[768-814 A.D.]
Every independent power that still dared to assert itself in the former kingdom of the Merovingians was subdued. In Aquitania a hereditary dukedom still existed, which Pepin had attacked but not conquered; Charles put an end to it. The Bretons had resisted the authority of the Frankish kings for centuries; after a long struggle their resistance was broken. Bavaria still existed as an independent dukedom under the Agilolfinger Tassilo, and even in Pepin’s time there had been a dangerous uprising; Tassilo was humbled, and, although he retained his power for some time longer, he owed it only to the personal friendship of Charles and to the intervention of the pope. He finally had to give up and retire to a monastery.
It was a vital question for the new royal house, which had founded its power above all on those parts of the kingdom that had remained German, to put an end to the freedom of the Saxon race. At war with the Frankish kings for centuries and often defeated in bloody battles, the Saxons had nevertheless arisen after every defeat, and in recent years had even gradually extended their dominion in the southwest further towards the land of the Franks. Every uprising against the Frankish royal power found a ready support in them, the last free German race. In the last years of his life Pepin had been incessantly at war with this people; Charles received the war as an inheritance from his father and was determined to bring it to an end at any price in order to assure royalty and the Christian religion among all Germans for all time. In the conquest of the last free heathen German race he saw the great work of his life.
[768-772 A.D.]
For half a millennium the internal relations of the Saxons, who had remained in their ancient seats, had undergone no essential change. The ancient popular liberty had maintained itself here against the monarchy, the ancient religion against Christianity, and the customs of the forefathers had been faithfully preserved; the Saxons of that time were still the genuine sons of the Cherusci whom Hermann had led against the Romans. The land was divided into a limited group of districts or counties (Gaue), which were governed as in former times by princes (Gaufürsten), chosen by the communities to administer justice and lead the army. There was no common head for the entire people, but there was a great annual national assembly, at Marklo on the Weser, to which delegates from the three free estates of the people came from all the districts. Here common affairs were discussed, war and peace decided upon, and leaders (Herzöge) chosen when the army was to be led against an enemy of the land. The free men of the nation were divided into three ranks, the nobles (Edliuge), who were powerful but not very numerous, the freemen, and the serfs, a numerous class of dependent men who held no property but enjoyed liberty of person. Geographically the Saxons were divided into the Westfalen (Westphalians), on the Sieg, Ruhr, and Lippe and both sides of the Ems; the Enger on both shores of the Weser, as far as the Leine and the Ostfalen (Eastphalians), in the territory extending as far as the Elbe. A further division was formed by the Nordalbinger or “north people” who still remained in possession of the right side of the lower Elbe as far as the Eider, i.e., of those regions in which the Saxon name had first been heard.
It was a great martial and valiant people of unimpaired natural vigour, full of a wild spirit of liberty and of barbaric cunning, against whom Charles now turned his arms. It was also, to be sure, a people without firm unity and strong cohesion and therefore not hard to defeat in separate combats. But all separate victories contributed little to the final decision of the war; district after district must be subdued, one community after another separately annihilated. The war that Charles waged against the Saxons was the same war in which the Romans had once been defeated; it was waged against the same tribes and in the same regions, and it was again a question of subjugating Germanic freedom to the authority of an individual and joining it to a great empire. At the same time the war was now also a fight for the Christian faith. Charles marched to battle with the relics of the saints; missionaries accompanied the march of his warriors.
[772-777 A.D.]
War was declared against the Saxons at the “field of May” (Maifeld, champ de Mai, formerly Märzfeld, champs de Mars) at Worms in the year 772. The army set out and first took the Ehresburg, the principal stronghold of the Saxons on the Diemel, on the site of the present Stadtberge. Then the sanctuary in the Egge, where the Irminsul stood—a mighty tree trunk which, according to the faith of the Saxons, supported the universe—was destroyed. The entire country as far as the Weser was ravaged with fire and sword. The Saxons dared not meet the warlike Franks in open battle, and as the latter advanced further into the country most of the tribes swore submission and gave hostages to the king. Christian priests at once went through the land and preached, along with Christianity, submission to the Frankish monarchy, but they preached to deaf ears; hardly had Charles left the Saxon boundary when the people rose in mass, retook the Ehresburg, captured the Siegburg on the Ruhr, and overran the territory of Frankish occupation.
In the year 775 Charles had to begin the war anew. He vowed to subdue the “faithless and perjured” nation of the Saxons or destroy them forever. Summoning all the military forces of his kingdom, he invaded Saxony with an enormous army. But again the enemy would nowhere oppose the Franks in open battle; only once the Westphalians, under the lead of Witikind, risked a surprise at night. Amid terrible devastations Charles’ army pressed forward to the Oker; the tribes submitted and gave hostages. And still the subjugation of the land was not yet decided. As soon as Charles had left the land the enemy arose again in his rear and recaptured the stronghold of Siegburg.
Then the king returned in 776 with an invincible army. The Saxons immediately gave up all resistance; hardly had Charles reached the source of the Lippe when they promised to accept Christianity and submit; many immediately received baptism. Charles now had fortresses built in Saxony, took up his residence there for some time and held the “field of May” at Paderborn in 777. The nobles and the freemen of the land appeared before the mighty king on this occasion; no voice of opposition was heard, all defiance seemed broken. The Saxons vowed implicit obedience to the commands of the king, and conceded him the right, if they failed in this duty, to deprive them of land and liberty forever. The people received baptism in throngs; Saxony seemed indeed conquered. Only Witikind, in whom dwelt something of the spirit of Hermann, would not bow down to the Frank and sought refuge with the Danish king Siegfried.