The Deeds of Wiprecht
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Parents
Wiprecht went apart from his other brothers to the region of the Balsami, which had come to him through paternal inheritance. Thereafter, he flourished in arms and in counsel. This eminent miles kept busy with many splendid deeds of war. Through his hard work he earned the familiarity of the elder lord Goswin, count of Leinungen. When he saw that Wiprecht’s eagerness of spirit corresponded to his nobility, this Goswin gave him his daughter, elegant in appearance, named Sigena. Goswin judged, as was truly the case, that Wiprecht would be an ornament and a monument to his lineage.
Thus was Wiprecht powerful by virtue of a fortunate marriage. From his wife he fathered a son, whom he endowed with both his name and his patrimony, and whom he left behind after his death as a child far more excellent in his father’s virtues
Then, Wiprecht the elder, who possessed the region of the Balsami (as we already said), remembered not only his father’s excellence but the injuries he suffered when he and his brothers were driven out. So he frequently harassed the province of the barbarians by military assault, especially the town called Pasewalk—that is, the 'city of Wolf' in the barbarian language. Repeatedly carrying off unbelievable plunder from there, he distributed it to everyone in his province. In this way, he won over to himself, with respect to the grace of loyalty, the favour of both the nobles and the commoners. Then, while still a young man flourishing in the enormity of both his strength and vigour, he came to the end of his life by a premature death, while his son Wiprecht was still a little boy.
—in exchange for the region of the Balsami—