Maiden Gjørvel is the rightful heir of Knut Alvsson
DN 12/596 · 9 August 1540 · Odense
What the letter says
Jakob Brockenhus, provincial judge on Funen, writes in Odense on 9 August 1540 that he once served Ture Jönsson and was sent to Norway to receive property on his behalf. There he found that the property belonged to the maiden Gjørvel, who had inherited it from her mother's father Knut Alvsson and her mother's brothers Karl and Erik Knutsson, and that Ture only had the right to be her guardian. Ture then asked him to defend all of Knut Alvsson's property for Gjørvel until he himself could come to Norway. Karine Alvsdatter gave Brockenhus a letter stating that her and Gjørvel's tenant farmers were to answer to him.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
I, Jakob Brockenhus, provincial judge on Funen, make known by this my open letter that some years ago I served Lord Ture Jensson in Sweden (God have mercy on his soul). When he later came from Sweden to Denmark, he sent me to Norway to receive some property on his behalf. When I came to Norway, it turned out in truth that this property belonged to an honourable and well-born maiden, Maiden Gjørvel. She had inherited it from her mother's father Lord Knut Alvsson and from her mother's brothers Karl Knutsson and Erik Knutsson on their deaths (God keep their souls). This I wrote from Norway to Lord Ture Jensson in Denmark: He had no right of inheritance to the property I was to receive on his behalf. His right was to be Maiden Gjørvel's lagverge (guardian under the law), and that was due to him by law. Later Lord Ture Jensson wrote back to me that I should defend all the property I could trace that had belonged to Lord Knut Alvsson and that he had had in his keeping while he lived, on Maiden Gjørvel's behalf. This was to hold until God willed that he himself could come to Norway to his father's brother's daughter Maiden Karine Alvsdatter. Then he would defend and plead the case for her and Maiden Gjørvel's property, so that they would thank him for it. Afterwards I went to Maiden Karine Alvsdatter and let her see the letter Lord Ture Jensson had sent me. Then she gave me a letter stating that all her and Maiden Gjørvel's tenant farmers were to answer to me on their behalf and i
Original text (excerpt)
Jegh Jacob Brockenhws lantzdommere y Fynn gør vittherligt met thette myt opnebreff att noggen aard scyden forleden ta tientthe iegh her Twre Ienssen y Swerrige (hwes siel gud naade) men scyden han kom fran Swerrige och tiil Danmarck sende han meg tiil Norge att skwlle annamme nogett gotz paa hans vegne then tiid ieg kom tiil Norge tha fanstz thet j sanhett att samme gotz hørde en Erligh och velbyrdigh iomffrw, jomffrw Giørwel tiil och hinne vor tiil arff kommen efftther hinnes morffader her Knwt
Background
Gjørvel Fadersdatter was the daughter's daughter of Knut Alvsson, who was killed in 1502, and after his sons Karl and Erik died, she was the heir to the Giske estate. She later married Truid Ulfstand. Ture Jönsson of Tre Rosor was a Swedish councillor of the realm and fled to Denmark and Norway after a rebellion against Gustav Vasa, and he was dead when the letter was written. Karine Alvsdatter was the daughter of Alv Knutsson and the sister of Knut Alvsson, and the letter calls her Ture's father's brother's daughter. This suggests that Ture was the son of Alv's brother Jens Knutsson. Lagverge means guardian under the law, a man who managed the property of a woman or a child without himself owning it. The letter is a letter of testimony meant to establish that Ture had never had a right of inheritance, and it was probably made because Ture's heirs or others tried to claim one. Landbønder were the tenant farmers who paid land rent to the estate owner.
People: Gjørvel Fadersdatter (Sparre), Knut Alvsson, Karl Knutsson, Karine Alvsdatter