Saxon Wars The Saxon Wars were the campaigns and insurrections of the more than thirty years from 772 , when Charlemagne first entered Saxony with the intent to conquer , to 804 , when the last rebellion of disaffected tribesmen was crushed . In all , eighteen battles were fought in what is now northwestern Germany . They resulted in the incorporation of Saxony into the Frankish realm and their conversion from Germanic paganism to Germanic Christianity . Despite repeated setbacks , the Saxons resisted steadfastly , returning to raid Charlemagne ' s domains as soon as he turned his attention elsewhere . Their main leader , Widukind , was a resilient and resourceful opponent and accepted a peace offering from Charlemagne in a perilous situation , not losing his face and preventing Charlemagne from continuing a bothersome war . This agreement saved the Saxons ' leaders ' exceptional rights in their homeland . Widukind ( ahd " Waldkind " , " Child of forest " ) was baptized in 785 and buried in the only German church without a spire . The Saxons were divided into four subgroups in four regions . Nearest to the ancient Frankish kingdom of Austrasia was Westphalia , and farthest away was Eastphalia . In between these two kingdoms was that of Engria ( or Engern ) and north of these three , at the base of the Jutland peninsula , was Nordalbingia . First phase . In mid - January 772 , the sacking and burning of the church of Deventer by a Saxon expedition was the Casus belli for the first war waged by Charlemagne to the Saxons . It began with a Frankish invasion of Saxon territory and the subjugation of the Engrians and destruction of their sacred symbol Irminsul near Paderborn in 772 or 773 at Eresburg . Irminsul may have been a hollow tree trunk , presumably representing the pillar supporting the skies — similar to the Nordic tree Yggdrasil . Charlemagne ' s campaign led all the way to the Weser River and destroyed several major Saxon strongholds . After negotiating with some Saxon nobles and obtaining hostages , Charlemagne turned his attention to his war against the Lombards in northern Italy ; but Saxon free peasants , led by Widukind , continued to resist and raided Frankish lands in the Rhine region . Armed confrontations continued unabated for years . Charlemagne ' s second campaign came in the year 775 . Then he marched through Westphalia , conquering the fort of Sigiburg , and crossed Engria , where he defeated the Saxons again . Finally , in Eastphalia , he defeated them , and their leader Hessi converted to Christianity . He returned through Westphalia , leaving encampments at Sigiburg and Eresburg . All of Saxony , except for Nordalbingia was under his control , but the recalcitrant Saxons would not submit for long . After warring in Italy , he returned very rapidly to Saxony ( making it to Lippe before the Saxons knew he left Italy ) for the third time in 776 , when a rebellion destroyed his fortress at Eresburg . The Saxons were once again brought to heel , though Widukind fled to the Danes . Charlemagne built a new camp at Karlstadt . In 777 , he called a national diet at Paderborn to integrate Saxony fully into the Frankish kingdom . Many Saxons were baptised . The chief purpose of the diet was to bring Saxony closer to Christianity . Missionaries , mainly Anglo - Saxons from England , were recruited to carry out this task . Charlemagne issued a number of decree s designed to break Saxon resistance and to inflict capital punishment on anyone observing heathen practices or disrespecting the king ' s peace . His severe and uncompromising position , which earned him the title " butcher of Saxons " , caused his close adviser Alcuin of York , later abbot of Saint Martin ' s Abbey at Tours , to urge leniency , as God ' s word should be spread not by the sword but by persuasion ; but the wars continued . In summer 779 , Charlemagne again went into Saxony and conquered Eastphalia , Engria , and Westphalia . At a diet near Lippspringe , he divided the land into missionary districts and Frankish countships . He himself assisted in several mass baptisms ( 780 ) . He then returned to Italy , and there was no Saxon revolt . From 780 to 782 , the land had peace . Middle phase . Charlemagne returned in 782 to Saxony and instituted a code of law and appointed counts , both Saxon and Frank . The laws were severe on religious issues , namely the native paganism of the Saxons . This stirred a renewal of the old conflict . That year , in autumn , Widukind returned and led a revolt that resulted in many assaults on the church . The Saxons invaded the area of the Chatti , a Germanic tribe already converted by Saint Boniface and firmly in Charlemagne ' s empire . Widukind annihilated a Frankish army at the Süntel while Charles was campaigning against the Sorbs . It was in response to this setback that Charlemagne , at the Blood court of Verden , ordered the beheading of 4 , 500 Saxons who had been caught practising paganism after converting to Christianity , while Widukind escaped to Denmark again . Upon this " Blutgericht " , some historians have stated the massacre did not happen , or that it was actually a battle , but according to Alessandro Barbero , none of these claims are credible . The action led to two straight years of constant warfare ( 783 - 785 ) , with Charlemagne wintering in central Saxony , at Minden . Gradually , the Franks gained the upper hand . The turning point came in 785 , when Widukind had himself baptized and swore fealty to Charlemagne . It was with the conclusion of this war that Charlemagne could have claimed to have conquered Saxony , and the land had peace for the next seven years , though revolts continued sporadically until 804 . Final phase . In 792 , the Westphalians rose up against their masters in response to forcible recruitment for wars against the Avars . The Eastphalians and Nordalbingians joined them in 793 , but the insurrection did not catch on as previous ones and was completely put down by 794 . An Engrian rebellion followed closely in 796 , but Charlemagne ' s personal presence and the presence of loyal Christian Saxons and Slavs immediately crushed it . The last insurrection of the Engrian people occurred in 804 , more than thirty years after Charlemagne ' s first campaign against them . This time , the most unruly tribe of them all , the Nordalbingians , found themselves effectively disempowered to rebel . Charlemagne deported 10 , 000 of them to Neustria and gave their now vacant lands to the loyal king of the Abotrites . It is constructive now to quote Einhard , Charlemagne ' s biographer , on the closing of such a grand conflict : The war that had lasted so many years was at length ended by their acceding to the terms offered by the King ; which were renunciation of their national religious customs and the worship of devils , acceptance of the sacraments of the Christian faith and religion , and union with the Franks to form one people . Towards the end of the wars , Charlemagne had begun to place more emphasis on reconciliation . In 797 , he eased the special laws , and in 802 , Saxon common law was codified as the " Lex Saxonum " . This was accompanied by the establishment of ecclesiastic structures ( including bishopric s in Paderborn , Münster , Bremen , Minden , Verden and Osnabrück ) that secured the conversion of the Saxon people . The last Saxon uprising was the " Stellinga " , which occurred between 841 and 845 . Religious nature of the war . Alluding to the Saxons , the contemporary poet of the Paderborn Epic praises terror as a means of conversion : " What the contrary mind and perverse soul refuse to do with persuasion , / Let them leap to accomplish when compelled by fear . " One of Charlemagne ' s famed capitularies outlines part of the religious intent of his interactions with the Saxons . In 785 AD he issues the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae which asserted that " If any one of the race of the Saxons hereafter concealed among them shall have wished to hide himself unbaptized , and shall have scorned to come to baptism and shall have wished to remain a pagan , let him be punished by death . "