HOW TO NARRATE THE DEFEAT OF YOUR PEOPLE: CHARLEMAGNE'S CONQUEST OF THE SAXONS IN HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS FROM THE TERRITORY OF SAXONY: MID 9^TH CENTURY - EARLY 11^TH CENTURY.

The decades-long wars of the Frankish king and the emperor Charlemagne with the Saxons ended with the conquest of these people and led to their forced Christianization. The Saxon elite largely adapted to the new conditions. The Saxon noble families strengthened their position and began to play an increasingly important role in the kingdom called the kingdom of the East Franks. They also cultivated a supra-local identity that was reflected in the hagiographic and historiographical texts. One of the important and potentially sensitive themes discussed in these works became the wars of Charlemagne with the Saxons. Writing with the awareness of Charlemagne's complete victory, the authors did not question the rightness and sense of his actions. At the same time, they tried to relate the defeat of the Saxons and its consequences in the least painful way for Saxon pride. In the relatively long period covered by the analysis in this article (mid-ninth century - early eleventh century), two phases can be distinguished. In the first, the dominant medium were hagiographic works belonging to the genre of Translatio (reports of translations of relics belonging to saints: Alexander, Vitus, Pusinna, and others) or Vita (of Liutbirg, Liudger). A poem about Charlemagne was also written in that period in Saxon circles. The authors, referring to the past of the Saxons, used defensive strategies. They still tried to refute the accusations of treachery and pagan hardness formulated from the Frankish side against the Saxons during the wars. The second phase refers to texts written after one of the Saxon noble families - the Liudolfings - took power in the East Frankish kingdom. Historians and hagiographers attached to the Ottonian court demonstrated their Saxon pride in its entirety. The most representative example is that of Widukind of Corvey. As they described the events of Charles' time, they minimized the drastic details of these wars. They also turned Charles's struggle with the Saxons into wars of equal opponents. This was achieved by creating as a main character on Saxon side dux Widukind. It is present, for example, in the lives of Queen Matilda, who was considered to be descendant of dux. Increasingly distant events were also interpreted through the prism of the later success of the Saxons. For the authors of this period, the Saxons became as a people, co-rulers, together with the Franks, of a kingdom, and then a renewed empire. They also became fullfledged participants in a kind of civilizational mission, which was associated with the conquest and Christianization of subsequent peoples, this time Slavic. These ideas found expression in the works of Bruno of Querfurt, a Saxon author for whom Charlemagne was a model ruler because of his commitment to evangelization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]