Margareta Eilivsdatter gives Manvik to Katarina Jonsdatter
DN 1/671 · 9 Septbr. 1420 · Hisingby
What the letter says
In 1420 Margareta Eilivsdatter gives her kinswoman Lady Katarina Jonsdatter and her husband Jens Hjerne a quarter gift and a tithe gift (fjerdingsgave and tiendegave) of everything she owns, and in addition the farm Manvik and all her property in Vestfold. If they have children, the property is to become the children's inheritance, provided Sigurd Jonsson, Margareta's heir, consents. If they have no children, they are to keep Manvik for as long as they live, and afterwards the property is to return to Margareta's heirs.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
To all men who see or hear this letter, Margareta Eilivsdatter sends God's greeting and her own. I make known that for the sake of kinship and affinity I have given the well-born Jens Hjerne and his well-born wife, my kinswoman Lady Katarina Jonsdatter, quarter gift and tithe gift (the quarter and the tenth of one's possessions that the law allowed to be given away freely) in all that I own or shall come to own in land or movable goods, as the Christian law book shows. Further, I have granted and given the said Jens and Lady Katarina Manvik and all the property I own in Vestfold, with all parts and rights that belong to it and have belonged to it of old and of new, outside and inside the fence, from me and my heirs and over to the said Jens and Lady Katarina and their children to own for ever. Further: should it happen that they have children, then this property shall be their paternal and maternal inheritance, if Sigurd Jonsson, my heir, will consent to this gift of mine and confirm it. Should it happen, God forbid, that Jens and Lady Katarina have no children, then they shall have Manvik in their lifetime, the one after the other, and afterwards it shall fall back to my heirs. In witness of this I hang my seal on this letter, which was made in Hisingby in Odhensønne [uncertain reading] in the year 1420, the Monday before Holy Cross Day in the autumn (14 September).
Original text (excerpt)
Ollom monnom thæm sæm thetta bref see ædher høræ sænder Margareta Eilifsdotter q. g. ok sina kunnikt gerande ath fyri friendsæimiæ ok maghskap hafuer jak geuit velboren Jenes Hiærna ok hans velboren husstru minne frenko fru Chaterina Jons dotter fiordu(n)x gauo ok tiunda gauo j allo thet jak ægher ædher æighande vardher j lande ædher lausom øyre efter thy sæm the christen logbokene vatar. Item hafuer jak vnt ok geuit fyrnemdom Jens ok adrenemda fru Catherina Manuik ok swa myket goz sæm jak ægher
Background
Katarina Jonsdatter was the sister of Sigurd Jonsson, the son of Jon Marteinsson and Agnes Sigurdsdatter, and she later became the maternal grandmother of Alv Knutsson of Tre Rosor, who inherited Giske. Jens Hjerne was probably a Swedish nobleman. Under the law a person could give away a quarter of what they had acquired themselves and a tenth of inherited property without the heirs' consent, and this is called fjerdingsgave and tiendegave. The rest was to go to the lawful heirs, and that is why the deed of gift requires Sigurd Jonsson's consent for the part that goes beyond this. The letter is a deed of gift, and it shows how land was moved between branches of a family through gifts and conditions. It does not say how Margareta was related to Katarina and Sigurd.
People: Katarina Jonsdatter, Sigurd Jonsson