De fratribus ordinis militum Cristi.
Founding of the Brothers of Dobrin
The duke, advised by the bishop of Prussia, establishes the Knights of Christ to defend his land, invests Bruno and fourteen others with the order's insignia, and builds them the castle of Dobrin with an allodial estate.
When, therefore, the aforementioned duke saw that his land was thus miserably failing and that he could not defend it in any way, on the advice of Brother Christian, bishop of Prussia, and of certain nobles, he established for the protection of his land the brothers called the Knights of Christ, who at that time were in the regions of Livonia and had powerfully subjugated many lands of unbelievers to the Christian faith; and the aforementioned bishop invested a certain prudent man, called Bruno, and fourteen others with him, into the said order, with a white cloak, a red sword, and a star. This having been done, the same duke built a castle for those brothers, called Dobrin, from which they themselves were afterwards called the Brothers of Dobrin, and he gave them an allodial estate in the land of Cuyavia, which was called Cedelicze.
Covenant and Rising Hostility
The duke and the brothers agree to divide conquered pagan lands equally, provoking the Prussians to escalate their attacks until the brothers are besieged and scarcely dare leave the castle.
The duke himself and the brothers came together under a twofold agreement: that they would divide equally between themselves the land of the unbelievers, which they might in the future subjugate for themselves with the Lord's cooperation. When the Prussians perceived this, they were provoked all the more, and with a great multitude of armed men they repeatedly attacked the said castle of Dobrin, and they were so hostile to those brothers that scarcely any of them dared to appear outside the castle walls. Indeed, at last things came to such a pass that five or four Prussians dared to carry out their acts of brigandage around that very castle.
Read the original Latin
Gum itaque predictus dux videret, terram suam sic miserabiliter deficere, nec eam posset aliqualiter defensare, de consilio fratris Cristiani episcopi Prussie et quorundam nobilium pro tuicione terre sue instituit fratres milites Cristi appellatos cum albo, pallio rubro gladio et stella, quib tune in partibus Lyvonie fuerant, et multas terras infidelium potenter subjugaverantc fidei Cristiane, et episcopus predictus quendam viruni discretum, Brunonem dictum, et cum eo quatuordecim alios ad dictum ordinem investivit. Hoc facto idem dux ipsis fra tribus edificavit castrum, dictum Dobrin, de quo ipsi postea fratres de Dobrin fuerant appellati, deditque ipsis allodium seu predium in terra Cuyawie, quod fuit Cedelicze nuncupatum. Convenerunt ipse dux et fratres sub bis pactis, quod ipsi equaliter dividerent inter se terram infidelium', quam possent sibi cooperante domino in posterum subjugare. Quod cum Prutheni percepissent, provocati amplius, cum copiosa multitudine armatorum dictum castrum Dobrin sepius impugnaverunt, tamque infesti fuerunt illis fratribus, quod vix aliquis ipsorum extra septa castri audebat comparere. Immo tandem ad hoc deventum fuit, quod quinque vel quatuor Prutheni ausi fuerunt circa ipsum castrum sua latrocinia exercere.
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