Ingeborg Erlingsdatter wins a case about a ship debt
DN 2/562 · 26 March 1400 · Tönsberg
What the letter says
On 26 March 1400 lawman Jon Karlsson in Tønsberg gives judgement in a case between Lady Ingeborg Erlingsdatter and Erling at Volin and Ogmund at Horgin from Haug parish in Eiker. The farmers of Eiker had bought a ship from Sir Gudbrand, and these two and several others had stood surety for the payment. They are sentenced to pay their share of 25 pund of malt that remained unpaid, and six men sentence them in addition to pay two marks each in compensation. Everything is to be paid to Ingeborg in Haugsund in Eiker on 14 May.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
To all men who see or hear this letter, Jon Karlsson, lawman in Tønsberg, sends God's greeting and his own. I wish to make known to you that on the Friday after the Mass of Mary in Lent (25 March), in the eleventh year of the reign of my worthy lord, Sir Erik, by the grace of God king of Norway (1400), there came to a general court meeting before me in the main room in Smoksgården in Tønsberg, with many good men present, the honourable woman Lady Ingeborg Erlingsdatter on the one side and Erling at Volin and Ogmund at Horgin, who live in Haug parish in Eiker, on the other. All acknowledged that this day was their proper court day in the case concerning the ship which the farmers of Eiker had bought from Sir Gudbrand, and for which they and several others had stood surety, as the letter that was made about it shows itself. Lady Ingeborg then produced a letter, as it bears witness about itself and is attached here. The letter was read, and the case was thoroughly examined. Because the farmers had no lawful defence, it was my judgement and lawman's ruling that Erling and Ogmund shall pay the share that falls on them of the twenty-five pund (a weight measure) of malt which all acknowledged was unpaid, and which had not come forward on the proper day of payment fixed in a six-man judgement, with compensation for debt withheld. At once six men went into judgement and awarded her two marks in compensation from each of them. Both the malt and the four marks are to be paid on the Eve of the Mass of Hallvard (14 May) in H
Original text (excerpt)
Ollum monnum þæim sem þetta bref sea ædher høyra sendir Joen Karllson loghman j Tunsbergi q. g. ok sinæ ek uill ydher [kunnight] gera at komo a almannulegha stemfno firir mek j sestofuonne j Smoks gardhe j Tunsbergi ok morgom [godhom] monnum hiawærande a fredaghen nesta eftir Mario messo j fostu ok a øllykta are rikis mins werdhulegs herra herra Eriks mædh gudz naadz Noregs konongs af æinni halfuo heidherlighen kwinna fru Jngiborgh Ellings dotter æn af annare halfuo Ellingher a Volinu ok Oghmund
Background
Ingeborg Erlingsdatter was the daughter of the drottsete Erling Vidkunsson, who gave her Giske in 1354. She was married to Sigurd Havtoresson of Sudreim and was probably a widow in 1400. The letter shows that she herself brought cases before the court and collected debts, as widows of high rank could. To stand surety meant acting as guarantor for another's debt. That the farmers were to pay in malt shows that grain was still used as a means of payment alongside money. The letter does not say who Sir Gudbrand was or why the claim had passed to Ingeborg; it suggests that she had inherited or taken over the claim. The letter is a lawman's judgement.
People: Ingebjørg Erlingsdatter