Skule gives land at Sjetne and Flekstad for his anniversary mass
DN 1/8 · 29 Septbr. 1225 · [Nidaros.]
What the letter says
Skule the jarl, brother of King Inge, announces in Nidaros on 29 September 1225 that in the same autumn as King Håkon held his wedding with Skule's daughter Margrete, he gave the canons at St Olaf's church two markebol of land. These were eleven øresbol in the two farms he owned at Sjetne by Tiller, and five øresbol in Flekstad on Frosta. In return the canons are to pray for him while he lives, and after his death keep his anniversary with bell-ringing over the whole town, and wax and silver for the priests. Every St Andrew's Day while he lives, and later on the anniversary, the canons are to sit together and make merry in his memory.
The letter in modern English
S[kule] the jarl, brother of King I[nge], sends to clergy and laymen, all who are now and who come later, God's greeting and his own. We wish to make known to you that in the same autumn as King H[åkon] had held his wedding with the queen, Lady Margrete, our daughter, we made this arrangement between ourselves and the canons who then had charge of the church of the holy King O[laf]: we gave to the church two markebol of these properties, eleven øresbol from the two farms which we owned at Sjetne by Tiller, and five øresbol from Flekstad on Frosta. The church shall own these properties for ever as odal (inherited freehold), and all the canons shall take the land rent from them and put it into their common fund. In return they shall, as long as God wills that we live, keep us in their prayers and in their brotherhood. And when God wills that we be called away, and the same God will receive us into joy, they shall for ever, as long as this church stands, keep our anniversary, those of them who are then alive, with all full requiem masses, with wax and silver among all the churches in the town. The wax shall be no less than half a pound, and each priest shall have three pennies in silver by weight. Bells shall also be rung at the church and over the whole town at this anniversary, as at the others that are arranged in the same way.
Original text
S[kule] jarll broðer J[nga] konongs sænder lærðom & lendom allom verandom & viðr komandom Q. G. & sina. Wer vilium yðr kunnict gera. at þat sama haust æfter er. H[akon] konongr hafðe gort brullaup sitt til drotningarennar fru Margrettar dottor varrar. Þa gerðom ver þessa skipan meðal var & korsbrœðra þæirra sem þa hafðo forsio firir staðenom hins hælga O[lafs] konongs. at ver gavom til staðarens .ii. marka bol or þæssom æignom .xi. aura bol or þæim .ii.
Background
Skule Bårdsson (1189 to 1240) was the half-brother of King Inge Bårdsson, and both descended from the Giske family through their great-grandmother Tora Skoftesdatter, who had married into Rein in Trøndelag. His daughter Margrete Skulesdatter married King Håkon Håkonsson in Bergen in 1225, and the letter is dated by this wedding. The canons (korsbrødre) were the clergy of the cathedral in Nidaros, where Olaf the Holy lay. An anniversary (årtid) was a memorial mass on the day of death each year, and gifts of land to the Church for the sake of the soul were common among great men. A markebol was land paying an annual land rent of one mark, and an øresbol was an eighth of that, so 11 and 5 øresbol make two markebol in all. The farm of Sjetne lay by Tiller south of the town, and Flekstad on Frosta, both in the Trøndelag heartland where the Rein family had its land. According to DN the remains of Skule's seal hang from the letter, and it shows a lion without an axe.
People: Skule Bårdsson, Inge Bårdsson, Margrete Skulesdatter