thumb|The historic settlement areas in present-day Schleswig-Holstein The term "Holstein" derives from Old Saxon Holseta Land, (Holz means wood in modern Standardized German; holt is a now-archaic English word for woods.) Originally, the term referred to the central of the three Saxon tribes north of the River Elbe: Tedmarsgoi (Dithmarschen), Holstein and Sturmarii (Stormarn). The area inhabited by the tribe of the Holsts lay between the Stör River and Hamburg; after Christianization, their main church was in Schenefeld. Saxon Holstein became a part of the Holy Roman Empire after Charlemagne's Saxon campaigns in the late eighth century. Beginning in 811, the northern border of Holstein (and thus of the Empire) was the River Eider.
thumb|The historic settlement areas in present-day Schleswig-Holstein The term "Holstein" derives from Old Saxon Holseta Land, (Holz means wood in modern Standardized German; holt is a now-archaic English word for woods.) Originally the term referred to the central of the three Saxon tribes north of the River Elbe: Tedmarsgoi (Dithmarschen), Holstein and Sturmarii (Stormarn). The area inhabited by the tribe of the Holsts lay between the Stör River and Hamburg; after Christianization, their main church was in Schenefeld. Saxon Holstein became a part of the Holy Roman Empire after Charlemagne's Saxon campaigns in the late eighth century. Beginning in 811, the northern border of Holstein (and thus of the Empire) was the River Eider.