Details on the Saxon tribe Saxony,, —I. THE SAXON TRIBE.—There
arose in Germany during the third and fourth centuries after
Christ the great tribal confederations of the Alamanni;
Bavarians, Thuringians, Franks, Frisians, and Saxons, which took
the place of the numerous petty tribes with their popular tribal
form of government. With the exception of the Saxons all these
confederations were ruled by kings; the Saxons were divided into
a number of independent bodies under different chiefs, and in
time of war they elected a duke. The Saxons (Lat., Saxones) were
originally a small tribe living on the North Sea between the
Elbe and Eider Rivers in the present Holstein. Their name,
derived from their weapon called Sax, a stone knife, is first
mentioned by the Roman author Claudius Ptolemaus (about 130
A.D.). In the third and fourth centuries the Saxons fought their
way victoriously towards the west, and their name was given to
the great tribal confederation that stretched towards the west
exactly to the former boun