The council in Oslo keeps Gjørvel's Norwegian estate for Karine
DN 1/1079 · 16 March 1531 · Oslo
What the letter says
Bishop Hans Reff, chancellor Mattis Hvoruff, abbot Hans Andersen of Hovedøya, councillor of the realm Erik Eriksson and the lawman, mayor and council of Oslo announce in Oslo on 16 March 1531 what happened at the town hall. Per Svenske came with a passport from King Gustav of Sweden to ask after the estate of the maiden Gjørvel, and Jakob Brokkenhus said that he held the same estate on behalf of Ture Jönsson. Two councilmen spoke for the maiden Karine Alvsdatter and said that Gjørvel had already received her full inheritance in Sweden in return for the estate that fell in Norway. The council decided that neither of them should take charge of the estate until partition letters and other sealed letters showed how large it was and where it lay, and that Karine should keep it until then.
The letter in modern English
We Hans Reff, by the grace of God bishop in Oslo, Mattis Hvoruff, provost of the same place and chancellor of the realm of Norway, Hans Andersen, abbot of Hovedøya, Erik Eriksson, squire and councillor of the realm of Norway, Niels Knutsson, lawman of the same place, and the mayor and council present there, make known to all with this our open letter that on the third Sunday before mid-Lent in the year of our Lord 1531 the discreet young man Per Svenske came before us at the Oslo town hall. He presented a passport from the most mighty prince Gustav, King of Sweden, which said that he should travel into Norway and seek and ask after the estate and property of the honourable and well-born maiden, the maiden Gjørvel. To this the honourable and well-born squire Jakob Brokkenhus answered at once that he had orders from Ture Jönsson to hold the same estate that Per Svenske asked after, with the will and consent of the high-born prince King Frederik, our dearest and most gracious lord. At the same time two honest men of age, councilmen of the same place, Svend Knutsen and Per Fynbo, came before us. They announced to us the word and instruction of the honourable and well-born maiden, the maiden Karine Alvsdatter: that the maiden Gjørvel in Sweden had received her full share of inheritance and property in Sweden in return for the estate that fell in Norway.
Original text
Wij Hans Reff meth guds naade biscop i Osloo Mattis Hwøruff prowesth ther sammesthethz Norges riges canceller Hans Anderssenn abboth i Hoffwit øønn Erich Ericssenn aff vobenn Norges riges raadt Niels Knutssenn lagmand ther sammestedt borgemesther och radt ther offweruerendes giøre vittherligt for alle met thette vort obne breff att iij søgendaghe for midfasthe anno domini mdxxxj.
Background
Karine Alvsdatter was the daughter of Alv Knutsson and the sister of Knut Alvsson, and Gjørvel Fadersdatter was Knut's granddaughter through her mother Bodil Knutsdatter. The letter calls Karine the father's sister and Gjørvel the sister's daughter, which does not quite fit the kinship as it is known, so the words are probably used loosely. Ture Jönsson of Tre Rosor managed the estate for Gjørvel, who had grown up in Sweden, and that is why the messenger came with a passport from Gustav Vasa. The dispute concerned the Giske estate and the rest of Alv Knutsson's inheritance in Norway. The council refers to an earlier judgment, given when Duke Christian, later Christian III, was in Oslo with the Danish and Norwegian Councils of the Realm, probably in 1529, which gave Karine the estate under Norwegian inheritance law. The letter points ahead to the meeting at Bud in 1533, where the Council of the Realm awarded Giske to Karine.