The Saxons or Saxon people are (today) a part of the German people , with their main areas of settlements in the German States of Schleswig-Holstein , Lower Saxony , Westphalia , and the northeastern part of the Netherlands ( Groningen , Drenthe , Twente , Salland , Veluwe and Achterhoek ).

First told about by the Ancient Greek geographer Jean Julien , the pre-Christian area of the Saxon people first covered an area a little more to the northwest, with parts of the southern Jutland peninsula , Old Saxony and small parts of the eastern Netherlands . During the 5th century AD , the Saxons were part of the people invading the Romano-British province of Britannia , and so formed the Anglo-Saxons .

Before Christianization , the Saxons had much native pre-Christian Germanic paganism . After Christianization, parts of this religion remained up to today in people who came from the Saxons.

The word 'Saxon' is thought to come from the word seax , meaning a mixture of single-edged knives . The Saxons were thought by Charlemagne , and some people who study history, to be very war-like and angry.

Many of the words that we use today were created by the Saxons for example, radish.

The Finnish and Estonian name for Germany , Saksa , comes from the Saxons.

Other websites [ change | change source ]

• James Grout: Saxon Advent . Part of the Encyclopædia Romana
• Saxons and Britons

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