Basdahl is a municipality in the district of Rotenburg , in Lower Saxony , Germany .
140-568: Basdahl belonged to the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen , established in 1180. Its parliament, the Bremian Estates ( German : Stiftsstände ), convened in diets (Tohopesaten or Landtage) usually in Basdahl, with Bremervörde serving as capital with the prince-archiepiscopal residence and seat of government (as of 1219). The Bremian chapter had its seat in the city of Bremen . In 1648
280-404: A Modra niht or 'night of the mothers', another religious festival of unknown content. The Saxon freemen and servile class remained faithful to their original beliefs long after their nominal conversion to Christianity. Nursing a hatred of the upper class, which, with Frankish assistance, had marginalised them from political power, the lower classes (the plebeium vulgus or cives ) were
420-511: A loanword in English from Scottish Gaelic (older spelling: Sasunnach ), is the word Sassenach , used by Scots -, Scottish English- and Gaelic-speakers in the 21st century as a racially pejorative term for an English person and, traditionally, to the English-speaking lowlanders of Scotland. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) gives 1771 as the date of the earliest written use of
560-513: A suffragan of the archbishops of Cologne , this is at least how they later corroborated their claim to supremacy over the Bremian see. When, after the death of Bishop Leuderich (838–45), the see was given to Ansgar , it lost its independence, and from that time on was permanently united with the Archdiocese of Hamburg . The new combined see was regarded as the headquarters for missionary work in
700-569: A Saxon force based in the east of Britain (Bede later believed in the Isle of Thanet ) were invited as foederati to Britain, in order to help defend against raids by Picts and Scots. They revolted over their pay and plundered the whole country, initiating a long war. By the time of Gildas in the 6th century the Romano-British had recovered control of at least part of the country, but were now divided into corrupt "tyrannies". There are very few records of
840-535: A church and made many friends among the nobility. Some of them rallied to save him from an angry mob at the annual council at Marklo (near river Weser, Bremen). Social tensions arose between the Christianity-sympathetic noblemen and the pagan lower castes, who were staunchly faithful to their traditional religion. Under Charlemagne, the Saxon Wars had as their chief object the conversion and integration of
980-458: A degree of autonomy in the rule of their territories. In their pastoral and religious capacity as Roman Catholic cleric the archbishops led their archdiocese as the hierarchical superior of all Roman Catholic clergy, including the suffragan bishops of Oldenburg-Lübeck , Ratzeburg and Schwerin . The Prince-Archbishopric often suffered from military supremacy of neighbouring powers. Having no dynasty, but prince-archbishops of different descent,
1120-575: A new chapter with twelve canons, with three each taken from Bremen Cathedral chapter, and the three colleges of Bücken , Harsefeld and Ramelsloh . In 1139 Archbishop Adalbero had fled the invasion of Count Rudolph II of Stade and Count Palatine Frederick II of Saxony , who destroyed Bremen, and established in Hamburg also appointing new capitular canons there by 1140. Hamburg-Bremen's diocesan territory covered about today's following territories: The Bremian cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven ,
1260-533: A papal confirmation. De facto he ascended the See in 1568, gained an imperial liege indult in 1570, while de jure still represented by the Chapter until 1580, in order not to complicate a papal confirmation, which never materialised. While Maximilian II regarded Henry III a true Catholic, Pope Sixtus V remained a skeptic. Henry III was raised Lutheran, but educated Catholic and served before his election as Catholic canon of
1400-524: A political body by the Gelnhausen Privilege . With the consent of Prince-Archbishop Hartwig II, of Uthlede the emperor declared the city to be governed by its burghers and the emperor, with the Prince-Archbishop waiving his say. The city of Bremen regarded and still regards this privilege to be constitutive for its status as a Free imperial city of imperial immediacy . Through the history
1540-512: A problem for Christian authorities as late as 836. The Translatio S. Liborii remarks on their obstinacy in pagan ritus et superstitio ('usage and superstition'). The conversion of the Saxons in England from their original Germanic religion to Christianity occurred in the early to late seventh century under the influence of the already converted Jutes of Kent . In the 630s, Birinus became
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#17328550071151680-408: A single kingdom. The Duchy of Saxony (804–1296) covered Westphalia, Eastphalia, Angria and Nordalbingia, which is roughly equivalent to Holstein, the southern part of modern-day Schleswig-Holstein state, now bordering on Denmark. The Saxons were conquered by Charlemagne after a long series of annual campaigns, the Saxon Wars (772–804). With defeat came enforced baptism and conversion as well as
1820-495: A superabundance of pagan sites. Their king, Saeberht , was converted early and a diocese was established at London . Its first bishop, Mellitus , was expelled by Saeberht's heirs. The conversion of the East Saxons was completed under Cedd in the 650s and 660s. The continental Saxons were evangelised largely by English missionaries in the late seventh and early eighth centuries. Around 695, two early English missionaries, Hewald
1960-597: A synod of Mainz in 848 both declared that homilies ought to be preached in the vernacular. The earliest preserved text in the Saxon language is a baptismal vow from the late eighth or early ninth century; the vernacular was used extensively in an effort to Christianise the lowest castes of Saxon society. In the Celtic languages , the words designating English nationality derive from the Latin word Saxones . The most prominent example,
2100-543: A veil before the early history of the [archbishopric of] Hamburg-Bremen." The foundation of the diocese belongs to the period of the missionary activity of Willehad on the lower Weser . It was erected on 15 July 787 at Worms , on Charlemagne 's initiative, his jurisdiction being assigned to cover the Saxon territory on both sides of the Weser from the mouth of the Aller , northwards to
2240-612: Is correct. He notes that the loss of first letters occurs in numerous places in various copies of Ptolemy's work, and also that the manuscripts without Saxones are generally inferior overall. The first undisputed mentions of the Saxon name come from the late 4th century, around the time of emperor Julian . By about 400 the Notitia Dignitatum shows that the Romans had created several military commands specifically to defend against Saxon raiders. The Litus Saxonicum (' Saxon Shore '),
2380-473: Is presumed that these are the names of two goddesses who were worshipped around that season. The Saxons offered cakes to their gods in February ( Solmōnaþ ). There was a religious festival associated with the harvest, Halegmōnaþ ('holy month' or 'month of offerings', September). The Saxon calendar began on 25 December, and the months of December and January were called Yule (or Giuli ). They contained
2520-454: The edhilingui . The Lex Saxonum regulated the Saxons' different society. Intermarriage between the castes was forbidden by the Lex Saxonum, and wergilds were set based upon caste membership. The edhilingui were worth 1,440 solidi , or about 700 head of cattle, the highest wergild on the continent; the price of a bride was also very high. This was six times as much as that of
2660-586: The frilingi and eight times as much as the lazzi . The gulf between noble and ignoble was very large, but the difference between a freeman and an indentured labourer was small. According to the Vita Lebuini antiqua , an important source for early Saxon history, the Saxons held an annual council at Marklo (Westphalia) where they "confirmed their laws, gave judgment on outstanding cases, and determined by common counsel whether they would go to war or be in peace that year." All three castes participated in
2800-459: The edhilingui were the descendants of the Saxons who led the tribe out of Holstein and during the migrations of the sixth century. They were a conquering warrior elite. The frilingi represented the descendants of the amicii , auxiliarii and manumissi of that caste. The lazzi represented the descendants of the original inhabitants of the conquered territories, who were forced to make oaths of submission and pay tribute to
2940-475: The Angles . What is more certain is that long before any clear historical mention of Saxony as a country, a related but possibly distinct or overlapping group of "Saxons" became important during the late Roman Empire , when the name was used to refer to coastal raiders who attacked from the north by, in a similar sense to the much later term Viking . These early raiders and settlers came from coastal regions north of
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#17328550071153080-534: The Anglo Saxons , or simply "the English". This brought together local Romano-British populations, Saxons, and other migrants from the same North Sea region, including Frisians , Jutes , and Angles . The Angles are the source of the term English which became the more commonly-used collective term. The term Anglo-Saxon , combining the names of the Angles and the Saxons, came into use by the eighth century, initially in
3220-467: The Bishop Elect of Bremen , to gain the see of Bremen , with part of the diocesan territory being upgraded to form the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen ( German : Erzstift Bremen ). Thus the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen became one of the successor states of the old Duchy of Saxony , holding only a small part of its former territory. In 1186 Frederick I Barbarossa recognised the city of Bremen as
3360-468: The Catholic League already operating in the neighboured Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle and dangerously approaching their region. The concomitant effects of the war, debasements and dearness, had already caused an inflation also in the region. The population suffered from billeting and alimenting Baden-Durlachian , Danish, Halberstadtian , Leaguist , and Palatine troops, whose marching through
3500-534: The Diocese of Bremen with the Archdiocese of Hamburg to form the Archdiocese of Hamburg and Bremen , colloquially called Hamburg-Bremen , and by so doing he denied Cologne's claim as metropolia over Bremen. Sergius prohibited the chapter at Hamburg's Concathedral to found suffragan dioceses of its own. After the Obodrite destruction of Hamburg in 983 the Hamburg chapter was dispersed. So Archbishop Unwan appointed
3640-663: The Elbe and westwards to the Hunte , and the Frisian territory for a certain distance from the mouth of the Weser. Willehad fixed his headquarters at Bremen , though the formal constitution of the diocese took place only after the subjugation of the Saxons in 804 or 805, when Willehad' s disciple, Willerich , was consecrated bishop of Bremen, with the same territory. The diocese was conceivably at that time
3780-694: The Franks , is unclear until the 8th century and the conflict between their semi-legendary hero Widukind and the Frankish emperor Charlemagne . They do not appear to have been politically united until about that time. Previous Frankish rulers of Austrasia , both Merovingian and Carolingian , fought numerous campaigns against Saxons, both in the west near the Lippe, Ems and Weser, and further east, neighbouring Thuringia and Bohemia . Later medieval sources referred to this eastern area as "North Swabia". Charlemagne conquered all
3920-608: The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (north of Elbe), the Lower Saxon counties of Aurich (northerly), Cuxhaven , Diepholz (northerly), Frisia , Nienburg (westerly), Oldenburg in Oldenburg (easterly), Osterholz , Rotenburg upon Wümme (northerly), Stade (except of an eastern tract of land), Wesermarsch , Wittmund , the Lower Saxon urban counties Delmenhorst and Wilhelmshaven ,
4060-597: The Germanic calendar in use at that time. The Germanic gods Woden , Frigg , Tiw and Thunor , who are attested to in every Germanic tradition, were worshipped in Wessex, Sussex and Essex. They are the only ones directly attested to, though the names of the third and fourth months (March and April) of the Old English calendar bear the names Hrēþmōnaþ and Ēosturmōnaþ , meaning 'month of Hretha ' and 'month of Ēostre '. It
4200-546: The Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church that after its definitive secularization in 1648 became the hereditary Duchy of Bremen ( German : Herzogtum Bremen ). The prince-archbishopric, which was under the secular rule of the archbishop, consisted of about a third of the diocesan territory. The city of Bremen was de facto (since 1186) and de jure (since 1646) not part of the prince-archbishopric. Most of
4340-559: The Holy Roman Empire in order to stay with Henry II of England . Frederick I Barbarossa partitioned Saxony in some dozens of territories of Imperial Immediate status allotting each territory to that one of his allies who had conquered them before from Henry the Lion and his remaining supporters. In 1168 the Saxon clan of the Ascanians , allies of Frederick I Barbarossa , had failed to install their family member Count Siegfried of Anhalt , on
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4480-483: The Holy Roman Empire . A prerequisite for being an imperial estate was imperial immediacy ( German : Reichsunmittelbarkeit , or Reichsfreiheit ) of the rulers or ruling bodies, meaning that they had no other authority above them except of the Holy Roman Emperor himself. Furthermore, such rulers or ruling bodies (such as Chapters or city councils) possessed several important rights and privileges, including
4620-624: The Land of Wursten as well as to the district of Bederkesa and abandoned the lawsuit, which he had brought to the Imperial Chamber Court to this end. In his election capitulations Henry III covenanted to accept the privileges of the Estates and the existing laws. Due to his minority he agreed, that Chapter and Estates would rule the Prince-Archbishopric. In this time he should work towards
4760-447: The Nordic countries , and new sees to be erected were to be its suffragans , meaning subject to its jurisdiction. Ansgar's successor, Rimbert , the "second apostle of the north," was troubled by onslaughts first by Normans and then by Wends , and by Cologne's renewed claims to supremacy. At Archbishop Adalgar 's (888–909) instigation Pope Sergius III confirmed the amalgamation of
4900-559: The Old Saxon language. Old Frisian apparently once stretched along the North Sea coast from the northern Netherlands to southern Denmark , while Old Saxon originally didn't extend to the coast. Linguists have noted that Old Frisian and Old Saxon, although neighbouring and related, did not form part of the same dialect continuum. In contrast, the Saxon dialects became part of the much larger Continental West Germanic continuum which stretched to
5040-542: The Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck , fled to the latter and left the rule in the Prince-Archbishopric to the Chapter and the Estates. Saxons The Saxons , sometimes called the Old Saxons , were the Germanic people of "Old" Saxony ( Latin : Antiqua Saxonia ) which became a Carolingian " stem duchy " in 804, in what is now northern Germany. The political history of these inland Saxons, who were neighbours of
5180-459: The Rhine . They included Frisians , Angles and Jutes , as well as people from the coastal part of what came to be called Saxony. One of the first writers to mention a country called Saxony appears to have been an Ostrogothic geographer of Italy named Marcomir. The much later Ravenna Cosmography which reproduces some of his reports uses the term "Old Saxony" to refer to the continental homeland of
5320-598: The Saale into the area of a western Slavic tribe, the Sorbs . The Sorbs were gradually Germanised . This region subsequently acquired the name Saxony through political circumstances, though it was initially called the March of Meissen . The rulers of Meissen acquired control of the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg (only a remnant of the previous Duchy) in 1423; they eventually applied the name Saxony to
5460-560: The Schleswig-Holsteinian counties of Ditmarsh , Pinneberg , Rendsburg-Eckernförde (southerly), Segeberg (easterly), Steinburg , Stormarn (easterly) as well as the Schleswig-Holsteinian urban counties of Kiel and Neumünster . The see of Hamburg-Bremen attained its greatest prosperity and later had its deepest troubles under Archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg (1043–1072). He was after Hamburg-Bremen's upgrade to
5600-581: The hereditary aristocracy , the service gentry , non-capitular clergy , free peasants and burghers of chartered towns. The modus vivendi of interplay of the Estates and the archiepiscopal authority, being in itself divided into the Prince-Archbishop and the Chapter , became the quasi constitution of the Prince-Archbishopric . However, the interplay was not determined by fixed standards of behaviour. While
5740-496: The "Saxons" who became important during the late Roman Empire as coastal raiders who attacked from the north using boats, in a similar sense to the much later term Viking . These early raiders and settlers were believed by contemporaries to come from coastal regions north of the Rhine . They included Frisians , Angles and Jutes , who stretched from what is now the Netherlands to what is now Denmark, as well as coastal parts of
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5880-460: The "apostle to the West Saxons" and converted Wessex , whose first Christian king was Cynegils . The West Saxons begin to emerge from obscurity only with their conversion to Christianity and keeping written records. The Gewisse , a West Saxon people, were especially resistant to Christianity; Birinus exercised more efforts against them and ultimately succeeded in conversion. In Wessex, a bishopric
6020-610: The 840s, when the Stellinga rose up against the Saxon leadership, who were allied with the Frankish emperor Lothair I . After the suppression of the Stellinga , in 851 Louis the German brought relics from Rome to Saxony to foster a devotion to the Roman Catholic Church . The Poeta Saxo , in his verse Annales of Charlemagne's reign (written between 888 and 891), laid an emphasis on his conquest of Saxony. He celebrated
6160-650: The Alps, and can all be considered to be types of German. According to the historical linguist Elmar Seebold , this development can only be explained if continental Saxon society prior to the migration to Britain was effectively composed of two related, but different forms of West Germanic. In his view, the group of people who, in the 3rd century , first migrated southwards to what is now the northwestern portion of Lower Saxony spoke North Sea Germanic dialects closely related to Old Frisian and Old English . There, these migrants encountered an already present population whose language
6300-544: The Anglo-Dutch war coalition. In 1625 Tilly warned the Prince-Archbishop John Frederick to further accept the stationing of Danish troops and Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor , demanded the immediate end of his and Verden's alliance with Denmark , with Verden being already ruled by Christian's son Frederick , being as well the provided successor of John Frederick . He declared again his loyalty to
6440-514: The Bremen Chapter again ignored the Hamburg capitulars, fearing their Danish partisanship and elected Gebhard of Lippe archbishop. In 1223 Archbishop Gebhard reconciled the Hamburg chapter and confirmed that three of its capitulars were enfranchised to elect with the Bremen chapter, to wit the provost , presiding the chapter, the dean (Domdechant) and the scholaster , in charge of the education at
6580-660: The Bremian Chapter to elect his son John Adolphus of Schleswig-Holstein at Gottorp (*1575-1616*) to the See. To this end, Adolf paid 20,000 rixdollars and promised to work towards the restitution of Ditmarsh to the Prince-Archbishopric. In 1585 John Adolf covenanted at his election in the obligatory election capitulations , that he would accept the privileges of the Chapter as well as the existing laws and that he would work - at his own expense - towards gaining either papal confirmation or - in default thereof - an imperial liege indult . From 1585 to 1589 Chapter and Estates ruled
6720-758: The Bremian city of Stade , officially on behalf of his son the provided to be Administrator successor, suppressing an unrest of its burghers. In 1620 Christian, the Younger , titular duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg-Wolfenbüttel , the Lutheran Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric Halberstadt requested that the Lutheran Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen would join the war coalition of the Protestant Union . The Administrator and
6860-613: The British Saxons who the writer understood to have come from this Old Saxony with a leader named Ansehis . It describes the lands of this Old Saxony as lying on the ocean coast, between Frisia and the Danes. It contained the rivers "Lamizon", "Ipada", "Lippa" and "Limac", which are generally interpreted as the Ems , Pader , Lippe and Leine . Today the Saxons of Germany no longer form a distinctive ethnic group or country, but their name lives on in
7000-600: The Chapters of the prince-bishoprics of Osnabrück (1574–1585) and Paderborn (1577–1585), without ever gaining papal confirmation. In 1575 Henry III and Anna von Broich (Borch) married in Hagen im Bremischen . As to the interior Henry III still had to repay debts from his pre-predecessor Christopher the Spendthrift . In 1580 Henry introduced a Lutheran church constitution for the Prince-Archbishopric. Thus Henry III would not exercise
7140-616: The Duchy, before France annexed it in 1810. In 1813 the Duchy was restored to the Electorate of Hanover , which - after its upgrade to the Kingdom of Hanover in 1814 - incorporated the Duchy in a real union and the Ducal territory, including Basdahl, became part of the new Stade Region , established in 1823. Basdahl's historical role in the prince-archbishopric is commemorated in its coat-of-arms showing on
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#17328550071157280-491: The Emperor and neutrality in the conflict. But all in vain. Now Christian IV ordered his troops to capture all the important traffic hubs in the Prince-Archbishopric and entered into the Battle of Lutter am Barenberge , on 27 August 1626, where he was defeated by the Leaguist troops under Tilly . Christian IV and his surviving troops fled to the Prince-Archbishopric and took their headquarters in Stade . Administrator John Frederick , in personal union also Administrator of
7420-408: The English Saxons as either English or as Anglo-Saxons after this point, the term Saxon was still used to refer to them for some time, and can be a source of potential confusion when interpreting contemporary records. Ptolemy 's Geographia , written in the second century, is sometimes considered to contain the first mention of the Saxons. Some copies of this text mention a tribe called Saxones in
7560-485: The English people and England are Sowsnek and Pow Sows ('Land [Pays] of Saxons'). Similarly Breton , spoken in north-western France, has saoz(on) ('English'), saozneg ('the English language'), and Bro-saoz for 'England'. The label Saxons (in Romanian : Sași ) also became attached to German settlers who settled during the 12th century in southeastern Transylvania . From Transylvania, some of these Saxons migrated to neighbouring Moldavia , as
7700-507: The Estates (1566–1568), and considered the opportunities. In 1524 the Prince-Archbishopric had subjected the autonomous farmers' republic of the Land of Wursten , but the Wursteners still hoped for a liberation and support from the neighbouring Saxe-Lauenburgian exclave of the Land of Hadeln . Thus on 17 February 1567 the Chapter elected Duke Henry III of Saxe-Lauenburg (*1550-1585*, ruled from 1568 on) prince-archbishop. In return his father Francis I waived any Saxe-Lauenburgian claim to
7840-404: The Estates of the Prince-Archbishopric met in a Diet and declared for their territory their loyalty to Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor , and their neutrality in the conflict. With Danish troops within his territory and Christian the Younger's request Administrator John Frederick tried desperately to keep his Prince-Archbishopric out of the war, being in complete agreement with the Estates and
7980-430: The Fowler, 919) and later the first emperors (Henry's son, Otto I, the Great ) of Germany during the tenth century, but they lost this position in 1024. The duchy was divided in 1180 when Duke Henry the Lion refused to follow his cousin, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa , into war in Lombardy . During the High Middle Ages , under the Salian emperors and, later, under the Teutonic Knights , German settlers moved east of
8120-409: The Frankish monarch as on par with the Roman emperors and as the bringer of Christian salvation to people. References are made to periodic outbreaks of pagan worship, especially of Freya, among the Saxon peasantry as late as the 12th century. In the ninth century, the Saxon nobility became vigorous supporters of monasticism and formed a bulwark of Christianity against the existing Slavic paganism to
8260-440: The Franks. There were also Saxon populations in this period who were living in neither England, nor what would become Saxony. The continental Saxons appear to have become consolidated by the end of the eighth century, partly as a result of interaction with the powerful Frankish kingdoms. The ancestors of Charlemagne, the Arnulfings , took control of the neighbouring Austrasian kingdom of the Franks and sought to assert power over
8400-404: The Holy Roman Empire provided, that the Emperor may only enfeoff a prince-bishop elect with the regalia , if the Pope would have confirmed his election to the respective See. In default thereof the Emperor could grant a liege indult ( German : Lehnsindult ), often restricted to some years only, and then notwithstanding enfeoff the prince-bishop elect with the regalia of restricted legitimacy to
8540-404: The Pious supported Christian vernacular works in order to evangelise the Saxons more efficiently. The Heliand , a verse epic of the life of Christ in a Germanic setting, and Genesis , another epic retelling of the events of the first book of the Bible , were commissioned in the early ninth century by Louis to disseminate scriptural knowledge to the masses. A council of Tours in 813 and then
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#17328550071158680-438: The Prince-Archbishopric became a pawn in the hands of the powerful. The establishment of a constitution, which would bind the conflicting Estates, failed. Schisms in Church and State marked the next two centuries, and in spite of the labours of the Windesheim and Bursfelde congregations, the way was prepared for the Reformation , which made rapid headway, partly because the last Roman Catholic prince-archbishop, Christopher
8820-461: The Prince-Archbishopric had adopted Lutheranism and partially Calvinism, as did the city of Bremen and the territories under its influence downstream the Weser and in the district of Bederkesa , also most capitulars, recruited from burghers of the city of Bremen and rural noble families, turned out to be Calvinists and Lutherans. Thus the capitulars preferred to elect Protestant candidates. The Bremian prince-archbishop elects could only occasionally gain
8960-454: The Prince-Archbishopric had to tolerate in order to prevent entering into armed conflict. In 1623 the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , diplomatically supported by James I, King of England and of Ireland and as James IV King of Scotland , the brother-in-law of Christian IV of Denmark , started a new anti- Habsburg campaign. Thus the troops of the Catholic League were bound and the Prince-Archbishopric seemed relieved. But soon after
9100-405: The Prince-Archbishopric was transformed into the Duchy of Bremen , which was first ruled in personal union by the Swedish Crown - interrupted by a Danish occupation (1712–1715) - and from 1715 on by the Hanoverian Crown. The estates met then much less frequent, because the Swedish rulers tried to discard the estates influence in legislation. In 1807 the ephemeric Kingdom of Westphalia annexed
9240-403: The Prince-Archbishopsric in custodianship for the minor John Adolf. At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War the Prince-Archbishopric maintained neutrality, as did most of the territories in the Lower Saxon Circle . After 1613 King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway , being in personal union Duke of Holstein within the Holy Roman Empire , turned his attention to gain grounds by acquiring
9380-446: The Roman military, which was stationed in what is now Lebanon and northern Israel. This Ala primum Saxonum already existed by 363 when Julian used them in Arabia against the Persian empire . Roman military accessories are found in northern Germany in the 4th and 5th centuries apparently indicating the return of soldiers who had served the empire. Several records mentioning the early Saxons can be dated: In almost all of these cases
9520-440: The Saint Simon Petrus , has become the symbol of the city of Bremen (see Coat of arms of Bremen ), the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (two criss-crossed argent (silver) keys on a gules (red) background, see in the left part of the Bremen-Verden's seal ) and of the Bremian city of Stade . The territory of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen consisted of a number of sub-entities. The only thing they all had in common was, that
9660-410: The Saxons after winning the long Saxon Wars (772–804), and forced them to convert to Christianity , annexing Saxony into the Carolingian domain. Under the Carolingian Franks, Saxony became a single duchy, fitting it within the basic political structure of the later Holy Roman Empire . The early rulers of this Duchy of Saxony expanded their territories, and therefore those of the Holy Roman empire, to
9800-409: The Saxons into the Frankish empire. Though much of the highest caste converted readily, forced baptisms and forced tithing made enemies of the lower orders. Even some contemporaries found the methods employed to win over the Saxons wanting, as this excerpt from a letter of Alcuin of York to his friend Meginfrid, written in 796, shows: If the light yoke and sweet burden of Christ were to be preached to
9940-449: The Saxons were associated with using boats for their raids, even within the Maas delta region. Special mentions of the fearful 4th-century Saxon surprise attacks were made not only by Ammianus, but also by the poet Claudian . Some generations later a dramatic description of Saxon raiding was written by Sidonius Apollinaris writing to a friend who was assigned to a coastal defensive post in Saintonge near Bordeaux . A rough description of
10080-469: The Spendthrift , was in permanent conflict with the Chapter and the Estates . Being simultaneously the Prince-Bishop of Verden , he preferred to reside in the city of Verden . By the time he died (1558), in the Prince-Archbishopric nothing was left of the old denomination apart from a few monasteries – such as Harsefeld , Himmelpforten , Lilienthal , Neuenwalde , Osterholz as well as Zeven under
10220-521: The White and Hewald the Black , were martyred by the vicani , that is, villagers. Throughout the century that followed, villagers and other peasants proved to be the greatest opponents of Christianisation , while missionaries often received the support of the edhilingui and other noblemen. Saint Lebuin , an Englishman who between 745 and 770 preached to the Saxons, mainly in the eastern Netherlands, built
10360-495: The area to the north of the lower Elbe . However, other versions refer to the same tribe as Axones . This may be a misspelling of the tribe that Tacitus in his Germania called Aviones . According to this theory, Saxones was the result of later scribes trying to correct a name that meant nothing to them. On the other hand, Schütte , in his analysis of such problems in Ptolemy's Maps of Northern Europe , believed that Saxones
10500-407: The autocratic and prodigal Prince-Archbishop Christopher the Spendthrift , Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg-Wolfenbüttel . Especially the Chapter used its power to elect very old candidates, to minimise the time a ruler can be harmful, or to elect minors, which it hoped to dress and tame in time. Once in a while the Chapter took up time and protracted elections for years, being itself the ruler for
10640-652: The cathedral in Cologne . The schism wasn't so definite, as it looks in retrospect. The Holy See still hoped the Reformation would be a merely temporary phenomenon, while its protagonists still expected all the Roman church to reform, so that there would be no schism. So Sixtus V tested Henry III once in a while, demanding the succession of Catholic candidates for vacancies in the Bremian Chapter - which it sometimes accepted, sometimes denied -, while Henry succeeded to be also elected by
10780-438: The cathedral school. Pope Honorius III confirmed this settlement in 1224, also affirming the continued existence of both chapters. The fortified city of Bremen held its own guards, not allowing prince-archiepiscopal soldiers to enter it. The city reserved an extra very narrow gate, the so-called Bishop's Needle (Latin: Acus episcopi , first mentioned in 1274), for all clergy including the Prince-Archbishop. The narrowness of
10920-470: The city boundary in a district of immunity and extraterritorial status ( German : Domfreiheit , literally: Cathedral Liberty ) around the Cathedral of St. Peter , where the city council would refrain to interfere. The Hamburg Concathedral with chapterhouse and capitular residential courts formed a Cathedral Immunity District of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen too. The key, the epithet symbol of
11060-701: The city of Bremen . When in 1623 the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , fighting in the Eighty Years' War for its independence against Habsburg 's Spanish and imperial forces, requested its Calvinist co-religionist of the city of Bremen to join, the city refused, but started to enforce its fortifications. In 1623 the territories comprising the Lower Saxon Circle decided to recruit an army in order to maintain an armed neutrality, with troops of
11200-582: The consecutive Archbishops worked on discarding the bishopric's Estates from the political landscape, the latter fought for the enforcement of the modus vivendi to become a real constitution. The Chapter often swung between increasing its influence by fighting the Estates jointly with the Prince-Archbishop and repelling his absolutist intentions by making common cause with the Estates . All parties made use of means like bluffing, threat, obstructionism, corruption, horse-trading and even violence. In 1542/1547 - 1549 Chapter and Estates managed to dismiss
11340-467: The destruction of the Hanseatic League . In May 1625 Christian IV of Denmark, Duke of Holstein was elected – in the latter of his functions – by the Lower Saxon Circle 's member territories commander-in-chief of the Lower Saxon troops. More troops were recruited and to be billeted and alimented in the Lower Saxon territories, including the Prince-Archbishopric. In the same year Christian IV joined
11480-512: The east and the Nordic paganism of the Vikings to the north. Much Christian literature was produced in the vernacular Old Saxon , the notable ones being a result of the literary output and wide influence of Saxon monasteries such as Fulda , Corvey and Verden ; and the theological controversy between the Augustinian , Gottschalk and Rabanus Maurus . From an early date, Charlemagne and Louis
11620-412: The east, at the expense of Slavic-speaking Wends . Before the entry of Saxony into Frankish history, there is possibly a single classical reference to a smaller and much earlier Saxon tribe, but the interpretation of this text ("Axones" in most surviving manuscripts) is disputed. According to this proposal, the original Saxon tribe lived north of the mouth of the Elbe , close to the probable homeland of
11760-513: The effect that the elect could rule with princely power within the prince-bishopric, bearing only title of Administrator , but would be banned from participating in the Diets . Lacking papal confirmation and imperial liege indult could bring a prince-bishop elect into the precarious situation to be dismissed by the Emperor or by any of his vassals powerful enough and keen to do so. Once the inhabitants of
11900-452: The first centuries of its use the term Saxon was associated with raiders and not associated with any clearly defined homeland, apart from the settlements of Saxons in what are now England and Normandy. It is only much later that the medieval records of the Frankish empire began to refer to a largely inland nation of Saxons in what is now northern Germany. Although it became convenient to refer to
12040-559: The future king of Italy, who is mentioned in the same part of Gregory's text as a person who subsequently allied with Childeric to fight Alemanni in Italy. In comparison to mentions of the early Saxons raiders and settlers in Britain or Gaul, there are few mentions of the Saxons in Germany before the 8th century. Interpretation of the records is also complicated not only by the continuing references to
12180-564: The gate made it technically impossible to come accompanied by knights. Therefore, the Prince-Archbishops rather preferred to reside outside of the city, first in Bücken and later in the Vörde Castle , which became the principal fortress of Prince-Archbishop Gerhard II, Edelherr zur Lippe in 1219. The Chapters of Bremen Cathedral (see below) and part of the administration were located within
12320-551: The general council; twelve representatives from each caste were sent from each Gau . In 782, Charlemagne abolished the system of Gaue and replaced it with the Grafschaftsverfassung , the system of counties typical of Francia . By prohibiting the Marklo councils, Charlemagne pushed the frilingi and lazzi out of political power. The old Saxon system of Abgabengrundherrschaft , lordship based on dues and taxes,
12460-508: The homeland of these Saxons was given by Hilarion who says the Frankish homeland lay between the Saxons and Alemanni . In 441–442 AD, Saxons are mentioned in the Chronica Gallica of 452 which says that the "British provinces, which to this time had suffered various defeats and misfortunes, are reduced to Saxon rule". Some generations later Gildas is generally seen as reporting what happened, although he gave no date. According to him,
12600-454: The imperial liege indult . Many princely houses, such as the House of Guelf ( Brunswick and Lunenburg-Wolfenbüttel ), the House of Nikloting ( Mecklenburg-Schwerin ), the House of Wettin ( Electorate of Saxony ), and the House of Ascania ( Saxe-Lauenburg ) applied for the See. Before electing a new prince-archbishop the Chapter took its time, ruling the Prince-Archbishopric in accordance with
12740-557: The imperial troops under Albrecht von Wallenstein headed for the North in an attempt to destroy the fading Hanseatic League , in order to subject the Hanseatic cities of Bremen , Hamburg and Lübeck and to establish a Baltic trade monopoly, to be run by some imperial favourites including Spaniards and Poles. The idea was to win Sweden 's and Denmark 's support, both of which since long were after
12880-526: The jurisdiction of the Bremian archdiocese and Altkloster [ nds ] as well as Neukloster under the jurisdiction of Verden's See – and the districts served by them. While between 1523 and 1551 the cities of Bremen and Stade had dissolved all the urban monasteries, except of St Mary's in Stade, which transformed until 1568 into a Lutheran convent, and conveyed their buildings to uses by schools, hospitals, alms houses and senior homes. The constitution of
13020-652: The king, but, during Charlemagne's campaign in Hispania (778), the Saxons advanced to Deutz on the Rhine and plundered along the river. This was an oft-repeated pattern when Charlemagne was distracted by other matters. Under Carolingian rule , the Saxons were reduced to tributary status. There is evidence that the Saxons, as well as Slavic tributaries such as the Abodrites and the Wends , often provided troops to their Carolingian overlords. The dukes of Saxony became kings ( Henry I ,
13160-683: The language of the Chauci , the language of the Thuringians , and possibly other ancient tribes) prevailed and ultimately formed the basis for the Low Saxon dialects known today, while their speakers retained the tribal name. Bede , a Northumbrian writing around the year 730, remarks that "the old (that is, the continental) Saxons have no king, but they are governed by several ealdormen (or satrapa ) who, during war, cast lots for leadership but who, in time of peace, are equal in power." The regnum Saxonum
13300-451: The languages of the Angles and this particular Saxon group were closely related, a continuum between Anglian and Saxon could form in Britain, which later became English . In the land of the Saxons itself, the departure of a large part of this former elite caused the sociopolitical landscape to change, and the original population, after the departure of the majority of the elite's descendants, became so predominant that their dialects (presumably
13440-489: The latter. In 1260, with effect from 1296 on, its rulers split the younger Duchy into the Duchies of Saxe-Wittenberg ( German : Herzogtum Sachsen-Wittenberg ) and Saxe-Lauenburg ( German : Herzogtum Sachsen-Lauenburg ), the latter holding the unconnected two northern territories, belonging both to the archdiocese of Bremen . Otto and Bernhard helped their second brother Siegfried , who since 1168 had called himself
13580-443: The left side the crisscrossed keys, the coat-of-arms of the prince-archbishopric. This Rotenburg district location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen ( German : Fürsterzbistum Bremen ) — not to be confused with the modern Archdiocese of Hamburg , founded in 1994 — was an ecclesiastical principality (787–1566/1648) of
13720-588: The most obstinate people of the Saxons with as much determination as the payment of tithes has been exacted, or as the force of the legal decree has been applied for fault of the most trifling sort imaginable, perhaps they would not be averse to their baptismal vows. Charlemagne's successor, Louis the Pious , reportedly treated the Saxons more as Alcuin would have wished, and as a consequence they were faithful subjects. The lower classes, however, revolted against Frankish overlordship in favour of their old paganism as late as
13860-492: The name Saxon supposedly derives. In Estonian , saks means colloquially, 'a wealthy person'. As a result of the Northern Crusades , Estonia 's upper class comprised mostly Baltic Germans, persons of supposedly Saxon origin until well into the 20th century. Following the downfall of Henry the Lion (1129–1195, Duke of Saxony 1142–1180), and the subsequent splitting of the Saxon tribal duchy into several territories,
14000-536: The name of the Saxon duchy was transferred to the lands of the Ascanian family. This led to the differentiation between Lower Saxony (lands settled by the Saxon tribe) and Upper Saxony (the lands belonging to the House of Wettin ). Gradually, the latter region became known as Saxony, ultimately usurping the name's original geographical meaning. The area formerly known as Upper Saxony now lies in Central Germany – in
14140-484: The name of the town Sascut , in present-day Romania, shows. The Finns and Estonians have changed their usage of the root Saxon over the centuries to apply now to the whole country of Germany ( Saksa and Saksamaa respectively) and the Germans ( saksalaiset and sakslased , respectively). The Finnish word sakset ( scissors ) reflects the name of the old Saxon single-edged sword – seax – from which
14280-550: The names of several regions and states of Germany , including Lower Saxony ( German : Niedersachsen ) which includes most of the original duchy. Their language evolved into Low German which was the lingua franca of the Hanseatic League , but has faced a long and gradual decline since the Late Medieval period as a literary, administrative and, to a significant extent, cultural language in favor of Dutch and German . The first Saxons clearly mentioned in ancient records were
14420-477: The other Saxons, but also because the German Saxons possibly weren't originally unified within one Saxon political entity. It is therefore not clear whether some early continental "Saxons" could also sometimes have come under other designations such as Warini , Frisians or Thuringians . Nevertheless some records during Merovingian times are clearly about Saxons living within what is now Northern Germany, north of
14560-521: The particular power, which the archiepiscopal authority had achieved in them. The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen's former territory consists about of today's following Lower Saxon counties ( German : Landkreis , or Kreis ) of Cuxhaven (southerly), Osterholz , Rotenburg upon Wümme and Stade as well as of the Bremian exclave of the city of Bremerhaven and from 1145 to 1526 today's Schleswig-Holsteinian county of Ditmarsh . The city of Bremen
14700-752: The pastoral functions of a Roman Catholic bishop any more. In 1584 the Holy See founded the Roman Catholic Nordic Missions , an endeavour for pastoral care and mission in the area of the de facto ceased archdioceses of Bremen and of Lund . In 1622 the Nordic Missions were subordinated to the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide in Rome. The Holy See conveyed to the Nuncio to Cologne , Pietro Francesco Montoro ,
14840-487: The peoples to the east including not only the Bavarians, Swabians and Thuringians, which were long under Frankish rule, but also the Saxons and Frisians. They also pressured the Saxons and Frisians to convert to Christianity. In 804 the emperor Charlemagne conquered the Saxons, and incorporated the Saxons into the Frankish empire as a Stem Duchy, similar to the older ones although there is no evidence that it had previously been
14980-635: The period, but by the time of Bede in the 8th century most of England was ruled by Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In the 460s, an apparent fragment of a chronicle preserved in the History of the Franks of Gregory of Tours , gives a confusing report about a number of battles involving one " Adovacrius " who led a group of Saxons based upon islands somewhere near the mouth of the Loire . He took hostages at Anger in France, but his force
15120-612: The prince-archbishopric lay rather in the area to the north of the city of Bremen , between the Weser and Elbe rivers. Even more confusingly, parts of the prince-archbishopric belonged in religious respect to the neighbouring Diocese of Verden , making up 10% of its diocesan territory. In the different historical struggles for expansion of territory or privileges and the concerned and disfavoured entity's defence against such annexation or usurpation, plenty of documents have been completely forged or counterfeited or backdated, in order to corroborate one's arguments. "These forgeries have drawn
15260-583: The prince-bishoprics of Bremen, Verden , Minden and Halberstadt . He skillfully took advantage of the alarm of the German Protestants after the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, to stipulate with Bremen's Chapter and Administrator John Frederick, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp , his cousin of second degree, to grant coadjutorship of the See of Bremen for his son Frederick , later crown prince of Denmark (September 1621). Coadjutorship usually included
15400-401: The prior archbishops or capitulars or the Chapter as a collective obtained some secular power in them by way of purchase, application of force, usurpation, commendation, pledge, donation etc. The prior archiepiscopal authorities didn't have succeeded in almost any of the sub-entities to gain all the power, be it judicial, patrimonial, parochial, fiscal, feudal or else what. Almost everywhere
15540-457: The random decision-making. There were also sacred rituals and objects, such as the pillars called Irminsul ; these were believed to connect heaven and earth, as with other examples of trees or ladders to heaven in numerous religions. Charlemagne had one such pillar chopped down in 772 close to the Eresburg stronghold. Early Saxon religious practices in Britain can be gleaned from place names and
15680-836: The rank of a Patriarchate of the North and failed completely. Hamburg stopped being used as part of the diocese's name. The next two archbishops, Liemar and Humbert , were determined opponents of Pope Gregory VII . Under the latter in 1104 Bremen's suffragan Diocese of Lund (DK) was elevated to an archdiocese supervising all of Bremen's other Nordic former suffragan sees, to wit Århus (DK) , Faroe Islands (FO) , Gardar (Greenland) , Linköping (S) , Odense (DK) , Orkney (UK) , Oslo (N) , Ribe (DK) , Roskilde (DK) , Schleswig (D) , Selje (N) , Skálholt (IS) , Skara (S) , Strängnäs (S) , Trondheim (N) , Uppsala (S) , Viborg (DK) , Vestervig (DK) , Västerås (S) and Växjö (S) . Bremen's remaining suffragan sees at that time were only existing by name, since insurgent Wends had destroyed
15820-404: The respective rulers of the Prince-Archbishopric and its successor state Bremen-Verden often denied the city's status. And also the city could and did not always cling to its claim of imperial immediacy , which made the city's status somewhat ambiguous. Through most of the history the city participated in the Prince-Archbishopric's Diets as part of the Estates (see below) and paid its share in
15960-431: The river Elbe, from north west to south east, (1) Hadeln around Otterndorf , (2) around Lauenburg upon Elbe and (3) around Wittenberg upon Elbe . Except of the title, Duke of Saxony, Angria and Westphalia , which this younger Duchy of Saxony granted its rulers, even after its dynastic partition in 1296, this territory, consisting only of territorial fringes of the old Duchy of Saxony , had little in common with
16100-412: The rule was to be shared with one or more competing bearers of authority, e.g. aristocrats, outside ecclesiastical dignitaries, autonomous corporations of free peasants ( German : Landsgemeinden ) or chartered towns and the like. Therefore, the archiepiscopal authority used to refer to each sub-entity by different terms like county, parish, shire, bailiwick or patrimonial district, each according to
16240-524: The same derivation, as do the words used in Welsh to describe the English people ( Saeson , singular Sais ) and the language and things English in general: Saesneg and Seisnig . Cornish terms the English Sawsnek , from the same derivation. In the 16th century Cornish-speakers used the phrase Meea navidna cowza sawzneck to feign ignorance of the English language. The Cornish words for
16380-512: The see of Bremen . But in 1180 the Ascanians prevailed twofoldly. The chief of the House of Ascania , Margrave Otto I of Brandenburg , son of Albert the Bear , a maternal cousin of Henry the Lion , provided his sixth brother Bernhard, Count of Anhalt , from then on Bernhard III, Duke of Saxony , with the later on so-called younger Duchy of Saxony (1180 - 1296) , a radically belittled territory consisting of three unconnected territories along
16520-420: The so-called Wendish dioceses of Oldenburg-Lübeck , Ratzeburg and Schwerin and they were only to be reestablished later. At the stripping of the Duchy of Saxony (7th century - 1180) in 1180 all of these suffragan bishops achieved for parts of their diocesan territories the status of imperially immediate prince-bishoprics. The Bishopric of Livonia (first at Uexküll then Riga ) was a suffragan of Bremen in
16660-651: The southern part of today's County of Rotenburg , both in Lower Saxony . In relation to the interior the archiepiscopal authority, consisting of Prince-Archbishop and cathedral chapter , had to find ways to interact with the other bearers of authority. These were gradually transforming into the Bishopric's Estates ( German : Stiftsstände ), a prevailingly advisory body, but decision-taking in fiscal and tax matters. The bishopric's Estates again were by no means homogenous and therefore often quarreled for they consisted of
16800-595: The succession of a See. A similar arrangement was reached in November for the Prince-Bishopric of Verden with its Chapter and Administrator Philip Sigismund . In 1623 Christian's son succeeded the late Philip Sigismund as Frederick II, Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Verden , only to flee the troops of the Catholic League under Count Johan 't Serclaes of Tilly in 1626. In November 1619 Christian IV of Denmark, Duke of Holstein stationed Danish troops in
16940-643: The task to look after the Nordic Missions in - among others - the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and the Prince-Bishopric of Verden . In 1667 the Holy See further institutionalised the Nordic Missions by establishing the Vicariate Apostolic of the Nordic Missions . On 22 April 1585 Henry III died in his residence in Beverstedterm ühlen after a riding accident. After Henry's early death, Duke Adolf of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp wielded influence at
17080-460: The taxes, at least when it had consented to the levying before. Since the city was the major taxpayer, its consent was mostly searched for. Like this the city wielded fiscal and political power within the Prince-Archbishopric, while the city would rather not allow the Prince-Archbishop or his representatives to rule in the city against its consent. After the Bremen Cathedral chapter, overlooking
17220-456: The territory which came to be called Saxony. It has been proposed that these coastal Saxons and the later Saxons of Carolingian times should be seen as distinct but related peoples, who were referred to by the same name, such as the Dutch and Deutschen ( Germans ) today. Significant numbers of these early Saxons settled in what later became northern France and England. England, rather than Saxony,
17360-404: The three castes, excluding slaves, were called the edhilingui (related to the term aetheling ), frilingi and lazzi . These terms were subsequently Latinised as nobiles or nobiliores ; ingenui , ingenuiles or liberi ; and liberti , liti or serviles . According to very early traditions that are presumed to contain a good deal of historical truth,
17500-681: The three enfranchised Hamburg capitulars, had elected Valdemar of Denmark , the deposed Bishop of Schleswig , archbishop in 1207, Bremen's cathedral dean Burchard of Stumpenhusen , who had opposed this election, fled to Hamburg, then under Danish influence. King Valdemar II of Denmark , in enmity with his father's cousin Archbishop Valdemar, gained the Hamburg chapter to elect Burchard as anti-archbishop in early 1208. Lacking papal support, King Valdemar II himself invested him as Archbishop Burchard I, however, only accepted in North Elbia. In 1219
17640-454: The time of sede vacante . During the dismissal of Prince-Archbishop Christopher the Spendthrift the chapter ruled together with the Estates which had gained at that time substantial power. In relation to the outside the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen had the status of an imperial estate ( German : Reichsstand , plural: Reichsstände ) with a vote in the Diet ( German : Reichstag ) of
17780-556: The union of the Saxons with the rest of the Frankish empire. Their sacred tree or pillar, a symbol of Irminsul , was destroyed. Charlemagne deported 10,000 Nordalbingian Saxons to Neustria and gave their largely vacant lands in Wagria (approximately modern Plön and Ostholstein districts) to the loyal king of the Abotrites . Einhard , Charlemagne's biographer, says on the closing of this grand conflict: The war that had lasted so many years
17920-416: The whole of their kingdom. Since then, this part of eastern Germany has been referred to as Saxony ( German : Sachsen ), a source of some misunderstanding about the original homeland of the Saxons, with a central part in the present-day German state of Lower Saxony (German: Niedersachsen ). Old English, associated with the Saxons in England, was closer to later recorded dialects of Old Frisian than
18060-448: The word in English. The Gaelic name for England is Sasann (older spelling: Sasunn , genitive : Sasainn ), and Sasannach (formed with a common adjective suffix -ach ) means 'English' in reference to people and things, though not when naming the English language, which is Béarla . Sasanach , the Irish word for an Englishman (with Sasana meaning England), has
18200-683: The work of Paul the Deacon , to distinguish the Germanic-speaking inhabitants of Britain from continental Saxons. However, both the Saxons of Britain and those of Old Saxony in northern Germany long continued to be referred to as "Saxons" in an indiscriminate manner. The name of the Saxons has traditionally been said to derive from a kind of knife used in this period and called a seax in Old English, and sachs in Old High German . During
18340-592: The years 1186–1255. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and his allies, many of them vassals and former supporters of his paternal cousin Duke Henry III, the Lion , had defeated the Duke of Saxony and Bavaria . In 1180 Frederick I Barbarossa stripped Henry the Lion of his duchies. In 1182 he and his wife Matilda Plantagenêt , the daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and sister of Richard Lionheart left from Stade to go into exile from
18480-511: Was at length ended by their acceding to the terms offered by the king; which were renunciation of their national religious customs and the worship of devils, acceptance of the sacraments of the Christian faith and religion, and union with the Franks to form one people. The Saxons long resisted becoming Christians and being incorporated into the orbit of the Frankish kingdom . In 776 the Saxons promised to convert to Christianity and vow loyalty to
18620-465: Was composed of nine forts stretching around the south-eastern corner of England. On the other side of the English channel two coastal military commands were created, over the Tractus Armoricanus in what is now Brittany and Normandy, and the coast of Belgica Secunda in what later became Flanders and Picardy. The Notitia Dignitatum also lists the existence of a Saxon military unit (an Ala ) in
18760-404: Was divided into three provinces – Westphalia , Eastphalia and Angria – which comprised about one hundred pagi or Gaue . Each Gau had its own satrap with enough military power to level whole villages that opposed him. In the mid-9th century, Nithard first described the social structure of the Saxons beneath their leaders. The caste structure was rigid; in the Saxon language
18900-405: Was founded at Dorchester . The South Saxons were first evangelised extensively under Anglian influence; Aethelwalh of Sussex was converted by Wulfhere , King of Mercia and allowed Wilfrid , Bishop of York , to evangelise his people beginning in 681. The chief South Saxon bishopric was that of Selsey . The East Saxons were more pagan than the southern or western Saxons; their territory had
19040-401: Was legally a part of the bishopric until 1646, but de facto ruled by its burghers and didn't tolerate the prince-archbishop's residence within its walls any more since 1313. Therefore, the prince-archbishop moved to Vörde ( German pronunciation: [ˈføːɐdə] ). Verden's former prince-bishopric's territory is represented about by the eastern part of the modern County of Verden and
19180-469: Was replaced by a form of feudalism based on service and labour, personal relationships and oaths. Saxon religious practices were closely related to their political practices. The annual councils of the entire tribe began with invocations of the gods. The procedure by which dukes were elected in wartime, by drawing lots, is presumed to have had religious significance, i.e. in giving trust to divine providence – it seems – to guide
19320-484: Was significantly different from their own, i.e. belonging to the Weser–Rhine Germanic grouping, over whom they then formed an elite, lending their name to the subsequent tribal federation and region as a whole. Later, during the 5th century, as the Angles started migrating to Britain, the descendants of this elite joined them, while the descendants of the native inhabitants did not, or at least not significantly. As
19460-457: Was sometimes written of as the Saxon homeland. To avoid confusion, already in the 8th century authors such as Bede sometimes referred to the Saxons of Saxony in Germany as the "old Saxons", and their country as "old Saxony", and this differentiation is still often used by historians today when discussing this period. In contrast, the settlers once called Saxons in England became part of a new Old English -speaking nation, now commonly referred to as
19600-426: Was subsequently retaken by Roman and Frankish forces led by Childeric I . A "great war was waged between the Saxons and the Romans but the Saxons, turning their backs, with the Romans pursuing, lost many of their men to the sword. Their islands were captured and ravaged by the Franks, many people being killed." Though there is no consensus, many historians believe that this Adovacrius may be the same person as Odoacer ,
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