Archbishop Eskil takes Håkon Sigurdsson's estate in Senja in pledge
DN 1/603 · 23 August 1405 · Bergen
What the letter says
In Bergen on 23 August 1405 Archbishop Eskil of Nidaros sets out the terms of the agreement with Håkon Sigurdsson about the property Håkon has pledged to him and his church in Senja and in Tromsø parish for 14 lasts of stockfish. The archbishop has bound himself to pay the fish to Tideke Sæm or his heirs within three years on Håkon's behalf. When the archbishop and the church have recovered as many lasts of fish and their costs from the property, it shall return freely to Håkon or his heirs.
The letter in modern English
We Eskil, by God's grace Archbishop of Nidaros, make known to all men who see or hear this letter that it was a condition in the agreement between us and the well-born man Håkon Sigurdsson about the properties he has pledged to us and our church in Senja and in Tromsø parish for fourteen lasts of skrei [stockfish] in payment. That fish we have bound ourselves and our successors by our open letter to pay to Tideke Sæm or his heirs within three years from now, on Håkon Sigurdsson's behalf. When we and our church or our successors have fully recovered as many lasts of fish in payment, and our costs besides, from the said properties of Håkon, then all the same properties shall be quit and free of us and our church or our successors, and entirely without claim. For Håkon and his heirs they shall be free and warranted with full right of disposal, as his letter about the said agreement, which we hold, states. For greater certainty of this we set our secret [smaller seal] to this letter, which was made in Bergen on the eve of the day of St Bartholomew the Apostle in the year of our Lord 1405. [Endorsement on the back, in a later hand: «Letter about Senja in Nordland».]
Original text
Veer Eskill meder gudes naad erchibiskuper j Nidaros kungerom allom mannom þæim sem þetta bref sea eda høyra at þet var skilordh j kaupmaala vaarom ok velborens manz Hac[onar Sigurdz] sonar vm æighner þær sem han hefuer os ok vaare kirkiu pansæt j Sennione ok j Trumpsar kirkiu sokn [firir] fiortaan læster skræidar til gilldz huoriar ver hafuum os ok vaara epterkomanda vnderbundit meder vaaro opno brefue at luca Titeke sæmm eda hans erfuingiom.
Background
Håkon Sigurdsson (died 1407) was the son of Sigurd Havtoresson and Ingebjørg Erlingsdatter and heir to Giske, Sudreim and the northern Norwegian estate of the Bjarkøy family. The letter is the counterpart to Håkon's own pledge letter, which is dated the following day (DN 1/604). Here the archbishop confirms his side of the agreement: the church may take the land rent, the annual rent from the tenant farmers, until the debt and costs are covered, and then the land shall return to Håkon. Skrei is the spawning cod that comes in to the coast in winter, and here it means dried fish, stockfish, which was the great trading commodity in Bergen. A last was a large measure, originally a shipload, so 14 lasts was a considerable debt. Tideke Sæm had a German name and was probably a Hanseatic merchant in Bergen, but the letter does not say who he was. Håkon died two years later without children, and then the dispute over his inheritance began.
People: Håkon Sigurdsson