Magnus Magnusson acquires Hundeid on Sunnmøre by exchange
DN 2/639 · 1 Septbr. 1416 · Bergen
What the letter says
In Bergen on 1 September 1416 the knight Diderik Vistenakker and his wife Margareta Eilivsdatter make a land exchange with Magnus Magnusson. Magnus receives the farm Hundeid in Aura parish and all their deserted lands on Sunnmøre, while Diderik and Margareta receive lower Eikenes in Hamar parish on Osterøy. The exchange applies until they make another arrangement, and whoever gets more income from the other's land shall settle the difference.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
This I, Diderik Vistenakker, knight, and I, Margareta Eilivsdatter, acknowledge with this our open letter: We have made a land exchange with the wellborn and upright man Magnus Magnusson in this way: we have handed over and fully given him, as long as we do not make another arrangement, our land called Hundeid, which lies in Aura church parish, and all our other deserted lands that lie on Sunnmøre, small and great, wherever they may be found, with all the parts and rights that lie with them or have lain with them of old and new, outside the fence and inside. In exchange we have received the land called Eikenes, which the said Magnus Magnusson gives us for our lands. It is the lower farm, which lies on Oster (Osterøy) in Hamar church parish, with all the parts and rights that lie with it or have lain with it of old and new, outside the fence and inside. This applies as long as the said Magnus Magnusson and we, Diderik Vistenakker and Margareta Eilivsdatter, do not make another arrangement. Yet on the condition that whichever of us gets more income from the other's land shall settle fully and fairly with the other. In truth of this we set our seals to this letter, which was written in Bergen on St Giles' Day (1 September) in the year of the Lord 1416. Endorsement: On the back in a contemporary hand: About the land exchange between Margareta and Mistress Sigrid. In a later hand: Lies on Oster in Hamar church parish v
Original text (excerpt)
Þes kennezst ek Tidhike Wistenakker riddare oc ek Margareta Eilifs dottor med þesso waaro opno brefue at wi hafuom giort iordhaskifte med wælborin man oc ærlighan Magnus Magnusson j swa matto at wi laathom honom oc fulkomliga faom swa lenge wi andra skipan aa gørom jordh waara som Hundheidh eiter som ligger i Aura kirkiu sokn oc alla andra waara œydhe jordher som liggia aa Sudmœre sma oc storar ææ hwar helzst þe kunno vppe at spyriazst med allom þeim luthom oc lunnendom som till þeira ligger æde
Background
Magnus Magnusson was married to Sigrid Erlendsdatter, the widow of Håkon Sigurdsson, and an endorsement on the back calls the exchange an agreement between Margareta and «Mistress Sigrid». In these years the couple were in dispute with Sigurd Jonsson over Giske, and this suggests that they were trying to gather land on Sunnmøre near Giske. Aura parish is probably Aure in Sykkylven, where Hundeidvik lies. Deserted lands were farms that lay unused, often after the Black Death of 1349 and the later plagues, when many farms were abandoned. A mageskifte, or land exchange, was a common way for landowners to gather their land in areas where they already had power. The condition that the exchange could be altered shows that both parties were unsure what the lands actually yielded in land rent.
People: Magnus Magnusson, Sigrid Erlendsdatter