Skule renews the alliance with England
DN 19/152 · [1223.] · ikke stedsnavn
What the letter says
Skule, «by the grace of God duke of Norway», writes probably in 1223 to King Henry III of England. He thanks him for the gifts he received the year before and rejoices that the king wishes to renew the alliance that had been made between Henry's father and Skule. The king has written that the chief culprit behind the damage, R. Wodecoc, has been killed, and that the others are scattered and poor. Skule accepts this, but reminds him that William Marshal promised compensation from the king's treasury if the wrongdoers could not pay. He sends small gifts because of the war and promises greater ones when peace returns.
The letter in modern English
To his most serene friend and most illustrious of kings, Henry, by the grace of God [King] of England, S[kule], by the same grace Duke of Norway, sends greeting and sincere love. For the gifts and jewels sent to us last year by your royal serenity we give you most abundant thanks, ready and prepared to carry out your will and pleasure with all our power, if it is made known to us. Over what you tell us in your letter, that you wish to renew the alliance made between the most illustrious king your father and us, we were made glad and joyful, and for our part we wish to keep it without any scruple and inviolably. You tell us further that R. Wodecoc, who was said to be the chief author of our losses, was killed on the way, and that his other accomplices were scattered and not found, although by your order they were to be seized. Nor were there possessions or chattels from which satisfaction could be made to us, for although they possessed something in the time of hostility, they at once became wretched beggars when peace was restored, for when the cause ceases the effect ceases. All this we fully believe. At the end of your letter you told us that if, for good reason, we thought anything more should be done in the matter, you would do it with a ready and willing mind as far as was reasonable.
Original text
Serenissimo amico et regum illustrissimo Henrico, Dei gratia Anglie, S[culius] eadem gratia dux Norwegie, salutem et sinceram dilectionem. De exeniis atque jocalibus nobis anno elapso a vestra regia serenitate transmissis, grates uobis referimus uberrimas, prompti et parati velle vestrum et beneplacitum, si nobis aperiatur, pro omni posse nostro executioni demandare.
Background
Skule Bårdsson (1189 to 1240), of the Giske family through Tora Skoftesdatter, was jarl and ruled the kingdom together with King Håkon Håkonsson. The matter concerns the same robbery at Scarborough as in another letter (DN 19/142), and Wodecoc was probably Robert Wudecoc of Scarborough, who is named in an English source from 1223. The war Skule refers to is the Ribbung rising in eastern Norway from 1220, which meant there was little to send. The letter uses a legal argument common at the time: a claim against a debtor who has nothing is empty. That is why Skule held on to the promise that the king himself would pay. William Marshal had died in 1219, and Skule refers to him as the one who had been guardian of the king and the kingdom.
People: Skule Bårdsson