In 771, Charlemagne's brother, Carloman, had just died. Immediately, the elder brother recovers the territory of his younger brother and becomes the sole king of the Franks (December 4, 774). He thus reunifies the kingdom as his father, Pepin the Short, had forged it.
772 to 804
Characters
Charlemagne
Widukind of Saxony
Procedure
The territory of Charlemagne is large and the rebellions are incessant. One people in particular never ceased to rise up:the Saxons (Flanders, Lorraine and present-day Germany). No less than 18 battles will be fought. The first begins just after the coronation of Charlemagne, who now reigns alone, from January 772. The Saxons invade Thuringia (in central Germany). Charlemagne pushes them back and, to impose Christianity, burns down the pagan sanctuary of the god Irminsul. A Christian church in Deventer (a city in the east of the Netherlands) was then set on fire by the Saxons who refused the Frankish invasion as much as the Christianity imposed by the invader. The war has only just begun. In 773, Charlemagne reached the Weser River. Obtaining an agreement from the noble Saxons, he leaves, accompanied by a few hostages; he must indeed make war against the Lombards. But the Saxons rise again. In 777, Charlemagne summoned the Saxons to Paderborn, but the great Saxon resistance fighter who led the rebellion, Widukind, abstained. Charlemagne is forced to leave to counter other uprisings. There, many fights ensue. And if a short truce takes place between 780 and 782, the Franks experiencing a setback on the Süntel massif in particular thanks to Widukind in 782, they will crush the rebellion in blood with women and children (4,500 dead).
Two years of intense wars then followed. Charlemagne, this time, stays, winters with his soldiers until he flushes out his enemies... and converts them. All, except Widukind who vanished…again! This time, Charlemagne tries a conciliation which convinces Widukind. Thus, in exchange for his life, the weakened Saxon embraces Christianity and takes an oath to Charlemagne who names him Duke of Saxony. That same year, in 785, the Emperor did not fail to impose the capitulary (legislative document) “partibus saxoniae” which forbids all pagan rites on pain of death. Saxony was then in truce until 792.
But the war starts again, it will last 12 years, the last resistance taking place in Angrie in 804. From then on, Charlemagne meets again in Pardeborn the Saxons; he has already enacted the “lex saxonum” (802) a law which preserves Saxon customs. He consolidates the borders, builds the fortress of Hamburg, etc. While in Cologne, Charlemagne announces the end of the fighting in September 804.
Consequences
It took no less than thirty years to defeat the Saxons! But this fight is not only a war of territory, it is also a war of religion. The executions of the chiefs of Saxon tribes were of rare violence. The Western emperor, protector of the papacy, nevertheless succeeded in imposing a Christian empire over most of Western Europe.