[132] Ephraim Emerton, Introduction to the Study of the Middle Ages (Boston, 1903), p. 189.
[133] The war really lasted only thirty, or at the most thirty-one, years.
[134] The only notable act of vengeance during the war was the beheading of 4,500 Saxons in a single day at Verden, on the Weser. It was occasioned by a great Saxon revolt in 782, led by the chieftain Widukind.
[135] The formula of renunciation and confession generally employed in the Christianizing of the Germans, and therefore in all probability in the conversion of the Saxons, was as follows:
Question. Forsakest thou the devil?
Answer. I forsake the devil.
Ques. And all the devil's service?
Ans. And I forsake all the devil's service.
Ques. And all the devil's works?
Ans. And I forsake all the devil's works and words. Thor and Woden and Saxnot and all the evil spirits that are their companions.