524. Charlemagne: Pagan Killer (Part 2)

2214.967 - 2237.331 Dominic Sandbrook

So in 776, Charlemagne imposes a treaty on the Saxons that obliges them to accept baptism. They don't have any choice. And there's this kind of mass baptism in the River Lippe, kind of thousands and thousands are baptized. But then, of course, the moment he's gone, they all revert. And this then seems apostasy and Charlemagne is made even more furious. And so it becomes a kind of hideous cycle.