Katarina repays her brother's loan from Stockholm
DN 2/725 · 14 Oktbr. 1436 · Tunheim
What the letter says
At Tunheim on the day of Pope Calixtus, 14 October 1436, Sigrid Nikulasdatter declares that she has received 100 new Arnhem guilders from Lady Katarina Jonsdatter on behalf of her brother Sigurd Jonsson. Sigurd had borrowed the money in Stockholm from her late husband Markvard Buk. She gives Sigurd a receipt for the sum. The priests Sira Johan Hallbjørnsson of Sande and Sira Smid Einarsson of Hedrum set their seals to the letter.
The letter in modern English
Be it known to all good men that I, Sigrid Nikulasdatter, acknowledge by this my open letter that I have received from the well-born woman Lady Katarina Jonsdatter, on behalf of her brother Sigurd Jonsson, one hundred new Arnhem guilders [gold coins from Arnhem], which he borrowed in Stockholm from my husband Markvard Buk, God have his soul. I declare Sigurd Jonsson quit and free of the said money. For greater certainty and proof I ask for the seals of these good men to this letter, who are called Sira Johan Hallbjørnsson, priest at Sande, and Sira Smid Einarsson, priest in Hedrum. Written at Tunheim in the year of our Lord 1436, on the very day of the holy Pope Calixtus. [Endorsement on the back, contemporary: «Letter of receipt from Mistress Sigrid for one hundred guilders that Sir Sigurd paid».]
Original text
Thet se allom godom mannom kunnokth at jak Sigrit Niclisse dotther kænnes thet med thessa mina opna breffue at jak haffuer opborith aff welborna quinna fru Katerina Jons dotther, aff hennis broders wegna Sigordh Jonson hundrade nyia arniska gillena som han lænte aff minom hosbonda j Stokholme Marquarth Buk gudh hans siæl haffue, giffuir jak Sigordh Jonson quittan ok lædegan før førnemda peninga.
Background
Katarina Jonsdatter was the sister of Sigurd Jonsson, who had won Giske in 1425, and the widow of the knight Alv Haraldsson (Bolt). That she paid her brother's debt suggests that the siblings stood together in money matters, and perhaps that Sigurd himself was away. Arnhem guilders were gold coins struck in Arnhem in the Netherlands, and they were common in trade around the North Sea and the Baltic. The loan in Stockholm shows that Sigurd travelled in Sweden and had connections there, and 1436 was a troubled year with rebellions against King Eric of Pomerania in both Sweden and Norway. The witnesses were priests at Sande and in Hedrum in Vestfold, and Katarina had received Manvik in Brunlanes in 1420, so she probably lived in this area. Where Tunheim lay is not stated in the letter. A contemporary endorsement calls the letter a receipt for one hundred guilders that Sir Sigurd paid.
People: Katarina Jonsdatter, Sigurd Jonsson