed by severalsatraps who, during war, cast lots for leadership but who, in time of peace, are equal in power." Theregnum Saxonum was divided into three provinces –Westphalia,Eastphalia andAngria – which comprised about one hundredpagi orGaue. EachGau had its own satrap with enough military power to level whole villages that opposed him.[53]
In the mid-9th century,Nithard first described the social structure of the Saxons beneath their leaders. The caste structure was rigid; in theSaxon language the three castes, excluding slaves, were called theedhilingui (related to the termaetheling),frilingi andlazzi. These terms were subsequentlyLatinised asnobiles ornobiliores;ingenui,ingenuiles orliberi; andliberti,liti orserviles.[54] According to very early traditions that are presumed to contain a good deal of historical truth, theedhilingui were the descendants of the Saxons who led the tribe out ofHolstein and during the migrations of the sixth century.[54] They were a conquering warrior elite. Thefrilingi represented the descendants of theamicii,auxiliarii andmanumissi of that caste. Thelazzi represented the descendants of the original inhabitants of the conquered territories, who were forced to make oaths of submission and pay tribute to theedhilingui.
TheLex Saxonum regulated the Saxons' different society. Intermarriage between the castes was forbidden by the Lex Saxonum, andwergilds were set based upon caste membership. Theedhilingui were worth 1,440solidi, or about 700 head of cattle, the highest wergild on the continent; the price of a bride was also very high. This was six times as much as that of thefrilingi and eight times as much as thelazzi. The gulf between noble and ignoble was very large, but the difference between a freeman and an indentured labourer was small.[55]
According to theVita Lebuini antiqua, an important source for early Saxon history, the Saxons held an annual council atMarklo (Westphalia) where they "confirmed their laws, gave judgment on outstanding cases, and determined by common counsel whether they would go to war or be in peace that year."[53] All three castes participated in the general council; twelve representatives from each caste were sent from eachGau. In 782, Charlemagne abolished the system ofGaue and replaced it with theGrafschaftsverfassung, the system ofcounties typical ofFrancia.[56] By prohibiting the Marklo councils, Charlemagne pushed thefrilingi andlazzi out of political power. The old Saxon system ofAbgabengrundherrschaft, lordship based on dues and taxes, was replaced by a form offeudalism based on service and labour, personal relationships and oaths.[57]
Saxon religious practices were closely related to their political practices. The annual councils of the entire tribe began with invocations of the gods. The procedure by which dukes were elected in wartime, by drawing lots, is presumed to have had religious significance, i.e. in giving trust to divine providence – it seems – to guide the random decision-making.[58] There were also sacred rituals and objects, such as the pillars calledIrminsul; these were believed to connect heaven and earth, as with other examples of trees or ladders to heaven in numerous religions.Charlemagne had one such pillar chopped down in 772 close to theEresburg stronghold.
Early Saxon religious practices in Britain can be gleaned from place names and theGermanic calendar in use at that time. The GermanicgodsWoden,Frigg,Tiw andThunor, who are attested to in every Germanic tradition, were worshipped in Wessex, Sussex and Essex. They are the only ones directly attested to, though the names of the third and fourth months (March and April) of theOld English calendar bear the namesHrēþmōnaþ andĒosturmōnaþ, meaning 'month ofHretha' and 'month ofĒostre'. It is presumed that these are the names of two goddesses who were worshipped around that season.[59] The Saxons offered cakes to their gods in February (Solmōnaþ). There was a religious festival associated with the harvest,Halegmōnaþ ('holy month' or 'month of offerings', September).[60][page needed] The Saxon calendar began on 25 December, and the months of December and January were calledYule (orGiuli). They contained aModra niht or 'night of the mothers', another religious festival of unknown content.
The Saxon freemen and servile class remained faithful to their original beliefs long after their nominal conversion to Christianity. Nursing a hatred of the upper class, which, with Frankish assistance, had marginalised them from political power, the lower classes (theplebeium vulgus orcives) were a problem for Christian authorities as late as 836. TheTranslatio S. Liborii remarks on their obstinacy in paganritus et superstitio ('usage and superstition').[61]
1868 illustration ofAugustine addressing the Saxons
The conversion of the Saxons in England from their originalGermanic religion toChristianity occurred in the early to late seventh century under the influence of the already convertedJutes ofKent. In the 630s,Birinus became the "apostle to the West Saxons" and convertedWessex, whose first Christian king wasCynegils. The West Saxons begin to emerge from obscurity only with their conversion to Christianity and keeping written records. TheGewisse, a West Saxon people, were especially resistant to Christianity; Birinus exercised more efforts against them and ultimately succeeded in conversion.[59] In Wessex,a bishopric was founded atDorchester. The South Saxons were first evangelised extensively underAnglian influence;Aethelwalh of Sussex was converted byWulfhere,King of Mercia and allowedWilfrid,Bishop of York, to evangelise his people beginning in 681. The chief South Saxon bishopric wasthat of Selsey. TheEast Saxons were more pagan than the southern or western Saxons; their territory had a superabundance of pagan sites.[62] Their king,Saeberht, was converted early and a diocese was established atLondon. Its first bishop,Mellitus, was expelled by Saeberht's heirs. The conversion of the East Saxons was completed underCedd in the 650s and 660s.
The continental Saxons were evangelised largely by English missionaries in the late seventh and early eighth centuries. Around 695, two early English missionaries,Hewald the White andHewald the Black, were martyred by thevicani, that is, villagers.[58] Throughout the century that followed, villagers and other peasants proved to be the greatest opponents ofChristianisation, while missionaries often received the support of theedhilingui and other noblemen.Saint Lebuin, an Englishman who between 745 and 770 preached to the Saxons, mainly in the eastern Netherlands, built a church and made many friends among the nobility. Some of them rallied to save him from an angry mob at the annual council at Marklo (near river Weser, Bremen). Social tensions arose between the Christianity-sympathetic noblemen and the pagan lower castes, who were staunchly faithful to their traditional religion.[63][page needed]
Under Charlemagne, theSaxon Wars had as their chief object the conversion and integration of the Saxons into the Frankish empire. Though much of the highest caste converted readily, forced baptisms and forced tithing made enemies of the lower orders. Even some contemporaries found the methods employed to win over the Saxons wanting, as this excerpt from a letter ofAlcuin of York to his friend Meginfrid, written in 796, shows:
If the light yoke and sweet burden of Christ were to be preached to the most obstinate people of the Saxons with as much determination as the payment of tithes has been exacted, or as the force of the legal decree has been applied for fault of the most trifling sort imaginable, perhaps they would not be averse to their baptismal vows.[64]
Charlemagne's successor,Louis the Pious, reportedly treated the Saxons more as Alcuin would have wished, and as a consequence they were faithful subjects.[65] The lower classes, however, revolted against Frankish overlordship in favour of their old paganism as late as the 840s, when theStellinga rose up against the Saxon leadership, who were allied with the Frankish emperorLothair I. After the suppression of theStellinga, in 851Louis the German broughtrelics fromRome to Saxony to foster a devotion to theRoman Catholic Church.[66] ThePoeta Saxo, in his verseAnnales of Charlemagne's reign (written between 888 and 891), laid an emphasis on his conquest of Saxony. He celebrated the Frankish monarch as on par with the Roman emperors and as the bringer of Christian salvation to people. References are made to periodic outbreaks of pagan worship, especially of Freya, among the Saxon peasantry as late as the 12th century.
In the ninth century, the Saxon nobility became vigorous supporters ofmonasticism and formed a bulwark of Christianity against the existingSlavic paganism to the east and theNordic paganism of theVikings to the north. Much Christian literature was produced in the vernacularOld Saxon, the notable ones being a result of the literary output and wide influence of Saxon monasteries such asFulda,Corvey andVerden; and the theological controversy between theAugustinian,Gottschalk andRabanus Maurus.[67]
From an early date, Charlemagne andLouis the Pious supported Christianvernacular works in order to evangelise the Saxons more efficiently. TheHeliand, a verse epic of the life of Christ in a Germanic setting, andGenesis, another epic retelling of the events ofthe first book of the Bible, were commissioned in the early ninth century by Louis to disseminate scriptural knowledge to the masses. A council ofTours in 813 and then a synod ofMainz in 848 both declared thathomilies ought to be preached in the vernacular. The earliest preserved text in the Saxon language is abaptismal vow from the late eighth or early ninth century; the vernacular was used extensively in an effort to Christianise the lowest castes of Saxon society.[68]
In the hypotheticalinsular Celtic languages grouping, the words designating English nationality may derive from the Latin wordSaxones.
Sassenach (older spellings: Sassanich or Sassenagh) is aloanword in English from theScottish Gaelic termSasunnach, originally used byGaels for both the English and theScots language speaking lowlanders of Scotland. In the 20th century, Scots–English tended to use it as a disparaging or jocular term for anEnglish person.[69][70]
Sasanach, theIrish word for an Englishman (withSasana meaning England), has the same derivation, as do the words used inWelsh to describe the English people (Saeson, singularSais) and the language and things English in general:Saesneg andSeisnig.
Cornish terms the EnglishSawsnek, from the same derivation. In the 16th century Cornish-speakers used the phraseMeea navidna cowza sawzneck to feign ignorance of the English language.[71] The Cornish words for the English people and England areSowsnek andPow Sows ('Land [Pays] of Saxons'). SimilarlyBreton, spoken in north-western France, hassaoz(on) ('English'),saozneg ('the English language'), andBro-saoz for 'England'.
The labelSaxons (inRomanian:Sași) also became attached toGerman settlers who settled during the 12th century in southeasternTransylvania.[72]From Transylvania, some of these Saxons migrated to neighbouringMoldavia, as the name of the townSascut, in present-day Romania, shows.
TheFinns andEstonians have changed their usage of the rootSaxon over the centuries to apply now to the whole country of Germany (Saksa andSaksamaa respectively) and theGermans (saksalaiset andsakslased, respectively). TheFinnish wordsakset (scissors) reflects the name of the old Saxon single-edged sword – seax – from which the nameSaxon supposedly derives.[73] InEstonian,saks means colloquially, 'a wealthy person'. As a result of theNorthern Crusades,Estonia's upper class comprised mostly Baltic Germans, persons of supposedly Saxon origin until well into the 20th century.
Following the downfall ofHenry the Lion (1129–1195, Duke of Saxony 1142–1180), and the subsequent splitting of the Saxon tribal duchy into several territories, the name of the Saxon duchy was transferred to the lands of theAscanian family. This led to the differentiation betweenLower Saxony (lands settled by the Saxon tribe) andUpper Saxony (the lands belonging to theHouse of Wettin). Gradually, the latter region became known as Saxony, ultimately usurping the name's original geographical meaning. The area formerly known as Upper Saxony now lies inCentral Germany – in the eastern part of the present-dayFederal Republic of Germany: note the names of the federal states ofSaxony andSaxony-Anhalt.
^Springer 2004, p. 12: "Unter dem alten Sachsen ist das Gebiet zu verstehen, das seit der Zeit Karls des Großen (reg. 768–814) bis zum Jahre 1180 also Saxonia '(das Land) Sachsen' bezeichnet wurde oder wenigstens so genannt werden konnte."
^Springer 2004, p. 12: "Im Latein des späten Altertums konnte Saxones als Sammelbezeichnung von Küstenräubern gebraucht werden. Es spielte dieselbe Rolle wie viele Jahrhunderte später das Wort Wikinger."
^Springer 2004b, p. 33: "Engl.the Dutch heißt nicht "die Deutschen"; und engl.the Germans heißt nicht "die Germanen".Franci im Latein des Hoch- und Spät-MAs meinte die Franzosen und nicht die Franken usw. So war das lat.Saxones während der Völkerwanderungszeit und des Früh-MAs keineswegs auf "die" Sachsen festgelegt." [Some abbreviations expanded.]
^Green, D. H.; Siegmund, F. (2003).The Continental Saxons from the Migration Period to the Tenth Century: An Ethnographic Perspective.Boydell Press. pp. 14–15.ISBN978-1-84383-026-9.
^abSeebold, Elmar (2003). "Die Herkunft der Franken, Friesen und Sachsen".Essays on the Early Franks. Barkhuis. pp. 24–29.ISBN9789080739031.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Richard Carew,Survey of Cornwall, 1602. N.B. in revived Cornish, this would be transcribed,My ny vynnaf cows sowsnek. The Cornish wordEmit meaning 'ant' (and perversely derived fromOld English) is more commonly used in Cornwall as of 2015[update] as slang to designate non-Cornish Englishmen.
^Suomen sanojen alkuperä. Etymologinen sanakirja (in Finnish). Vol. 3. R-Ö. Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden seura, Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus. 2012. p. 146.
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