Sigurd Jonsson lays claim to Giske
DN 1/700 · 3 Novbr. 1424 · Nidaros
What the letter says
Lawman Olav Nikolasson and the town councillors Odd Jonsson and Jute Knutsson in Trondheim make known that on 3 November 1424 they were in the archbishop's residence in Nidaros. There Sigurd Jonsson laid lawful claim to Giske and the whole Giske estate and forbade Magnus Magnusson to use it or take land rent from it before the case was decided. Magnus said that he would not concern himself with Sigurd's maternal inheritance, which was a third of the whole Giske estate.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
To all men who see or hear this letter, Olav Nikolasson, lawman in Trondheim, Odd Jonsson and Jute Knutsson, town councillors in the same place, send God's greeting and their own, and make known the following. On the Friday after All Saints' Day (1 November) in the year of our Lord 1424 we were in the archbishop's residence in Nidaros. There we saw and heard that the well-born man Sigurd Jonsson lovfestet (laid lawful claim to) Giske and the Giske estate, movable and fixed. He forbade and denied Magnus Magnusson to use it or take land rent from it before the case between them had been decided according to law and right. Magnus also said that he would not concern himself with Sigurd's maternal inheritance, which is a third of the whole Giske estate, and which his father and mother held in hand while they lived [uncertain reading: probably Sigurd's parents]. This was done before the lord archbishop and his chapter, the Council of the Realm and the town councillors and several other good men who were present. In witness of this we set our seals on this letter, which was made at the place, day and year said before. Endorsement: On the back in a contemporary hand: «that Sigurd laid claim to Giske etc. before the archbishop, and that Magnus said that he would not concern himself with Sigurd's maternal inheritance in Giske etc.»
Original text (excerpt)
Ollom monnom þæim sæm þetta breff sea ædher hœyra sænda Olafuer Niclisson loghman j Þrondeime Odder Jonsson och Jute Knutzson raadhmen þær samastadz quediu gudz ok sina kunnikt gerande at a fredaghen nest eftir allæ helgona messo dagh anno domini m cd xxiiii warom meer j erkebiskupsgardenom j Nidharos saghom och høyrdom a at wælboren man Siugurder Jonsson loghfeste Gitzska och Gitzska goodz laust och fast och forbœdh och aflauadhe Magnuse Magnussyni sigh ath nytta ædher landzskylder thær vp aff
Background
The letter belongs to the inheritance dispute over Giske after Håkon Sigurdsson's death. The widow Sigrid Erlendsdatter and her second husband Magnus Magnusson claimed that Håkon had bequeathed Giske to her, while Sigurd Jonsson, Håkon's sister's son, believed the estate was his. On the same day Archbishop Eskil heard the witnesses in the case and summoned the parties to the lawthing in Bergen. To lovfeste was to make a formal, public claim to a property, and land rent was the annual rent from the tenant farmers. The maternal inheritance was probably the part of Giske that Sigurd's mother Agnes inherited from her parents; under the national law a daughter received half a share against a son's, and with one son and one daughter that gives exactly a third. The letter shows that Magnus too accepted that this third belonged to Sigurd.
People: Sigurd Jonsson, Magnus Magnusson