Editing Saxons (section)

{{short description|Medieval cultural group from what is now Northern Germany}}
{{About|the historical Saxons of northern Germany|other uses|Saxons (disambiguation)|and|Anglo-Saxon (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Saxons
| native_name      = {{lang|osx|Sahson}}
| image            = File:Saxony_locator_map_(1000).svg
| image_caption    = The Stem Duchy of Saxony
| population       = 
| genealogy        = 
| regions          = [[Old Saxony]], [[Frisia]], [[Anglo-Saxon England|England]], [[Normandy]]
| languages        = [[Old Saxon]]
| religions        = Originally [[Germanic paganism|Germanic]] and [[Anglo-Saxon paganism]], later [[Christianity]]
| related_groups   = [[Anglo-Saxons]], [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]], [[Frisii]], [[Jutes]], [[Franks]]
| footnotes        = 
}}
The '''Saxons''', sometimes called the '''Old Saxons''' or '''Continental Saxons''', were a [[Germanic peoples|Germanic people]] of [[early medieval]] "Old" Saxony ({{langx|la|Antiqua Saxonia}}) which became a [[Carolingian dynasty|Carolingian]] "[[stem duchy]]" in 804, in what is now northern Germany.<ref>{{harvnb|Springer|2004|p=12}}: "{{Lang|de|Unter dem alten Sachsen ist das Gebiet zu verstehen, das seit der Zeit Karls des Großen (reg. 768–814) bis zum Jahre 1180 also Saxonia '(das Land) Sachsen' bezeichnet wurde oder wenigstens so genannt werden konnte.}}"</ref> Many of their neighbours were, like them, speakers of [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic dialects]], including the inland [[Franks]] and [[Thuringii|Thuringians]] to the south, and the coastal [[Frisians]] and [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]] to the north who were among the peoples who were originally referred to as "Saxons" in the context of early raiding and settlements in [[Roman Britain]] and [[Gaul]]. To their east were [[Obotrites]] and other [[Slavic languages|Slavic]]-speaking peoples.

The political history of these continental Saxons is unclear until the 8th century and the conflict between their semi-legendary hero [[Widukind]] and the Frankish emperor [[Charlemagne]]. They do not appear to have been politically united until the generations leading up to that conflict, and before then they were reportedly ruled by regional "satraps". Previous Frankish rulers of [[Austrasia]], both [[Merovingian dynasty|Merovingian]] and Carolingian, fought numerous campaigns against Saxons, both in the west near the Lippe, Ems and Weser, and further east, near [[Thuringia]] and [[Bohemia]], in the area which later medieval sources referred to as "[[Schwabengau|North Swabia]]". Charlemagne conquered all the Saxons after winning the long [[Saxon Wars]] (772–804 AD) and forced them to convert to Christianity, annexing Saxony into the Carolingian domain. Under the Carolingian Franks, Saxony became a single duchy, fitting it within the basic political structure of the later [[Holy Roman Empire]]. The early rulers of this [[Duchy of Saxony]] expanded their territories—and therefore those of the Holy Roman Empire—to the east, at the expense of Slavic-speaking [[Wends]]. 

Long before any clear historical mention of [[Saxony]] as a state, the name "Saxons" was also used to refer to coastal raiders who attacked the [[Roman Empire]] from north of the [[Rhine]], in a similar sense to the much later term ''[[Viking]]''. These early raiders and settlers included [[Frisians]], [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]] and [[Jutes]], and the term Saxon was not at that time a term for any specific tribe. 

Earlier still, there is a single possible classical reference to a smaller and much earlier Saxon tribe in the second century AD, but the interpretation of this text ("Axones" in most surviving manuscripts) is disputed. For historians who accept this record, the original Saxon tribe lived north of the mouth of the [[Elbe]], close to the probable homeland of the [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]], in the part of later Saxony which came to be known later as [[Nordalbingia]].{{Sfn|Springer|2004|pp=27-31}}

Today the Saxons of Germany no longer form a distinctive ethnic group or country, but their name lives on in the names of several regions and [[states of Germany]], including [[Lower Saxony]] ({{langx|de|Niedersachsen}}) which includes most of the original duchy. Their language evolved into [[Low German]] which was the ''lingua franca'' of the [[Hanseatic League]], but has faced a long and gradual decline since the [[Late Middle Ages|Late Medieval period]] as a literary, administrative and, to a significant extent, cultural language in favor of [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and [[German language|German]].