Håkon Sigurdsson mortgages the Senja estate for stockfish
DN 1/604 · 24 August 1405 · Bergen
What the letter says
In Bergen on 24 August 1405 Håkon Sigurdsson acknowledges that he owes Archbishop Eskil in Nidaros 14 lester of stockfish of good Hålogaland fish. The archbishop has promised to pay the fish to Tideke Sæm on Håkon's behalf. As security Håkon mortgages all his property in Senja and Tromsø parish, and the archbishop shall take the revenues until the debt and costs are covered. Erlend Filippusson and lawman Einar Eindridesson set their seals together with Håkon.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
To all men who see or hear this letter, Håkon Sigurdsson sends God's greeting and his own and makes known: I owe my spiritual father and worthy lord, Sir Eskil, by God's mercy archbishop in Nidaros, and his church fourteen lester of stockfish (lest: a large measure, originally a shipload) in good and sound Hålogaland fish. For this, after careful thought and with the advice and encouragement of my friends, I have mortgaged to him and his church everything I own freely in my own share in Senja and in Tromsø church parish, in greater and smaller shares. The mortgage applies until the day the debt is paid in full, freely and securely against anyone. The lord archbishop and his successors shall freely dispose of these properties of mine as owners, with all rights, and freely collect for me and my heirs what may fall from them each year, against a proper account. So it shall be until the day he has had his debt well repaid without objection, for the fourteen lester of fish which the lord archbishop has bound himself and his successors to pay Tideke Sæm or his heirs on behalf of me and my heirs. The cost of the men who collect these revenues each year, while this agreement stands, shall be reckoned in a reasonable way. When the fourteen lester of stockfish with costs have been fully paid back to the lord archbishop and his church, I or my heirs shall get back all the mortgaged prop
Original text (excerpt)
Allum mannum þæim sæm þetta bref sea eder heyra. sender Hacon Sigurdarson quediu gudes oc sina kunnikt gerande. at ek ær giældhskyldugher andalighom fæder oc vyrduligom herra. herra Eskille meder guds miskun erchibiscupi j Nidarose ok hans kirkiu fiortaan læster skræidar. j godom oc gildom haløyskom fisk, ok hær firir hefuer ek medh godhre forhuxsan oc medh minna vina raade oc tillæidhingh pansæt hanom oc hans kirkiu. alt þet ær ek æigher frealsligha a minna væghna j Senione ok j Trumpsar kirkiu
Background
Håkon Sigurdsson was the son of Sigurd Havtoresson of Sudreim and Ingeborg Erlingsdatter, and thus inherited both Giske and the large northern Norwegian estate of the Bjarkøy family. The letter is a mortgage deed: the creditor may use the land and take the land rent, the annual rent from the tenant farmers, until the debt is paid off. That the debt is reckoned in stockfish shows how the fish from Hålogaland worked as money in Bergen, where the Hanseatic merchants bought it for export to Europe. Tideke Sæm had a German name and was probably a merchant in Bergen, but the letter does not say so. Erlend Filippusson was probably the father of Sigrid Erlendsdatter, Håkon's wife, who later became a party in the inheritance dispute over Giske. A lest was a large measure, originally a shipload, so 14 lester was a considerable debt.
People: Håkon Sigurdsson