Alv Knutsson passes judgement on the Hansa's houses on Stranden
DN 1/963 · 3 Oktbr. 1489 · Bergen
What the letter says
Archbishop Gaute, Bishop Hans of Bergen, Provost Christiern Pedersson and the knights Alv Knutsson and Otte Mattsson give judgement in Bergen on 3 October 1489. The councillors and common people of Bergen had complained that the German merchants unlawfully owned and built houses on Stranden. Within three years the merchants are to move the houses or sell them to people with a lawful right to own them. Otherwise the houses fall to the king and the Crown, and the same applies to new houses they build there.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
To all men who see or hear this letter, we, Gaute, by the grace of God archbishop of Nidaros and legate of the Apostolic See, Hans, by the same grace bishop of Bergen, Christiern Pedersson, provost of the Church of the Apostles in the same place, Alv Knutsson, knight, and Otte Mattsson, knight and commander of the royal residence in Bergen, send loving greetings with God and St Olaf the king. We make known with this our open letter that in the year of our Lord 1489, on the Saturday after Michaelmas (29 September), the councillors and the common people of Bergen, trustworthy men, came before us at the royal residence in Bergen. They complained of the merchants for the unlawful building they have on the strand with their houses, to the great harm of the burghers and inhabitants. The said councillors and common people then demanded that we should pronounce justice between them and the merchants. We then examined their complaint and the merchants' answer, and gave full judgement according to our gracious lord the king's letter and command on this matter: Within the next three years the merchants shall have moved the houses away or sold them to those who have a lawful right to buy them. Whoever has not sold or moved away his houses within those three years, his houses shall then fall to our gracious lord the king and the Crown. If any of the merchants builds on the strand hereafter, those houses shall at once fall to our gracious lord and the Crown, as has been said. In witness of this we had our secrets and seals hung on this letter, which was written in Bergen in the year and on the day as
Original text (excerpt)
Allom mannom them som thetta breff see edher høra helsa wij Gawto meth gwdz nadh erchibiscop i Nidros oc paweligs sætes legatus Hans meth sama nadh biscop i Berghen Cristiern Pædhersson profast ath Apostola kirkio ther samastadz Alff Knwtson riddare oc Otte Mattson riddare oc høwidsman ppa kwngsgardhen i Berghen kærligha meth gwdh oc sancte Olaff konungh. kunnictgørande meth thesso waro opno breffue at anno domini mcd octogesimo nono logherdaghen nest efther sancte Michiels dagh kome fore oss pp
Background
Alv Knutsson of Tre Rosor had received the Giske estate after Junker Hans Sigurdsson and sat on the Council of the Realm, and here he is one of the judges in one of the greatest disputes in Bergen. Stranden was the side of Vågen (the harbour) that lay opposite Bryggen, and the town's own burghers held that it should be theirs. From c. 1360 the Hanseatic merchants had their office (Kontor) at Bryggen and controlled much of the stockfish trade, and the burghers of Bergen often complained that the Germans were expanding. The letter is a judgement given at the king's command. It shows that an owner of Giske took part in governing the realm and in the struggle over trade in Bergen. Whether the judgement was carried out, the letter itself cannot tell.
People: Alv Knutsson, Otte Matsson (Rømer)