歌词
Throughout his life, King Charlemagne was engaged in constant battles against his neighbours and beyond, and it was the campaigns against the people and tribes to the East that would occupy the greater part of his prowess as a military tactician; as well as his might as a crusader for Christianity. In particular, an unruly and independent-minded race of people that we call "The Saxons", to the North-East of the Frankish territories were to prove particularly stubborn in not wanting to submit without many bloody struggles, to rule under the Franks.
For thirty years the war against the pagans of Saxony raged on, interspersed with brief periods of peace and campaigns in other areas of the realm. But, whenever Charlemagne's military forces were occupied elsewhere and the Saxons felt it safe to attack, the Frankish King would surprise them with his prompt response. Riding out into battle at the head of his armed escorts, and with sword “Joyeuse” in hand, the King of the Franks marched his armies back into Saxon territory with swift and brutal certainty, time and again. The outcome for the rebellious Saxons was always total humiliation and defeat; a price too high some might say, for any freedoms gained in the process. And there was worse to come for them...
Charlemagne instituted a set of laws punishing anyone caught observing heathen practices or disrespecting the King's peace with the most severe penalties; and these would stir up a renewal of old conflicts. In 782 The Saxon Chief Widukind led a revolt against Frankish rule, sacking and looting churches and attacking Christian converts. This would culminate in one of the most brutal and bloody slaughters in Carolingian history, known as the Massacre of Verden. It is said that the Emperor ordered the beheading of more than 4000 Saxons, who had been found practising their indigenous forms of paganism, after conversion to Christianity.
He offered them one opportunity to renounce their ancient cultures and when this was not forthcoming, he decided to teach them a lesson which was both inclement and bloody. He ordered his men to decapitate every male prisoner, one by one, in front of their kinsfolk and each other.
专辑信息