WIDUKIND or WITTEKIND (d. c. 807), leader of the Saxons, belonged to a noble Westphalian family. He probably fought the Franks before and during 776. In 778 he returned from exile in Denmark to lead a fresh rising, and in 782 the Saxons at his instigation drove out the Frankish priests, and plundered the border territories. His movements in 783-84 are uncertain; but in 785 he was reconciled to Charlemagne at Attigny and baptized, the king acting as his sponsor and loading him with gifts. The details of his later life are unknown. He prob ably returned to Saxony. Many legends have gathered around his
memory. He is reported to have been duke of Engria, to have been a devoted Christian, and to have fallen in battle in 807. Royal houses have sought to establish descent from him, but except in the case of Matilda, wife of the German king, Henry I. the Fowler, without success.