Countess Katarina buys Erling's land in Orkney
DN 2/170 · 4 April 1329 · Kirkjuvaag
What the letter says
Katarina, Countess of Orkney and Caithness, announces in Kirkwall on 4 April 1329 that she has bought the lands the drottsete Erling Vidkunsson owned on Ragnvaldsøy (South Ronaldsay). Erling's agent Sigurd Jodgeirsson handled the sale. The lands lie among other places in Stufum, Klæte, Tordarekra, Borg, Lid and Haugseid, and the Pentland Skerries are included. For the three quarters that had come from Sir Håkon Toresson and Lady Kristin she pays 50 mark of refined silver, 12 shillings and 6 pennies in English coin, and for Lady Elin's quarter she had previously paid 18 mark, 4 shillings and 2 pennies.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
To all men who see or hear this letter, Katarina, Countess of Orkney and Caithness, sends God's greeting and her own. We announce to you that we have bought from Sir Sigurd Jodgeirsson the lands that Sir Erling Vidkunsson, drottsete for the King of Norway, owned on Ragnvaldsøy (South Ronaldsay), and which had not previously been awarded to us. Sigurd was Erling's agent to sell them, as Sir Erling's letter about this, which we have with us, shows. The lands are these: in Stufum land at a purchase price of 20 shillings, and in Kuikobba land at a purchase price of 20 shillings. Further in Klæte twelve mark. Further six pennylands (an Orkney land unit) in Tordarekra for one mark and 20 [shillings]. Further three pennylands in Borg for 9 mark. Further in Leikakvi land at a purchase price of 6 mark, and in Lid land at a purchase price of 20 shillings. Further at Haugseid land at a purchase price of 10 shillings. Further the Pentland Skerries without a farm (without farming) for 20 mark. For the three parts of these lands that Sir Håkon Toresson and Lady Kristin handed over to the lord drottsete, we pay Sir Sigurd fifty mark of refined (pure) silver, twelve shillings and six pennies, in good English pennies, reckoned at thirteen shillings and four pennies to each mark. For the quarter that Lady Elin owned in the same lands, we had previously paid Sir Erling 18 mark, 4 shillings and 2 pennies, as his open letter shows. Therefore he transferred on behalf of the often mentioned lord drotts
Original text (excerpt)
Ollum monnum þæim sem þetta bref sea æða hœyra sendir Katerin cunncteis j Orknœyium oc Katanese quediu guðs oc sina. Ver gerom ydr kunight at ver kœyptum af herra Siugurði Joðgeirs syni jarðer herra Erlings Vidkunnar sonar Noreghs konongs drotzseta þær sem hann atte j Rognaldz œy oc oss varo æighi aðr dœmdar hans fullum vmboðs manne til þess at selia sem bref herra Erlings þat sem ver hofum hia oss þar vm gort vattar oc swa heita j Stufum xx skillinga kaup oc i Kuikobba .xx. skillinga kaup. Jtem
Background
Erling Vidkunsson of Giske and Bjarkøy was drottsete, regent, for the young King Magnus Eriksson from 1323 to 1332, and he gathered land across large parts of the Norwegian realm. Orkney was then a Norwegian earldom, and Norwegian magnates could own land there. Countess Katarina was probably the widow of Earl Magnus Jonsson. The letter is a deed of purchase, and it shows that Erling sold through an agent, as a regent with properties in many places had to do. Pennyland was an Orkney land unit. That payment was made in English pennies shows that Orkney belonged to the trading area around the North Sea, where English coin was common. The letter does not say how Håkon Toresson, Kristin and Elin were connected to Erling.
People: Erling Vidkunsson, Kristin, Elin Toresdatter