Wojna saska Karola Wielkiego i jej konsekwencje

Abstract

The outbreak of the Saxon war was caused by Charlemagne’s determination to protect Neustria and the north-western part of Austrasia against being raided by Saxon tribes. The main political, church and economic institutions of the Frankish monarchy were also located there. The historiography of the Merovingian period (Gregory of Tours, Chronicle of Fredegar) as well as of the Carolingian one (the Frankish annals, the Annals of Metz, Liber historiae Francorum, Einhard) give a unanimous, disapproving presentation of the Franks. The war waged on the Saxons can be divided into three stages (772-776, 777-785, 792-804). It is considered one of the two last serious conflicts which eventually ended territorial expansion of the Carolingian monarchy. The lack of success sufficient to win the Saxons already during the first stage of the war resulted in the decission to conquer the whole territory and to convert the Saxons from paganism to Christianity. From the beginning of the third stage of the conflict, Charlemagne subdued the Slavs living along the Elbe (the Obodrites and the Wieletes), the Frisians and the Danish who, consequently, got engaged in the conflict. Living in the close neighbourhood of the Carolingian monarchy did not have only a negative impact, for influencing the territory in the range of material culture and art (imitatio imperi) had the beneficial effects.