Truid Ulfstand asks for the rent from Helgeland
DN 22/394 · 6. juni 1537 · Utenfor Orkdal
What the letter says
The knight Truid Ulfstand writes outside Orkdal on 6 June 1537 to his cousin Eske Bille. He asks Eske to see to it that the rent from his estate in Helgeland is collected and sent to his bailiff at Giske or to Peder Husum in Bergen, and exchanged there for gold. He also asks Eske to look after his interests as regards what the king's soldiers took from Giske when they first came north, for which he had been promised compensation in Trondheim.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
Friendly and loving greeting with our Lord. Dear Eske Bille, cousin (son of my mother's brother) and especially good friend. You promised me to look into the estate I have in Helgeland and what it yields in rent. Now I earnestly ask you to continue to arrange it so that the rent can be collected and come to my bailiff at Giske or to Peder Husum in Bergen, and that it is exchanged there for gold, as is best for me. In this way you will look after my benefit and my best. Likewise I ask you to look after my interests as regards what our most gracious lord's soldiers, who first came up here, took from Giske, and for which I received a promise and assurance in Trondheim. Wherever I can in any way repay this, you can rely on me. Herewith I commend you always to God. Written outside Orkdal on the 6th [the month is not in the text; the editor dates the letter to 6 June] in the year 1537. Truid Ulfstand, knight.
Original text (excerpt)
Vennlig kierlige hielsen met Wor Herre. Kiere Eskie Bilde moderbrodhersønn oc sønderligenn gode wenn som I loffuit mig at forfare omm thet gotzs ieg haffue paa Hellelandtt oc huad thet renther saa beder ieg Eder ganske kierlige att i endnu wilde bestille thet saa att rentthenn motte bliffue optagenn oc komme tiill minn fogde paa Giske eller tiill Pytther Hwsomm i Berghen saa thet bliffuer giortt mig tiill thet beste i guldtt oc I wdj thæ maade wille ramme mitt gaffnn oc beste oc thesligeste wedt
Background
Truid Ulfstand was a Danish nobleman, married to Gjørvel Fadersdatter, and through her he had obtained the Giske estate. Eske Bille was commander at Bergenhus and one of the most powerful Danes in Norway. In the spring of 1537 King Christian III sent soldiers to Norway, Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson fled, and the Norwegian Council of the Realm was abolished, and the letter was written in the middle of this transition. That the king's own soldiers had taken things from Giske shows that the war struck even estates owned by the king's supporters. The wish to have the rent exchanged for gold in Bergen shows that the land rent came in as goods, probably fish and butter, which had to be sold in Bergen before the money could be used. The letter is a private letter, and it shows that Giske had its own bailiff who ran the estate on behalf of an owner who himself lived in Denmark.