Otte Matsson's bailiff acquits a dead man
DN 21/635 · 25. april 1490 · Valle [i Sør-Audnedal]
What the letter says
Jon Laurensson, bailiff in the fief of Lista on behalf of Lord Otte Matsson, makes known that a judgement of twelve men had been held at Spangereid in a case against the late Tore Aslaksson, who was accused of having lain with Ragnhild Eiriksdatter while she was a maiden. The twelve men found him not guilty according to what either young or old knew. Since no surer evidence had come forward, the bailiff declared him quit and free on Lord Otte Matsson's behalf. The letter was made at Valle on 25 April 1490.
The letter in modern English
To all men who see or hear this letter, I, Jon Laurensson, bailiff in the fief of Lista on Lord Otte Matsson's behalf, send God's greeting and mine. I make known that there was a judgement of twelve men at Spangereid in a case brought against Tore Aslaksson, God have mercy on his soul, that he should have been the maiden's man [have had intercourse with her as a virgin] of Ragnhild Eiriksdatter. The twelve men found him not guilty, neither according to young nor old. And on the ground that no surer proof and evidence comes forward, I declare him quit and free and without claim on Lord Otte Matsson's behalf. For surer truth I hang my seal beneath this letter, which was made at Valle on the day of St Mark the Evangelist in the year of the Lord 1490 [25 April].
Original text
Ollom monnom theim som thettæ breff seer eller hører heilssær jag jon laurænsson favth i Lysthe Leen po herr otthe massons vegnæ Q. guth oc synæ kunnunch gørendhe at ther vor xii mannæ dom po spangerødh om eth mol som hanom vor tiil lauth toræ asslagsson huas ssiel guth nadhe at han skulæ væræ mø man rannil erixdotthær. funne the xii men hanom inthet tiil sak huerken aff vnghom eller aff gamlom.
Background
Otte Matsson (Rømer) held the fief of Lista in the south-west, and his bailiff Jon Laurensson judged and collected fines on his behalf. Leiermål meant sexual intercourse outside marriage, and it incurred a fine to the king or the feudal lord. Here the case was pursued although Tore was dead, probably because the fine could otherwise be claimed from his heirs. A judgement of twelve men was a verdict of twelve jurymen who were to weigh what the people of the district knew. Otte appears as the one who held the right to the fines in the fief.
People: Otte Matsson (Rømer)