Henry III wants peace and free trade with Norway
DN 19/114 · 10 okt. 1217 · Lambeth
What the letter says
King Henry III of England writes at Lambeth on 10 October 1217 to King Håkon of Norway and thanks him for the letters he has received through the abbot of Lyse. Håkon has asked for an alliance of peace and friendship, and Henry answers that merchants and people from both kingdoms shall be able to travel freely between the countries. Until open letters on the matter have been exchanged, he allows the merchants to come and go. He keeps the abbot back for a while to arrange compensation for a Norwegian ship and its cargo. On the same day a letter in the same words is sent to Skule, who is called «duke of Norway».
The letter in modern English
On making peace with Håkon, King of Norway. Henry, by the grace of God etc., to H[åkon], by the same grace King of Norway, greeting. We give your nobility immense thanks for what you have let us know through your letters and through the prudent man the abbot of Lyse, namely that you wish and desire to enter into an alliance of peace and friendship with us and to join in league with us. It pleases us well, and will continue to please us, that our lands shall be common, so that merchants and men who are under your power may come to our land freely and without hindrance, and that our men and merchants may likewise come to yours, provided that you send us open letters on this and we send you ours. In the meantime we are willing, and we grant, that merchants both from our land and from yours may travel, come and return through our lands. And if there is anything you wish that we are able to do, let us know it with confidence. We have so far kept back the said abbot, so that we may, as well as we can, have compensation made for your ship and the things that were on board, and for our other affairs [uncertain reading]. Through him we shall take care to inform you with certainty of our condition and that of our kingdom. Because etc. Witness the earl himself [William Marshal] at Lambeth on 10 October.
Original text
De federe cum Haquino rege Norwegie ineundo. Henricus dei gracia etc. H[aquino] eadem gracia Regi Norwegie salutem. Immensas Nobilitati vestre referimus graciarum actiones de hiis, que per litteras vestras et prudentem virum abbatem de Lysa nobis significastis, volentes et desiderantes fedus pacis et dileccionis libenter nobiscum inire, et nobis confederari.
Background
Skule Bårdsson (1189 to 1240) was the son of Bård at Rein and descended from the Giske family through Tora Skoftesdatter. In 1217 his half-brother King Inge died, and Skule became jarl and ruled the kingdom together with the young Håkon Håkonsson, who was then 13. The letter shows that England wrote to both, and that already in the first year Skule was counted as one of the two holders of power in Norway. Henry III was himself only a child, and the letter is witnessed by William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, who governed England for him. The agreement on free passage for merchants concerned the trade across the North Sea, where Norwegian stockfish, train oil and timber were exchanged for English grain, wool and cloth. Lyse Abbey near Bergen was a Cistercian house with close ties to England, so the abbot was a natural envoy. In the Latin the word «dux» is used of Skule, probably as a translation of jarl.
People: Skule Bårdsson