Widukind- Germanic HeroHero"Duke of Saxony"
Also known as: Wittekind and Widukhind
Description
In 777, when every other Saxon noble submitted to Charlemagne at Paderborn, Widukind alone refused, fleeing to the Danish king and launching years of rebellion against the Frankish conquest and forced Christianization of Saxony. He submitted and accepted baptism in 785. Then he vanished from the record.
Mythology & Lore
The Wars
Charlemagne launched his conquest of Saxony in 772 with the destruction of the Irminsul, the sacred pillar central to Saxon pagan worship. The campaign would last over thirty years. Widukind first appears in the Frankish annals in 777, when he alone among Saxon nobles refused to attend the Frankish assembly at Paderborn, fleeing instead to the Danish king Sigfred.
From his base beyond Frankish reach, Widukind organized multiple rebellions. In 778, while Charlemagne campaigned in Spain, Widukind led a Saxon uprising that swept through the Rhineland. In 782, after Charlemagne executed 4,500 Saxon captives at Verden according to the Royal Frankish Annals, Widukind rallied another revolt. Each time the Franks crushed Saxon resistance, Widukind escaped and returned to fight again.
The Baptism
In 785, Widukind finally submitted and accepted baptism at Attigny, with Charlemagne himself standing as his godfather. What motivated his submission is unknown. The Frankish sources present it as triumph. What Widukind thought, no source records.
After his baptism, he disappears from the historical record entirely. Whether he lived quietly as a Christian nobleman or died shortly after, no one wrote down. Two centuries later, a monk at Corvey who claimed descent from the Saxon leader recorded traditions about his namesake, but by then the pagan rebel had been thoroughly Christianized in memory, with legends claiming he had experienced a divine vision prompting genuine conversion.
Relationships
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