Jon Martinsson buys Signeby in Värmland
DN 2/480 · 16 June 1383 · Oslo
What the letter says
In Oslo on 16 June 1383 Sven Birgersson acknowledges that he has received 40 marks from Jon Martinsson: a grey horse worth 20 marks and 20 marks in clothes and ready money. For this he hands over his property Signeby and half of Älgtuna in Sillerud parish in Värmland to Jon and his heirs for ever. The canon Hans of St Mary's Church in Oslo, Torstein Simonsson and Karl Packe set their seals to it.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
All men who see or hear this letter, I, Sven Birgersson, greet eternally with God. Be it known to all good men that I acknowledge with this my open letter that I have received from the honourable and wellborn man Jon Martinsson forty marks in money: first a grey horse, as good as twenty marks, and then twenty marks in clothes and ready money. For this money I have granted and lawfully handed over to Jon Martinsson my property in Värmland, Signeby and half of Älgtuna, which lie in Sillerud parish, with everything that belongs to them inside the fence and outside, and that has belonged to them of new and old, with nothing excepted. Therefore I convey this property from me and my heirs to Jon Martinsson and his heirs to own for ever. In witness and further confirmation I ask for the seals of these honourable men to this letter: Sir Hans, canon at St Mary's Church in Oslo, Torstein Simonsson and Karl Packe, together with my own. Done in the year after God's birth 1383, in Oslo, on St Botolph's Eve (16 June). Endorsement: On the back, contemporary: About Signeby in Värmland.
Original text (excerpt)
Alla the mæn thætta breff see æller høra helser jæc Swen Birgirsson ewerdhelicæ med gudh. thet se allom godhom mannom viterlikt at jæc kænnizs thet med thæsso mino opno brewe at jæc haffuer wpboret af hederlichom manne oc vælbornom Jon Martensson firitigiu mark pæninga først en gra hest swa godh som tiugiu mark sidhen j clædhe oc redho pæninga tiugiu mark for huilka pæninga jæc haffuer vnt oc laglica latet [fornæmpda Jon Martensson mit godz j Vermalande Signebyn oc halfua Æltuna liggiænde j Sill
Background
Jon Martinsson (Jon Marteinsson) was married to Agnes Sigurdsdatter, daughter of Sigurd Havtoresson of Sudreim and Ingeborg Erlingsdatter, and their son Sigurd Jonsson later became owner of Giske, drottsete and regent. The letter is a deed of purchase in the form of a receipt, in which the seller confirms that he has been paid and that the property has been transferred. The payment shows that purchases were often settled in goods: a good horse was worth half the sum. Värmland bordered on Norway, and Jon had property and connections on both sides of the border. The purchase was made in Oslo and witnessed by a canon there, a priest attached to a principal church.
People: Jon Marteinsson