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2o6 General History of Europe into one great Christian empire. He turned his attention there- fore to the Saxons, who lay to the northeast of his realm and were a constant source of alarm. The Saxons were as yet pagans and lived under much the same institutions as Tacitus had described seven centuries earlier. They had no towns or roads and were consequently difficult to conquer, for they could easily retreat into the forests or swamps when they found them- selves in danger. Charlemagne never undertook during his long military career any other task half so serious as subjugating the Saxons, which occupied many years. He believed the Christian- izing of these people so important a part of his duty that heavy penalties were imposed on anyone who made vows in the pagan fashion at trees or springs, who partook of their religious feasts, or who failed to present infants for baptism before they were a year old. 328. Charlemagne's Foreign Conquests. In 773 Charlemagne invaded Lombardy to protect the Pope from his enemies, took Pavia, the capital, and had himself recognized as king of the Lombards. In extending his empire Charlemagne had other peoples to deal with besides the Germans, namely the Slavs on the east (who were one day to build up the kingdoms of Poland and Bohemia and the vast Russian Empire) and the Mohammedan Moors in Spain. A single campaign in 789 seems to have been sufficient to sub- due the Slavs and force the Bohemians to acknowledge the Frank- ish king and to pay tribute to him. At the request of an embassy from certain dissatisfied Mohammedans, Charlemagne entered Spain and, after some years, conquered the region north of the Ebro. In this way Charlemagne began that gradual expulsion of the Mohammedans from the peninsula which was carried on until 1492, when Granada, the last Mohammedan stronghold, fell ( 509). 329. Charlemagne crowned Emperor by the Pope. But the most famous of all the achievements of Charlemagne was his reestablishment of the Western Empire in the year 800. Charle- magne went to Rome in that year to settle a dispute between