Enno I was not particularly interested in succeeding his father as count, so his mother Theda stayed in power.

During his absence from the county, his sister Almut fell in love with the noble Engelmann von Horstell, drost of Friedeburg.

When Enno returned to East Frisia, he thought his sister had been kidnapped, and he pursued the drost to his castle.

As it was winter, the moat around the castle was frozen over and Enno believed he could cross it.

His mother Theda had a memorial shield made in his honor, which is still on display in the Great Church, today the Johannes-a-Lasco Library in Emden, on a wall close to the crypt of the Lords of East Frisia.