The Eidsvoll farmers complain of Knut Alvsson's bailiff Lasse Skjold
DN 2/1001 · 25 May 1498 · [Eidsvold.]
Knut Alvsson, son of Alv Knutsson and Magnhild Oddsdatter, governed the fief of Akershus, and Lasse Skjold was his bailiff in Romerike. The farmers' complaint thus concerns a man who exercised power on Knut's behalf.
What the letter says
The farmers and common people of Eidsvoll parish in the fief of Akershus write on 25 May 1498 to King Hans complaining about Lasse Skjold, who was bailiff of Romerike for Lord Knut Alvsson, commander at Akershus. They say they get neither law nor justice from him. They list abuses: he struck Saxe Hallvardsson with a war hammer and threatened him with his sword, he is said to have had his way with a girl in a home he came to, he chased Peder Ingemarsson out into a river, he extorted silver, malt and cows from several men without law or judgement, and he threw a drunk man to the floor so that he lay as if dead. Four sworn jurymen of Eidsvoll set their seals on the letter.
The letter in modern English
We poor farmers and common people who dwell and live in Eidsvoll parish in the fief of Akershus make known to our gracious lord King Hans, our king of Norway, concerning the bailiff of Lord Knut Alvsson, who is knight and commander at Akershus, that Lasse Skjold, who was his bailiff in Romerike, that we poor farmers now get from him neither law nor justice. First, he struck a man called Saxe Hallvardsson, when he was to go forward and settle his fixed tax [uncertain reading], three blows with a war hammer, so that the man fell over the woodpile [uncertain reading]. The said man got up again and offered law and justice for himself, but it did not help him, and he went into the gallery. Then Lasse Skjold came again and struck the man two blows with a war hammer and said: «You shall get three big-toothed devils [uncertain reading], I shall put my sword through you wherever I can find you.» Likewise Lasse Skjold made a home attack (hjemsøkn) on an honest man called Aslak Trondsson, and he did for him the best he could, and the said Lasse did this to him in return, that a girl was lent to him, and he dealt with her as he wished and not as he should, and therefore she gives him foul thanks [uncertain reading]. Likewise the said Lasse did at the same time to a man called Peder Ingemarsson: he chased him from his home and away into a stream, and there the man nearly perished.
Original text
Wy fatige bøndher oc menogha almogha som byghia oc bo j Edhzwalsokn j Akers hws læn gøre wy war nadhoga her kononghe Hans war Norges konongh wetherlighit ath her Knuthz Allfsons fogot riddher oc høffwesman pa Akers hus at Lasse Skiol som hans foghot war pa Romrike thet wy fatige bøndher nwthu for honom hwarken lagh æller reth som ær først thet han sloo en man som sa heth Saxe Hallfwardsson tha han skulle gangha fram oc gredha sin wissør iii slagh medh en stridhz hamar sa ath mannen gik om kol
Background
Knut Alvsson, the son of Alv Knutsson and Magnhild Oddsdatter, was commander at Akershus, and Lasse Skjold governed Romerike for him as bailiff. The bailiff collected taxes and fines and held police powers, and complaints about bailiffs abusing their power are known from the whole late Middle Ages. Lasse Skjold was killed by farmers from Nes, Odal and Eidsvoll, and the farmers were later sentenced for the killing (DN 21/677 and DN 13/162). DN 13/162 dates the killing to 1497, and in that case the complaint was probably written after the killing as a defence for the farmers, but the order of events is uncertain. A lodd of silver was roughly 14 to 15 grams, and a pund of malt was a weight of grain for brewing ale. The complaint is the farmers' version, and it shows that they knew of their right to complain directly to the king.
People: Knut Alvsson