Saxons

The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons, were the Germanic people of "Old" Saxony (Latin: Antiqua Saxonia) which became a Carolingian "stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany.^[1] Before any clear historical mention of Saxony as a country, "Saxons" became important during the late Roman Empire, when the name was used to refer to coastal raiders who attacked from the north, in a similar sense to the much later term Viking.^[2] These early raiders and settlers were believed by contemporaries to come from coastal regions north of the Rhine and the homeland of the Franks, including Frisians, Angles and Jutes, but also overlapping the territory of the later duchy. Significant numbers of these early Saxons settled in what later became northern France and England. Because of the relative importance of those related populations, authors such as Bede sometimes referred to the Saxons of Germany as the old Saxons, and their country as old Saxony, and this differentiation is still often used by historians today.

This article is about the historical Saxons of northern Germany. For other uses, see Saxons (disambiguation) and Anglo-Saxon (disambiguation).

There is possibly a single 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 the Elbe, close to the probable homeland of the Angles.^[3] The political history of the continental Saxons is unclear until the 8th century and the conflict between their semi-legendary hero Widukind and the Frankish emperor Charlemagne. Charles Martel, the grandfather of Charlemagne, fought and led numerous campaigns against the Saxons. Charlemagne defeated the Saxons after winning the long Saxon Wars (772-804), and forcing them to convert to Christianity, annexing Saxony into the Carolingian domain. Under the Carolingian Franks, Saxony became one of the original stem duchies which formed the basic political structure of the later Holy Roman Empire. The early rulers of this early Duchy of Saxony expanded their territories to the east, at the expense of Slavic-speaking Wends.

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 and states of Germany, including Lower Saxony (German: Niedersachsen) which includes most of the original duchy. Their language evolved into Low German which was the lingua franca of the Hanseatic 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 of Dutch and German.

In contrast, the Saxons settlers in England became part of a new Old English-speaking nation, now commonly referred to as the Anglo Saxons. This brought together local Romano-British populations, Saxons, and other migrants from the same North Sea region, including Frisians, Jutes, and Angles. 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, came into use by the eighth century (for example in the work of Paul the Deacon) to distinguish the Germanic inhabitants of Britain from continental Saxons, but both the Saxons of Britain and those of Old Saxony in northern Germany continued to be referred to as "Saxons" in an indiscriminate manner.

a contemporary and companion of Julian, claimed that Saxon and Frankish raiders had already attacked the North Sea coast near Boulogne-sur-Mer almost a century earlier in about 285, when Carausius was posted there to defend against them. Because the terms Saxon and Frank were well-known as the raiders of his time it is not certain whether the 3rd century raiders were also referred to this way.^[10] Contemporary records mention only Franks in this period.

Eutropius the historian

Julian himself mentioned the Saxons in a speech as close allies of in 350 when he declared himself emperor in Gaul. Julian described the Saxons and Franks as kinsmen of Magnentius himself, living "beyond the Rhine and on the shores of the western sea".^[11]

Magnentius

In 357/8 Julian clearly had contact with the Saxons himself when he campaigned in the Rhine region against , Franks and Saxons. Franks and Saxons entered the Maas river area in what is now the Netherlands, and displaced the recently settled Salian Franks from Batavia, whereupon some of the Salians began to move south into the region of Texandria. This Frankish settlement within the empire eventually gained the acceptance from Julian, but according to the near contemporary Ammianus Marcellinus the Chamavi who had also entered the area were ejected.^[12] Writing about this period more than a century later, it was Zosimus who mentioned the involvement of the Saxons and even mentioned a specific tribe, called the Kouadoi, which has been interpreted as a misunderstanding for the Chauci who had lived in this general region centuries earlier, or the Chamavi, mentioned by Amminanus, who were however sometimes considered to be Franks.^[13]

Alemanni

In 368, during the reign of , Ammianus (books 26 and 27) reported that Britain was troubled by the Scoti, two tribes of Picts (the Dicalydones and Verturiones), the Attacotti and the Saxons. Count Theodosius, the father of the future emperor Theodosius I led a successful campaign to recover control in Britain. In an inscription preserved in Stobi in North Macedonia Theodosius was described as the terror of Saxony, which is possibly the earliest reference to a country of the Saxons.^[14]

Valentinian I

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 "and stripped of their booty the robbers thus forcibly crushed had almost returned enriched with the spoils which they took", by a "device which was treacherous but expedient".

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.

[15]

Not long before the usurper emperor died in 388, according to Bishop Ambrose of Milan, he was attacked by Franks and Saxons as divine retribution for his rebuilding of a synagogue burned down in Rome.^[16]

Magnus Maximus

In 393 Saxons died as gladiators in Rome.

[16]

From 395 until 408 Stilicho was the most powerful military leader in the western Roman empire. Early in this period he is believed to have campaigned in Britain and northern Gaul, and to have 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 the , which was probably written in 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.^[17] 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."^[18]

Chronica Gallica of 452

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The first undisputed mentions of the Saxon name come from the late 4th century, around the time of emperor Julian. By about 400 the Notitia Dignitatum shows that the Romans had created several military commands specifically to defend against Saxon raiders. The Litus 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 the Tractus Armoricanus in what is now Brittany and Normandy, and the coast of Belgica Secunda in what later became Flanders and Picardy. The Notitia Dignitatum also lists the existence of a Saxon military unit (an Ala) in the Roman military, which was stationed in what is now Lebanon and northern Israel. This Ala primum Saxonum already existed by 363 when Julian used them in Arabia against the Persian 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.^[9] Several records mentioning the early Saxons can be dated:

In almost all of these cases the Saxons were consistently associated with using boats for their raids, even upon the Maas delta region. Special mention of the fearful 4th-century Saxon surprise attacks was made not only by Ammianus, but also by the poet Claudian.^[19] Some generations later a dramatic description of Saxon raiding was written by Sidonius Apollinaris writing to a friend who was assigned to a coastal defensive post in Saintonge near Bordeaux. A rough description of the homeland of these Saxons was given by Hilarion who says the Frankish homeland lay between the Saxons and Alemanni.^[20]

In 441–442 AD, Saxons are mentioned in the Chronica Gallica of 452 which says that the "British provinces, which to this time had suffered various defeats and misfortunes, are reduced to Saxon rule".^[21]^[22] Some generations later Gildas is generally seen as reporting of what happened, without dating the events. A Saxon force based in the east of Britain (Bede later believed in the Isle of Thanet) were invited as foederati 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. By the time of Gildas in the 6th century the Romano-British had recovered control of at least part of the country, but were now divided into corrupt "tyrannies". There are very few records of the period, but by the time of Bede most of England was ruled by Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.^[23]

In the 460s, an apparent fragment of a chronicle preserved in the History of the Franks of Gregory 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 the mouth of the Loire. He took hostages at Anger in France, but his force was subsequently retaken by Roman and Frankish forces led by Childeric I. 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 as Odoacer, 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.^[24]^[25]^[26]

In 568/9, some Saxons were living in the Austrasian kingdom of Sigebert II, possibly in the Champagne region, and they accompanied the Lombards into Italy under the leadership of Alboin and settled there for some time. Sigebert in the meantime allowed a Suevian group to replace them in Austrasia. In 572, they raided south-eastern Gaul as far as Stablo, now Estoublon and were defeated by the Gallo-Roman general Mummolus. They were allowed to return to Italy, gather their families and belongings and return to pass through the region again to go north. After plundering the countryside, they were stopped at the Rhône by Mummolus and forced to pay compensation for what they had robbed.^[27] Upon arrival at their original home they were furious and refused to negotiate against the Suebi. 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.^[28]

There was also a Saxon population on the Normandy coast, near Bayeux. In 589, the Saxons from the Bessin region near Bayeux wore their hair in the Breton fashion at the orders of Fredegund and fought with them as allies against Guntram.^[29] Beginning in 626, the Saxons of the Bessin were used by Dagobert I for his campaigns against the Basques. In 843 and 846 under king Charles the Bald, other official documents mention a pagus called Otlinga Saxonia in the Bessin region, but the meaning of Otlinga is unclear.

In southwestern France, in the late 6th century Chulderic the Saxon was became a Duke north of the Garonne for Childeric II, after having previously been a subject of King Guntram. A century later, Aeghyna, a Duke of Gascony, died in 638.^[30] Both men are likely to have been Bayeux Saxons, although they may for example have come from Britain.^[31]

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In about 531 the Franks, led by the eldest son of Clovis I, conquered the still independent kingdom of Thuringia, which henceforth became a kingdom under Frankish overlordship. Centuries later, medieval writers claimed that the early Saxons had assisted the Franks, but no contemporary sources mention this, and historians doubt that there was any conflict between the Saxons and the Thuringian kingdom.^[32]

Theuderic I

In 555, after the death of Theuderic's grandson , Theuderic's younger half-brother Clothar I (also spelled Lothar) inherited rule over the Rhine regions. It is reported by Gregory of Tours (IV.10) and Marius 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.^[33] In a possibly separate incident Gregory reports that Chlothar fought Saxons in 556 or 557 who had been stirred up by his own brother Childebert I to attack his territory, going as far as Deutz 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.)^[33] 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.^[34]

Theudebald

the son of Clothar I who ruled Austrasia until 575, was praised by the poet Venantius Fortunatus for defeating the "Thuringian Saxons". (Springer suggests that this was his way of distinguishing the mainland Saxons from the Anglo-Saxons of Britain.)^[35]

Sigebert I

In 612, Sigebert's grandson attacked his own brother Theudebert II at Zülpich, with a force of Saxons, Thuringians, and other people from east of the Rhine.^[31]

Theuderic II

Heroic stories set in the 620s were written centuries later about Sigbert's nephew and eventual successor in Austrasia, and his defeat of Saxons lead by Berthoald near the Weser, together with son Dagobert I.^[36]

Chlothar II

In 632, , son of Clothar II, and the most powerful king of the Franks at that time, was met by Saxon messengers in Mainz in a period of war with the Wends under Samo, 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]

Dagobert I

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 German Saxons possibly 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 as Warini, Frisians or Thuringians. Nevertheless some records during Merovingian times are clearly about Saxons living within what is now Northern Germany, north of the Franks.

In the 690s, Bede reported that a people known as the Boructuarii were invaded by the pagan Saxons during a period when the , 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-era Bructeri, who lived had once lived near the Lippe river.

Saint Suibert

From the same report of Bede about English missionaries in the 690s the 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 also Pepin of Herstal who was the effective ruler of Frankish Austrasia at this time.^[38]

Two Ewalds

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 near and Xanten, between Rhine and Maas, but the area involved in this takeover may have been on opposite side of the Rhine.^[39] It is named after a Roman era Frankish tribe, the Chattuarii, 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.

Cleves

In 718, , the son of Pepin, invaded Saxony as far as the Weser. He campaigned there again in 720, 724, 738, and possibly also in 722 and 728.^[40]

Charles Martel

In 743 two of the sons of Charles, and Carloman, marched against Odilo of Bavaria, who was nominally a Frankish subject. Carloman then turned north towards Saxony who had sent troops to support Bavaria. After conquering the castrum of Ho(o)hseoburg forced the Saxon duke Theoderic to surrender at a placitum held at that same place.^[41] The brothers invaded Saxony again the next year (744) and Theoderic was captured.^[42]

Pepin the Short

In 748 Pepin the Short marched through Thuringia to Saxony, during a period when his half brother was attempting seize power in Bavaria. The part of Saxony beyond Thuringia where he went is referred to in the Annals of Metz as "North Swabia" and many of the Saxons there converted to Christianity at this time. The continuation of the Chronicle of Fredegar claims that they accepted to return to go back to paying a tribute of 500 cows.^[43]

Grifo

In 751 Pepin was crowned as king, and in 753 he attacked the Saxons northeast of the Rhine in the area of and Bad Oeynhausen.^[44]

Bad Iburg

In 758 Pepin attacked Saxony once more and agreed to a tribute of 330 horses per year from the defeated Saxons.

[45]

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, the Arnulfings, sought to assert power over the peoples to the east including the Bavarians, Swabians and Saxons. They also pressured the Saxons and Frisians to convert to Christianity. In 804 the emperor Charlemagne conquered the Saxons, and incorporated the Saxons into the Frankish empire as a Stem Duchy, similar to the others which already existed. The Duchy 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.

Culture[edit]

Social structure[edit]

Bede, a Northumbrian writing around the year 730, remarks that "the old (that is, the continental) Saxons have no king, but they are governed by several ealdormen (or satrapa) who, during war, cast lots for leadership but who, in time of peace, are equal in power." The regnum Saxonum was divided into three provinces – Westphalia, Eastphalia and Angria – which comprised about one hundred pagi or Gaue. Each Gau had its own satrap with enough military power to level whole villages that opposed him.^[49]

In the mid-9th century, Nithard first described the social structure of the Saxons beneath their leaders. The caste structure was rigid; in the Saxon language the three castes, excluding slaves, were called the edhilingui (related to the term aetheling), frilingi and lazzi. These terms were subsequently Latinised as nobiles or nobiliores; ingenui, ingenuiles or liberi; and liberti, liti or serviles.^[50] According to very early traditions that are presumed to contain a good deal of historical truth, the edhilingui were the descendants of the Saxons who led the tribe out of Holstein and during the migrations of the sixth century.^[50] They were a conquering warrior elite. The frilingi represented the descendants of the amicii, auxiliarii and manumissi of that caste. The lazzi represented the descendants of the original inhabitants of the conquered territories, who were forced to make oaths of submission and pay tribute to the edhilingui.

The Lex Saxonum regulated the Saxons' different society. Intermarriage between the castes was forbidden by the Lex Saxonum, and wergilds were set based upon caste membership. The edhilingui were worth 1,440 solidi, 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 the frilingi and eight times as much as the lazzi. The gulf between noble and ignoble was very large, but the difference between a freeman and an indentured labourer was small.^[51]

According to the Vita Lebuini antiqua, an important source for early Saxon history, the Saxons held an annual council at Marklo (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."^[49] All three castes participated in the general council; twelve representatives from each caste were sent from each Gau. In 782, Charlemagne abolished the system of Gaue and replaced it with the Grafschaftsverfassung, the system of counties typical of Francia.^[52] By prohibiting the Marklo councils, Charlemagne pushed the frilingi and lazzi out of political power. The old Saxon system of Abgabengrundherrschaft, lordship based on dues and taxes, was replaced by a form of feudalism based on service and labour, personal relationships and oaths.^[53]

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Saxon as a demonym[edit]

Celtic languages[edit]

In the Celtic languages, the words designating English nationality derive from the Latin word Saxones. The most prominent example, a loanword in English from Scottish Gaelic (older spelling: Sasunnach), is the word Sassenach, used by Scots-, Scottish English- and Gaelic-speakers in the 21st century^[65] as a racially pejorative term for an English person and, traditionally, to the English-speaking lowlanders of Scotland.^[66] The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) gives 1771 as the date of the earliest written use of the word in English. The Gaelic name for England is Sasann (older spelling: Sasunn, genitive: Sasainn), and Sasannach (formed with a common adjective suffix -ach^[67]) means 'English' in reference to people and things, though not when naming the English language, which is Béarla.

Sasanach, the Irish word for an Englishman (with Sasana meaning England), has the same derivation, as do the words used in Welsh to describe the English people (Saeson, singular Sais) and the language and things English in general: Saesneg and Seisnig.

Cornish terms the English Sawsnek, from the same derivation. In the 16th century Cornish-speakers used the phrase Meea navidna cowza sawzneck to feign ignorance of the English language.^[68] The Cornish words for the English people and England are Sowsnek and Pow Sows ('Land [Pays] of Saxons'). Similarly Breton, spoken in north-western France, has saoz(on) ('English'), saozneg ('the English language'), and Bro-saoz for 'England'.

Romance languages[edit]

The label Saxons (in Romanian: Sași) also became attached to German settlers who settled during the 12th century in southeastern Transylvania.^[69] From Transylvania, some of these Saxons migrated to neighbouring Moldavia, as the name of the town Sascut, in present-day Romania, shows.

Non-Indo-European languages[edit]

The Finns and Estonians have changed their usage of the root Saxon over the centuries to apply now to the whole country of Germany (Saksa and Saksamaa respectively) and the Germans (saksalaiset and sakslased, respectively). The Finnish word sakset (scissors) reflects the name of the old Saxon single-edged sword – seax – from which the name Saxon supposedly derives.^[70] In Estonian, saks means colloquially, 'a wealthy person'. As a result of the Northern Crusades, Estonia's upper class comprised mostly Baltic Germans, persons of supposedly Saxon origin until well into the 20th century.

Saxony as a later toponym[edit]

Following the downfall of Henry 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 the Ascanian family. This led to the differentiation between Lower Saxony (lands settled by the Saxon tribe) and Upper Saxony (the lands belonging to the House 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 in Central Germany – in the eastern part of the present-day Federal Republic of Germany: note the names of the federal states of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.

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