Lady Inger hands Giske over to Karine Alvsdatter
DN 2/1111 · 5 Septbr. 1533 · Bod
What the letter says
Ingerd (Inger) Ottesdatter, widow of Niels Henriksen, announces on 5 September 1533 that she has handed over Giske and the Giske estate in Romsdal and Sunnmøre to the maiden Karine Alvsdatter. She thanks the tenants for their obedience and asks them from now on to obey Lord Simon, who is to manage the estate for Karine.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
I, Ingerd Ottesdatter, widow of Lord Niels Henriksen, God have mercy on his soul, acknowledge by this my open letter that I have handed over to the honourable and well-born maiden, Maiden Karine Alvsdatter, Giske and the Giske estate that lies in Romsdal and Sunnmøre, and other property wherever it lies. I thank you all good men who live in Sunnmøre and Romsdal and are tenants under Giske, for all the obedience and loyalty you have shown me. I will still gladly help you to the best with word and deed, in whatever way I honourably can. Now I gladly ask you to be loyal and obedient to the bearer of this letter, Lord Simon, on behalf of the good maiden. He will keep you by law and right, as it has been before. For further truth of this I set my signet beneath this my open letter, written in Bwedt on the Friday before Our Lady's Day, the Nativity of Mary (8 September), in the year of the Lord 1533, that is, 5 September. Endorsement: On the back: Lady Inger Ottesdatter's letter that she gave Maiden Karine saying that she should have her estate back.
Original text (excerpt)
Jegh Jngyerdh Ottes datther her Niels Henrickssens efftherlewerske hwess syell gudt nadhe keness metth thette mytt obne breff ath iegh haffuer op ladhett erllygh och welbyrdigh jomffru, jomffru Karine Alss datther Gyeske och Gyeske godtz som lygger [i] Romssdallen och paa Swndtmøør, och andhen j hwar som thet lygger och thacker etther alle danne men, som bwuer paa Swndtmøør och j Romssdallen som er for Gyeske landh bwere fore alle thenn lyelssze och høørelss, som j megh bewyst haffuer och wyll i
Background
Inger Ottesdatter of Austrått had for several years had charge of Giske, while Karine Alvsdatter, daughter of Alv Knutsson, claimed that the estate was her paternal inheritance. In 1530 Karine had given Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson authority to defend the estate for her. The letter is a letter of conveyance, and the endorsement on the back calls it the letter saying that Karine should have her estate back. Landbor are tenant farmers who leased land under Giske and paid land rent. The handover came just after King Frederick I's death in 1533, in a turbulent time before the Reformation, and it did not last long, for the dispute over the estate continued.