The renaming of Paderborn as Karlsburg, and its establishment as the capitol of Francia sent a powerful message to Charlemagne’s friends and foes alike. Few Saxon tribes relented and converted, most didn’t. Side by side with Louis being given the throne of Aquitaine in 782, Charlemagne instated a series of laws to help the conversion of the Saxons to Christianity. These laws, prohibited on pain of death, the burning of churches, murdering of priests and refusing baptism, reconverting to their old religion, and even eating meet on Lent. The responsibility for maintaining a church was placed on the local people.
In the months after this, as Charles was busy crushing the revolvers of Pamplona, several of Charlemagne’s lords, eager to gain prestige, prepared a force and assaulted the mountainous region North of the Wesser.
They were slaughtered: more then twenty of Charlemagne’s leading men. This slaughter made Widukind appear once again, and he led a wide scale revolt. When news reached Charlemagne of this, his response was unprintable. With the furious energy of an avenging angel he marched north, back to Karlsburg, his heart filled with murderous rage.
His mood preceded him. Messengers that preceded him told of his anger, and warned the Saxon leaders that he would be unstoppable. In the end, Charlemagne did not even need to fight a single battle. But his rage was not contained. He had tried simply killing the Saxons, and then shocking and awing them, and yet nothing fucking worked.
One option remained. [1]
Kill the leaders. Lop of the head, and the body will die. In 783, Charlemagne issued a decree that was shouted throughout his empire, echoed by his sons Charles, Louis, and Pepin in their kingdoms of Austrasia, Aquitaine and Italy:
‘To the man who brings the head of Widukind, be he lord or soldier, freeman or slave, the King shall grant a vast fortune, along with lands stretching from the Wesser to the Oder.’
His annual campaign of 783 was contained to the mountains North of the Wesser. There he rounded up all pagan Saxons who his armies could find, and marched them across the Francia, settling some in the Alps of Burgundy, others were settled in empty villages of Pamplona, while their Basque occupants were marched north, and took the cold frozen lands swept clean of pagan Saxons. Loyal Franks were settled amongst these displaced peoples. And yet for all of this, Widukind evaded capture, some say that he was in hiding Denmark, other reports suggested he was in the forests of Thurgundia, or Bohmland. Sitting in his castle in Karlsburg in the frozen Christmas of 783, Charlemagne raged and moped.
Until one day, a Spanish visitor appeared at his court…
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The Spaniard was tall and swarthy, his face dominated by a large broken nose, his black untamed hair covered his eyes, but when you saw them, they glowed with determination. He wore armour and clothes cobbled together from whatever he could find, and the sword he welded had been forged in Byzantium. He swagged into the court of Charlemagne, his men followed him, and every eye of the court rested on them. They were dressed in the similar fashion to their leader, and half of them were Saracen, and one or two seemed to be Avarish.
The courts herald walked up to Charlemagne, who sat on his throne, watching the newcomers carefully.
“My Lord, these Spaniards claim to have killed Widukind.” He whispered into the Kings ear.
The Spaniard bowed before the King.
“Hail, Charlemagne, son of Pepin, Lord and King of Francia. I bring you good tidings in these dark, midwinter times.”
He gestured to one of his underlings, who carried a large sack, and he walked forward, and put the sack on the cold stone floor.
“My Lord.” Continued the Spaniard, “I bring you a present, on this Christmas eve. I present the head, of Widukind, enemy of the Christian peoples of Francia, killed by my sword.”
He unveiled the bag, and a blood stained, half-rotten head rolled onto the floor. The court gasped at this revelation, and Charlemagne leaned forward.
“How do I know that this head you have presented to me is that of Widukind, not some poor peasant Saxon that you ambushed on a lonely road?”
The Spaniard smiled. “I bring the rest of his body.” He gestured to two of his men, they dropped the large bag they were carrying, and a headless body was revealed.
The Spaniard gestured to another of his soldiers, and he carried forward a sword.
“This is his sword, with which he chipped away at your Frankish realm, and other artefacts that where in his possession at the time of his death.”
Blades, socks, a leather cap, a belt and pagan religious icons were dropped onto the floor.
Charlemagne considered the pile of possessions on the floor. “I had not seen Widukind in person, so these are worthless to me.” He turned to the herald standing at his side. “Bring forth a Saxon who was once in league with Widukind.” The herald ran off out of the court, and Charlemagne addressed the Spaniard. “Until he arrives, you and your men shall stay here, as guests in my court.”
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It was late in the evening when the Spaniard was summoned back to the court of the King. It was all but deserted, the great hall cold, despite the candles and fires. The Spaniard and his men had been confided to what had once been a stable, and they had eaten a meagre meal, less then what the servants ate. [2]
In the hall sat Charlemagne, and by his side stood a blonde man dressed in simple clothes. The only other things in the room, besides the ever present guardsmen and the ever vigilant court herald, were the scattered remains of Widukind.
The Spaniard bowed before the king.
“Late is the hour you have summoned me, oh Charlemagne, lord of all Christendom.”
The king gestured to the man at his side.
“This man, is Hwic, a Saxon chief from the Elbe. Once served with Widukind, but converted to Christianity and is now my loyal servant, and is my voice in the Eastfalian lands. He has examined the body and head, and tells me that this is the body of Widukind, the scourge of my eastern lands. I am indebted to you, and yet you were not properly introduced to my court. Tell me your name, and tell me how you came to hear of my request, and how you killed that troublesome pagan.”
The Spaniard bowed again, “My lord, I am Galefe of Toledo, son of Mahond. I am but a mercenary, as are my men. I have fought from the Asturias to the Maghreb, even in Sicily and Alamannia, and once in the lands of the Croats. I was in your Italian lands when I heard of your quest. I gathered my men, and we travelled north. For months we travelled through the Saxon lands, hunting down any speck of information wherever I could find it: From Bohmland to the land of the Danes; we were tempted march east, past the Oder. At last, we found him: in the coastal lands at Abodriti, plotting with those loyal. We attacked under the cover of night, hoping for an element of surprise, but alas. Most of my men were slain, and there was no way that Widukind could be captured alive. I offered him redemption, but he denied, and so I slayed him with my own sword.” [3]
Charlemagne smiled at this. “And you must be rewarded for your actions, Galefe, son of Mahond.
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Richly was Galefe rewarded for his actions. He was given a vast treasure, and granted lands in the north-western part of Saxony. Early in the New Year, he was named Duke of Wessalia, a parcel of land stretching between the Wesse river to the mouth of the Elbe river. He had his name changed to the more Frankish Grimbald, and established a fort on the river Wesse: Wesseburg [OTL Bremen], and another near the mouth of the Elbe, Karsburg on Elbe [OTL Hamburg]. Wessalia was the first Duchy to be carved out of Saxony, and at the campus maii he divided up the rest of Saxony: Northalbingia to the north past Wessalia, Westfalia bordering Austrasia and Frisa, Eastfalia along the Elbe, and Engern between them. [4] Bishoprics were established at Wesseburg and Karlsubrg on Elbe to aid in the conversion of the Saxons, along with spreading the good word north, to the land of the Danes.
785 was also the year that the British monk Alcuin set up his ‘court school’ in Karlsburg. Alcuin had arrived in Francia in 782, and the monk had been quick to move through Charlemagnes court. He was a strong willed scholar, approached life with gusto, and was not afraid of voicing his strong opinions. Charlemagne and Alcuin developed a strong friendship, based around the fact that although Alcuin recognised the attitude expected of courtiers, he did not turn into a faceless yes-man like so many before him. The Emperor could always rely on him for straightforward advice, but of late Charlemagne had neglected what Alcuin had offered him. An example of this had been the offering of a reward for the death of Widukind. Alcuin feared that his death would lead to Widukind achieving the status of a martyr, and as a man well versed in Church history, Alcuin knew the power of a martyr.
So Charlemagne decided to make it up to his friend. He granted Alcuin rights to establish a new court school in Karlsburg, and made him in charge of creating a Royal Library in Karlsburg. His sons received an education from the British monk.
In his job of creating a library for the King, Alcuin came into contact with the group of men at Karlsburg he hated the most, even more then the filthy Saxons (quite literally filthy, they bathed less then Alcuins Frankish patrons!) those bloody Saracen doctors.
They had come to Karlsburg as part of a gift from the far distant Caliph, thanking Charlemagne for helping to overthrow the Umayyads in Spain. [5] And they had quite a different idea about how to cure people then the ‘doctors’ of Francia, whose response was more often then not to chop of the offending limb, or for the victim to drink a mixture composed mostly of treacle or tar.
Alcuin despised them on principle, and would often carry around salted pork to chew on whenever he was in their presence. But, he had to grudgingly admit, their ideas about medicine, transposed from ancient Greek texts was interesting, and Charlemagne claimed them as his property, and ordered Alcuin to transcribe their information.
So, he ordered one of his underling monks to learn Arabic, and set him to work translating the books the Arab doctors brought with them into Latin.
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[1] Well, there was another option, which was what Charlemagne did IOTL, and that was to slaughter 4500 Saxon prisoners at Verden. Although that number may be an exaggeration. ITTL, his previous actions led him to decide to just kill Widukind. Charlemagne is a red haired barbarian after all.
[2] At the royal feasts Charlemagne and his wife, sons and daughters ate first, then the nobles in turn of their standing in court. The Spaniard and his men where ‘guests’ of the King, but for some reason they didn’t eat well.
[3] Galefe is lying. Based on what occurred IOTL, where Widukind relented and converted with the aid of plentiful gifts in 785. Its doubtful that he would have, when presented with mercenaries in the pay of Charlemagne, remained pagan until the end.
[4] this is earlier then OTL.
[5] they were not totally overthrown, as the Emir and one of his sons managed to make it to the Balearic Islands and fight off any Abbasid attacks. Another of his sons roamed the lands near the city of Oporto, before he was killed by the Asturians when they took the city in 790.
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, the situation in the Cordoba emirate and after calipahte was ever more or less subject to internal tensions and rebellions that in OTL probably would have two important peaks during the reign of Abd Allah (888-912) and finally after the murdering of Abd Al-Malik al Muzaffar son of Almanzor in 1008 that begin the decline of Cordoba Caliphate until his fall in 1031.
