Widukind

LIFE OF BLESSED WITTEKIND THE GREAT, DUKE OF WESTPHALIA

About the year of Christ 807.

Wittekind, Duke of the Saxons of Angria in Westphalia (Bl.)

From various sources.

CHAPTER I.

The publicly celebrated holiness of Wittekind.

[1] Since, as the Apostle preaches, "where sin abounded, grace did also more abound" Romans 5:20, it sometimes happens that those who had persecuted the Church of God with the fiercest warfare afterwards fight gloriously for its honor and flourish with the distinguished praise of holiness. In this class the virtue of Wittekind, Duke of the Saxons, eminently distinguished itself; for after he had waged wars with the Franks for many years, not so much for the liberty of his people as out of hatred for the Christian religion, he was at last softened by divine grace and set his mind to embracing the sacred rites he had previously detested — with such ardor that thenceforth he attained both no ordinary glory of piety while living and the honors of the Saints after death. For thus the Carthusians of Cologne celebrate his birthday on the 7th of the Ides of January January 7 in the Additions to Usuard published in 1515 and 1521: The birthday of Wittekind. "Likewise, of Wedekind of holy memory, Duke of Westphalia, resting at Anga." The German Martyrology, revised by our Peter Canisius, has the same. Ferrarius also in his General Catalogue of Saints: "At Angria in Westphalia, St. Wedekind the Duke." Angria, or Angaria, commonly called Engheren, is a town of Westphalia in the County of Ravensberg.

[2] His holiness celebrated by various writers. Werner Rolevinck, a Carthusian who flourished more than 130 years ago, in Book 3, On the Customs of the Westphalians, Chapter 8, where he lists the holy and illustrious men and relics of that province, writes thus: "There follows then St. Wedekind, formerly Duke or King of that people, whom Charlemagne received from the sacred font and instructed with salutary admonitions. He afterwards corrected his former life with such zeal that after his departure from life he became renowned for miracles. His bones rest at Engers," that is, Angria near Herford. George Fabricius also (that we may seek testimony even from enemies of the Church), in his Memorable Matters of Saxony, Book 1, at the year 807, testifies that Wittekind was reckoned among the Saints, as we shall say below. Whether, however, this was done by the public authority of the Roman Church, I have not discovered.

[3] His deeds. His valiant deeds before accepting the religion of Christ, or those piously performed afterwards, most of the French writers have touched upon; no single author has set out to pursue all of them in full and in order, at least none that survives. We shall therefore excerpt a few things from various ancient authors. His descendants. It may rightly be considered no ordinary glory of Wittekind that from him is said to have descended — as Peter Bertius reports in Book 2, Chapter 11, of his German Affairs — the illustrious family of Hugh Capet, which has held power in France for so many centuries.

CHAPTER II.

The ancient Saxons and their Duke Wittekind.

[4] "Of all the wars waged by Charlemagne," The Saxon War. says Einhard in his Life of Charlemagne, "none was more prolonged, more atrocious, or more laborious for the Frankish people than the Saxon War; because the Saxons, like almost all the nations inhabiting Germany, fierce by nature and devoted to the worship of demons and opposed to our religion, did not consider it dishonorable either to violate or to transgress divine or human laws. There were also underlying causes Its causes. that could daily disturb the peace: namely, the borders of the Franks and theirs, almost everywhere contiguous on the plain, except in a few places where either great forests or mountain ridges intervened to separate the fields of both peoples by a definite boundary. Along these, killings, robberies, and burnings were constantly being committed on both sides. By these the Franks were so provoked that they judged it right no longer to render retribution but to undertake open war against them. War was therefore undertaken against them, which was waged for thirty-three continuous years with great determination on both sides, Its duration. yet with greater loss to the Saxons than to the Franks. It could indeed have been ended sooner if the perfidy of the Saxons had permitted. It is difficult to say how many times they were defeated and surrendered as suppliants to the King, promised to do what was commanded, gave without delay the hostages that were demanded, and received the envoys that were sent. Sometimes they were so tamed and softened that they even promised to be willing to abandon the worship of demons and to submit themselves to the Christian religion. But just as they were sometimes inclined to do these things, so they were always precipitate in reversing them — so that it is not easy to estimate which of the two they could more truly be called more prone to. For since the beginning of the war with them, scarcely a single year has passed in which they did not make such a reversal."

[5] Wittekind the instigator of rebellion, but not perfidious. The chief instigator of the rebellions was Wittekind until the seventeenth year of Charlemagne's reign, although he himself perhaps never broke a pledge he had never given; but when the others, worn down by various disasters, submitted to the Franks, he always either fled to Denmark or held some fortified place. Thus the Annals of the Franks from the codex of Jean du Tillet, edited by Andre Du Chesne, at the year 778: "Then the Lord King held an assembly at Paderborn for the first time. And there the Franks and Saxons came, except Wittekind, who fled to the regions of Normandy." And other Annals from the MS. of Loisel at the same year: "Then the Lord King Charles held a public synod at Paderborn for the first time, and there all the Franks assembled, and from every part of Saxony the Saxons gathered from all sides — except that Wittekind remained in rebellion with a few others and took refuge in the regions of Normandy together with his associates." And again at the year 782: "Then the Lord King Charles, making his way and crossing the Rhine to Cologne, held a synod where the Lippe rises. And there all the Saxons came, except the rebel Windochindus."

[6] Whether he was a King. Since some call Wittekind King and others Duke of the Saxons, it is worth presenting the form of the ancient Saxon commonwealth and its peoples from ancient writers, so that it may be more clearly understood what magistracy Wittekind held. For Saxony was, as Einhard says, no small part of Germany. The historical Poet who lived in the time of the Emperor Arnulf describes its peoples more distinctly. He writes at the year 772, Indiction 9:

"When Paul, the Bishop of the Roman See, died, Hadrian after him received the pontificate. And King Charles gathered the Frankish leaders At the city of Worms for a general council, With whom he decreed to attack the Saxons in war, Since the land of the Saxons, bordering France, Lies close to the north, their peoples' boundaries Barely divided by a certain border. The nearer they were in territory at that time, The more discord made their spirits divided. For on both sides along the neighboring fields There were constant killings, burnings, plunder. The character of the ancient Saxons. The nature of the Saxons was fierce, their hearts hard, Not yet deigning to bear the sweet yoke of Christ, They had been too much enslaved by demonic error. The Franks, however, long worshippers of Christ, Held the Catholic faith, and ruled many peoples Throughout the world, supported on all sides by them, And especially by the power of God whom they duly worshipped, They were able indeed to conquer this one people, Which was not even united under a single King To defend itself equally by the use of military force; But the whole populace, divided in various ways, had Almost as many leaders as it had districts — as if the limbs Of one body were torn asunder in different directions. But a general division holds three peoples, Three peoples. By which the distinguished Saxony once flourished: The names now remain, the ancient valor has departed. Those dwelling in the western part They call Westphalians, whose border is not far From the river Rhine. Those inhabiting the region Toward the rising sun are the Osterlings, whom some Call Ost-phalians by another name, whose borders The faithless Slavic people menace, joined to their own. Between the aforesaid, in the central region, dwell The Angrians, the third people of the Saxons. Their homeland is joined to Frankish lands from the south And to the Ocean from the north."

Thus the Poet. However, Hadrian did not immediately succeed Paul as Pope, but Stephen.

[7] Wittekind of Corvey agrees in his Annals, Book 1: "To this day," he says, "the Saxon people is divided into three classes and laws, apart from the servile condition." The governance of the entire people was also administered by three Princes, A Duke in time of war. each content with the authority to assemble an army within fixed boundaries, whom we know to be designated by their own places and names — namely, the Eastern peoples, the Angrians, and the Westphalians. "But if a universal war should threaten, one is chosen by lot whom all must obey for the conduct of the impending war. When the war is finished, each lives content with equal right and his own authority." Bede also, much more ancient than Wittekind, in Book 5 of his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Chapter 11, when he treats of the two holy Ewalds who preached the Gospel in Westphalia, writes thus: "Who, coming into the province, entered the lodging of a certain village steward and asked him to convey them to the satrap who was over them, because they had a certain message and matter of benefit that they needed to bring to him. He is chosen by lot from among several satraps. For those ancient Saxons have no King, but many satraps placed over their people, who, when a crisis of war arises, cast lots equally, and whomever the lot designates, him they all follow as leader in time of war and obey. But when the war is finished, all the satraps again become equal in power."

[8] Albert Krantz reckons twelve such satraps in Book 1, Metropolis, Chapter 1: "They say," he writes, "that this untamed people, which did not suffer to be subject to Kings, appointed twelve leading men to serve the public interest throughout the whole province, consulting together about matters to be transacted. There was among them a magistracy held annually in rotation. He was sometimes called King. Whomever a public war, waged from abroad, found in the magistracy, he was called King during the war, and all obeyed his command; but when war was exchanged for peace, he likewise laid down the royal title." Thus Edelhardus, one of the twelve Nobles, is found inscribed as King shortly before Wittekind; and scarcely five hundred paces from the city of Osnabruck they point out today the remains of a fortress which they call the royal fortress of Wittekind.

[9] Three orders among the Saxons. Nithard in his History, Book 4, further distributes the entire people — and indeed each of the three already enumerated peoples — into three orders: "The Saxons indeed," he says, "as is evident to all those living throughout Europe, were converted by Charlemagne, not undeservedly called the Great Emperor by all nations, from the diverse worship of idols, with great and various labor, to the true religion of God and Christianity. They have from the beginning often been distinguished by many proofs as being both noble and most ready for war. This entire people is divided into three orders. For there are among them those who in their language are called Edhilingi, those who are called Frilingi, and those who are called Lazzi; in Latin these are: Nobles, Freeborn, and Servile."

CHAPTER III.

The wars of Wittekind while still a pagan.

[10] Wittekind the instigator of the Saxon War. What wars Wittekind waged before his conversion is hardly very worthwhile to investigate, since they would have brought him not so much praise as everlasting disgrace, had not the goodness of God recalled him with a strong right hand as he rushed headlong of his own accord into destruction. Nevertheless, because in those wars his great and outstanding natural character shines forth — though the barbarism of his nation and a certain peculiar hatred against the Franks, a widely dominant people, and indeed against all Christians had made it exceedingly savage — and because the power of divine grace is rendered much more illustrious when it thus frees a man so deeply entangled in crimes and establishes him in the liberty of the children of God, or even places him among the Princes of the people, that is, in the blessed and immortal company of the Saints, it is not right for us to pass over these things entirely in silence. I would judge that whatever wars were waged by the Saxons against Charlemagne up to the year of Christ 785, these were carried out principally under Wittekind's leadership and authority; and perhaps even the occasion for war was actively sought through constant harassment of the Frankish borders.

[11] Events of that war distinguished by years. In the year of Christ 772, therefore, in the fourth year of his reign, Charlemagne entered Saxony with a hostile army, stormed the fortress of Eresburg, overthrew the idol Irminsul and its temple, conferred with the Saxons at the Weser, and received twelve hostages.

In the years 773 and 774, while the King was occupied with the Italian campaign, the Saxons rose up to avenge the losses they had suffered (as Einhard and other writers of the Frankish Annals relate), at the instigation, as is probable, of Wittekind. But while they vainly strove to destroy by fire the basilica built long ago at Fritzlar by St. Boniface, they were put to flight by a terror divinely inspired. Charlemagne, having returned to Ingelheim, The Saxons divinely routed; near Mainz, sent a fourfold army against them — or four divisions, as the Monk of Angouleme has it — which engaged the Saxons four times and brought back splendid plunder. Then, after holding an assembly at Duria (that is, Marcodurum, as I believe), Charlemagne himself crossed the Rhine in the year 775, took the fortress of Sigiburg, conquered by Charlemagne; fortified the rebuilt Eresburg with a garrison, routed those who sought to block the crossing of the Weser, and received into allegiance Hessi, Duke of the Eastern Saxons, and soon also Bruno of the Angrians. But he himself also suffered some loss, when a not inconsiderable band of Saxons mingled with the foragers and entered the camp under cover of night, spreading slaughter far and wide.

[12] They rebel and are again conquered. In the year 776, when Charlemagne had again departed for Italy, the Saxons took up arms, captured Eresburg by surrender and demolished it; when they attacked Sigiburg, they were repelled and put to flight, not without heavenly portents. The King came with his army to the spring of the Lippe (which is now a town in the territory of Paderborn, commonly called Lippspringe). Again the Saxons submitted, and very many gave their names to Christ and were purified by baptism — with whatever degree of sincerity, for the authors leave that in doubt. Several fortresses were secured with a Frankish garrison.

[13] In the year 777, "the King, at the first breath of the spring season," says Einhard, "set out for Nijmegen, and after celebrating there the solemnity of the Easter feast, on account of the deceitful promises of the Saxons, which he could not trust, he set out for Saxony with a vast army, intending to hold a general assembly of his people at the place called Paderborn." When he had arrived there, Wittekind flees to the Danes. "he found the entire senate and people of the treacherous nation, whom he had ordered to come to him, compliant and falsely devoted to him. For all came to him except Widukind alone, one of the chief men of the Westphalians, who, conscious of many crimes and therefore fearing the King, had fled to Sigfrid, King of the Danes. The rest who had come submitted themselves to the King's power in such a way that they deserved to receive pardon on that occasion on the condition that, if they should further violate his statutes, they would be deprived of both their homeland and their liberty. A very great multitude of them was baptized there, who had promised, albeit falsely, that they wished to become Christians." So says Einhard and the other writers of the Annals. From this it may be inferred that the author of rebellion so often stirred up, and perhaps even of the slaughter perpetrated in the camp, was Wittekind, of whom the Poet cited above writes:

"Where Charles arriving found assembled nearly all The Dukes, and with them the people and the entire Senate Of the Saxons, except that a certain Widukind from there Had fled, fearing the King. For conscious was he Of his own bold deed and much guilt; He sought Sigfrid, who wielded the scepter of the Danes. But other Dukes there, with the assembled common folk, All humbly seeking pardon and peace, Had obeyed the King on this condition: That with all the burden of their former crimes remitted, If afterwards they dared to violate his statutes, They would lose alike their ancient liberty and their homeland. Of these, then, a great multitude, professing willingness To believe in Christ, received the saving bath. But the faith was feigned, proceeding from a crafty mouth, As subsequent deeds made known to many."

[14] In the year 777, when Charlemagne had departed for Spain, "the Saxons, at the persuasion of Wittekind," as the Annals of Tillet have it, "again rebelled." "Meanwhile the Saxons," says Einhard, "as if they had seized an opportunity, took up arms and advanced as far as the Rhine. At his counsel the Saxons rebel: But since they could not cross the river, they devastated with sword and fire whatever villages and estates lay from the city of Deutz to the confluence of the Moselle. Sacred and profane things alike were destroyed. The fury of the enemy made no distinction of age or sex, so that it was quite clear that they had entered the territories of the Franks not for the sake of plundering but of exacting vengeance. When the King received news of this at the city of Auxerre, he at once ordered the Eastern Franks and Alemanni to hasten to repel the enemy. He himself, having dismissed the rest of his forces, came to the estate of Herstal to spend the winter there. But the Franks and Alemanni who had been sent against the Saxons pressed forward by forced marches to reach them, hoping they might find them within their borders. But the Saxons were already returning home, their business done. Those who had been sent by the King, following their tracks, they are cut down. found them in the district of Hesse, marching along the river Eder; and immediately attacking them at the very ford of the river, they slew them with such great slaughter that from their vast multitude scarcely a few are said to have reached home by flight."

[15] Nor were the Saxons broken in spirit by this defeat; but having held a levy, they again produced no small forces. Of the outcome the Poet writes:

"But the King, intent on invading the lands Of the Saxons, had quickly crossed the river Rhine. The nation, trusting in vain hope that it could resist him, Again they are routed. Had likewise met him with arms taken up, Gathered in a certain place called Bocholt. But when they had begun to fight in battle line, at once It turned its back, terrified by the great number of Franks. Then he received the Westphalians in surrender, And advancing thence reached the river Weser, And remained there for some days with camp established. The Angrians and also the East-phalians, coming to him, He compelled to confirm the promised fidelity By which they pledged themselves to be subject to him And loyal in heart, by giving hostages and swearing oaths."

[16] In the year 780, Charlemagne crossed the Weser with a strong army to settle Saxon affairs. Many received baptism.

The following year was peaceful.

In the year 782, after holding an assembly at the spring of the Lippe, the King departed for Gaul. Then "Widukind," says Einhard, "who had fled to the Northmen, returned to his homeland and by vain hopes incited the spirits of the Saxons to revolt. Again, with Wittekind as leader and instigator, they rebel: Meanwhile it was reported to the King that the Sorbian Slavs, who inhabit the plains lying between the Elbe and the Saale, had entered the borders of the *Thuringians and Saxons, who were their neighbors, for the purpose of plundering, and had devastated certain places with pillaging and burning. He immediately summoned three of his officials — Adalgis the Chamberlain, Geilo the Count of the Stable, and Worad the Count of the Palace — and ordered them, taking the Eastern Franks and Saxons with them, to suppress the insolence of the rebellious Slavs as quickly as possible. When they had entered the borders of Saxony to carry out these orders, they discovered that the Saxons, at Widukind's instigation, were prepared to wage war against the Franks. Abandoning the route by which they had been going to the Slavs, they hastened with the forces of the Eastern Franks to the place where they had heard the Saxons were assembled. Count Theoderic, a kinsman of the King, met them in Saxony itself with whatever forces he had been able to hastily assemble in Ripuaria upon hearing of the Saxon revolt. He advised the eager envoys first to discover through scouts where the Saxons were and what was being done among them, with all possible speed; then, if the nature of the place permitted, to attack them simultaneously. His counsel being approved, they advanced together with him to the mountain called Suntal, on whose northern slope the Saxon camp was situated. At that spot Theoderic pitched his camp; they themselves, as they had agreed with him, in order more easily to circle the mountain, crossed the Weser and pitched camp on the very bank of the river. In conference among themselves, they feared that the fame of victory might pass to Theoderic's name if they had him in the same battle with them. And so they resolved to engage the Saxons without him; taking up arms, they charged not as against an enemy standing in battle line but as if pursuing a fugitive. To pursue their backs and seize spoils — as far as the swiftness of each man's horse carried him — where the Saxons stood in battle line before their camp: each of them rushed in with the utmost haste. When they had arrived there, the fighting also went badly. For after the battle was joined, They inflict a great defeat on the Franks. they were surrounded by the Saxons and nearly all were killed. Those who managed to escape reached by flight not their own camp from which they had set out, but Theoderic's camp, which was beyond the mountain. But the loss to the Franks was greater than the numbers suggest: for two of the envoys, Adalgis and Geilo, four counts, and other distinguished and noble men up to twenty were killed, besides the rest who, having followed these, preferred to die with them rather than live after them."

[17] Wittekind flees; the rest are punished. "When the King received news of this, judging that he should not delay at all, he quickly assembled an army and set out for Saxony. Summoning all the chief men of the Saxons to him, he inquired about the authors of the revolt. And when all proclaimed Widukind the author of this crime but could not surrender him, because after the deed he had taken himself to the Northmen, the rest — who, yielding to his persuasion, had perpetrated so great a crime — up to 4,500 were handed over and, at the King's command, were all beheaded in a single day on the river Aller, at the place called Verden." After this punishment had been carried out, the King retired to Thionville for the winter, and there celebrated both the Nativity of the Lord and Easter in the customary manner.

[18] In the year 783, the Saxons, elated perhaps by the previous victory, dared to fight with Charlemagne in pitched battle and were routed in a double engagement within the space of a single month: Again and again the Saxons are defeated. the first in the field of Theotmalli (which Johannes Isacius Pontanus writes is today called Detmold), the second near the river Hase. There is no doubt that Wittekind was present at least at the second battle; he is said to have been thereafter besieged at the Weser in a fortress, but to have escaped from there secretly by flight. The region between the Weser and the Elbe was widely devastated. Again in the year 784, and in the following winter, the Saxons were worn down by various defeats, once conquered in a cavalry engagement by Charles, the son of Charlemagne.

[19] Let these things be said in passing concerning the wars of Wittekind; which we would have passed over entirely in silence had we not wished it to be known what manner of man he was before he submitted his neck to the yoke of Christ. Perhaps someone will one day illuminate the affairs of the illustrious Westphalian nation and pursue these matters more fully.

* i.e., Thuringians.

CHAPTER IV.

The Conversion of Wittekind.

[20] "When now the year of Christian salvation 785 was in progress," says Krantz in Book 2, Chapter 23 of his Saxony, "and the time had come from on high for showing mercy, Wittekind, visited by the Lord, looked toward the light." Einhard in his Annals at that year writes: "When winter had at last passed and provisions had been brought from Francia, he held a public assembly of his people at the place called Paderborn in the customary solemn manner. And after completing those matters that pertained to the business of that assembly, he set out for the district called Bardengau; and hearing there that Widukind and Albion were in the region of the Saxons beyond the Elbe, he first began to urge them through the Saxons Wittekind is invited by Charlemagne and baptized with Albion. not to hesitate to abandon their treachery and come over to his allegiance. And when they, conscious of their crimes, hesitated to entrust themselves to the King's good faith, having at last received from him the guarantee of impunity that they desired and having obtained the hostages for their safety that they had requested — whom Amalwin, one of the courtiers, sent by the King, had brought to them — they came with him into the King's presence at the estate of Attigny; and there they were baptized. For after the King had sent the aforementioned Amalwin to summon them, he had returned to Francia." And that obstinacy of Saxon treachery was quiet for some years. The historical Poet cited several times above narrates the same events.

[21] Many churches were built; possessions restored to Wittekind. Krantz in Book 1, Chapter 4 of his Metropolis describes this conversion of Duke Wittekind somewhat more precisely: "When Widukind," he says, "after so many rebellions, had come to his senses, reflecting with himself what he was gaining by so much labor, or what he was avoiding at the cost of so much bloodshed — since he was contending neither for his principate nor for his life, but only for a religion which so many provinces had long and happily followed — he took with him Albion, a noble man and chief among the Saxons, who held territory beyond the Elbe (now called Holstein), and went to Charlemagne, having first sent one of his courtiers to the King to obtain safe conduct for coming and, if it seemed fitting, for returning. It was then the year 785 after Christ, when the Duke was honorably received by the King. After an accounting of their respective deeds was rendered on both sides, the Duke placed himself in the King's favor. And there, made a catechumen, he was instructed in the faith; and then, together with Albion, he received holy baptism — having long since been conquered in a great battle at the river Hase. Thereafter affairs throughout all Saxony were more peaceful. Whence it came about that churches were multiplied throughout the province, since all now rested under their own Prince. The King fortified some strongholds with garrisons, but restored others to the Duke; yet the Annals do not sufficiently distinguish which ones he received back from the King. The Duke held a fortress on the bank of the Weser, into which he had retreated after his defeat at the Hase, and he kept it by his own right until the King established a bishopric in that same place (as we shall relate). Then that fortress became a shared residence of the Duke and the Bishop, which is called Minden."

[22] He then continues in Chapter 9: "They report this origin of the Church of Minden. Wedekind, the foremost prince of the Saxons (or, if one prefers to call him King), defeated in the great battle at the river Hase, retreated from flight into the fortress that was his on the bank of the Weser, or the river Wisera. The King besieged it. He himself, having escaped when he despaired of its defense, reached Denmark. But not long after, taking with him Albion (as we said), he entered the King's favor. When the King learned that Wedekind had escaped, he abandoned the siege, especially because it was time to go into winter quarters. The King then had his camp at the river Oker, at the place of Wolmerstedt, in Eastern Saxony. A desire seized Prince Wedekind to examine the King's camp: He comes to Charlemagne in a beggar's disguise. although this would have been permitted openly to one already reconciled, it pleased him nevertheless to scrutinize everything more freely in disguise. The solemnity of Easter was near, and the King with his entire army was preparing himself for Christian piety in view of the approaching sacred rites, with the commemoration of the Lord's Passion and the expiation of sins through the purification of conscience. Wedekind crossed the river in a small boat in a beggar's garb; and so that he might be less recognized, he sat as a beggar among beggars seeking alms. For an immense multitude of the poor from the region followed daily. The King ordered generous alms to be distributed to them. When his turn came, Wedekind also stretched out his right hand. The distributor noticed a crooked finger on his hand, such as he knew Wedekind to have. He gazed more carefully at his face: the almsgiver recognized him, smiling, and asked why the wealthiest Prince sat as a beggar among beggars. He said nothing to this, but ordered that he be brought before the King."

[23] He sees a small child entering the mouths of those receiving the Eucharist. "It was then the most holy day of Easter. The King joyfully received him as he came, asking what an appearance unworthy of a Prince might mean. He replied thus: 'Most Serene King, I wished in this disguise, unknown (as I hoped), to observe the secrets of your proceedings, which I would not so boldly look upon if recognized. Curiosity led me to seek concealment; but I, now received into your favor among your people, could have asked openly whatever I wished.' 'What then,' said the King, 'did you see that delights you to have seen?' He (being still ignorant of Christian matters) answered: 'I saw what astonished me. Two days ago you were sad-faced and downcast, and I was uncertain what had happened to so greatly sadden so great a King.' It was the commemoration of the Lord's Passion that had darkened the royal countenance on Good Friday. 'Again,' he said, 'I saw you today, first anxious and most attentive to the matter at hand; but after you had approached the table in the middle of the church, you appeared to me with so joyful a countenance that the wonder of the sudden change in you seized me. But the astonishment was to see that from the hand of the purple-robed Priest each person received a beautiful little child into his mouth — a child who to some smiled playfully and hastened willingly; but from others recoiled, turning away his face, and yet was placed into their mouths, not returning — this I observed. What this means, I do not yet understand.' Then the King said: 'You have profited well; something more has been shown to you than to all the Priests and to all of us.' Then, changing his garments, having drawn him away by the hand, he taught him the great mystery of piety in the Sacrament of the Altar. Upon learning of this, The origin of the Church of Minden. the delighted Duke is said to have asked that a priest of his own be granted him, who would have charge of the divine office and more frequently perform the sacred ministry of the altar in his presence. The King also promised to give him a Bishop, provided that the Duke should provide a dwelling worthy of a Bishop. And the Duke showed his fortress on the Weser as large enough for both of them. And in the considerable precinct of that same fortress he gave a place for building a church. They say the name of the church arose accordingly, because MEUM and TUUM — as if a shared possession of two — sounds in the Saxon vernacular tongue as 'Min-din.'"

[24] George Fabricius distorts and obscures that portent of the child seen by Wittekind entering the mouths of those receiving the Eucharist — I know not whether in good faith — but he also narrates certain other matters more explicitly, in these words: "Wittekind," he says, "so many times defeated, found no place where he might be safe; with his customary boldness, he was carried in a small boat in servile and ragged garb down the river Oker to Wolmerstedt, to spy on Charlemagne's plans and inspect his army. When he was present among the beggars while the sacred rites were being performed there, admonished by a certain vision, he began to think better of the true religion, when he perceived a certain infant as if being grafted into the Church of Christ by the prayers and uplifted hands of the worshippers. The Chronicle of Magdeburg and Krantz report that he was then recognized by the telltale sign of a crooked finger on his right hand and led to Charlemagne; Wittekind secretly consults with Albion. but no writer of those times besides these makes mention of it. Wittekind from that time consulted with his kinsman Albron — whom more recent writers call Albion — about securing the favor and goodwill of Charlemagne and about preserving the remnants of their homeland, exhausted by so many battles and disasters. This they did with few in the secret, lest they be crushed by either their own pagans or the multitude hostile to the Christian name, as traitors of the ancestral rites and of their country, or put to death by terrible tortures." And after a brief interval: "Wittekind the Great and Albron, having obtained a guarantee of safe passage, went to Charlemagne at Attigny, a city of the Transrhenane province; to them, lest they should fear his meeting, His wife Geva. he first sent Amalwin, by whom he ordered hostages to be brought and handed over. Wittekind brought with him his wife Geva, a Dane; Albron brought many noble young men, because he was unmarried. On the appointed solemn day on which they were to be immersed in the sacred waters, Charlemagne himself stood as sponsor for Wittekind; Queen Fastrada for his wife Geva; for Albron and other nobles, several of Charlemagne's Princes, as well as Prefects and members of the court. Lullus, once given as a companion to St. Boniface, the Bishop of Mainz, administered the baptism — and he died in that very year in which these things took place."

[25] This conversion of Wittekind was celebrated. Krantz again in Book 2, Chapter 23 of his Saxony treats of Wittekind's conversion and says that others report that the King was residing at Bardewik when Wittekind came to him. Regino of Prum in Book 2 of his Chronicle, Sigebert, Adam in his Ecclesiastical History, Chapter 8, and Helmold in his Chronicle of the Slavs, Book 1, Chapter 3, all make mention of this same conversion of Wittekind and other Saxon magnates. But Helmold incorrectly says it occurred in the thirty-seventh year of Charlemagne's reign, when it happened in the seventeenth. Moreover, there was such great rejoicing everywhere over this conversion that the Roman Pontiff Hadrian himself — to whom Charlemagne had announced it through the Abbot Andrew — congratulated him on it by letter and proclaimed a three-day Litany, as Charlemagne had desired, on that account. In this letter the Pontiff writes, among other things: "We rejoice even more, learning therein of your royal triumphs, guarded by God — namely, how you have brought the fierce and hostile nations, that is, the Saxons, to the worship of God and to the correct faith of His holy Catholic and Apostolic Church; and with the Lord's help and the interceding support of Peter and Paul, the Princes of the Apostles, their necks have been brought under your power and dominion; and subduing their leading men, by divine inspiration and royal effort, you have led that entire Saxon nation to the sacred font of baptism. For this we have rendered exceedingly abundant praises to divine mercy, because in our times and yours, pagan nations, led to the true and great religion and to perfect faith, are placed under your royal dominions. In this indeed may your power, founded by God, be secure, because if, as she has promised, she fulfills her obligations to her patron, Blessed Peter the Apostle, and to us with a pure heart and most willing spirit, she will by his special intercessions lay the greatest and strongest of those nations beneath your feet, so that with none pursuing them, they may be subjected to your royal powers, and you may be found worthy to offer in the day of judgment, before the tribunal of Christ, the most worthy gift for the salvation of their souls, and for the love of souls may deserve to obtain infinite rewards in the heavenly kingdom." From this, moreover, you may correct what is said in the Chronicle of the Bishops of Minden, published by the care of Johann Pistorius, that Wittekind and other Saxons were baptized by Pope Leo, since Leo succeeded Hadrian only a decade later.

CHAPTER V.

What Wittekind did as a Christian.

[26] "Thereafter Wittekind sat at peace in his own province," says Krantz in Book 2, Chapter 24 of his Saxony. "He governed only Westphalia. For beyond the Weser the province was pressed by the encroachments of the Vandals, and what territory they held the Bishops governed. The coat of arms Wittekind's coat of arms. that he displayed on his military standards (as is customary) bore a black horse; but it pleased the King, after he had come from the darkness of pagan errors into the light of truth, that he should receive a white one." So says that author; and since he confirms this by the authority of no more ancient writer, let it be taken on his word. "Moreover, Wedekind," he adds, "when King Charlemagne permitted him to govern in his own province (as we said) after baptism, having built a distinguished church in Angaria (now called Angria), Piety and sacred works. and having established a college of those serving God without end (which they say was later transferred to Herford and there serves under the rule of noble ladies), he himself greatly advanced in devotion to Christ in religion. But he had a fierce war with Gerold, Duke of the Swabians, arising from weighty causes, which was prolonged for a long time with varying fortune. It is surprising how such a distant war — from Swabia to Saxony — could arise. But the Saxons had estates (as we showed above) in the Harz region, and the Swabians in Thuringia: whence a war over boundaries could easily be kindled. But Wittekind, worn out by that war, perished in it; Death. he was buried in Christian fashion in the church of the college he had founded, and there he rested for some time until he was transferred to Paderborn by his sons."

[27] He made St. Ludger, Bishop of Munster (even if the place did not yet perhaps bear that name), his constant intimate counselor, as Krantz writes in Book 1, Chapter 5 of the Metropolis. "Meanwhile," says Johannes Isacius Pontanus in Book 4 of his Danish History, "many of the Saxon nation lurked among the Danes and Vandals, who bitterly hated Wittekind and called him a traitor to ancestral customs and liberty — Hatred of the remaining Saxons toward him. first because he had submitted his authority to the Franks, a proud and insatiable people; and second because he had abjured his religion and trampled upon the sacred rites of the ancestors. The leader of this faction was Thrasico, who frequently ravaged the borders of the Franks with sword and fire." And there is no doubt that for this reason, when the Saxon war flared up again in 794, Wittekind suffered much from his own countrymen — which he partly repelled with his own arms and those of his Frankish allies, and partly endured with Christian magnanimity.

[28] George Fabricius in Book 1 of his Saxon Affairs, at the year 807, writes thus: "Wittekind, King of the Saxons, from the time when he pledged his faith to Christ and to Charlemagne, His fidelity to Charlemagne. remained in allegiance contrary to everyone's expectation, nor did he in any matter assist the Emperor's adversaries, either by counsel or by deed, nor was he afterwards detected in any wrongdoing. At last, in extreme old age, engaging in battle with Northard (or, as others say, Gerold), Duke of the Swabians, he was killed in that battle, overcome by the weight of his arms and the intensity of the fight, and was buried in the church he had built in the city of Minden. When Emperor Henry I transferred this church to Wallesleben, not far from Bremen, Reckoned among the Saints. his ashes also were removed from that place and deposited at Paderborn, as the Chronicle of Celle has it — in which city he was honored with the veneration of a Saint. The day, month, and year of his death and translation have been buried in oblivion by the antiquity and devastation of those places." So says Fabricius. The day, whether of his death or of his translation, we stated at the beginning to be assigned by more recent writers to this date; and some record that he died in the year 805, others in 807. Certain writers call him a Martyr and relate that churches were once dedicated to him as a Martyr.