Ingerd Erlandsdatter complains about fru Inger to the archbishop
DN 10/514 · 10 May 1526 · Bergen
What the letter says
On 10 May 1526 the old fru Ingerd Erlandsdatter writes from Bergen to Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson. She mourns Otte Holgersson, whom she regarded as her son and heir, and now many people want to be her heirs. She asks the archbishop to protect her until the king comes to the country, above all against fru Ingerd Ottesdatter. Fru Inger has taken from her land that she held in pledge from Inger's father and brother, is breaking an agreement for 200 marks a year, has taken a fishing station (vær) called Veden which she inherited from her mother's mother's brother herr Sigurd Jonsson, and has taken her own plots by Bryggen in Bergen.
The letter in modern English
My humble, loving greeting first written with our Lord Jesus Christ. I thank your grace's dignity for all the honour and kindness your grace showed me when you were last here in Bergen. May the Almighty reward you for it, and I will gladly repay it according to my poor means. Dear lord, be pleased to know that it has come to my knowledge that my dear son Otte Holgersson, whom I held as dear as my own son, and who was my rightful heir before God, is dead, God have mercy on his soul, which I believe is well known to your grace. God help me, that I should live to see that sorrow and grief, but all must happen according to God's will. Now I am like a bird that has lost its way. I have no one to turn to who can give me good counsel or speak a word for me if I needed it. And I do not know for certain who is to be my rightful heir. I believe that Otte's children should be my heirs, but now there are so many who say they are my heirs and want to be my heirs. I have no protection except God in heaven and our dearest gracious lord and his grace's worthy council, and first and foremost your grace's dignity. I ask your dignity, for God's sake and for the sake of my poor prayer, to be my protection until our dearest gracious lord the king comes here to the country, so that no wrong is done to me.
Original text
Min ødmygeligh kiarligh helsse tiil forne skreffuet meth var herre Jesu Christo. Ttacker iegh ederss nadis verdughet for alth ere och dygdh som edherss nade bevisth megh sisthi i var her i Berren hwelket edher then alsommetugesth lønne och iegh gierne forskille viil effther myn fatigh formoffue, kere herre verdiss edher nade ath viide tiil megh er tiil viidhende voreth, ath myn kere søn Otthe Holgherssøn som iegh haffde saa ker som myn eghen søn och myn retthe arffuinghe var for gudh, ath han
Background
Ingerd Erlandsdatter was the widow of Arild Kane and a rich old woman in Bergen. A squire named Arald Kane was among the heirs in the division of junker Hans' estate in 1490, and he may be the same man. When she calls herr Sigurd Jonsson her mother's mother's brother, this is probably the drottsete Sigurd Jonsson (died 1453), and in that case she was herself related to the heirs of Giske. This fits with Vincens Lunge's calculation the year before that fru Inger, Karine Alvsdatter and Ture Jönsson were her nearest heirs (DN 8/538). A pledge meant that she had lent money in return for the right to use the land and take the land rent until the loan was repaid, and the pledge deed bore seals from Inger's father and brother. A vær was a fishing station, and according to the letter Veden lay in the diocese of Nidaros, but which station it was is uncertain. The letter shows fru Inger from the other side: she took control of land she believed belonged to her own family while the old woman was still alive.