106 



SAXIFRAGE SAXONY, KINGDOM OF. 



SAXIFRAGE. The species of saxifraga are 

 small herbaceous plants, with leaves entire or 

 divided, ordinarily crowded about the base of the 

 stem ; the small, delicate flowers are usually dis- 

 posed in a raceme or panicle. These plants are 

 chiefly confined to cold climates and mountainous 

 situations: many of them contribute largely to 

 ornament the cold and desolate regions near the 

 verge of perpetual snow, or within the arctic 

 circle. The name is supposed to be derived from 

 growing in the clefts of rocks. Many are of easy 

 cultivation, and have long been favourites in the 

 irirdens; but the majority are delicate, and are 

 liable to injury from mild and humid weather during 

 the winter months. 



SAXO GRAMMATICUS; a learned historian, 

 who flourished in the twelfth century. He is sup- 

 posed to have been a native of Denmark, of which 

 kingdom, and its dependencies, he compiled an 

 elaborate history, under the auspices of Absalom, 

 bishop of Roschild. This work, which is said to 

 have occupied him twenty years in its composition, 

 has gone through several editions, especially those 

 of Paris, 1514, Basle, 1534, and Sora in Denmark, 

 1644, folio; of these the latter is by far the most 

 perfect. Saxo was a priest in the cathedral of Ros- 

 child, and is said to have been deputed on a mission 

 to Paris, in 1161, for the purpose of inducing some 

 of the monks of that capital to visit his native 

 country, and assist in reforming the discipline of 

 the religious orders there. He died in 1208. 



SAXONS, LAND OF THE. See Transylvania. 



SAXONS, SAXONY. Although the Saxons 

 are first mentioned by Ptolemy, yet it cannot be 

 doubted that they belong to the great northern 

 German races, whose inroads into the Roman ter- 

 ritories rendered the name of Cimbrians and Teu- 

 tones so formidable. In the third century of the 

 Christian era, they were a numerous, warlike, and 

 piratical people, whose devastations on the British 

 and Belgian coasts gave rise to the appointment of 

 a particular officer (comes littoris Saxonici) to 

 defend these regions. In the middle of the fifth 

 century, two considerable hordes of Saxons, under 

 Hengistand Horsa, laid the foundations of the Saxon 

 kingdoms in Britain. (See Britain and Anglo- 

 Saxons.') Those who remained in Germany, the 

 Westphalians, Eastphalians, and Engrians, occupied 

 a great extent of country, of vague and varying 

 limits, which bore the general name of Saxony 

 (Sachseri). Charlemagne waged a thirty years' j 

 war against the Saxons; and Wittekind, their I 

 national hero, with many of his countrymen, sub- 

 mitted to his arms, and embraced Christianity. 

 (See Germany, History of.) In 845, mention is 

 made of a duke of Saxony ; and in the new king- 

 dom of Germany, the Saxons were the most power- 

 ful of the six German nations, viz. the Eastern 

 Franks, Saxons, Frisians, Thuringians, Suabians, 

 and Bavarians. In 919, Henry, duke of Saxony, 

 was elected German king (see Henry /.), and 

 transmitted this dignity to his son, grandson, and 

 great-grandson. (See Otho I. and Otho II.) The 

 duchy afterwards passed (1125) to the Bavarian 

 branch of the Guelf family, of which Henry the 

 Lion (q. v.), celebrated for his contest with the 

 emperor, was a member (1146 1195). After 

 several changes, which it is unnecessary to enume- 

 rate here, Frederic the Warrior, margrave of 

 Meissen and langrave of Thuringia, became ( 1424) 

 duke and elector of Saxony. (See Elector.') The 

 union of these three countries rendered the Saxon 



I elector one of the most powerful princes in Germany. 

 I After the death of Frederic the Good, son of Frederic 

 the Warrior, Ernest and Albert, sons of the former, 

 divided the family possessions between them (1485), 

 and founded the Ernestine and Albertine Saxon 

 lines, which still exist. The latter received Meis- 

 sen, or Misnia, and now constitutes the royal Saxon 

 house. (See Saxony, Kingdom of.) The former 

 retained the electoral dignity and Thuringia. Er- 

 nest was succeeded in the electorate by his sons 

 Frederic the Wise (14861525) and John (15-25 

 1532). The former is celebrated as the protec- 

 tor of Luther, the promoter of the reformation and 

 the founder of the university of Wittenberg. But 

 for his prudence, firmness, and personal influence 

 with Maximilian and Charles, Luther would pro- 

 bably have met the fate of Huss. (See Reforma- 

 tion.) By the Wittenburg capitulation (May 19, 

 1547), the electoral dignity was transferred to the 

 Albertine line, in the person of Maurice. (See the 

 following article, and Maurice.} The Ernestine 

 house is now divided into the two branches of 

 Weimar and Gotha, the latter of which consists of 

 the three lines of Meiningen, Altenberg and Co- 

 burg. (See the separate articles.) Towards the 

 close of the fifteenth century, Germany was divided 

 into circles ; and the large tract of country, known 

 vaguely by the name of Saxony, was formed into 

 the three circles of Upper Saxony, Lower Saxony 

 and Westphalia. Upper Saxony was bounded by 

 Poland, Silesia and Lusatia on the east, and by 

 Franconia and Bohemia on the south. It comprised 

 the electorates of Saxony and Brandenburg, the 

 duchy of Pomerania, and a number of small princi- 

 palities. Lower Saxony had Westphalia and the 

 Rhine to the west, and Sleswick with the Baltic to 

 the north, and comprised the electorate of Hanover, 

 the duchies of Mecklenburg, Brunswick and Hoi- 

 stein, the free cities of Hamburg, Bremen and Lii- 

 beck, with several smaller states. By the dissolu- 

 tion of the empire in 1806, the distinction of circles 

 was abolished. 



SAXONY, KINGDOM OF, lying in the north- 

 east part of Germany, is bounded on the south by 

 Bohemia, on the east and north by Prussia (the 

 duchy of Saxony), and on the west by the Saxon 

 principalities and Bavaria. It is divided into five 

 circles Meissen, Leipsic, Erzgebirge, Neustadt and 

 Upper Lusatia with a superficial extent of 5800 

 square miles, and a population (1828) of 1,414,528. 

 The capital, Dresden, has 56,000 inhabitants, Leip- 

 sic 40,700. Chemnitz (16,000), Freyberg (12,000) 

 and Bautzen (11,000) are the only other places 

 with a population exceeding 10,000 inhabitants. 

 The face of the country is, to a great degree, moun- 

 tainous. The Erzgebirge, which forms the bound- 

 ary between Saxony and Bohemia, is more abrupt 

 on the Bohemian than on the Saxon side (see 

 Erzgebirge'), and most of the hills are green even 

 to their summits. The climate is as mild as that 

 of any part of Europe in the same latitude. The 

 soil is of moderate fertility. The mountainous dis- 

 tricts in the south contain extensive forests, which 

 are kept up with care, as the chief supply of fuel 

 for the mines ; coal and turf being much used for 

 domestic fuel. In these districts, the valleys only 

 are well cultivated; but in the level districts of 

 the north, tillage is general. The products are 

 wheat, barley, oats, and other grain, some tobacco 

 and hops, and, in a few favourable situations, 

 grapes. The Elbe is the only navigable river. 

 The other rivers are the two Muldas, the two 



