St. Mathilda was the daughter of the Westphalian count Dietrich and his wife Reinhild, and her biographers traced her ancestry back to the legendary Saxon leader Widukind (c. 730 – 807). One of her sisters married Count Wichmann the Elder, a member of the House of Billung.
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Widukind
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edia.org/wiki/Widukind_of_Corvey">Widukind of Corvey.
x-text-span">This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(November 2010) ody>class="infobox vcard" cellspacing="3">span="2">Blessed Widukindikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Widukind2_b.jpg/120px-Widukind2_b.jpg" alt="Widukind2 b.jpg" width="120" height="282" />/td>a.org/wiki/Herford">Herford, North Rhine-Westphaliacope="row">Honored inalign: left;" scope="row">Feastclass="mw-redirect" title="Saint symbology" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_symbology">Attributesh centuries; modernized name Wittekind) was a Germanic leader of the Saxons and the chief opponent of Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars. Widukind was the leader of the Saxons against the Frankish king Charlemagne (later emperor of the West). In 782, when Charlemagne organized Saxony as a Frankish province and ordered conversions of the pagan Saxons of Widukind to Roman Catholicism, the Saxons resumed warfare against the Franks. In later times, Widukind became a symbol of Saxon independence and a figure of legend.
n> Life/span>l-2 tocsection-5">3.2In German nationalismclass="toclevel-1 tocsection-6">4Referencesection-7">5External linksmw-headline">Lifewho painted a negative picture, representing him as an "insurgent" and a "traitor". While Widukind was considered the leader of the Saxon resistance by the Franks, his exact role in the military campaigns is unknown.
He was mentioned first in 777, when he was the only one of the Saxon nobles not to appear at Charlemagne's court in Paderborn. Instead, he stayed with the Danish king Siegfried (possibly Sigurd Ring). In 778, Widukind led battles against the Franks, while Charlemagne was busy in Spain. From 782 to 784, battles between Saxons and Franks occurred annually.
Widukind allied himself with the Frisians but despite that, Charlemagne's winter attacks of 784/785 were successful and Widukind and his allies were pushed back to their homelands. In the Bardengau in 785, Widukind agreed to surrender in return for a guarantee that no bodily harm would be done to him. Widukind and his allies were then baptized in Attigny in 785,[1] with Charlemagne as his godfather.
There are no sources about Widukind's life or death after his baptism. It is assumed that he was imprisoned at a monastery — a fate that happened to other rulers deposed by Charlemagne. Reichenau Abbey has beenidentified as a likely location where Widukind may have spent the rest of his life. Alternatively, he may have received a position in the administration of occupied Saxony.
edia.org/wiki/Paderborn">Paderborn in 785, by Ary Scheffer (1795–1858). Versailles.lessed Widukind") and the builder of many churches. He was later assumed to have died in 808; his feast day is commemorated on January 6.
According to legend, Widukind experienced a vision that led to his conversion. Disguised asa beggar, he was spying on Charlemagne's troop camp during Easter. He witnessed a priest performing a Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the priest was holding a beautiful child during the consecration. To his astonishment, people would receive communion and the priest would give the same child to each person. Widukind was dumbfounded by this scenario and went to begoutside, following the end of the mass. One of the emperor's servants recognized Widukind behind his disguise – due to an odd formation of one of his fingers – and Widukind was captured. He was interrogated and confessed to spying on Charlemagne's camp for the purpose of becoming better acquainted with the Christian faith. He later confessed the divine vision he had seen. The emperor concluded that God had given Widukind the grace of witnessing the divine child, Jesus, behind the Sacred Host of the Mass. Widukind then renounced his worship of pagan idols.[2]
According to myth, Widukind rode a black horse before his baptism and a white horse afterwards. A white or black horse can be found on many flags and coats of arms in England, the former Kingdom of Hanover, Germany (state flags of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony, Herford coat of arms), and the Netherlands (flag of Twente).
Later perception
s a mythical hero. Around 1100, a tomb for him was made in Enger; recent excavations have found that the contents of the tomb are indeedearly medieval, but it is impossible to decide whether the body is Widukind's. When in the 10th century Saxon kings (of the Ottonian dynasty) replaced the Frankish kings in East Francia (the later Holy Roman Empire), these kings proudly claimed descent from Widukind: Matilda, the wife of King Henry I, was apparently a great-great-great-granddaughter of Widukind. The House of Billung, to which several Dukes of Saxony belonged, had Matilda's sister among its ancestors and thus also claimed descent from Widukind.
In German nationalism
eroic defender of Germany's traditional beliefs and their gods, resisting the "foreign" religion of Christianity. Christian nationalists also lauded him, linking Charlemagne with the humiliation of French domination after World War I, especially the occupation of the Rhineland, portraying Charlemagne as a "French" invader.[3]
After the Nazis came to power in 1933 so many plays and other works were written about Widukund that there were complaints that he was becoming a cliché. Alfred Rosenberg praised him as a hero of German freedom, who finally joined with the founder of the German Reich (Charlemagne). Two important plays about the Saxon leader were produced in 1934, Der Sieger (“The Victor”) by Friedrich Forster and Wittekind by Edmund Kiss. The first celebrated the conversion of Widukind,but the second caused controversy because of its explicit Anti-Christian message. In that play after the massacreof Verden Saxon leaders say "That is what the Christians have done; they feign love, but bring murder!", a line that led to protests from the audience.[3] The play portrays Catholic church leaders planning to destroy German freedom by forcing racial mixture on them, thus turning them into pliable "untermenschen". Thousands of German maidens are captured and will be forced to mate with "Jews, Greeks, Italians and Moors" unless Widukind converts, which he does only to avoid this horrifying prospect. He gives a speech saying that the survival of the German race was his principal concern, and that future generations will praise him for this when the true spirit of the German people arises once more.[3]
References
class="citation book">Springer, Matthias (2004). Die Sachsen. ISBN3-17-016588-7.decimal;">text">Kampers, Franz. "Widukind." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912.5 Jan. 2013Martin Von Cochem, Cochem's Explanation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (1896)Widukind#cite_ref-glen_3-0">abcGlen W. Gadberry, "An 'Ancient German Rediscovered' The Nazi Widukind Plays of Forster and Kiß", Essays on Twentieth-Century German Drama and Theater: An American Reception, 1977-1999, pp.156-163.mw-headline">External linkssource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png" alt="" width="12" height="13" /> Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Widukind (leader)". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. Media related to Widukind at Wikimedia Commons>i/Theoderic,_Duke_of_Saxony">Theoderic, Duke of Saxonyg/wiki/Rulers_of_Saxony">Rulers of Saxony ?e does not exist)" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abo,_Duke_of_Saxony&action=edit&redlink=1">Abo
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Media related to Widukind at Wikimedia Commons>i/Theoderic,_Duke_of_Saxony">Theoderic, Duke of Saxonyg/wiki/Rulers_of_Saxony">Rulers of Saxony