Ture Jönsson asks for help to obtain Giske
DN 13/413 · 5 Septbr. 1526 · Lindholm
What the letter says
The Swedish knight Ture Jönsson writes from Lindholm on 5 September 1526 to the Danish steward of the realm Mogens Gøye. He complains that Vincens Lunge by force holds Giske and other inherited property in Norway, and that Lunge has seized the land rent from Shetland and Orkney that Ture had sent to Bergen. Ture also writes that Archbishop Olav in Trondheim has reported that he is the nearest heir of Lady Ingegerd, who has just died, but that Lunge has taken her estate and movable goods. He asks Gøye to help him with King Frederick I so that the archbishop is given authority to claim the estate and Lunge and his mother-in-law Lady Ingerd are summoned before the court.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
Friendly and loving greeting now and always, first with our Lord, dear Lord Mogens Gøye, my especially good friend. Know that immediately after the lords' meeting held in Malmø, I sent messenger and letter to Lady Ingegerd and Doctor Vincens [Lunge] because I wished to receive my estate again, Giske and other things, with more of my inherited estates in Norlanden [uncertain reading: probably Norway]. I had the land rent of Shetland, Orkney and elsewhere collected and brought to Bergen. When Doctor Vincens heard of it, he had it seized there in the town. I sent him the high-born prince King Frederick's letter that he should abide by the contract concluded in Malmø, as the letter shows, and I believed then that it would benefit me, so that I could keep my estate and my rightful inheritance. It could not help me at all. He holds both the estate and the revenues by force and violence, so that I have not received a penny. He has written to me, as I understand, that he will press me to sell it to him whether I will or not. To that, however, I have paid no heed. Further: On St Laurence's Day (10 August) just past, I was in Stockholm on important matters of the realm. Then I received letter and message from the worthy father Lord Archbishop Olav in Trondheim that I was the rightful and nearest heir of the honourable good woman, my kinswoman Lady Ingegerd, who recently died, God have mercy on her soul. She had appointed the worthy father in Trondheim and b
Original text (excerpt)
Venligh oc kerlig helssen nw oc altiid førsent met vor herre kiere her Mons Gydhe, besunnerlig gode ven mwej vidhe at strax thet herre møte førslitiid var j Malmø hadde iak mit bwd oc scriffuelsse tiil frv Ingegerdt oc docther Vintencius oc ville anamme mit godz igen Giske etc. met flere min arfue godz j Norlanden ok bar mit budt vp landgillet aff Hietland Orknøø etc. oc lot thet komme tiil Berwen, Nar docther Vintencius thet spurde lot han besette thet ther j byn oc sende iak honum høgborne før
Background
Ture Jönsson of Tre Rosor was a Swedish councillor of the realm and a daughter's son of Alv Knutsson, who had gathered the Giske estate in the 1470s. Vincens Lunge was a Danish nobleman married to a daughter of Lady Inger Ottesdatter of Austrått, and he was one of the most powerful men in Norway in these years. The letter is a private letter, written to get an influential friend to plead the case at court. It shows that the Giske estate then included land far out in Shetland and Orkney, with land rent that was brought to Bergen, and that the dispute over the estate was settled through letters, royal orders and raw power. The lords' meeting in Malmø was the negotiation between Denmark and Sweden in 1524. Lady Ingegerd is probably Ingegerd Erlendsdatter, widow of Olav Guttormsson, who had large properties; how Ture was related to her, the letter does not say.
People: Ingerd Ottesdatter (fru Inger)