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The Saxons were a Germanic tribal confederation in the north-west of today's Germany – between the North Sea, Elbe and Weser. The name (from sahs, the single-edged short sword) appears from the 2nd century. Like the Chauci, from whom they partly emerged, they were feared sea raiders.
In the 5th century Saxons moved together with Angles and Jutes to Britain and laid there the foundation of the Anglo-Saxon world. Their kinsmen on the continent stayed – pagan, organised into districts and estates, without a king.
Charlemagne waged from 772 to 804 one of the longest and hardest wars of his age against the Saxons. Their leader Widukind became a symbol of resistance. Charlemagne had the Irminsul felled, imposed the death penalty on pagan customs – and in the end baptised an entire people.
"No war was longer or crueller … than that against the Saxons."after Einhard, Life of Charlemagne (public domain, own translation)
The Saxons are the link between Germanic antiquity and the world of the Vikings in Germany. Continue with their ancestors, the Chauci.
The Cherusci & Arminius · The Bructeri · The Chauci · Viking traces in Germany · The Christianisation of the Germanic Peoples.
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