Fru Inger wants to visit Nils Lykke at Steinvikholm
DN 11/627 · 20 August 1535 · Österaat
What the letter says
On 20 August 1535 fru Inger asks Archbishop Olav for leave to travel to Steinvikholm and speak with the imprisoned Nils Lykke for an hour or two. She wants to hear how he wishes his children and his estate to be provided for, and to learn what agreement he and his father have made between them. The archbishop's servants are to hear and see everything she does. She wonders that the archbishop has had no news from Denmark or Oslo about the election of a king, and prays God to give Norway a good and Christian king.
The letter in modern English
My humble and loving greeting always sent before with God. Dearest lord, may almighty God always grant me to ask good news of the life, health and welfare of Your Grace's dignity. Dearest lord, I thank Your Grace for all the kindness and friendship Your Grace has always shown me, a wretched woman, and I will gladly repay it in my poor humility. [Dear lord, I wonder greatly that Your Grace's dignity has had no news lately from Denmark or from Oslo about how things stand there. May almighty God grant us a good and Christian, mild lord and king who wishes well for the realm of Norway [and its poor inhabitants].] Dear lord, it is my humble and loving request to Your Grace that I might travel in to Steinvikholm and speak for one or two [hours] with the poor man Nils Lykke, and hear from him about his children, about the estate and other matters, what he has in mind and wishes. And I would gladly learn something of what agreement his father and he have made between them, how it shall be with his poor children, or what he has in mind about how I should conduct myself towards his poor children. Dear lord, I do not wish to talk with him at length without Your Grace's servants hearing and seeing what I do, and he must see that his children may well have him as a comfort [uncertain reading]. I will not stay there more than an hour or two.
Original text
Mynn inmiglig kerlig helsser all tiid fforsent met gud allder kerresste herre erres nades liiff helsser wellffart vnde meg then allmegtiiste gud tyll edders nades werdeheiit all tyd att ssporres. allder kerresste herre tackker jeg edder errss nade ffor all dugh oc wenskap som err nade meg arrme qwiine all tiid bewiist haffue qwyllken jeg gerne mett myn ffattiig ynmiiglig gerne fforskulde wyll.
Background
The DN edition suggests that this letter, which is written much more clumsily than the others, may have been written by fru Inger herself, before a scribe had come from the archbishop. That fits the letter of 12 August, in which she complains that she has no scribe (DN 11/626). If so, it is a rare example of her own hand and her own language. Nils Lykke's father was the Danish knight Joachim Lykke of Østrup on Funen, who the following year asked Eske Bille to take care of the grandchildren (DN 13/624). The election concerned whom Norway should take as king after Frederik I. The dating is uncertain: the edition reckons the Friday after the Assumption of Mary on 15 August, but if the Nativity of Mary is meant, the date becomes 10 September.
People: Ingerd Ottesdatter (fru Inger)