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[[Saxons|Saxon]] "pirates" had been raiding the eastern seaboard of Britannia from here during the 3rd and 4th Centuries (prompting the construction of maritime defences in eastern [[Britannia]] called the [[Saxon Shore Forts|Saxon Shore]]) and it is thought that following the collapse of the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] defences at the [[Rhine]] in [[407]] pressure from population movements in the east forced the [[Saxons]] and their neighbouring tribes the [[Angles]] and the [[Jutes]] to migrate westwards by sea and invade the fertile lowland areas of [[Britannia]]. The traditional date for this invasion is [[449]] and is known as the [[History of Anglo-Saxon England|Adventus Saxonum]]. This began a vicious 400-year war of occupation and led to the creation of various [[Anglo-Saxons|Saxon]] kingdoms in [[Britannia]] including that of the [[South Saxons]] ([[Sussex]]), the West Saxons ([[Wessex]]) and the [[Kingdom of Essex|East Saxons]] ([[Essex]]) alongside others established by the [[Angles]] and the [[Jutes]] and are the foundations of the modern [[England|English]] nation.
After the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]] in the [[5th Century]] the Old Saxons who remained in ''Germania'' were loosely associated with the [[Merovingian]] Kingdom but practically remained independent and maintained their old pagan religion (for more on this see: [[Germanic paganism]]). Saxons as inhabitants of present-day [[Northern Germany]] are mentioned in [[555]], when [[Theudebald]], the Frankish king, died and the Saxons used this opportunity for an uprising. The uprising was suppressed by [[Chlothar I]], Theudebald's successor. Some of their Frankish successors fought against the Saxons, others were allied with them; [[Chlothar II]] won a decisive victory against Saxons.
In [[690]], two priests called [[Ewald (martyr)|Ewald the Black]] and [[Ewald (martyr)|Ewald the Fair]] set out from [[Northumbria]] to convert their distant kin in Old Saxony to [[Christianity]]. It is recorded that at this time Old Saxony was divided into the ancient dioceses of [[Münster]], [[Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück|Osnabrück]], and [[Paderborn]]. However, by [[695]] the pagan Saxons had become extremely hostile to the [[Christian]] priests and missionaries in their midst and began to suspect that their aim was to convert their over-lord and destroy their temples and religion, which was probably true. [[Ewald (martyr)|Ewald the Fair]] was quickly murdered, but [[Ewald (martyr)|Ewald the Black]] they subjected to torture and was torn limb from limb. After which the two bodies were cast into the Rhine. This is understood to have happened on 3 October [[695]] at a place called Aplerbeck, near [[Dortmund]], where a chapel still stands. The two Ewalds are now celebrated in [[Westphalia]] as saints.
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