Alv Knutsson buys land in Geslen and Ås at Voss
DN 2/863 · 6 August 1466 · Evanger
What the letter says
At Evanger on 6 August 1466, Jesse Jonsson, with authority and consent from his wife Torbjørg Oddsdatter, sells the whole sister's share she had inherited from her parents in Geslen and Ås. The buyer is the knight Sir Alv Knutsson, and the land goes to him, Lady Magnild and their heirs to own for ever. Jesse confirms that he has received full payment, and four men seal the letter with him.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
To all men who see or hear this letter, Jesse Jonsson sends God's greeting and his own. I make known that with full authority from Torbjørg Oddsdatter, my own wife, and with her yes and consent, I have sold to the well-born man Sir Alv Knutsson, knight, to own as property and odal, the whole sister's share that Torbjørg inherited from her father and her mother in Geslen and in Ås, with all the parts and rights that belong to it and have belonged to it of old and of new, without exception, free and without claim from anyone, from me and my heirs and over to Sir Alv and Lady Magnild and their heirs to own for ever. I acknowledge that I have received the first penny and the last that were agreed in our purchase. In true testimony I ask these honest men, who are called Orm Ivarsson, Odd Alvsson, Kalle Binningsson and Orm Endridsson, to hang their seals together with mine on this letter, which was made at Evanger on the Wednesday before St Laurence's Mass (10 August) in the year of our Lord 1466. Endorsement: Later, on the back: Sir Alv's deed of purchase for Geslen and in Ås.
Original text (excerpt)
Ollom monnom theim som thetta breff see eller høra sender Jøssa Jønson kuede g. ok sina kunnokth gørande, at iak hauer i fullo umbode Torbiorge Odzdotter eighen kono minna med ia ok samtykth selth velbornum manne her Alf Knutson riddare med eighu odall saa mykyn systerluth som fornempd Torbiorgh feel i aarf effther sin fader ok sina moder i Geslene ok i Ase med allum theim lutum ok lunendum som ther til ligger ok ligat hauer fra forno ok nyo enghu vndan skildo frelsth ok akerelausth fore huarium
Background
Alv Knutsson of Tre Rosor inherited the Giske estate in the same year, 1466, after Junker Hans Sigurdsson, and he bought land in several places in western Norway. A sister's share (søsterlodd) is the part of the paternal and maternal inheritance that fell to a daughter, and under the law daughters received less than sons. When a married woman owned land, her husband had to act for her, but the deed of purchase stresses that it happened with her yes and consent, because the land was her inheritance. That Lady Magnild is named suggests that Magnild Oddsdatter may have been related to the seller Torbjørg Oddsdatter, but the letter does not confirm it. The letter is a deed of purchase.
People: Alv Knutsson, Magnhild Oddsdatter