Alv Knutsson buys half of Lid in Hedmarken
DN 2/861 · 12 March 1466 · Grefsheim
What the letter says
Four lagrettemenn (lay judges) in Vardal and in Nes bear witness to a handshake at Grefsheim on 12 March 1466. Gudrid Torgrimsdatter sells half the farm Lid in Berg parish in Nes to Alv Knutsson and Lady Magnhild Oddsdatter for 15 kyrlag, with the consent of her daughters Gunhild and Rønnaug Gislesdøtre. At the same time Ketil Øysteinsson and Arne Gudmundsson give up the odal redemption right that their relatives Magnhild and Botild Gislesdøtre had to the farm.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
To all men who see or hear this letter, Ketil Øysteinsson, Paul Ellingsson, Rolf Audunsson and Paul Halsteinsson, sworn lagrettemenn in Vardal and in Nes in Hedmarken, send God's greeting and their own, and make known: We were at Grefsheim, which lies in Ullensaker parish [thus in the original] in Nes in Hedmarken, on the day of Pope Gregory (12 March) in the year of our Lord 1466. There we saw and heard a handshake between the well-born man Sir Alv Knutsson, knight, on the one side and Gudrid Torgrimsdatter on the other, on these terms: Gudrid sold Sir Alv and Lady Magnhild Oddsdatter half of Lid, which lies in Berg parish in Nes in Hedmarken, for 15 kyrlag (a unit of value reckoned in cows), free and warranted against her and her children and all others who consented to the purchase together with her, that is Gunhild and Rønnaug Gislesdøtre. The sale concerned all the lodder og lunder (everything that belongs to it) that lie and have lain with the farm of old and of new, inside the fence and outside, without anything being held back. The farm passes from her and her children and heirs and over to Sir Alv and Lady Magnhild and their heirs to own for ever and wholly without claim. Gudrid also acknowledged that she had received the 15 kyrlag in good money, so that she was well content, also on behalf of her children. Further, Ketil Øysteinsson by handshake transferred to Sir Alv all the odal redemption right (the family's right to buy back odal land) s
Original text (excerpt)
Ollom monnom þeim som þetta bref sea eder høra sender Ketil Øysteinson Pauel Ellingxson Rolf Awdenson ok Pauel Halsteinson sworne logrettismen j Wardall ok a Nessi a Heidmarkenne q. gudis ok sina kunught gørande at meer warum a Grepsheim som ligger i Wllenshofs sokn aa fornempda Nessi a Heidmark sancti Gregorij pape dag anno domini m. cd. lx. vi. saghom ok hørdom a handar band þeirra af eino halfuo velboren man her Alf Knwtzson riddere æn af andre halfuone Gudrid Torgrimsdotter med þeim skilordo
Background
Alv Knutsson of Tre Rosor was a daughter's son of Katarina Jonsdatter, sister of Sigurd Jonsson, and in 1490 he inherited a third of the estate after Junker Hans Sigurdsson, with Giske. In 1466, the year Hans Sigurdsson died, Alv was building up his own estate around Grefsheim in Hedmarken. The letter is a deed of purchase witnessed by lagrettemenn, sworn farmers who were witnesses and judges at the thing. Odal redemption right was the family's right to buy back odal land that had been sold out of the family, and by having these rights transferred Alv secured himself against later claims. Kyrlag was a unit of value reckoned in cows, a trace of the old way of reckoning value. The letter does not mention Giske, and it is included because it shows how a later owner of Giske gathered land.
People: Alv Knutsson, Magnhild Oddsdatter