Witness statements on the land rent of Hjelpesten in Toten
DN 1/912 · 6 June 1475 · Hjælpesten
The witness statements were taken at the request of Alv Knutsson of Tre Rosor. They show that Sir Bent Hartviksson and Lady Magnhild had earlier received the land rent from Hjelpesten, and Lady Magnhild is probably Alv's wife Magnhild Oddsdatter, but that is an inference.
What the letter says
Sigurd Guttormsson, local officer (lensmann) in Toten, takes witness statements about the farm at Hjelpesten on 6 June 1475 at the request of Sir Alv Knutsson. Gudrid Nilsdatter swears that the housewife Bothild leased the farm to her and her husband for six years because it had lain deserted for twelve years, and that they afterwards paid three spann of butter a year to Bothild, Sir Bent Hartviksson and Lady Magnhild, and one øre's worth each to the priest and the church at Hoff. Two other witnesses swear that Haldor Sigurdsson and his wife also paid three spann of butter a year to Sir Bent and Lady Magnhild and built two new houses. The rest of the letter is mostly illegible.
The letter in modern English
All men who see or hear this letter, I, Sigurd Guttormsson, local officer in Toten, make known that I was at Hjelpesten with several honest men, lawfully summoned by the well-born man Sir Alv Knutsson, to take proof and testimony about Hjelpesten on the Tuesday after St Boniface's day (6 June) in the year of our Lord 1475. Then I took as a witness a woman called Gudrid Nilsdatter, and she swore on the book with a full oath that when her lawful husband Olav Klemetsson and she lived at Hjelpesten, the housewife Bothild leased Hjelpesten to them for six years, because it had lain deserted for twelve years. And after it came to full rent, we gave from it to her and Sir Bent Hartviksson and Lady Magnhild three spann of butter [a measure of butter] each year, to Sir Harald at Hoff one øresgilde [the value of one øre] and to Hoff church one øresgilde. Further I took two testimonies, from persons called Inge Gunnarsdatter and Torberg Haldorsson, and they swore on the book with a full oath that when her husband Haldor Sigurdsson and she lived at Hjelpesten, they gave Sir Bent Hartviksson and Lady Magnhild three spann of butter each year and built two new houses. To the church they gave one øresgilde, and to the priest at Hoff they gave one hide for what he owned in Hjelpesten, and for [illegible] that the priest owned in southern Fylke [uncertain interpretation] ...
Original text
Alle men som thetta bref see heller høre g[ør iek viter]lict Siwrdh Guttormsson leensman a Totne at iek war a Hielpestene med flere dande men laglige til krabder a velbaren man her Alf Knutsson take proff ok vitnes bwrd vm Hielpestene tist daghen nest epter Bonefacii anno domini mcdlxxv tok iek tha j vitnesbwrd som saa eiter Gurid Nils dotter ok a book swor med fullum eidzstauf tha hennis loggipte bonde Olaf Clemitsson ok hoon sate a Hielpestein tha le[ide] hustru Botildh them Hielpe stein j
Background
The letter is the taking of evidence to which Alv Knutsson summoned the priest of Hoff (DN 1/911). The witnesses were to show who had received the land rent from Hjelpesten in the past, and the answer was Sir Bent Hartviksson and Lady Magnhild. Lady Magnhild is probably Magnhild Oddsdatter, Alv's wife, and this suggests that she had earlier been married to Bent Hartviksson and had owned the share in Hjelpesten with him, but that is an inference. The farm had lain deserted for twelve years, so the first tenant farmer probably had it cheaply for the first years, a common way of bringing deserted farms back into use after the Black Death. Spann was a measure of butter, and an øresgilde was something worth one øre. The letter is badly worn, and several lines cannot be read.
People: Alv Knutsson, Magnhild Oddsdatter