Erling Vidkunsson witnesses the ætleiding of Jon
DN 1/253 · 11 Septbr. 1338 · Bergen
What the letter says
Erling Vidkunsson of Bjarkøy and four other prominent men in Bergen testify that on 11 September 1338, at the south door of St Nicholas Church in Bergen, Margrete Filippusdatter performed the ætleiding (legitimation into the family) of her son Jon, whom she had had with the priest Sira Haldor Jonsson. As a token of the ætleiding she gave him a silver cup and fourteen månedsmatsbol in the farm Teitsfjord in Ryfylke. Her father Filippus, who was her lawful heir, consented. Erling's wife Elin Toresdatter was also present.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
To all who see or hear this letter, Erling Vidkunsson of Bjarkøy, Guttorm Pålsson, provost of the Church of the Apostles and fehirde (the king's treasurer) in Bergen, Heinrek Einarsson, canon of the same Church of the Apostles, Ivar Andresson, lawman of the Gulating, and Torgeir på Stedje, councillor in Bergen, send God's greeting and their own. We announce that on the Friday before the autumn Feast of the Cross (14 September), while the morning masses were being sung in the town, in the twentieth year of the reign of our worthy lord Magnus, by God's grace King of Norway, Sweden and Götaland, that is, 11 September 1338, we all came together to St Nicholas Church in Bergen. There also came Margrete Filippusdatter, her father Filippus and her son Jon. All three stood together before the south door of St Nicholas Church and held together one book. Then Margrete performed the ætleiding of her son Jon (took him into the family as full heir) after the law book's provisions on ætleiding had been read aloud, with these words: «I, Margrete Filippusdatter, take this man, Jon, my son and the son of Sira Haldor Jonsson, into my family to all my inheritance and the property I give him, as inheritance and odal, as compensation and gift, to seat and place, and to all the right that the law book testifies that one so taken into the family shall have by law. As testimony of this ætleiding I give him an ungilded footed cup (cup on a foot), which is now in his hands and weighs one ertog and fourteen øre, and fourteen månedsmatsbol (land rent equal to one month's food) in the far
Original text (excerpt)
Ollum monnum þeim sem þetta bref sea eða hœyra senda Erlingr Vikunnar son i Biarkr ay Gudþormr Paals son profastr at Postola kirkiu, ok fehiurdir i Biorghwin Hæinrækr Einars son koorsbroðr aat aðrnefndre Postola kirkiu. Iuar Andres son Gulaþinghs loghmaðr Þorgæir a Stæðiu. radismaðr i Biorgvin q. guðs ok sina. Ver gærom yðr kunnight at a friadagen nesta firir krossmesso vm haustið mæðan sungu formessor i bœnom a tyttugta are rikis vars virdulæghs herra Magnus með guðs miskun Noreghs Syia ok Gota
Background
Ætleiding was an arrangement in Norwegian law by which a child born outside marriage was taken into the family with full rights of inheritance. It required that the nearest heir consented, that the words of the law were read aloud, and that it took place before witnesses, and therefore a letter was written. Priests were supposed to live in celibacy, so a priest's son had no right of inheritance without such an act. Erling Vidkunsson had been drottsete, that is, regent, until 1332 and was still one of the most powerful men in the country, so his seal gave the letter weight. The letter is not about Giske, and it was probably included because Erling and his wife are among the witnesses. A månedsmatsbol was a unit of land based on how much rent it yielded, and ertog and øre were units of weight for silver. The fehirde was the king's treasurer in Bergen, and the lawman of the Gulating was the highest judge in western Norway.
People: Erling Vidkunsson, Elin Toresdatter