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Chock · 7 October 2009, 08:43 AM

As others have noted the signature has an abbreviation of Freiherr on it (which equates to Baron in ranks of the nobility, although in the grand scheme of toffs, it's actually a fairly low rank). The literal translation of Freiherr is of course 'free man', although the title Freiherr is perhaps more properly translated as 'Free Lord', since it was a title bestowed by the Holy Roman Empire upon members of the nobility and related to the lands that would be granted with such a title.

Historically, those kind of titles were usually handed out for service to the crown, for things such as going off on Crusades to the Holy Land to fight the Saracens and coming back with a bunch of loot for the Emperor, or fighting in battles to support the empire. So somewhere down the line, one of MVR's ancestors probably did something of that nature, although it could also have been granted for some kind of civil service too. But more often, such titles were granted literally 'on the battlefield' at the end of a day's fighting, usually to the soldier who had done the best service that day, and since the Richthofen's had a bit of a military tradition, it seems likely that is where MVR's title originally came from.

Traditionally, granting such titles would have been done in quite a cool way too, with the king or Emperor taking the soldier's pennant after a battle and hacking the tails off it with his sword, thus turning a pennant which had tails into a full blown banner (making it a regular flag without tails), those type of banners without tails being reserved for nobles. So the act of cutting off the tails, leaving a ragged edge would be a visible sign of such a title being bestowed. You can still see a ceremonial version of this kind of thing today, when a King of Queen grants a knighthood by touching the recipient's shoulders with a sword, which is a symbolic version of that battlefield ceremony.

The 'Free Lord' bit of the title Freiherr refers to the fact that the land which came with such a title would be granted without any constraints with regard to taxes upon it being collected for the crown, so as a Freiherr, you would literally be a Lord who was free to do with the land as you liked, although that would usually mean gathering rents from tenants living on the estates for your own income.

Al

7 October 2009, 08:43 AM	#5 (permalink)
Chock Scout Pilot Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The grim north of England Posts: 405	As others have noted the signature has an abbreviation of Freiherr on it (which equates to Baron in ranks of the nobility, although in the grand scheme of toffs, it's actually a fairly low rank). The literal translation of Freiherr is of course 'free man', although the title Freiherr is perhaps more properly translated as 'Free Lord', since it was a title bestowed by the Holy Roman Empire upon members of the nobility and related to the lands that would be granted with such a title. Historically, those kind of titles were usually handed out for service to the crown, for things such as going off on Crusades to the Holy Land to fight the Saracens and coming back with a bunch of loot for the Emperor, or fighting in battles to support the empire. So somewhere down the line, one of MVR's ancestors probably did something of that nature, although it could also have been granted for some kind of civil service too. But more often, such titles were granted literally 'on the battlefield' at the end of a day's fighting, usually to the soldier who had done the best service that day, and since the Richthofen's had a bit of a military tradition, it seems likely that is where MVR's title originally came from. Traditionally, granting such titles would have been done in quite a cool way too, with the king or Emperor taking the soldier's pennant after a battle and hacking the tails off it with his sword, thus turning a pennant which had tails into a full blown banner (making it a regular flag without tails), those type of banners without tails being reserved for nobles. So the act of cutting off the tails, leaving a ragged edge would be a visible sign of such a title being bestowed. You can still see a ceremonial version of this kind of thing today, when a King of Queen grants a knighthood by touching the recipient's shoulders with a sword, which is a symbolic version of that battlefield ceremony. The 'Free Lord' bit of the title Freiherr refers to the fact that the land which came with such a title would be granted without any constraints with regard to taxes upon it being collected for the crown, so as a Freiherr, you would literally be a Lord who was free to do with the land as you liked, although that would usually mean gathering rents from tenants living on the estates for your own income. Al __________________ Wiseman: When you removed the book from the cradle, did you speak the words? Ash: Yeah, basically. Wiseman: Did you speak the exact words? Ash: Look, maybe I didn't say every single little tiny syllable, no. But basically I said them, yeah.