The Council of the Realm at Bud on the inheritance of Alv Knutsson
DN 23/347 · 3 september 1533 · Bud i Romsdal
What the letter says
The Norwegian Council of the Realm, gathered at the lords' meeting in Bud in Romsdal, answers the Swedish king Gustav Vasa on 3 September 1533 concerning two letters he had sent with the courtier Peder Pedersson. Swedish noblemen claimed an inheritance after Alv Knutsson and his family, but the envoy had no authority or proof, and the Norwegian opponents Lady Inger Ottesdatter and Lord Vincens Lunge had not been lawfully summoned. The council nevertheless establishes that the maiden Karine Alvsdatter is the nearest heir to Giske and the Giske estate, and that Lady Gjørvel, Peder Nilsson's wife, is next after her. Lady Inger has after mediation handed Giske over to Karine, except for a small part, and Vincens Lunge explains why Moland and Brøden are his by inheritance and purchase.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
High-born, most mighty king, gracious lord and favourable good neighbour. First our humble and loving service. We wish to let Your Grace and Royal Majesty know that here at the lords' meeting appointed and held in Bud, we have with due reverence received two letters from Your Royal Majesty by the well-born squire Peder Pedersson, Your Grace's courtier. The first concerns inheritance and property to which the stern knight Lord Lars Siggesson together with the honourable and well-born men Ivar Fleming, Jon Olsson and Bengt Andersson, Your Royal High Mightiness' councillors and servants, believe they have a right. The second relates that the stern knight Lord Johan Tursson together with the honourable and well-born men Lasse Tursson and Peder Nilsson, also Your Royal High Mightiness' men and council, have complained to Your Royal Majesty that some inheritance after the late Lord Alv Knutsson and Jens Knutsson has fallen to them here in the realm, and that some here in the realm are wrongfully withholding it from them. Therefore you graciously asked that we should help their envoy as best we could, so that they received what law, right and fairness required. Gracious and favourable lord, we humbly let Your Royal High Mightiness know that in accordance with Your Royal Majesty's favourable letter and wish we let the said Peder Pedersson put forward the case before these lords and good men, and asked him earnestly whether he had any authority or competent command from them to go to law with anyone
Original text (excerpt)
Høyghe stormectigste koningh nadighe herre och gwnstighe godhe naboer nesth vor ydmyge och kerlighe tienestes erbedingh. Verdis etthers nadis kongelige maiestatt att vylle vyde att vij nw vdj thette herremøde her y Boed forrammid och stoendis haffwe mett velbyrdigh swend Pedher Pedhersszon etthers nadis hoffsynde twenne etthers nadis kongelige maiestattz schriffwelsser tylbørligh mett reuerenze vndffangett: Ffwrste lyendis om nogett arff och eyge som strenge rider her Lawris Sygiitssenn mett sam
Background
The letter is a reply from the Council of the Realm to a foreign king, written while Norway was without a king after Frederick I's death in the spring of 1533. Alv Knutsson of Tre Rosor had owned the Giske estate, and after his son Knut Alvsson was killed in 1502, the inheritance had become a dispute between kinsmen in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Inger Ottesdatter of Austrått and her son-in-law Vincens Lunge held large parts of the estate, while Swedish kinsmen of Tre Rosor, such as the councillor Ture Jönsson's sons Johan and Lasse Tursson, wanted their share. The council refers to the Recess of Malmø of 1524, the agreement between Frederick I and Gustav Vasa, to explain why they took the king's recommendation seriously. A herredag was a meeting at which the council of the realm dealt with matters and gave judgement, and a summons (stevning) means that the opposing party had been lawfully called to answer. The letter shows how Giske in the 1500s had become an inherited estate that changed hands through women, marriages and lawsuits, and that Gjørvel Fadersdatter, who later married Truid Ulfstand, stood next in line.
People: Alv Knutsson, Karine Alvsdatter, Gjørvel Fadersdatter (Sparre), Ingerd Ottesdatter (fru Inger)