Magnhild Oddsdatter gives her stewards at Voss a quittance
DN 21/474 · 28. (27.) august 1454 · Voss
Magnhild Oddsdatter of Finne at Voss brought the Finne estate into her marriage with Alv Knutsson, who later got Giske. The letter shows that she owned property at Voss as early as 1448 and had others manage it.
What the letter says
Lady Magnhild Oddsdatter announces at Voss on 28 August 1454 that Ingrid, Eskil's wife, and her son Gudmund Eskilsson have rendered her account for her property, which they have managed for six years. She is satisfied and gives them and their heirs a quittance, so that neither she nor her heirs can make further claims on them.
The letter in modern English
I, Lady Magnhild Oddsdatter, acknowledge with my open letter that Ingrid, Eskil's wife, and her son Gudmund Eskilsson have rendered me account for my property, which they have had in their stewardship for six years, so that I am well satisfied. Therefore I give the said Ingrid and Gudmund and their heirs a quittance and freedom from claims on behalf of myself and my heirs and successors. For greater [certainty etc., shortened in the copy]. Made at Voss on the day of the holy martyr Hermes (28 August) [«Septem» stands in the copy, uncertain interpretation], written in the year of our Lord 1454.
Original text
Thet kennis iak frw magnilda odds dotther Meth mynom Wpno brefue ath ingridh eskils hustru ok hener son gwdmundh eskelsson hafua giorth mik regnyoskap fore mith gooz Som the hafua haftt ombodh ofwir vj aar swa ath mik wel ath nogir Thy giffuir Iek fornempda Ingridha oc gwdmundh qwittan ok okæralosa oc theres erffuinghia fore mik oc myna erfwingia oc epther Komandhe. Till mere etc: giorth a Woss die hermetis *et martyris Septem Script(um) Anno dnj. M cd liiij.
Background
Magnhild Oddsdatter was of Finne at Voss, and she brought the Finne estate into her marriage with Alv Knutsson. The letter shows that she owned property at Voss as early as 1448 and had others look after it. An ombud was a stewardship: the estate steward (ombudsmann), or as here a woman, collected the land rent from the tenant farmers and rendered account to the owner. That a widow and her son held the stewardship suggests that they were farming people at Voss whom the owner trusted. Magnhild is called Lady, but no husband is named. The letter is known only from an extract that Gerhard Schøning made from the original in the 1700s, and the date is uncertain between 27 and 28 August.
People: Magnhild Oddsdatter