Erling exchanges Bleiker in Asker for Aker near Tønsberg
DN 2/167 · 1 March 1329 · Asker
What the letter says
The drottsete Erling Vidkunsson declares in Asker on 1 March 1329 an exchange of land with Bishop Salomon of Oslo. Erling receives the farm Aker in Stokke parish near Tønsberg, eight markebol, which Archpriest Torkjell had given to St Margaret's altar in St Hallvard's church in Oslo. In return the altar receives the farm Bleiker in Asker, six markebol, and Erling is to add one markebol of good land. If Bleiker is taken from the church by a lawsuit, the altar is to have Aker back.
The letter in modern English
To all men who see or hear this letter, Erling Vidkunsson, the king's drottsete in Norway, sends God's greeting and his own. I make known to you that when a thousand winters, three hundred winters, twenty winters and nine winters had passed since the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ (1329), I made this exchange of land with the worthy lord Salomon, bishop in Oslo. He gave me, from the land of St Margaret's altar in St Hallvard's church in Oslo, the farm called Aker in Stokke church parish near Tønsberg, eight markebol, which Sira Torkjell the archpriest had given to the said altar as full odal and free property with full right of disposal, with all appurtenances that have belonged to it of old and new. In return I gave the said altar on the same terms the land called Bleiker, which lies in Asker church parish, six markebol, and to it I shall add one markebol of good land. If the said land of Bleiker is claimed by lawsuit, taken away or made void for St Hallvard's church or the one who owns the altar, then the said altar shall freely return to Aker, which I received in this exchange. In true witness I set my seal to this letter, which was made at Asker on 1 March in the year stated before, and in the tenth year of the reign of my worthy lord Magnus, king of Norway, Sweden and Götaland.
Original text
Ollum monnum þæim sæm þættæ bref sia eðr hœyræ sendir Erlingr Vikunnar son drotzete konongs i Noreghe q. g. ok sinæ. Ek gerir yðr kunnikt, at þa er liðnir varo fra burð vars herræ Jesu Christi þushundret vettra þriu hundret vettra xx vetter ok niu veter, gerde ek þettæ iarðr *skippi viðr virdulegan herræ Salomon biscup i Oslo at han fek mer j iorð Marghreto altere j Haluardz kirkiu j Oslo, er Akr æitir (i) Stokkæ kirkiu sokn viðr Tunsbærgh, attæ markæ boll sæm sira Þorkiæll erkiprestr hafde
Background
Erling Vidkunsson was drottsete and had much business in Viken, and land near Tønsberg was useful for a man who often had to be there. A makeskifte is an exchange of land for land. A markebol was land that yielded one mark in yearly land rent, and it was the usual way of measuring land in Viken and eastern Norway. The condition that the altar gets Aker back if Bleiker is taken from it was a common safeguard in exchanges. The letter survives in a certified copy from 1348.
People: Erling Vidkunsson