Hammaburg in Saxon Times

The tribal community of the Saxons arose in the 3rd or 4th century AD from the fusion of several Germanic tribes in the North German Plain. They were first mentioned in a speech of the later Roman Emperor Julian in the year 356. The tribal name may be derived from the typical single-edged sword, the seax. The Saxons mostly lived as farmers in small villages and isolated farms. Frankish sources mention a grouping in nobility, freemen, less free men and unfree people without rights. There were three large Saxon tribal areas south of the Elbe: Westphalia, Angria and Eastphalia. Nordalbingia Elbe was located north of the, divided in Dithmarschen, Holstein, and Stormarn, which also Hammaburg belonged to. Until the 9th century various linguistic landscapes were formed out of older Germanic languages in the eastern part of the Frankish Empire.