Svein Kempe gives Jon Marteinsson the estate in Täng
DN 2/560 · 30 June 1399 · Oslo
What the letter says
Olav Andresson, Jon Andresson and Niklis Magnusson declare that they were in Digreskytningen in Oslo on the Monday after St Peter's Day, 30 June 1399. There they saw and heard Svein Kempe give Sir Jon Marteinsson, knight, all the property he owned in Täng in Ås härad in Västergötland. Svein also gave Jon all the letters he held concerning the property. With this they were reconciled over all accounts and all claims between them, except for an animal horn that Sir Jon still claimed from Svein.
The letter in modern English
To all men who see or hear this letter, Olav Andresson, Jon Andresson and Niklis Magnusson send God's greeting and their own. We make known that we were in Digreskytningen [a meeting house] in Oslo on the Monday after St Peter's Day in the tenth year of the reign of our worthy lord Sir Erik, by God's grace King of Norway. There we saw and heard, in the presence of many good men, that Svein Kempe gave the honourable and well-born man Sir Jon Marteinsson, knight, all the property he owned in Täng, which he received from Ylias bole [uncertain reading], lying in Ås härad in Västergötland. It was to be free and warranted and entirely without claim from any man, to Sir Jon and his heirs as everlasting property, with all parts and appurtenances that lie and have lain with it from of old and of new, outside the farmyard and within. Then Kempe gave the said Sir Jon all the letters he has about the same said property. Kempe did this unforced and unbound. Then they took each other by the hand and were reconciled and fully reconciled over all accounts, all matters and claims that were between them, except for an animal horn [probably a drinking horn] that Sir Jon claimed from Kempe. In truth of this we set our seals to this letter, which was made on the day and in the year stated above (1399).
Original text
Ollum monnum þem som þetta bref see ælla høra. sænda Olaf Andresson Jon Andresson ok Nichilis Magnusson quædio gudz ok sina kunnykt gørande, at wi warom i Dighraskytninggenum i Oslo a manodaghin næsta æfter Pætræs mæsso a tiunda are rikis wars virdheliks herra, herra Eriks medh gudz nadh Noreks konungs, saghum ok hørdhum vppa, marghum godhum mannum nær warandom, at Swen Kæmppe galt ærlighom manne ok wel bornum herra Jone Martenssyni riddara, allt thet godz som han aatte j Thæng, ok han fek af
Background
Jon Marteinsson of the Rømer family lived at Sudreim in Romerike and was married to Agnes Sigurdsdatter, daughter of Sigurd Havtoresson and Ingebjørg Erlingsdatter of Giske. Their son was Sigurd Jonsson, who later won Giske in the inheritance dispute. The words about accounts and dealings suggest that Svein Kempe had managed property or revenues for Jon, and that the estate in Täng was the settlement for this. Ås härad lies in Västergötland in present-day Sweden, and Jon owned land on both sides of the border, as many magnates did in the union period. The animal horn was probably a drinking horn, and Jon valued such things: in his will the following year, before his pilgrimage to Rome, he gave silver-mounted drinking horns to his family. The same settlement survives in a separate letter with four witnesses (DN 23/66).
People: Jon Marteinsson