The Church's twentieth to go to Skule's crusade
DN 1/9 · 3 Novbr. 1226 · Lateran
What the letter says
Pope Honorius III writes at the Lateran on 3 November 1226 to Nikolas, archdeacon of Shetland. The Duke of Norway, Skule, is preparing a crusade to the Holy Land and will give free passage by ship to all who wish to follow him. Both he and Archbishop Peter of Nidaros with the bishops have written to the Pope about this. The Pope therefore grants Skule the twentieth of the Church's revenues in the archdiocese which by decision of the general council was to go to the Holy Land, and Nikolas is to collect it and hand it to Skule.
The letter in modern English
Bishop Honorius etc. to Nikolas, archdeacon of Shetland. Our beloved son, the noble man [Skule], Duke of Norway, being divinely inspired and ardently aspiring to aid the Holy Land, is magnificently preparing himself for it. He will give to all who wish to cross the sea with him passage by ship without freight charge, as both he himself and our venerable brothers Archbishop [Peter] of Nidaros and ... his suffragans have made known to us in their letters. Wishing to help him with fitting aid in so pious a purpose, we have thought it right to grant to the said duke the twentieth of the ecclesiastical revenues throughout the dioceses of the said archbishop and suffragans which, according to the statutes of the general council, is assigned to the aid of the Holy Land. We therefore command you to collect this twentieth diligently and faithfully assign it to the said nobleman. Those who oppose etc. Given at the Lateran three days before the nones of November [3 November] in the eleventh year [1226].
Original text
Honorius episcopus etc. Nicolao archidiacono Ihatlandensi. Cum dilectus filius nobilis vir [Skulo] dux Norwagie diuinitus inspiratus ardenter aspirans ad subsidium Terre sancte, ad id magnifice se accingat, daturus omnibus qui secum transfretare voluerint navigium sine naulo, sicut tam ipse quam venerabiles fratres nostri [Petrus] Nidrosiensis archiepiscopus et . . .
Background
Skule Bårdsson (1189 to 1240), of the Giske family through Tora Skoftesdatter, was jarl and ruled the kingdom together with King Håkon Håkonsson. The Lateran Council of 1215 had decided that churchmen should pay a twentieth of their income towards the crusades, and it is this tax that the Pope here grants to Skule. Shetland belonged to the Norwegian church province under the Archbishop of Nidaros, so the archdeacon there could be given the task. It was common for great men to vow a crusade and receive church revenues for it, without the journey always taking place. Skule never went to the Holy Land, and later letters show that he was still planning the journey in the 1230s. The offer of free passage to all who wished to come was a large promise, since ships, crews and food for so long a voyage cost a great deal.
People: Skule Bårdsson