The siblings give Alv Knutsson their right in Giske
DN 2/903 · 29 January 1477 · Bröden
What the letter says
The canon Bjørn Torgersson and the priest Alv Karlsson make known in Hamar on 7 June 1477 that they have read a genuine letter with intact seals. In that letter, written at Brøden on 29 January 1477, the knight Tord Bonde, the squire Jens Knutsson and the sisters Ragnfrid and Katarina Knutsdatter give their share and right in Giske to their brother Alv Knutsson. The gift includes the islands and holms belonging to the farm, among them Okseøya and Kalvøya, with hunting rights, mill and fishing, as property for ever for Alv and his heirs.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
Be it known to all good men that we, Bjørn Torgersson, canon in Hamar, and Alv Karlsson, priest at Gran and Vagha, were in Hamar on the Saturday within the octave of Corpus Christi in the year 1477 (7 June). We saw and read through a letter with whole and undamaged seals which read word for word as written here below: «We, Tord Bonde, knight, Jens Knutsson, squire, Ragnfrid Knutsdatter and Katarina Knutsdatter, acknowledge with this our open letter that we have granted and given our brother Sir Alv Knutsson our share and right in Giske, with the islands and holms that belong to the farm, that is, Ærthen, Okseøya and Kalvøya and all other islands and holms that belong to the farm, with hunting rights, mill, fishing and all benefits that belong to the farm. This we give to him and his heirs as their property for ever. In witness of this Knut Aslaksson's seal hangs together with ours on this letter, which was made at Brøden on the Wednesday after St Paul's Day (the Conversion of Paul, 25 January) in the year 1477.» Endorsement: On the back in a later hand: Letter on Giske [illegible] in which Sir Alv Knutsson's siblings gave him full right.
Original text (excerpt)
Thet se allum ghodom mannum kunnikth at mith Biorn Torgersson canik j Hamre ok Alffuer Karlsson prestæ a Gran ok Vagha warom j Hamre løgerdaghen infra octauas corporis Christi anno domini mcdlxxvij, saghum ok ifuirlaasom breff med hæilom ok oskaddum inciglom swa ludendes ord fra orde som her epter scriues. Thet kiennes vy Tord Bondæ ridderæ Jens Knwtzsson a vapn Ranfrid Knutz dotter Katerin Knwtzdotter med thetta varth opnæ breff at vy haffuæ vnth ok geffuet waar broder her Alff Knwtzson waar de
Background
After Junker Hans Sigurdsson died in 1466, Giske passed to the descendants of Katarina Jonsdatter, sister of the drottsete Sigurd Jonsson. Alv Knutsson was her grandson through his mother, and here he gathers the whole farm into one hand as his siblings and a brother-in-law probably give up their shares of the inheritance. The letter is a vidimus, that is, a witnessed copy of an older letter, made so that its content could be used as evidence without the original being sent around. The list of benefits shows what Giske yielded in income: fishing and hunting on the holms, a mill for grain, and land. After this Alv was sole owner of Giske, and the estate followed the Tre Rosor family into the 16th century.
People: Alv Knutsson