Lady Magnhild and the tenant who let Stadsberg go to ruin
DN 3/971 · 17 June 1490 · Stadsberg
What the letter says
Seven men were at Stadsberg on 17 June 1490 at the wish of Lady Magnhild Oddsdatter to view the damage the tenant farmer Pål Klove had done to her farm, lower Stadsberg. Pål had held the farm for 34 years and run it down until not a single house was left, and he paid only a fraction of the old land rent. Pål offered to make amends, and they were reconciled: Magnhild at once received half of upper Stadsberg, Pål was to keep the other half for his living, and after his death all of Stadsberg was to pass to Magnhild. She promised to give him bread at her farm if he grew too old to feed himself, and the land and the houses were divided.
The letter in modern English
To all honest men who see or hear this letter, we make known, Gaute Olsson, Anders Staffensson, Bård Amundsson, Amund Halvardsson, Simon Sigurdsson, Bjørn Guttormsson and Bersvein Gulliksson, that we were at Stadsberg on St Botolph's Day in the year of the Lord 1490 [17 June], summoned by the well-born lady Lady Magnhild Oddsdatter to see and inspect on her land lower Stadsberg the damage that Pål Klove had done to her farm at Stadsberg. It was then proved at the same time that two tenants had had to flee from there, one after the other, because of Pål, and those who then lived there paid 3 hides in land rent each year. Now the said Pål has held the farm for 34 years and run it down so that no house stands on it, and he has paid no more than 3 øre's worth [uncertain reading] each year. Nor did he have any right that anyone had reduced the land rent on Lady Magnhild's behalf, except himself. And Lady Magnhild was herself at Pål's farm 15 years ago and forbade him to concern himself with her farm unless he gave her proper land rent and put her farm right again. Then Lady Magnhild asked us to tell her what was right in the matter, as she most wished. Then the said Pål Klove came forward and offered to make amends for her farm, which he had laid waste, and for the land rent he had kept back.
Original text
Alle danne men som thetta breff seer eller høre gør vy witherligth Gautthe Olsson Andhers Staffensson Bordh Amvndhsson Amvndh Haluardsson Simon Sivrdsson Byrn Gvttormsson och Bersven Gvlighsson ath vy vare a Stazbergh sancte Botolzdagh anno dominj mcd. lxxxx tiil kraffder aff velboren quinnæ ffrw Magnildh Odzdotter ath see och skode hennes jordh nedhre Stazberg then skadhe som Pauel kloffue haffde giorth hennes gardh appo forne Stazbergh, var ther tha beuisth a samme tiidh ath ij lanbo motthe
Background
Magnhild Oddsdatter was the wife of Alv Knutsson, and she owned land scattered over large parts of southern Norway. The letter does not say where Stadsberg lies, but the witness Anders Staffensson recurs from the letter about Homtjern in Tretten (DN 3/968), so the farm probably lay in Gudbrandsdalen. A landbo or tenant farmer leased the land and paid land rent to the owner each year, and he was obliged to keep the houses and the land in good order. The letter shows how a landowner had to travel around and supervise: Magnhild had herself visited the farm fifteen years earlier and warned Pål. In the settlement she got the farm back, and at the same time she promised to support him in old age.
People: Magnhild Oddsdatter