He soon perceived the greatness of the struggle to which he was destined, and he did not flinch from the contest which has given him immortality.  He comprehended the difficulties which surrounded him and the dangers which menaced him.

The great perils which threatened Europe were from unsubdued barbarians, who sought to replunge it into the miseries which the great irruptions had inflicted three hundred years before.  He therefore bent all the energies of his mind and all the resources of his kingdom to arrest these fresh waves of inundation.  And so long was his contest with Saxons, Avares, Lombards, and other tribes and races that he is chiefly to be contemplated as a man who struggled against barbarism.  And he fought them, not for excitement, not for the love of fighting, not for useless conquests, not for military fame, not for aggrandizement, but because a stern necessity was laid upon him to protect his own territories and the institutions he wished to conserve.

Of these barbarians there was one nation peculiarly warlike and ferocious, and which cherished an inextinguishable hatred not merely of the Franks, but of civilization itself.  They were obstinately attached to their old superstitions, and had a great repugnance to Christianity.  They were barbarians, like the old North American Indians, because they determined to be so; because they loved their forests and the chase, indulged in amusements which were uncertain and dangerous, and sought for nothing beyond their immediate inclinations.  They had no territorial divisions, and abhorred cities as prisons of despotism.  But, like all the Germanic barbarians, they had interesting traits.  They respected women; they were brave and daring; they had a dogged perseverance, and a noble passion for personal independence.  But they were nevertheless the enemies of civilization, of a regular and industrious life, and sought plunder and revenge.  The Franks and Goths were once like them, before the time of Clovis; but they had made settlements, they tilled the land, and built villages and cities:  they were partially civilized, and were converted to Christianity.  But these new barbarians could not be won by arts or the ministers of religion.  These people were the Saxons, and inhabited those parts of Germany which were bounded by the Rhine, the Oder, the North Sea, and the Thuringian forests.  They were fond of the sea, and of daring expeditions for plunder.  They were a kindred race to those Saxons who had conquered England, and had the same elements of character.  They were poor, and sought to live by piracy and robbery.  They were very dangerous enemies, but if brought under subjection to law, and converted to Christianity, might be turned into useful allies, for they had the materials of a noble race.