Still Christina tried to persuade her sons that this might be only
the retainers' violence, and induced Ebbo to write a letter,
complaining of the outrages, but not blaming the Count, only begging
that his followers might be better restrained. The letter was
conveyed by a lay brother--no other messenger being safe. Ebbo had
protested from the first that it would be of no use, but he waited
anxiously for the answer.
Thus it stood, when conveyed to him by a tenant of the Ruprecht
cloister
"Wot you, Eberhard, Freiherr von Adlerstein, that your house have
injured me by thought, word, and deed. Your great-grandfather
usurped my lands at the ford. Your grandfather stole my cattle and
burnt my mills. Then, in the war, he slew my brother Johann and
lamed for life my cousin Matthias. Your father slew eight of my
retainers and spoiled my crops. You yourself claim my land at the
ford, and secure the spoil which is justly mine. Therefore do I
declare war and feud against you. Therefore to you and all yours, to
your helpers and helpers' helpers, am I a foe.
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