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SAXONS

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 265 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SAXONS , a See also:

Teutonic See also:people mentioned for the first See also:time by See also:Ptolemy about the See also:middle of the 2nd See also:century. At that time they are said to have inhabited the See also:neck of the Cimbric See also:peninsula, by which we have probably to understand the See also:modern See also:province of See also:Schleswig, together with three islands lying off its western See also:coast. We next hear of them in connexion with piratical expeditions in the See also:North See also:Sea about the See also:year 286. These raids became more frequent during the 4th century, and at the beginning of the 5th century the See also:northern coast of See also:Gaul and the See also:south-See also:east coast of See also:Britain were known as litora Saxonica, owing either to their liability to the attacks of the Saxons or, as some think, to the See also:establishment of Saxon colonies there. During the same See also:period the Saxons appear to have conquered a consider-able portion of north-See also:west See also:Germany. According to their own traditions they landed at Hadeln in the neighbourhood of See also:Cuxhaven and seized the surrounding districts from the Thuringians. It is clear that by the middle of the 4th century they had advanced westwards into the See also:basin of the Yssel, from whence they drove the Frankish See also:Salii into See also:Batavia. In the following centuries we find them in See also:possession of the whole of the basin of the See also:Ems, except the coast See also:district, while that of the See also:Weser with all its tributaries belonged to them as far south as the Diemel, where they bordered on the See also:Hessian See also:Franks, the See also:ancient See also:Chatti. The See also:conquest of the Boructuari who dwelt between the See also:Lippe and the See also:Ruhr marks the extent of their progress towards the south-west. This took See also:place shortly before the end of the 7th century. They frequently came into conflict with the Franks and on several occasions had to submit to their supremacy, notably after their defeat by Clothaire I. in 553. No thorough conquest was, however, carried out until the time of See also:Charlemagne, who, between the years 772 and 785, annexed the whole region as far as the See also:Elbe, destroying in 772 the Irminsul, their See also:great See also:sanctuary, near Marsberg on the Diemel.

Up to this time they had remained entirely See also:

heathen. In the 8th century and later we find the Saxons divided into three See also:geographical districts known as Westfalahi (a name preserved in See also:Westphalia), Angrarii and Ostfalahi, each of which had in several respects See also:special customs of its own. They were ruled by a number of See also:independent princes, but it is said that they had a See also:national See also:council which met annually at a place called Marklo on the Weser. At the beginning of the following century See also:Charles also conquered the Saxons known as Nordalbingi in western See also:Holstein, a district which had perhaps been occupied by a southward See also:movement from the See also:original See also:home of the tribe. It is doubtful how far the Saxons who invaded Britain wgre really distinct from the See also:Angli, for all their See also:affinities both in See also:language and See also:custom are with the latter and not with the Saxons (Old Saxons) of the See also:continent. During the 5th century we hear also of Saxon settlements on the coasts of Gaul. The most important were those at the mouth of the See also:Loire founded in the time of Childeric, See also:Clovis's See also:father, and at See also:Bayeux, in a district which remained in their possession until towards the See also:close of the 6th century. From the 6th century onwards, however, we hear practically nothing of the Saxons as a seafaring people. Almost all the See also:southern coast of the North Sea had now come into the possession of the See also:Frisians, and one can hardly help concluding that most of the maritime Saxons had either voluntarily or by conquest become incorporated in that See also:kingdom. See Ptolemy ii. It; See also:Eutropius ix. 21; See also:Zosimus iii.

6; See also:

Ammianus See also:Marcellinus See also:xxvi. 4. 5, See also:xxvii. 8. 5, )(will.. 2. 12, 7. 8, See also:xxx. 5. I and 4; Notitia dignitatum; See also:Gregory of See also:Tours, Historia Francorum, ii. 19, iV. 10.

14, v. 27, X. 9; See also:

Bede, Hist. Eccl. v. to ff.; Annales Einhardz; Translatzo S. Alexandri; See also:Hucbald, Vita S. Lebuini; See also:Widukind, Res Gestae Saxonicae, i. t ff. (F. G. M.

End of Article: SAXONS

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