For administrative purposes Saxony is divided into five Kreis hauptmannschaf ten, or governmental departments, centring in the cities of Dresden, Leipzig, Chemnitz, Bautzen and Zwickau respectively. The Oberlandesgericht has its seat at Dres den, and the Reichsgericht—the supreme court of law for the whole German Reich—at Leipzig.
The name Saxony has been borne by two distinct blocks of terri tory. The first was the district in the north-west of Germany, inhabited originally by the Saxons, which became a duchy and attained its greatest size and prosperity under Henry the Lion in the 12th century. In ir8o it was broken up, and the name of Saxony disappeared from the greater part of it, remaining only with the districts around Lauenburg and Wittenberg. Five cen turies later Lauenburg was incorporated with Hanover, and Wit tenberg is the nucleus of modern Saxony, the name being thus transferred from the west to the east of Germany. In 1423 Meis sen and Thuringia were united with Saxe-Wittenberg under Fred erick of Meissen, and gradually the name of Saxony spread over all the lands ruled by this prince and his descendants.
The earlier Saxony was the district lying between the Elbe and the Saale on the east, the Eider on the north and the Rhine on the west, with a fluctuating boundary on the south. This territory was a stronghold of Germanic heathenism and included at Eres burg, the modern Marsberg, one of the chief Germanic sanctu aries, marked by the Irminsul, a wooden pillar which was the centre of Saxon worship. The prolonged resistance which the Saxons offered to Christianity was chiefly due to their hostility to the Franks who threatened their independence. The reduction of the Saxons was attempted by Charles Martel and Pippin the short, and was finally carried through in a series of campaigns by Charlemagne (q.v.). Before his death Saxony had permanently passed under Frankish supremacy, and within a century it had come to form an outpost of German and Christian influence against the Slays of the provinces south of the Baltic.
The conversion of the Saxons to Christianity, which during this time had been steadily progressing, was continued in the reign of the emperor Louis I. Bishoprics were established at Bremen, Miinster, Verden, Minden, Paderborn, Osnabruck, Hildesheim, Hamburg and Halberstadt. The abbey of Corvey soon became a
centre of learning for the country, and the Saxons undertook with the eagerness of converts the conversion of their heathen neighbours. Towards the middle of the century there are signs of a reaction against Frankish rule and towards heathenism among the Saxon free peasantry, but it had no permanent result, and the connection with the empire was unbroken. By the treaty of Ver dun in 843 Saxony fell to Louis the German, but he paid little attention to the northern part of his kingdom, which was harassed by the Normans and the Slays. About 85o, however, he appointed a Saxon noble named Liudolf as margrave to defend the Limes Saxoniae, a narrow strip of land on the eastern frontier. Liudolf, who is sometimes called "duke of the East Saxons," carried on a vigorous warfare against the Slays and extended his influence over other parts of Saxony. He died in 866, and was succeeded by his son Bruno, who was killed fighting the Normans in 880. Liudolf's second son, Otto the Illustrious, was recognized as duke of Saxony by King Conrad I., and on the death of Burkhard, mar grave of Thuringia in 9o8, obtained authority over that country also. He made himself practically independent in Saxony, and played an important part in the affairs of the empire. He died in 912 and his son Henry I., the Fowler, not only retained his hold over Saxony and Thuringia, but in 919 was elected German king. He extended the Saxon frontier almost to the Oder, improved the Saxon forces by training and equipment, established new marks, and erected forts on the frontiers for which he provided regular garrisons. Towns were walled, where it was decreed markets and assemblies should be held, churches and monasteries were founded, civilization was extended and learning encouraged. Henry's son, Otto the Great, was crowned emperor in 962, and his descendants held this dignity until the death of the emperor Otto III. in 1002. Under this able dynasty the Slays were driven back, the domestic policy of Henry the Fowler was continued, the Saxon court became a centre of learning visited by Italian scholars, and in 968 an archbishopric was founded at Magdeburg for the lands east of the Elbe. The extent of Otto the Great's dominions compelled him to delegate much of his authority in Saxony and in 96o he gave to a trusted relative Hermann Billung certain duties and privileges on the eastern frontier, and from time to time appointed him as his representative in Saxony. Hermann gradually extended his authority, and when he died in 973 was followed by his son Bernard I., who was undoubtedly duke of Saxony in 986. When Henry II. was chosen German king in 1002 he met the Saxons at Merseburg, and on promising to observe their laws Bernard gave him the sacred lance, thus entrusting Saxony to his care. Bernard was succeeded by his son Bernard II., who took up a hostile atti tude towards the German kings, Conrad II. and Henry III. His son and successor Ordulf, who became duke in 1059, carried on a long and obstinate struggle with Adalbert, archbishop of Bremen, who was compelled to cede one-third of his possessions to Ordulf's son Magnus in 1°66. The emperor Henry III. sought to win the allegiance of the Saxons by residing among them. He built a castle at Goslar and the Harzburg ; and his successor Henry IV. also spent much time in Saxony.