At the close of 782 Charles had been waging war in Saxony for almost a decade. The king had been following a pattern of invasion, conquest, law-giving, and the establishment of Frankish governmental and religious institutions in order to pacify the Saxons, and then integrate them into the Frankish kingdom. No measure was too extreme, including the execution of 4500 rebels in a single day. But the Germans were not done yet.
Charles went through a lot of personal turmoil in 783. His wife Hildegard died, and then his mother Bertrada.1.Royal Annals, year 783, King, p. 82. Even though Charles already had children, including, as we shall see, a son (a post on Charles’ family life is on my list), he immediately married a girl named Fastrada. But the king’s concerns that year were not only domestic, as he “undertook an expedition to Saxony, since the Saxons were in rebellion again…” According to the Revised Annals, this latest revolt “enraged” him. His rage must have been great, for this expedition was one which he led in person, a rare event.
Although this war dragged on for a very long time, he himself joined battle with the enemy no more than twice, in a single month with only a few intervening days, once near the mountain that is called Osning in a place called Detmold and again on the River Haase. In these two battles the enemy were so crushed and conquered that subsequently they did not dare to provoke the king or to resist his approach unless they were protected by some fortification.2.Einhard, Life of Charlemagne, in Noble, ch. 8, p. 29.
That last note about “protected by some fortification” is important, as it indicates that rebel Saxons were no longer able to range freely throughout their land. While those Saxons willing to resist the Franks were hemmed behind walls, Charles and his army rampaged throughout Saxony, “laying waste to everything in his path…”
Charles must have known that resistance was cracking, and he had “his mind set on finishing off what remained of the Saxon war.”3.Revised Royal Annals, year 784, King, p. 118. He spent the winter of 783/784 in Herstal, and in the spring learned that the Saxons AND the Frisians were in revolt. Charles ordered his forces north, where they crossed the Rhine at the River Lippe. That area must have been familiar country by then, as several campaigns started the same way – perhaps there was a bridge or ford at that place. However, “very severe flooding” that year made transport and logistics difficult.
In a move that is the first of its kind for Charles, the king left his eldest son Charles with a scara in Westphalia, while the rest of the army moved east. The younger Charles was about thirteen that summer, and of an age to begin taking on the mantle of manhood, and, for him, kingship. After further victories by both father and son they reunited at Worms. While not stated in the sources, this could be an example where traveling by river made sense. Young Charles could have boarded a boat on the Rhine and gone upriver the 200 or so navigable miles to Worms.
At some point (the chronology and geography between the original and revised Annals is confusing) Charles decided to continue the fighting through the winter, an almost unprecedented decision. Further flooding during the winter finally required him to retire to Eresburg. The king must have known that Saxon rebelliousness was at an end, for “he bade his wife, the lady queen Fastrada, together with his sons and daughters, join him.”4.Royal Annals, year 785, King, p. 83.
He stayed in Eresburg for the winter, while his army did their worst. “He sent out scarae on numerous occasions while he was staying there and also campaigned in person; he despoiled the rebel Saxons, captured their castra, penetrated their fortified places and cleared the roads against the arrival of suitable weather.” Again note the reference to fortifications as the last strongholds of resistance. There’s also a discrepancy between the original and revised Annals, as in the revised version “he himself sallied out with a swift-moving force to devastate the districts of the Saxons and plunder their villae.”5.Revised Royal Annals, year 785, King, p. 118. Not that it matters; what’s important are the results.
These events have the feeling of the beginning of the end, and the chronicler plays it for all it’s worth. “The general assembly was held at Paderborn, from where he marched through the whole of Saxony, going wherever he wished, on open roads, and meeting no opposition.” The Revised Annals pile on the hyperbole: “[H]e gave the Saxons a winter of discontent indeed as he and the duces whom he sent out ranged here, there and everywhere and threw everything into disorder with killings and burnings. By ravaging in this fashion throughout the whole period of the winter he inflicted immense destruction on will-nigh all the regions of the Saxons.”
The last step was to bring the ringleaders to heel.
And then he arrived in the Bardengau, where he sent word to Widukind and Abbio, had them both brought to his presence and swore that they would not escape unless they came to him in Francia. They asked for solemn promises that they would not be harmed and were given these. Then the lord king Charles returned to Francia and sent his missus, Amalwin, to Widukind and Abbio with hostages. After receiving the hostages they brought these with them and came to the lord king Charles at the villa of Attigny. And there the above-named Widukind and Abbio were baptised, together with their companions; and then all of Saxony was subjugated.6.Royal Annals, year 785, King, p. 83.
Charles was eager enough to bring in Widukind that he agreed to grant the Saxon some hostages in return for his surrender and baptism.
At that point, as the Annals note, the war was over. Later events, however, proved that hope false. As the revised Annals relate, “And for some years the wilful perfidy of the Saxons was quiescent, chiefly because they could find no suitable opportunities for defection.” There would be more bloodshed to come.
And with that I bring this first set of posts on the Saxon Wars to a close. But the excitement never stops! Just as the first phase of the Saxon war came to a close, Charles had to deal with a conspiracy from inside the palace. “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,” someone once said, and King Charles would heartily agree.