In the name of the great and unconquerable Wolves of the
North, Siegfried and Ragni, by favour of boreal mercy, august king and queen of
the Ealdormereans. Since human memory is short and does not suffice for a crowd
of things, the authority of those who preceded our age, the divine emperors and
kings, has decreed that those things were to be written down which the progress
of fleeting time generally removes from the knowledge of men.
A. Wherefore let the generality of the present as well as
the future subjects of our kingdom know, that Gottfried von Hengstberg, the
redoubtable polearms man from the Harrowgate Heath, for the reason that he
greatly impressed us with his joy and vigour on the field of battle, that he
also engages in the right and proper pursuit of the arts of the bow, and his
eagerness to assist in projects both great and small, and is in all ways a
benefit to us and our kingdom, has incurred our pleasure.
B. We, therefore, after deliberating with our councilors,
have agreed to elevate, raise and endow the aforesaid Gottfried, bestowing upon
him an Award of Arms, and making him a lord of our realm.
We do confirm, therefore, this lawful investiture of our
royal majesty onto Gottfried. And wishing this to remain valid for all posterity,
we forbid by a royal edict that any one, with rash daring, infringe it or in
any way attempt to violate it; and we validly corroborate this our decree by
the present privilege, signed by the seal of our Majesty, this twenty-first day
of June, in the forty-ninth year of the society, at the Summer Siege in our
Canton of Harrowgate Heath.
Wording by THLaird
Colyne Stewart, based on the Gelnhausen Charter; April 13, 1180 C.E.
