Saxons

(German Sachsen), a group of Germanic tribes that formed a tribal union during the third and fourth centuries. In the early Middle Ages the Saxons occupied lands in northern Germany to the east of the Rhine and to the west of the Elbe. From the mid-fifth century through the first half of the sixth century some of the Saxons moved to Britain (see ANGLO-SAXON CONQUEST and ANGLO-SAXONS). During the sixth through eighth centuries, the continental Saxons split into the Westphalians, Eastphalians, Angrarians (Engerns), and Nordalbingians.

The principal source for information on the social structure of the Saxons is the Lex Saxonum (seeBARBARIAN LAW). The development of the Saxon social structure was not influenced by the slaveholding relations of antiquity. The social structure retained archaic features and, at the same time, was distinguished by marked social stratification among the free tribesmen, who were divided into the edhelingi (tribal nobility) and frilingi (a lower social stratum of freemen). There was no royal authority over the Saxons.

Charlemagne’s bloody campaigns against the Saxons from 772 to 804 brought about the subjugation of the Saxons by the Franks and the incorporation of Saxony into the Frankish kingdom. As a result, feudal relations were forcibly established. The Uprising of the Stellinga of 841–843 was directed against feudal dependence. In 843 the Saxons were included in the kingdom of the East Franks. The Duchy of Saxony was formed on the territory of the Saxons at the end of the ninth century. The Saxons constituted the ethnic base of the population of Lower Saxony.