The Annals of Augsburg (Annales Augustani) report (written in 1135) for the winter of the year 1068 of a curious excursion undertaken by Burchard II bishop of Halberstadt (MG SS III 1839, 1068 (p 128)).
“Burchard, bishop of Halberstadt, entered the lands of the Lutici, set them on fire, ravaged them, carried away that horse who in Rethra they celebrated as a God, and rode off on it returning to Saxony.”
Burchardus Halberstatensis episcopus, Liuticiorum provintiam ingressus, incendit, vastatit, avecto que equo, quem pro Deo in Rheda* colebant, super eum sedens in Saxoniam rediit.
* Rethra, the capital of the Redari
According to the historian James Westfall, Bishop Burchard was also very fond of children.
Horse theft was just one of the crimes that caught up with Burchard along with the Lutici posse
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