The Council of the Realm divides the inheritance after Katarina Jonsdatter
DN 1/932 · 6 February 1482 · Oslo
What the letter says
Bishop Hans of Bergen, several knights and the lawmen of Oslo and Tønsberg give judgement in Oslo Cathedral on 6 February 1482 in the inheritance case after Lady Katarina Jonsdatter. The parties are Alv Knutsson with his siblings on the one side and Otte Matsson and Nils Posse on the other. Alv first receives his tenth gift, and he may keep the whole of Manvik on condition that the others receive equally good land in exchange, as valued by six worthy men. Alv also keeps Bugården until he has recovered the 200 light guilders he paid to redeem it from Hartvig Krummedike, and Otte is to pay him 100 guilders.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
We, Hans, by the grace of God bishop of Bergen, Erik Bjørnsson, Gaute Kane, Svein Galle and Einar Fluge, knights, Jon Bjørnsson, squire, Erik Eriksson, lawman in Oslo, and Nils Olavsson, lawman in Tønsberg, send all who see or hear this letter God's greeting and ours, and make known the following. Before us and the whole Council of the Realm at the joint meeting in the cathedral in Oslo on St Dorothy's Day (6 February) in the year of our Lord 1482 came the well-born men Sir Alv Knutsson and all his siblings with him on the one side, and Otte Matsson and Nils Posse on the other side, concerning inherited property that was to be divided after Lady Karine [Katarina] Jonsdatter, that is, Manvik and the Manvik estate. Both parties' letters were laid before us in court, and both sides submitted to legal examination and judgement. After the letters had been read out and duly examined, we at once gave judgement as follows: Sir Alv shall first have his tenth gift [the tenth she had given him as a gift] of all the property the said Lady Katarina owned, before anything is divided. When the tenth gift has been separated out, all Lady Karine's property shall go to division among all those named, each to his rightful share. Nevertheless Sir Alv alone shall keep the whole farm of Manvik as his share, so that each of the others shall receive as much land, as large and as good, in return for Manvik, according to the judgement and valuation of six worthy men. Further, it was also part of our judgement that Sir Alv shall have Bogard [Bugården] and the Bogard estate until he has f
Original text (excerpt)
Wii Hans med gudz nade biscob i Bergen Erick Biørnsson Gauthe Kane Swen Galle Ener Flughæ riddere Jon Biørnsson aff vapen Erick Ericksson lagman i Oslo ock Niels Olefson lagman i Tønsberg sende alle allom mannom som thette breff sæe eller høre q. g. oc sina kwngørende at kam fore oss ock menig rigens radh pa commwnet at domkirckin i Oslo sancte Dorothee dagh anno domini mcdlxxxii welbørne men her Alff Knwtsson ock hans syskene alle med hanom en Otte Matzson ock Nielss Poose pa then andre sydhæ o
Background
Katarina Jonsdatter was the sister of the drottsete Sigurd Jonsson, who had won Giske in the inheritance dispute in the 15th century. Alv Knutsson of Tre Rosor was her grandson through his mother, and it was through her that he and his descendants gained a claim to the Giske estate after Sigurd's son Junker Hans died in 1466. A tenth gift (tiendegave) was a gift of up to a tenth of the inherited property that an owner could give away without the consent of the heirs, and the deed of gift from 1455 is also in the archive. Manvik was the farm in Vestfold that Katarina had received from her kinswoman Margareta Eilivsdatter in 1420. The case was decided at a joint meeting of the Council of the Realm, which shows how high the families involved stood. Otte Matsson of the Rømer family was probably the father of Lady Inger Ottesdatter of Austrått, who later laid claim to Giske, but that does not appear from the letter itself.
People: Alv Knutsson, Otte Matsson (Rømer), Katarina Jonsdatter