Saxon Wars 2: Charles, lawgiver and butcher

We can’t know Charles’ state of mind as he made his way home after the Spanish debacle in 778, but you can be sure he was not happy. What would have been a long and difficult journey home was made so much worse by the massacre in the Pyrenees. He must have been angry, frustrated, and saddened as the miles passed by and the weeks elapsed. At some point in the late summer, but definitely not before September^1.The Roncevalles ambush occurred on August 15, he had made it as far as Auxerre, which is almost 500 miles from Roncevalles. It was at Auxerre, as he was “demobilising the rest of the troops,”^2.Revised Royal Annals, year 778, King, p. 114. that the king received word that the Saxons were again in revolt.

This would not have been surprising. As we’ve seen, Franks and Saxons had been fighting for generations, and while the Franks usually held the upper hand in battle, the Frankish armies withdrew to Francia after combat. That gave the Saxons the opportunity to regroup, foment rebellion, and launch counterattacks. Prior to the Spanish expedition, however, King Charles had determined to complete the conquest and conversion of the Saxon people, and so he could not let this latest insurrection go unpunished, no matter how late in the year, or tired the army.

According to the Frankish sources, the Saxons came to the town of Deutz, on the opposite bank of the Rhine from Cologne. The Annals report that the Saxons were unable to cross the river, but instead rampaged downriver (heading north) for fifty miles. The attackers “laid waste with fire and sword all the vici and villae between the city of Deutz and river Moselle… The sacred and secular were destroyed with equal measure; and the enemy exempted no one from their wrath on grounds of age or sex, that it might be clearly seen that they had invaded the territories of the Franks not to plunder but to exact vengeance.”^3.Revised Royal Annals, year 778, King, p. 114. In particular, they were “burning God’s churches and treating the nuns in such ways as make one too disgusted to recount.”^4.Royal Annals, year 778, King, p. 80.

The bulk of the army had been demobilized, but Charles was able to launch a force called a scara, a small, mounted group that could travel quickly. This scara crossed the Rhine, but missed the raiders in action. The Franks followed their trail, “to the place called Leisa on the river known as the Eder.” A Frankish victory ensued. “A multitude of Saxons were slain there, while those who fled returned to Saxony deeply disgraced.”^5.Royal Annals, year 778, King, p. 80. This may have been some of the only good news the king received all year.

Another Saxon campaign the next year could hardly surprise anyone. The sources relate no other endeavors or debates for 779. The army traveled farther to the north and east than ever before, reaching all the way to the river Weser, east of Frisia. Word of the Frankish conquest and intention to conquer ever more territory, must have been spreading. The Annals relate that, “When the lord king Charles arrived at the place called Medofulli [Vlotho?] the remainder of the Saxons, from beyond the Weser, gave hostages there and then confirmed their oaths. And then the glorious king returned to Francia.”^6.Royal Annals, year 779, King, p. 80. The Revised Annals add, “The Angrarians and Eastphalians came there, gave hostages and swore oaths.”^7.Revised Royal Annals, year 779, King, p. 114.

You don’t have to know every place and tribe to realize that Charles’ rampages were having an effect. Peoples that he hadn’t yet touched were coming to him to bend the knee and receive baptism. With these successes brought the need to fully enfold the territories that had been effectively brought under Frankish influence, with the establishment of Frankish governmental and church organizations, in order to regularize and enforce the subjugation.

In 780 Charles again marched into Saxony, but no battles are mentioned. Rather, “Then the lord king Charles journeyed to Saxony to order affairs there.” A mass baptism is mentioned, but of more interest is a line from the Moselle Annals. “And he divided the land up between bishops, priests and abbots…”^8.Moselle Annals, year 780, King, p. 133. This must indicate the aforementioned regularization of the fallen lands and people.

The next year saw such an anomaly that one of the Annals actually recorded it. “The year saw no campaign.”^9.Petau Annals, year 781, King, p. 153. King Charles had traveled to Rome in late 780, and stayed there until early 782. But his return to Francia would kick the year off in a big way.

The campaigning season was delayed in 782, until early summer, “when fodder was at last plentiful.” Charles crossed the Rhine in another massive show of force, and held an assembly deep in Saxon territory. This was clearly a maneuver designed both to enforce previous conquests and overawe any stragglers. Not only Saxons and other tribes of northeastern Europe came to the assembly, but even missi of the Danish king Sigfred.^10.It is not clear if the Danes came to submit, or merely observe. Two minor chronicles note that at the assembly of Saxons Charles “appointed noble Franks and Saxons as counts over them.”^11.St. Maximin annals, year 782, King, p. 153 This was clearly a follow-on action to the ecclesiastical organization Charles mandated in 780.

One notable exception to the attendee list was the German known as Widukind, a notorious rebel. Enough has been written about Widukind to merit a post of his own, but for the moment let’s just say that he must have been a charismatic, literal rebel-rouser of the first order. His absence from the assembly would have been noted, but not unexpected. After king Charles had already returned to Francia he dispatched a scara “against a few Slavs who had rebelled,” a tribe called the Sorbs. No biggie.

But when the scara were on the road they learned that a group of Saxons were brewing some kind of mischief. No doubt knowing where their lord’s thoughts lay, the group turned aside to pursue the Saxons, into the Suntel mountains. What followed was one of the few Frankish defeats recorded in the sources. The Royal Annals record that two missi were killed in the attack. But like the Roncesvalle debacle, it is left to the reviser of the Royal Annals to detail the whole truth.

Turns out that a certain count Theodoric, who was actually a relative of Charles, joined the leaders of the scara. He offered sound tactical advice, and suggested a joint attack. But after establishing base camps, the Franks attacked wildly without the count, for they feared that “renown of the victory would be transferred to his name, and they therefore resolved to engage the Saxons without him.” The chronicler was not impressed: “[T]hey acted as if their task was to pursue a fleeing foe and seize booty rather than to take on an enemy standing marshaled to face them.”^12.Revised Royal Annals, year 782, King, p. 116-7. The results were what you might expect of an unplanned attack on a determined foe. Along with the two missi, “four counts and as many as twenty other men of distinction and nobility were killed.”

Charles’ rage must have been unbounded. Not only had he lost many trusted nobles and advisers, but he was trying to punish the Sorbs for their raid on Saxon territory! He gathered a force and “arrived at the place where the Aller flows into the Weser.” The place was called Verden, not to be confused with the Verdun of Great War horror. The Saxons willingly handed over the rebels, except for “Widukind, who escaped by flight to Nordmannia.” Charles found those “bearing the greatest responsibility for the that rebellion, 4,500 in number, to be put to death.”^13.Royal Annals, year 782, King, p. 82. The Revised Annals add the gory detail that “all [were] beheaded in a single day.”

I can scarce imagine the repellent scene, the stench, and the screaming. Yet there had to be a kind of order to it, because if you think about it, executing 4500 people by hand in one day requires considerable logistical talent. The slaughter certainly shames the paltry fifty tenth century Vikings beheaded in Dorset. In scale it recalls the ‘Blood Court‘ of Charles’ uncle Carloman, some forty years earlier.

After this spasm of violence Charles retired to Thionville for the winter. While different scholars differ on the dates, it is possible that Charles now authorized one of his most famous capitularies, concerning the Saxons. There are thirty-four chapters in the decree that cover a range of offenses, both religious and secular. I’ve found three English translations, in Dutton (pp. 66-9), King (pp. 205-8), and Loyn and Percival (pp. 51-4). If you get a chance it’s always fun to compare translations, and see where one translator got squeamish, or wasn’t as sure of a word as another.

The capitulary is primarily concerned with the Christianization of the Saxons. Of the thirty-four chapters, more than half are reference churches, tithing, priests, and the extermination of pagan rites. Many of the chapters mandate death for those not following Christian practices. Other chapters demand tithes and payments to the churches, and even slaves. Chapter fifteen exacts “a house and two mansi of land, and for each one hundred and twenty men, noble and free, and likewise liti, let them give to the same church a man-servant and maid-servant.” Loyn and Percival are more honest, and call those “servants” slaves. Chapter three of the capitulary ordains the death penalty for anyone trying to set a church on fire, among other crimes, which perhaps harkens back to the famous incident where Saxons tried to set fire to a church but were frozen in place by a miracle.

There are several chapters that forbid various pagan practices, including human sacrifice and funeral pyres. Finding specific practices detailed (if not the meaning behind them) is a rare treat. Some day I’ll write up my long-threatened post on paganism.

Several chapters refer to counts and counties, which correspond to Charles’ order at the great assembly in 782. However chapter twenty-nine does imply that the newly minted local magnates still harbored old grudges: “Let all the counts strive to preserve peace and unity with one another; and if perchance any discord or disturbance shall have arisen between them, they shall not on this account neglect our aid or profit.” First things first, you savages.

There are a couple of chapters that mildly leaven the overall harshness of the decree. Chapter fourteen is a get-out-of-jail-free card of sorts for those who murder a lord or rape a lord’s daughter. If the offender confessed to a priest and did penance, “let him be freed by the testimony of the priest from death.” Of course that makes it sound like the miscreant could be executed anyway, if the priest chose not to excuse him. Chapter thirty-three explicitly maintains a place, if limited, for traditional Saxon law. “With regard to perjury, the law of the Saxons is to apply.” This kind of legal exceptio is common, as the Franks traditionally allowed each people to keep their laws, as long as they maintained themselves as part of the kingdom. Consider our own distinction between state and federal laws today.

As we noted, there is much scholarly debate as to the date of the Saxon capitulary. King is something of an outlier when he claims 782, but I am inclined to agree, more for reasons of psychology than textual analysis. Charles had a tough few years from 778 to 782, and the defeat of his scara (even though it was brought on by hubris) after they tried to help the Saxons was the last straw. He slaughtered thousands, and then went home and decided he had to write down and enforce the laws he wanted them to live by. I think you can often see that kind of interplay in Charles’ personality – the ruthless warlord and the Christian king struggling with each other.

It should come as no surprise that the Saxon wars continued for years thereafter. We’ll pick that up in the next post.