The Irminsul stood at Eresburg, the Saxon hilltop fortress near modern Obermarsberg. According to the Royal Frankish Annals, Charlemagne captured Eresburg in 772 CE and spent three days destroying the Irminsul shrine and confiscating its votive treasures of gold and silver.
Charlemagne's destruction of the Irminsul at Eresburg in 772 CE opened three decades of Saxon Wars, during which Widukind emerged as the foremost Saxon war leader, fighting to preserve the old gods and customs until his baptism in 785 CE.
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