Alv Knutsson buys Akerøy in Agder
DN 1/878 · 25 April 1467 · Grefsheim
What the letter says
With his father's consent, Herleik Kolbjørnsson sells the farm Akerøy in Høyvåg parish in Sand ship district (skipreide) in Agder to Sir Alv Knutsson, with Sandøy, Kalvøy and everything else that belongs to it. The letter is written at Grefsheim on 25 April 1467. Herleik acknowledges that he has received full payment, and Sir Ravel Nilsson and his father Kolbjørn Herleiksson are among those who set their seals.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
I, Herleik Kolbjørnsson, acknowledge with this my open letter: With my father's counsel and consent I have sold to the well-born man Sir Alv Knutsson my land called Akerøy, which lies in Høyvåg parish in Sand ship district in Agder, with Sandøy, Kalvøy, Siælnæyde [uncertain reading] and all other rights that lie and of old and of new have lain with it, outside the fence and inside, without any exception. The land passes from me and my heirs over to the said Sir Alv Knutsson and his heirs to own for ever with full right of disposal. I acknowledge that I have received the first penny and the last and all in between, as was agreed at the purchase. In witness of this I ask the well-born man Sir Ravel Nilsson and my father Kolbjørn Herleiksson, Pål Ellingsson, Gudbrand Olsson, Saxe Vigleiksson and Pål Halsteinsson to hang their seals under this letter. The letter was written on the day of Mark the Evangelist (25 April) in the year 1467 after God's birth. Endorsement: On the back: Letter on Akerøy, which Sir Alv Knutsson bought.
Original text (excerpt)
Thet kiænnes jak Herlæk Kolbiørnsson med thesse mino opne breffue at ek hauer med mins faders rad ok samthykt sælth vælbornom manne her Alff Knutssyni iord mina som Akerøn hether ligghiændes j Høyuaghe sokn i Sandz skipræydhæ a Agdhom med Sanderøn Kalfføn Siælnæyde ok allom androm lunindom som thil ligger ok leghit hauer fra forne ok nyæ vthen gardz ok innen eyngho vndhen thakno fra mek ok minæ æruingghe ok vnder fornæmden her Alffh Knutsson ok hans æruingghe thil æuerdelighe æyghe ok als affræd
Background
Alv Knutsson of Tre Rosor had inherited the Giske estate the year before and was one of the largest landowners in Norway. The letter is a deed of purchase, a document showing that the right of ownership has been transferred and that payment has been made. It does not say what the price was. Akerøy with the islands around it lies in the skerries near present-day Lillesand, and the purchase shows that Alv gathered property far outside Sunnmøre. A skipreide was originally an area that had to provide a ship for the leidang, the king's naval defence, and later became a common division for tax and the thing. Grefsheim lies in Hedmarken, and this suggests that the seller lived there and that the land in Agder was inherited property. Nine years later Herleik confirmed his father's sale of the farm Drang to Alv.
People: Alv Knutsson