Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/166

 1 30 Readings in European History inhabit the region between the Elbe and the Saale, had invaded the lands of the Thuringians and Saxons, their neighbors, on a plundering expedition and had sacked and burned several places. He immediately summoned his three ministers, Adalgis, his chamberlain ; Geilo, his constable ; and Woradus, the head of the palace, ordered that they should take with them East Franks and Saxons and chastise forthwith the audacity of the unruly Slavs. When the leaders of 'this force learned, upon entering the Saxon territory, that the Saxons, by Widukind's advice, were about to wage war on the Franks, they abandoned the cam- paign against the Slavs, and with the forces of the East Franks pushed forward to the place where they had heard the Saxons were massed. Count Theodoric, a kinsman of the king, hastened to join them in Saxony with all the forces he could collect hurriedly in Ripuaria after news reached him of the Saxon revolt. . . . Then they all pushed forward to a mountain [situated on the southern bank of the river Weser], called Suntal. The camp of the Saxons lay on the northern side of this moun- tain. In this place Theodoric pitched his camp, while the leaders of the East Franks crossed the Weser and encamped on the river bank, to the end that they might easily join the forces of Theodoric and so surround the mountain. Then did the leaders of the East Franks take counsel together: for they feared that the glory of victory might be given to Theodoric, if they had him with them in this battle. So they decided to attack the Saxons without him. They accordingly armed themselves, and each man rushed forward with his utmost speed, as fast as his horse could carry him, as if they were pursuing and plundering a fleeing foe rather than attacking an enemy drawn up in line of battle. But the Saxons stood before their camp ready to meet the onslaught ; and because the attack was ill planned it was ill fought. When they gave battle the Franks were sur- rounded by the Saxons and almost all of them were slain. Those who made good their escape fled for refuge, not to the camp whence they had gone forth, but to the camp of