From Holstein, the Germanic tribe of the Saxons spread to the south and southwest, absorbing all the Germanic tribes that had previously lived in present-day Northwestern Germany. In 421 they broke the Thuringian empire together with the Franks. In association with the Angles, they settled in Britain in 450. Also at this time began the almost uninterrupted border battles of the Saxons with the Franks. At that time they sat from the Eider river over the islands in front of the mouth of the Elbe (Insulae Saxonum) to the Rhine and the Sieg rivers, later they got the Langobard area and Northern Thuringia. Only in the 8th century they are distinguished by their residences in Westphalia, Engern, Eastphalia (Ostfalen) and North Albingia.
One of the most significant contributions of the Saxons to modern civilization from today's perspective is their language, the original form of English. Until the 11th century, there was a language community of the mainland Saxons with the Anglo-Saxons, while Saxons and South Germans could hardly communicate.
Little touched by the tremors of the migration period, the Saxons kept the fundamentals of old Germanic nature unchanged. At a time when almost all Germanic tribes were building a kingship, the Saxons created a stable tribal constitution for centuries, with an annual assembly for the settlement of political affairs, the Thing, a gathering that possessed all the characteristics of a proto-democratic character, without kingship and even without permanent duchy. They formed no political unity. They were free communities and provinces under elected heads. Only in times of war they put themselves under the leadership of a duke. Almost never did the noble leaders appear imperious or even dictatorial, be it in the thing or in their elected position as Duke of a shire. Their function is basically exhausted in the support of opinion formation. The decisions themselves were made by the people. Even envoys at foreign courts never express themselves as paladins of a Saxon Duke, but only as spokesman and on behalf of the Saxons.
The inner cohesion of the individual shires was quite different. The cohesion of the Westphalians was the strongest, a little more subdued it was among the Engels, the weakest one was among the Eastphalians. The profile of the individual tribes, however, was not expressed excessively. Although the tribes were often named individually, in most cases they were generalized Saxons.
The Saxons adhered to their pagan tradition with the utmost tenacity: it was Charlemagne who, after more than 30 years of war (772-804) and subsequent revolts, achieved the constant subjugation and Christianization of the Saxons. That the Thing was the political foundation of this Germanic tribe was then well known. Therefore, it is not surprising that after his victory over the Saxons Charlemagne initiated their incorporation into the Frankish Empire by destroying their founding constitution. He strictly forbade any general popular assembly. Such an assembly he allowed only if it had been requested with him, he had approved it and it was then called by his own heralds.
