The convent gives Alv Knutsson a receipt for fief revenues
DN 1/905 · 1 February 1474 · Hovedö
What the letter says
On 1 February 1474 Abbess Birgitta Ølreksdatter, the confessor general Ketil Bentsson and the sisters and brothers of the convent give Alv Knutsson a receipt. He has paid everything he owed the convent from the revenues of the king's fiefs of Andenes and Sunnfjord for the years he held the fiefs. The convent declares him free of all claims and thanks him for good payment.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
To all the worthy men who see or hear this open letter, Sister Birgitta Ølreksdatter, abbess, Brother Ketil Bentsson, confessor generalis (confessor general), and all the sisters and brothers in Hovedøy convent make known the following. We have received from the honourable and well-born man Sir Alv Knutsson, knight, all the money he owed us from our gracious lord the king's fiefs of Andenes and Sunnfjord, so that we are well satisfied. He has paid us honestly and fairly as a noble lord. Therefore we declare him quit and free and wholly without claim from us and our successors for all the years he has held the said fiefs in keeping on our behalf, and we thank him heartily for good payment. For further certainty and security we hang our seal on this letter, which was written on the eve of Candlemas (1 February) in the year 1474. Endorsement: On the back, contemporary, in another hand: Receipt from Hovedøy convent.
Original text (excerpt)
For alla the dandemæn som thetta næ(r)warendis opna breff see æller høra kungøra syster Birgitta Ølrekxdotter abbatissa brodher Kæ- til Beintzson confessor generalis ok alla syster ok brødher j Hofwdøy kloster ath wy hafwa vpboreth aff ærlighom wælbyrdughom man herra Alff Knwtzson riddare alla the peninga som han war oss skyldugher aff wor naadigha herra konungens lææn Andanæss ok Sundfiord, swa ath oss wæl ath nøgher. Ok æpter thy han hafwer oss ærligha ok kærligha bethaladh som een ædhle herra
Background
Alv Knutsson of Tre Rosor, who a few years later became sole owner of Giske, held Andenes and Sunnfjord as fiefs from the king. A fief (len) was an area where a magnate governed and collected taxes and dues, and here the king had evidently given the convent the right to part of the revenues. The letter is a receipt, made so that Alv and his heirs could not later be asked to pay the same money again. A double monastery with an abbess and a joint confessor for sisters and brothers is typical of the Bridgettine order, and the only Bridgettine house in Norway was Munkeliv in Bergen. The editor calls the convent Hovedøy, but Hovedøya in Oslo was a Cistercian monastery for monks, so the name may be a misreading. The letter does not say so directly.
People: Alv Knutsson