Saxons, Germanic people, first mentioned by Ptolemy in about 150 AD. Ptolemy says that the Saxons were
from lower Jutland and what is now Schleswig-Holstein in Germany. The "founding tribes" of the Sachsen
may have included the Reudigni and Aviones, mentioned by Tacitus. The theory that the Saxons were
groupings of tribes states that the subgroups of the later Saxons were very numerous, including:
Agradingun, Angeron, Aringon, Astfalon, Bardongavenses, Derlingun, Firihsetan/Virsedi,
Guddingen/Gotingi, Holtsaeten, Nordalbingi, Nordliudi, Nordsuavi, Norththuringun, Sahslingun, Scopingun,
Scotelingun, Steoringun, Sturmarii/Sturmera, Thiadmariska, Waldseton, Waledungun, Wigmodia/Wihmodi,
Uuestfali.

THE SAXON TRIBE

There arose in Germany during the third and fourth centuries after Christ the great tribal confederations of
the Alamanni; Bavarians, Thuringians, Franks, Frisians, and Saxons, which took the place of the numerous
petty tribes with their popular tribal form of government. With the exceptions of the Saxons all these
confederations were ruled by kings; the Saxons were divided into a number of independent bodies under
different chiefs, and in time of war they elected a duke.

The Saxons (Lat., Saxones) were originally a small tribe living on the North Sea between
the Elbe and Eider Rivers in the present Holstein. Their name,
derived from their weapon called Sax, a stone knife, is first mentioned by the Roman author Claudius
Ptolemæus (about 130 A.D.). In the third and fourth centuries the Saxons fought their way victoriously
towards the west, and their name was given to the great tribal confederation that stretched towards the
west exactly to the former boundary of the Roman Empire, consequently almost to the Rhine. Only a small
strip of land on the right bank of the Rhine remained to the Frankish tribe. Towards the south the Saxons
pushed as far as the Harz Mountains and the Eichsfeld, and in the succeeding centuries absorbed the
greater part of Thuringia. In the east their power extended at first as far as the Elbe and Saale Rivers; in
the later centuries it certainly extended much farther. All the coast of the German Ocean belonged to the
Saxons excepting that west of the Weser, which the Frisians retained. The history of the powerful Saxon
tribe is also the history of the conversion to Christianity of that part of Germany which lies between the
Rhine and the Oder, that is of almost the whole of the present Northern Germany. From the eighth century
the Saxons were divided into the four sub-divisions: Westphalians, between the Rhine and Weser; the
Engern or Angrians, on both sides of the Weser; the Eastphalians, between the Weser and Elbe; the
Transalbingians, in the present Holstein. The only one of these names that has been preserved is
Westphalians, given to the inhabitants of the Prussian Province of Westphalia.

A number of Saxons and Angles went to Britain in the 5th century AD, although Ammianus Marcellinus
records Saxon attacks on Britain in about 365 AD and the mid-fifth-century Gallic Chronicle mentions
another attack in 410 AD, with the fall of Britain to the Saxons in 441 AD. For isotope analysis of
Anglo-Saxons, Http://www.dur.ac.uk/p.d.budd/isogeochem/west_hes.html. We do know that the Saxons
joined up with the Franks to help destroy the Turingii tribe at the River Unstrut in 531 AD [I have also seen
the date 530 AD.

In 566 they were subjugated by the Franks and forced to pay tribute. The Old Saxons waged intermittent
war with the Franks until the end of the 8th cent., when they were conquered by Charlemagne and
absorbed into his empire. After this conquest they were forcibly converted to Christianity. In the division of
the empire by the Treaty of Verdun (843), the lands of the Saxons were included in the section that formed
the basis for modern Germany.

Any archaeological excavations of this massacre site???]. The tomb of an East Saxon
king, believed to date from the early 7th century, has been discovered at Priory Crescent, Prittlewell,
Southend-on-Sea, Essex. One story states that the burial chamber is almost certainly that of either King
Saeberht or Sigeberht. Saeberht was England's second Christian king. He died circa 617 AD. This find
rivals the Sutton Hoo ship burial in Suffolk, discovered in 1939Population: An estimated 10,000,000
understand it in Germany, but much fewer are native speakers (1996 Reinhard F. Hahn).

Holding the area at the mouth of the Elbe River and some of the nearby islands, they gradually extended
their territory southward across the Weser River. A politically unified people, the Saxons were ruled by
princes or chieftains. Their assemblies, in which all classes except slaves were represented, were
consulted on all issues of war and peace. In the 3d and 4th cent. the Saxons were active in raiding
expeditions along the coasts of the North Sea.

The European coast from the Loire to the Scheldt rivers and the southeastern coast of Britain, where
defenses were erected against their piratical raids, were known to the Romans as litora Saxonica [Saxon
shores]. By the 5th cent. Saxons had established settlements along the north shore of Gaul, especially at
the mouth of the Loire, and eventually these Saxons came under Frankish domination. As the Roman
occupation of Britain weakened, the Saxons increased their marauding attacks and also began (c.450) to
make settlements there, resisting all efforts to drive them off. By the end of the 6th cent. they and their
neighbors the Angles were firmly established in the island, laying the foundations of the Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms (see Anglo-Saxons). Wessex, the kingdom of the West Saxons, became dominant. After the
migration to Britain, the Saxons on the Continent came to be identified by historians as the Old Saxons. By
virtue of their conquest (531) of Thuringia, they occupied NW Germany.

With an area of 18,400 sq. km. and a population of 4.6 million, Saxony (German Sachsen) is tenth largest
in area but sixth in population among Germany's sixteen federal states. Created upon Germany's
reunification in 1990, it occupies the approximate area of the former kingdom (1806-1918) of the same
name. The capital is Dresden.

In the early Middle Ages the term "Saxony" referred to a different region, occupying today's states of Lower
Saxony and Bremen and the northern (Westphalian) part of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Saxons, after
whom the area was named, had migrated from the area of present-day Schleswig-Holstein during the
second quarter of the 1st millennium AD. See the history section below for more details.

In company with the German tribe of Angles a part of the Saxons settled on the Island of Britain from which
the Romans had withdrawn, where as Anglo-Saxons, after having accepted Christianity about 600, they laid
the foundation of Anglo-Saxon civilization and the present Great Britain. In attempting to reach Gaul by
land the Saxons came into violent conflict with the Franks living on the Rhine. The Frankish king Clovis
(481-511) united the various Frankish tribes, conquered Roman Gaul, and with his people accepted
Christianity. The new Frankish kingdom was able to bring all German tribes except the Saxons under its
authority and to make them Christian. For more than a hundred years there was almost uninterrupted
warfare between Frank and Saxon. Many Anglo-Saxon Christian missionaries sought to convert the
Saxons, some were killed, some driven away; the names of only a few of these men have been preserved,
as St. Suitbert, St. Egnert, the saint called Brother Ewald, St. Lebuin, etc. St. Boniface also preached
without success among the Saxons. The Saxons were finally brought under Frankish supremacy by the
great Frankish ruler, Charlemagne, after a bloody struggle that lasted thirty years (772-804). Charlemagne
was also able to win them to Christianity, the Saxons being the last German tribe that still held persistently
to belief in the Germanic gods. At different times the Saxon wars of Charlemagne have been called
"religious wars" and the assertion, which cannot be proved, has been made that Pope Adrian had called
upon Charlemagne to convert the Saxons by force. Charlemagne's campaigns were intended mainly to
punish the Saxons for their annual marauding expeditions to the Rhine, in which they burned churches and
monasteries, killed the priests, and sacrificed their prisoners of war to the gods. The earliest date at which
it can be proved that Charlemagne had the conquest of the Saxon districts in view is 776. It is evident that if
peace was to be permanent the overthrow of the Saxons must be accompanied by their conversion to
Christianity. The necessity for this was based also on the nature of the Frankish kingdom in which politics
and religion were never separated. At the same time it is true that various measures taken by
Charlemagne, as the execution of 4500 Saxons at Verdun in 782 and the hard laws issued to the
subjugated, were shortsighted and cruel. The Church, however, cannot be made responsible in any case
for this policy of Charlemagne's which it never approved. Although the opposition in Saxon territories to
Christian teaching had been obstinate only a few decades before, the Saxons grew accustomed to the new
life. The Christian conception of life sank deep into the hearts of the people, and in little more than a
hundred years the Saxons were the messengers and defenders of a Christian, German civilization among
the Slavonic tribes. The work of converting Saxony was given to St. Sturmi, who was on terms of friendship
with Charlemagne, and the monks of the monastery of Fulda founded by Sturmi. Among the successful
missionaries of the Faith were also St. Willihad, the first Bishop of Bremen, and his Anglo-Saxon
companions. After St. Sturmi's death (779) the country of the Saxons was divided into missionary districts,
and each of these placed under a Frankish bishop. Parishes were established within the old judicial
districts. With the generous aid of Charlemagne and his nobles large numbers of churches and
monasteries were founded, and as soon as peace and quiet had been re-established in the different
districts, permanent dioceses were founded.



Saxony

(In the 8th century Saxony was annexed to the Carolingian Empire.

In the 9th century Saxony re-appeared as a separate duchy that recognized the overlordship of the Kings
of Germany.

In 1180 Bernhard of Ascania and Anhalt obtained the title of Duke of Saxony with the territories of
Lauenburg and Wittenberg.

In the 13th century the Duchy of Saxony was divided between to branches of the ruling House,
Saxony-Lauenburg and Saxony-Wittenberg.

The Dukes of Saxony-Wittenberg were recognized as Electors of the Holy Roman Empire.

In 1422 the branch of Saxony-Wittenberg of the House of Ascania became extinct.

In 1423 Frederick, Landgrave of Thuringia, the member of the House of Wettin, received the Duchy of
Saxony-Wittenberg with the rank of Elector of the Holy Roman Empire. Then the Duchy of
Saxony-Wittenberg was divided several times by the branches of the House of Wettin; the possessions of
the branch who had the dignity of Elector of the Holy Roman Empire was known as Electoral Saxony.

n 1689 the branch of Saxony-Lauenburg of the House of Ascania became extinct and its possessions
passed to the Dukes of Brunswick-Hanover.

In 1806 Electoral Saxony was declared Kingdom.

In November 1918 the Kingdom of Saxony and the Saxonian Duchies were declared Republic