Jon Marteinsson secures Ingerid land in Torvik for life
DN 3/490 · 20 July 1390 · Sodger
What the letter says
Three men make known that at Sodger in Romsdal on 20 July 1390 they saw Jon Marteinsson and Ingerid Eysteinsdatter take each other by the hand. Jon secured for Ingerid as much land in Torvik as Sir Sigurd Havtoresson and Lady Ingeborg Erlingsdatter had given her and her husband Uppgard for their lifetime. After her death the land was to fall to Jon and his heirs.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
To all men who see or hear this letter, Sigurd Marteinsson, Olav Villjalmsson and Jon Andresson send God's greeting and their own. We make known that we were present, saw and heard on the Monday before the Mass of Margaret at Veøy, in the first year of the reign of our worthy lord Eirik, by the grace of God king of Norway and Sweden (1390). The upright and wellborn man Jon Marteinsson and Ingerid Eysteinsdatter took each other by the hand on this condition: Jon Marteinsson secured for Ingerid as much land in Torvik as Sir Sigurd [Havtoresson] and Lady Ingebjørg [Erlingsdatter] gave Uppgard, her husband, and her for her lifetime. After her death all the land was to fall to Jon Marteinsson and his heirs. In truth of this we set our seals to this letter, which was made at Sodger in Romsdal on the Mass of Margaret (20 July) in the year named above. Endorsement: On the back in a roughly contemporary hand: Letter about Torvik.
Original text (excerpt)
Ollom monnom þeim sem þetta bref sea eder heyra senda Sighurder Marteinsson Olafuer Vilialmsson ok Jon Andresson quedio gudes ok sina kunnigt gerande at ver vorom þar j hia saghom ok heyrdhom aa a manadaghen nesta firir Margretar messo i Viey aa fyrsta aare rikis vors vyrduleghx herra Eirikx med gudes naadh Noregx ok Suiærikis konongx at þ(a)u helldu hondom saman ærligher mann ok vel boren Jon Marteinsson ok Jngiridh Eysteins dotter med þui skillordhe at Jon ader nefnder frialsadhe Jngiridhe so
Background
Jon Marteinsson (Rømer) was married to Agnes, daughter of Sigurd Havtoresson and Ingeborg Erlingsdatter, and he was the father of Sigurd Jonsson, who later became owner of Giske. The letter shows that in 1390 Jon was taking over responsibility for parts of his parents-in-law's estate and confirming agreements they had made. Such lifelong grants were common: a servant or loyal tenant farmer was allowed to use land as long as he and his wife lived, and then the land went back to the landowner. Uppgard was probably a man in the service of Sigurd and Ingeborg, but the letter does not say why they received the land. The letter is a letter of testimony about an agreement, made so that the widow had proof of her right. Torvik lies in Romsdal, and this shows that the Giske family owned land along the whole coast of Møre.
People: Jon Marteinsson, Sigurd Havtoresson, Ingebjørg Erlingsdatter