Famine and pestilence forced the surrender of the city. Desiderius was deposed and his throne declared forfeited, and he was sent first to Luttich and thence to the monastery of Corvey,[24] where he was compelled to spend his remaining days in the exercise of penance. His son, Adalgis, escaped a like fate by flight. After the surrender the Archbishop of Milan crowned Charlemagne with the Iron Crown, so called because a nail from the Cross, said to have been brought by the Empress Hélène from Jerusalem, was set among its jewels. Immediately after the coronation, Paulus Diaconus,[25] famous as a historian, tried to incite revolt. He was arrested, brought before the military court, and sentenced to a shameful death. Charlemagne, however, did not execute the penalty. He admired the man for his patriotism and gave him his freedom. He established a constitution and laws for the Lombards, and after settling the affairs of their kingdom, received news of the Saxon uprising. Chapter IV The First Eleven Years of the Saxon War We must now consider the longest and most desperate of Charlemagne’s wars—that waged against the Saxons, which began before his campaign against Desiderius and lasted not less than thirty-three years. A bitter race antagonism had long prevailed between the Franks and the Saxons. As already related, the latter had been subjugated by Charlemagne’s predecessors and forced to pay tribute. Saxony extended along both sides of the Weser, westerly to the vicinity of the lower Rhine, southwesterly to the Harz[26] and the Unstrut,[27] and northerly to the ocean, except the country occupied by the Frisians. Four races inhabited Saxony—the Westphalians, living between the Weser and the Issel; the Eastphalians, on the right bank of the Weser to the Elbe; the Eugen, between both these; and the Northmen, or Nordalbingi,[28] who lived on both sides of the Elbe. “Phalen” or “Falen” means a great plain, and one of these names (Westphalia) is in use to-day.