Carlos Magno e o massacre dos pagãos: a cristianização da Saxônia pela lei e pela espada (772-804)

Abstract

This study investigates the process of Christianization of Saxony during the Frankish– Saxon wars (772–804). Originating from the same Germanic context of the times when the West still recognized a Roman emperor, the Saxons perpetuated their ancestral tradition of Germanic paganism, while the Franks converted to Christianity under Clovis and increasingly approached the Church in Rome, which gradually found itself threatened by the Lombards and no longer counted on the protection of Constantinople. Upon Pepin’s head, the royal crown was placed in 751, and in 800, the imperial crown upon the head of Charlemagne. Thus, the Franks increasingly saw themselves as the people chosen by God, and the Carolingian sovereign as the protector of that people. Under Charlemagne’s authority, the traditions of territorial expansion were continued, and on the eastern frontier of the kingdom, the Saxons resisted the attacks of Frankish troops for thirty-three years. The Saxon Wars, in this study, present a vast wealth of discussions upon which we have reflected. In this segment, we will discuss the process that led to the conversion of the Saxons to Christianity and to the incorporation of this people into the Carolingian Empire after the year 800. Within this theme, we will address the issue of violence in this process, as well as the motivations of the Church and of Charlemagne in this episode, discussing the nature of royal power and its relationship with clerical authority. Charlemagne conquered by the sword, but terror also came through the law. The Capitulatio de Partibus Saxoniae prescribed the death penalty for those who refused baptism or ate meat during Lent, among other offenses. We will then analyze these narratives through period sources and specialized bibliography, in order to understand whether the sacred and the profane — evoking Mircea Eliade — could be separated in the early Middle Ages.