Nils Lykke demands Rein Abbey's letters and treasures back
DN 10/630 · 8 April 1531 · Österaat
What the letter says
Nils Lykke writes from Austrått on Easter Eve 1531 to Archbishop Olav on behalf of his mother-in-law fru Ingerd Ottesdatter. The nuns of Rein Abbey have chosen fru Ingerd as their warden (forstanderske), and the archbishop has had the abbey's land deeds removed, together with a gold chalice given by a former queen, a gilded silver crown, a cup and the abbey's seal. The abbess and the convent say this happened entirely against their will. Lykke, who holds the fief in which the abbey lies, demands on the king's behalf that the archbishop return everything, and reminds him of his promise to support fru Ingerd and her children.
The letter in modern English
Most reverend father in God. My humble greeting to Your Grace's Worthiness lovingly beforehand with our Lord. Dear lord and especially good friend. Your Grace must know that the honourable, well-born woman fru Ingerd Ottesdatter, my dear wife's mother, has informed me how she learnt that Your Grace had sent men to Rein Abbey, for which she has been chosen to be warden etc., and had them take out from there their land deeds, a gold chalice that a former queen here in Norway once gave, a crown of gilded silver and a cup that Sir Nils Henriksson, my dear wife's father, and she had given in there on behalf of her sister, and the abbey's seal, and whatever else is best known to those there in the abbey who received it. To learn the truth of this she went to the abbey herself and found it so. She then asked the lady abbess and the whole convent there whether this had happened with their counsel, consent or will, and they answered no and said it had happened most strongly against all their will.
Original text
Ærwerdugiste fader med gwd mynn ydmyge helssenn eder naadis werdughett kerligen forscreffuit med wor herre, Kære hærre oc beszynderligen gode wenn maa eder naade wiide att erlig welbyrdug quinne frw Jngerd Ottis dotter mynn kære husfrv moder haffuer giiffuit mig till kenne hworledis hwnn forffor att eder naade haffde schyckit till Reens closter som hwnn er wdkorenn till farstanderske fore att were etc.
Background
Rein Abbey was a nunnery at Rissa on Fosen, not far from Austrått. According to tradition it was founded by Duke Skule Bårdsson around 1230, and Skule belonged to the Rein family, which through Tora Skoftesdatter descended from the Giske family. Fru Inger held that her forefathers had taken part in founding the abbey, and she and her husband Nils Henriksson had given the crown and the cup to it on behalf of her sister. As warden she was to manage the abbey's estates and finances, and Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson saw the election as an encroachment on the rights of the Church. The dispute came only a year after the settlement of 1530, and Lykke writes that the archbishop's conduct goes against it. At the Reformation in 1536 to 1537 the monastic estates in Norway were placed under the crown.
People: Ingerd Ottesdatter (fru Inger)