Fru Inger asks for help with Austrått and Sandøya
DN 22/388 · 12. mai 1537 · Lungegården
Fru Inger, who had earlier held Giske, here asks for help after the archbishop had taken Austrått. That Truid Ulfstand had control of the farm Sandøya suggests that it belonged to the Giske estate, which he held for his wife Gjørvel Fadersdatter.
What the letter says
Fru Inger Ottesdatter writes from Lungegården in Bergen on 12 May 1537 to Sir Eske Bille, commander of Bergenhus. She asks him to help Merete, the widow of Åke Tordsson, so that Sir Truid Ulfstand lets her keep the farm Sandøya for the same land rent. She also asks Eske to send Trond Ivarsson and Rasmus Dun with trustworthy men to Austrått to see and record what the archbishop and his men have done there, and to lock and seal the two iron doors of the tower. Finally she asks Eske to send to the farm for fresh salmon if he is lying at Agdenes or in Beisundet.
The letter in modern English
Friendly, loving greetings now and always beforehand with Our Lord Jesus Christ. Dear Sir Eske, may God almighty always grant me to ask after and hear of the life, health and welfare of you and all your good company. Dear Sir Eske, I thank you warmly for all the kindness and friendship you have always shown me and my good friends, which I will always gladly repay according to my poor means. Dear Sir Eske, here is a poor woman, Merete, widow of Åke Tordsson, who asks that for God's sake you will help her with Sir Truid, so that she may still keep the farm Sandøya for the same land rent. She will gladly give him a fitting gift in future according to her poor means, so that her household and home, her people and whatever she owns may be left in peace and quiet. That was her humble request to you and to the good man Sir Truid. Dear Sir Eske, I earnestly ask that you will be so good as to order Trond Ivarsson and Rasmus Dun to go to Austrått and take trustworthy men with them, and see and examine how the archbishop and his men have truly behaved there, and take their letters and seals on it. Dear Sir Eske, there is also a tower there with two iron doors. I want them to lock both of them, seal the lock and bring the key here to me. I ask you not to take it amiss that I ask this of you so boldly.
Original text
Wenligh kierlig helssenn nw och altid forsenth meth Vore Herre Iesu Christo. Kere her [.s...h] Eschi Eders liff hell och velffart vnde meg denn alssomectiste Gud til Ether och alth Ethers gode selskab altid spørie och fforfare. Kere her Esky tacker ieg Ether gierne for alle dyd och venskab som Y haffue meg och mynne godwenner altidh bewist huilchet ieg altid gierne forskilde vill efther myn ffattigh macth.
Background
In 1536 Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson had taken Austrått, fru Inger's estate on Ørlandet, after her son-in-law Vincens Lunge had been killed in Trondheim. In the spring of 1537 a Danish force came north, and the archbishop fled the country in April. Inger was in Bergen at Lungegården, Vincens Lunge's house, and the letter shows that she wanted the damage at Austrått witnessed and written down before she came home. Dannemenn were sworn, trustworthy men who could testify to what they saw. Åke Tordsson had been bailiff for fru Inger's late husband Sir Nils Henriksson, and the fact that Truid Ulfstand now controlled Sandøya suggests that the farm belonged to the Giske estate, which Truid held for his wife Gjørvel Fadersdatter. The «Margrethe» who sends greetings is probably Inger's daughter Margrete, the widow of Vincens Lunge.
People: Ingerd Ottesdatter (fru Inger)