De morte fratris Friderici Holle et xxx virorum.
The Fall of Brother Frederick and the Sword That Left No Wound
Brother Frederick Holle is slain with thirty men after a raid into Sudowia, yet a miraculous blow he struck in battle—leaving no wound—is later confessed publicly by the very man he struck and by converted Sudovians who witnessed it.
In the same year Brother Frederick, called Holle, the blood brother of Brother Marquard of Revelingec, advanced against Sudowia with a hundred men, knights from the castle of Brandenburg, and while he was returning through the territory of Kirsuovie, having taken great spoil, the enemy followed and killed him along with thirty men. Nor do I think this should be passed over in silence: that the same Brother Frederick, before he was killed, gave such a great blow with his sword to the shoulder of a certain valiant man in arms who met him in battle, and struck him so severely that the man, having no strength to withstand it, fell with his horse to the ground — and yet from such a blow he had no wound in his body, nor did any trace of a wound appear. This was publicly confessed both by the same man, thus wounded, and by other Sudovians who had been present at this battle and saw it, after they had been converted to the faith of Christ.1
Read the original Latin
Eodem anno frater Fridericus, dictus Holle, germanus fratris Marquardi de Revelingec, cum c viris equitibus de Castro Brandenburgk processit contra Su dowiam, et dum accepto magno spolio in territorio Kirsuovie'1 rediret, hostes sequentes, ipsum cum xxx viris interfecerunt. Nec tarnen hoc tacendum estimo, quod idem frater Fridericus, antequam occideretur, cuidam viro strenuo in armis, qui occurrit ei in bello, tantam plagam cum gladio ad scapulam dedit, et tarn dure verberavit, quod ipse non habens virtutem subsistendi, cum equo decidit ad terram, licet tarnen ex tali plaga nullum vulnus haberet in corpore, nec eciam® vestigium vulneris appareret, sicut idem sic plagatus et alii Sudowite, qui huic bello interfuerunt, et viderunt, postquam ad fidem Cristi conversi fuerant, publice sunt confessi.
Notes
- 1 ↩The miraculous detail — a severe blow leaving no wound — is reported as public testimony by converted Sudovians; the chronicle presents it as a sign, not merely a combat anecdote.
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