Vincens Lunge refuses Nils Lykke and Lucie
DN 11/603 · 28 Oktbr. 1534 · Lungegaard
What the letter says
On 28 October 1534 Vincens Lunge has his servants Jørgen Pedersen and Trond Iversen deliver a message to Nils Lykke at Lungegården, before prelates, lords and good men. Nils has three times asked for consent to marry his late wife's sister, the maiden Lucie, and each time Vincens has said no. Fru Ingerd has also, through Eske Bille, the lawman and some councilmen of Bergen, declared that she will never consent. Vincens, whom his father-in-law Nils Henriksson set in the father's place, asks Nils to give up the plan and threatens to punish it with all his power if it happens.
The letter in modern English
These are the words and the errand which I, Vincens Lunge, have commanded my faithful servants Jørgen Pedersen and Trond Iversen to say on my behalf to the honourable, well-born man and stern knight Sir Nils Lykke, in the presence of good lords and good men: Dear Sir Nils Lykke, my lord and my lady both bid you good night and have commanded the good man Trond Iversen and me, in the presence of these honourable prelates, lords and good men, to make known to you some of their serious reasons and opinions. First: God so ordained it that both you and he, two of the nobles of the realm of Denmark, had in this lawful kingdom taken as wedded wives two daughters of the honourable, well-born man and stern knight Sir Nils Henriksson, formerly steward of Norway, and of the honourable and well-born woman fru Ingerd Ottesdatter. He has therefore always been inclined to show you, steadfastly and faithfully, goodwill, kinship, brotherhood and all love and good, and fully hopes that during your dear wife's lifetime, and in the year of mourning that followed, you have in truth found nothing else. This he will also gladly show you henceforth just as steadfastly and faithfully in all honourable, Christian, lawful, defensible and proper ways that are not to God's dishonour, wrath and offence and to men's mockery, displeasure, deceit, scandal and heresy.
Original text
Thette er the ordt oc werff szom ieg Vincencius Lunge befallit haffuer myne thro thienere Jorghenn Person och Trond Iffwerson vdi gode herrers dannemendz neruerelsze att sygie erlig welbiirdig mand och streng ridder her Niels Liicke paa myne wegne,Kere her Niels Lucke mind herre och myn frue baade sye ether godenatt och haffue beffallett thend gode mand Trond Jffuerson oc meg vdj thesse erlige prelaters herrers och dannemendz offueruerelsze noger synd alworlige grvnd och meyning at giffue
Background
Nils Lykke had been married to Eline, daughter of fru Inger and Nils Henriksson, and after her death in 1532 he wished to marry her sister Lucie. Under church law marriage with a deceased wife's sister was forbidden, and Vincens calls it heresy. Vincens Lunge was married to a third sister, Margrete, and held that Nils Henriksson on his deathbed had made him guardian of the widow and children. The message was read out before witnesses, which made it a formal warning. The letter shows how harshly the family reacted, and the affair ended with Nils Lykke being imprisoned and dying in captivity at Stenviksholm in 1535. Ibsen used the material in «Fru Inger til Østeraad».
People: Ingerd Ottesdatter (fru Inger)