The years 782 to 784 from the Revised Annals of the Kingdom of the Franks

Probably produced during the early years of the reign of Louis the Pious (814-40), their are some major changes in both style and contents compared to the Annals of the Kingdom of the Franks, most prominently for the years 741 to 801.  The revisions include references to disasters and setbacks that Charlemagne and his forces endured, which are not mentioned in the earlier accounts.  These include a description of a defeat of Charlemagne's forces to that of the Saxons led by Widukind in 784, which is described below:

782 AD

At the beginning of the summer, when fodder was at last plentiful enough to enable an army to march, he decided to enter Saxony and to hold the general assembly there, just as he was accustomed to hold it every year in Francia. He crossed the Rhine at Cologne and came with the whole army of the Franks to the source of the Lippe, where he set up camp. He stayed there some tine and dealt with various matters; among other things, he gave audience and leave to depart to legates from Sigfred, king of the Danes, and to those sent to him, supposedly in the cause of peace, by the khagan and the jugur, princes of the Huns.

After the assembly had been concluded and he had recrossed the Rhine into Gaul, Widukind, who had taken refuge with the Northmen, returned to his homeland and stirred up the passions of the Saxons with vain hopes so that they rebelled. Meanwhile, the king had received news that the Sorbs, Slavs who inhabit the lands lying between the Elbe and the Saale, had invaded the territories of their Thuringian and Saxon neighbours to plunder them and had ravaged some places, robbing and burning. He immediately summoned three of his officers to his presence, Adalgis, the chamberlain, Gailo, the count of the stables, and Worad, the count of the palace, and ordered then to act with all possible dispatch, taking eastern Franks and Saxons with them, to repress the temerity of the contumacious Slavs. After they bad crossed into Saxony to carry out their orders, these men heard that the Saxons, thanks to Widukind's scheming, were ready to make war on the Franks; and they abandoned the route by which they had been intending to advance against the Slavs and marched at speed, with the east Frankish troops, towards the place where they had beard the Saxons had gathered.

They were joined in Saxony by count Theoderic, a relative of the king, with as many troops as he had been able swiftly to gather together in Ripuaria on hearing of the Saxons' rebellion. His advice to the hastening legates was that scouts should first ascertain, with all possible speed, where the Saxons were and what they were up to, and that then, if the nature of the terrain allowed, he and they should make a joint attack upon then. His advice was thought admirable, and they advanced with him as far as the Suntel mountains, as they are called; the Saxons' camp lay on the northern side of these. After Theoderic had set up camp there, they crossed the Weser, as agreed with him, so that they could get around the mountain more easily, and established their own camp on the bank of the river.

It was their fear, however, when they discussed matters among themselves, that if they had Theoderic with them in the battle the renown of the victory would be transferred to his name, and they therefore resolved to engage the Saxons without him. Each individual seized his weapons and charged with as much speed as he could muster, just as fast as his horse would carry him, upon the place where the Saxons were drawn up in battle-array in front of their camp; they acted as if their task was to pursue a fleeing foe and seize booty rather than to take on an enemy standing marshalled to face them. Since the approach had gone badly, badly also went the battle; for when this was joined they were surrounded by the Saxons and killed almost to a man. Those who were able to make their escape even so fled not to their own camp, from which they had set out, but to Theoderic's, across the mountain. The loss to the Franks was greater than numbers alone, however, for two of the legates, Adalgis and Cailo, four counts and as many as twenty other men of distinction and nobility were killed, as well as others who were in their followings and chose to die at their sides rather than survive them.

When the king received news of what had happened, he judged that there must be not a moment's delay; swiftly collecting together an army, be entered Saxony and questioned the primores of the Saxons, all of whom be had summoned to attend him, as to who was responsible for the rebellion which had taken place. And since they all declared that Widukind was the author of this wickedness but were unable to deliver him up in view of the fact that he had taken himself off to the Northmen once the deed had been done, no fewer than 4500 of the others, those who had fallen in with his promptings and committed such a gross outrage, were handed over and at the place on the river Aller called Verden, at the king's command, all beheaded in a single day. Thus was punishment executed; and the king then retired to winter-quarters at Thionville, where he celebrated both the Lord's birthday and Easter in the customary fashion.

783 AD

In mild and smiling spring, when his preparations for a Saxon expedition were complete - for he had been informed of general rebellion on their part - but before he left the aforesaid villa, his wife, Queen Hildegard, died, on 30 April. After paying her body the honours which were its due in the customary fashion, he led an army into Saxony as he had arranged to do. And when he learned that the Saxons were preparing themselves for combat at the place called Detmold, he made towards them with all the speed he could muster, engaged them in battle and defeated them with such slaughter that out of their immense host very few are said to have escaped. After returning from the battlefield with the army to Paderborn, where he established camp, he was awaiting the part of the army which was still due to arrive from Francia when he heard that the Saxons were assembling on the river Hase, in the territory of the Westphalians, in order to offer him battle there should he appear. Enraged by this news, he combined the force of Franks which had just joined him with the one which he had previously had with him and lost no time in setting out for the place where the Saxons had assembled. He engaged them and fought with the same success as before. Countless hosts of them were slain, spoils seized, great numbers of captives carried off. From the Hase the victor directed his campaign eastwards, laying waste everything in his path as he ranged first to the Weser, then to the Elbe.

 

He then returned to Francia and took as his wife a Frankish woman named Fastrada, the daughter of count Radolf; she bore him two daughters. In this same year there died on 12 July the king's mother, of noble memory, Bertrada. He himself settled down for the winter at the villa of Herstal, where he celebrated the Lord's birthday and holy Easter.

784 AD

As soon as suitable weather arrived, the king, his mind set on finishing off what remained of the Saxon war, crossed the Rhine with an army at the place called Lippebam. After devastating the districts of the Westphalians, he reached the Weser and established himself in a camp set up by the river at the place called Huculbi [Petershagen]. Since he then realised that he was unable, because of the very severe flooding which unexpectedly occurred at this time in consequence of continual rain, to move across into the northern regions of Saxony as he had resolved, he directed his march to Thuringia, while ordering his son Charles to remain in the Westphalians' territory with part of the army. Marching through Thuringia, he came to the plains of Saxony adjoining the rivers Elbe and Saale; he laid waste the fields of the eastern Saxons, burned their villae and then returned from Schôningen - such was the name of the place - to Francia.

His son Charles, however, while on the march in the district of Draigni [Dreingau], near the river Lippe, was met by an army of Saxons and engaged them in a cavalry battle. Happy and successful was the outcome of his struggle, for a great number of then were killed and the rest scattered in flight; and he returned victorious to his father at Worms. The king for his part again gathered an army and set off for Saxony. He celebrated the Lord's birthday in camp on the river Emmer, in the Weissgau, near the Saxon castrum called Skidroburg [Schieder], and then advanced, ravaging, to the place named Rehme, where the Weser and the Werre flow together. And when the harshness of the winter as well as flooding prevented his further progress, he retired to the castrum of Eresburg for the winter.

This text was first translated in Charlemagne: Translated Sources, by P.D. King (Kendal, 1987).  We thank Professor King for his permission to include these items.

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