Extract from the canons' land register in Nidaros
DN 2/43 · 10 March 1298 · Nidaros
What the letter says
In March 1298 Audun and Bård Vigleikssønner and Alv i Kroken write to Sir Bjarne of Bjarkøy and all others in Sunnmøre. At the request of Sira Jon Elg they have read the canons' common book in Nidaros, in which Archbishop Sigurd and the canons in 1244 recorded which properties belonged to each prebend. It states that Halvard Stuke's prebend, which Jon Elg now holds, owns two månedsmatsbol (a land-rent unit) of butter each in Einstapasetr, Alreksskog and Valsfjord. They also heard Gyda, the widow of Martin Erlingsson, say that Martin had bought these properties.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
To Sir Bjarne of Bjarkøy and all other friends of God and their friends in Sunnmøre who see or hear this letter, Audun and Bård Vigleikssønner and Alv i Kroken send God's greeting and their own. We want you to know that at the request of Sira Jon Elg we have seen and read through the arrangement that the worthy Sir Sigurd, archbishop, and the canons who were then at the cathedral set up. It stands in the canons' common book (communs bok), whole and undamaged, in the old script, which says this: In the year of the Lord 1244, in the days of Archbishop Sigurd, this register of land rents was made on the advice of the lord archbishop and the canons who were then at the cathedral. It was then carefully examined which properties belonged to the prebends (the fixed income that belonged to each canon's office), so that each prebend should have the properties it rightfully ought to have, both shares of land and rental income. All the land rent registers of each brother were then brought together. Both the archbishop and the brothers agreed that each prebend should from now on follow the properties listed in this register, even if there had previously been some uncertainty between certain prebends about certain properties. Each brother was to make his own land rent register according to what is written here. It was also decided that this register should always lie in the brothers' common chest and not be taken out, unless a property came to
Original text (excerpt)
Herra Biarna j Biarker œy, ok allum aðrum guðs vinum ok sinum a Sunnmœre; þæim sem þetta bref sea æða hœyra sænda Au- ðunn ok Bardr Viglæigs synir ok Alfr i Kroke. q. g. ok sina; Ver uilium at þer vitið, at æftir bœnarstad sira Jons Ælgs; saam ver ok ifir lasom skipan virdulegs herra Siugurðar ærkibiskops. ok þæira korsbrœedd/ra er þa voro at staðenom a communs bok korsbrœðra hæila ok oskafna mæð fonno lætri er sua vattar; Anno domini. m. cc. xl. iiij. vm ðaga Siugurðar ærkibiskops; þa var þæsso
Background
Bjarne Erlingsson of Giske and Bjarkøy was at this time one of the leading men of the realm, and the letter shows that he was the natural authority to turn to in Sunnmøre. Why the case was to be laid before him is not stated in the letter. It suggests that there was a dispute over these lands in which Bjarne was to judge or mediate, or that he himself had interests in the case. The canons (korsbrødrene) were the canons of the cathedral in Nidaros, and a prebend was the fixed income from land that belonged to each canon's office. Land rent was the annual rent the tenant farmer paid to the landowner, here measured in butter, and a månedsmatsbol was land that yielded a land rent equal to one month's food. The letter is a letter of testimony with extracts from a land register, and it shows how the church kept track of its properties with books kept locked in a chest. Who Martin Erlingsson was is not clear, and there is no basis for linking him to the Giske family.
People: Bjarne Erlingsson