The Battle of Ghent was a battle that was fought between the armies of Francia and the Westphalian Saxons in 768 AD near Ghent (in present-day Belgium) during the Saxon Wars. A Saxon army which had invaded the northern Frankish realm was destroyed by the Frankish Count of the Palace Anselm, halting the Saxons' invasion of northern Francia.
Background[]
At the start of King Charlemagne's reign in 768 AD, Francia was beset by invaders and rebels, from the usurping traitors of Aquitaine and Gascony to the southwest to the Angrian Saxons to the east in present-day southern Germany and the Westphalian Saxons to the northeast in present-day Lower Saxony and the Rhineland. While the Angrians repeatedly launched incursions into the unprotected Frankish realm of Austrasia, sacking Frankfurt three times in 768 AD, the Westphalians pressed west into Frisia, where their army sacked the city of Utrecht and empowered the Frisians to rebel and establish an independent duchy led by Duke Bivin. As the Westphalians advanced into northern Francia, Charlemagne ordered his Count of the Palace Anselm to raise a new army in Soissons and check the Westphalian advance. By the winter of 768 AD, Duke Bivin's Frisian army and Wulfstan's Saxon army were invading present-day Flanders, posing a major threat to the stability of northern Francia. Charlemagne responded to the Frisian threat diplomatically, making peace with the rebellious Bivin, and intending to crush his rebellion at a later point. Bivin withdrew his army into the present-day Netherlands, leaving Wulfstan's army isolated in its invasion of Flanders. Wulfstan and his army chose to starve out Pepin's small garrison, enabling Anselm to come to Ghent's relief. On a snowy battlefield, 1,102 Franks faced 1,123 Saxons in a battle for control of northern Francia.
Battle[]
Wulfstan again blundered by choosing to await a Frankish attack rather than crushing the Frankish forces separately. Anselm's main army marched into battle as Pepin's garrison approached the battlefield from the Saxon rear. When the two armies met in battle, the Franks were able to outflank and encircle the Saxon army. The Saxon army was slaughtered, with the Frankish cavalry pursuing the fleeing Saxons and butchering them. Wulfstan and his hearth guards put up a fierce last stand rather than rout, and the Franks suffered heavy losses while attempting to slay the enemy general. Ultimately, Wulfstan and all of his guards fell, and the Franks destroyed the Saxon army and saved northern Francia from the Saxon threat.
Aftermath[]
The Frankish victory at Ghent rescued northern Francia from Saxon invasion, but Francia's war-weariness led to a wave of unrest spreading across the kingdom. The people of Ghent, led by Coenred, would rebel against Charlemagne in 769 AD; this rebellion was quickly crushed by Anselm. However, continued Angrian raids on Austrasia led to the Austrasian nobleman Conrad rebelling and seizing control of Frankfurt, while the Angrians also seized Wurzburg in the winter of 769 AD, motivating Charlemagne to focus his armies on defeating the Saxons to the east now that the Westphalians had been temporarily dealt with.