Three Saxons
This blogpost was originally going to be published over on All Over 2a, but it's so different from what I usually write that I never ended up publishing it. So instead it's here. If this was an important manuscript, there would likely be a longer introduction and occasional excerpts focusing on my thought process - but there won't be one.
Saxony is a state in Germany. So is Saxony-Anhalt, and so is Lower Saxony. Maybe unexpectedly, Lower Saxony is the northernmost of the three. This is because of some strange history. And no, I have never been to any of the Saxons myself. And yes, that is also where you get Anglo-Saxons from, but they had nothing to do with modern Saxony.
There used to be a tribe called the Saxons. They had a duchy, called the Duchy of Saxony, and in a time of a very disunited Germany (hundreds of years before Bismarck decided to merge all the small states), this was quite good. But then it collapsed, and from there confusion seeps in. It's even funnier, because this duchy never had any land that's in the current state of Saxony.
From that point on, there have been countless Saxons - united under dynasties before being broken up, forging allegiances with Poland through electorship, and even Napoleon got involved and made a Kingdom of Saxony. As we all know, Napoleon failed, but the kingdom remained nonetheless (albeit smaller) as part of the German Confederation. Unification happened, and the state persisted through an empire, Nazi rule, and two world wars. Sometimes there were multiple Saxons at ones, even in different places.
There's been a state called Saxony for a while now, its borders effectively unchanged since the end of World War 1. It's the easternmost Saxony, and apart from forty years under Communist rule, has always existed.
Saxony-Anhalt is much newer, however. Anhalt was a duchy until 1918, before becoming a state of its own before being merged with the Province of Saxony in 1945. This province is not to be confused with the state of Saxony, as the former was part of Prussia. As with Saxony, the state broke up into two smaller districts by 1952, later becoming one again by 1990.
Lower Saxony is the weird one. Unlike the previous two, it was fully in the capitalist West Germany. This state was a British creation, forming in 1946, and was never broken up. Some say it's called Lower Saxony because it's of a lower relief than Saxony and the surrounding areas - this part of Germany is flatter, partially because it's at the coast of the Baltic Sea. Not that Saxony isn't largely flat, though. And Lower Saxony has more hills the more south you go. So there must be another reason too - which could be linguistics.
Low Saxon is a dialect which was spoken by the Saxons back when they were around in former Saxony (so around modern Lower Saxony), and is still spoken by some in Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt to this day. It's part of Low German, not to be confused with High German which is spoken in southern Germany (which happens to be more mountainous, which is probably why that one is high). Whilst High German is still used regularly in administration, the same can't be said for Low German, which is sadly dwindling in popularity. There's more on it in this Britannica article.
And I think I'll leave it there, as the more I read about these differences, the more I get confused. I think I've covered everything necessary, though. It's also quite out of place on this blog, so don't expect more German history here. Then again, Thuringia...
Thanks to reading Forking Mad's blog, I can add comments to Bearblog. Please use them for any feedback or corrections - I'm no expert on Saxony!