The Hansa in Bergen demands a debt from a priest
DN 15/495 · [8 August] 1533 · Bergen
What the letter says
The aldermen and the eighteen master men of the German Kontor in Bergen write in 1533 to Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson. The merchant Arndt Block has complained that the priest Jens Nilsson, now in Trøndelag, owes him money according to a settlement of accounts in 1530 with Block's agent Arnt Giske. Jens had also stood surety for the debt of his servant Jørgen Andersson. The Hansa asks the archbishop to order the priest to pay the remaining debt.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
Most reverend lord, our unbroken service be offered to Your Grace first. Most reverend lord, Arndt Block, our special [fellow citizen], has made known to us that his agent Arnt Giske in the year [15]30 settled accounts here in Bergen with Lord Jens Nilsson, now a priest in Trøndelag. Lord Jens was then left in debt, on his own behalf and for his servant Jørgen Andersson, for whom he had stood surety, as the enclosed copy reports. It is copied word for word from Lord Jens' own handwriting in the said Arndt's account book, as surer proof. Since then the said Arndt has received no payment from Lord Jens. Arndt has therefore kindly asked us to give him a letter from us to Your Grace, so that Your Grace will have the said Lord Jens ordered to pay his remaining debt. Therefore we ask Your Grace to let Lord Jens be told that the oft-mentioned Arndt shall have this remaining debt, and that he may have good use of this our letter. If Your Grace will give us or the oft-mentioned Arndt a gracious answer, we greatly wish it, and we will be at Your Grace's service in return [uncertain reading]. We offer ourselves as willing, and commend Your Grace to the Lord, to be kept in all good fortune. Written under signet in the year [15]33. Aldermen and eighteen master men of the German Hansa, resident in Bergen in Norway. Endorsement: Address: To the most reverend father in God and lord, Lord Olav, Archbishop of Trondheim and legate of the Apos
Original text (excerpt)
Hochwerdigeste Here Jwer gnade sin vnse vnuordraten denste thouorn Hochwerdigeste here, Arndt Block vnse besunderge, hefft vns entdecket, dat sin vmbadesmand Arnth Giske Anno etc. xxx her tho Bargen mit her Jons Nielssen, itz prester tho Trundelage gerekenth dat her Jons schuldich gebleuen sins egen wegen vnd sins knechtes Jurgen Anderssen haluen, dar he gudt vorgesecht, alles wo jngelechte Copia vormeldeth, welcker is vthcopierth van worden tho worden, vth Her Jons egen hantschrifft, tho sekere
Background
The letter mentions an agent called Arnt Giske, and that is probably why it was included in the search. He has no known connection with the family that owned Giske, and the letter is not about the Giske estate. It nevertheless gives a good picture of trade in Bergen in the 1530s. The German Kontor was the organisation of the Hanseatic merchants on Bryggen, led by aldermen and a council of eighteen men. The merchants gave credit to northerners, priests and others and were paid in stockfish and other goods, and they kept careful account books. When a cleric did not pay, they had to go to his superior, here the Archbishop of Nidaros, who was also one of the most powerful men in the country.