Eiliv Hjerne pledges Lund in Ryfylke
DN 4/931 · 1 February 1454 · Bergen
What the letter says
The squire Eiliv Hjerne announces in Bergen on 1 February 1454 that he has pledged the farm of Lund on Sjernarøy in Ryfylke, as much as his mother Lady Katarina Jonsdatter owned there, to the provost of the Church of the Apostles in Bergen, Sir Alv Tordgardsson. The pledge is for a debt of 150 light gulden, and the provost is to take the land rent from the land each year until the debt is paid, without the land rent being deducted from the sum. If the provost loses the land, Eiliv is to give him other land as good. The knight Magnus Green, commander in Bergen, and the councillor and town bailiff Amund Kogganagel seal with him.
The letter in modern English
To all men who see or hear this letter, Eiliv Hjerne, squire, sends God's greeting and his own, and makes known with this my open letter that I have pledged to the honourable and worthy man Sir Alv Tordgardsson, provost of the Church of the Apostles in Bergen, my land called Lund, which lies on Sjernarøy in Ryfylke, as much as my mother Lady Katarina Jonsdatter owned there, for one and a half hundred [150] light gulden which I rightly owe him. For this the said Sir Provost shall freely hold the said land and receive its land rent yearly, until he or his heirs or successors have had the said sum of money paid in full, and none of the land rent shall be deducted from the principal. And if it should happen that the said land of Lund is in any way encumbered, so that he cannot use it as is written according to the law, before he has received his payment in full, then I, the said Eiliv, bind myself and my heirs to compensate the said Sir Provost or his heirs with other land instead, as good in full value and rent as my share of the said land of Lund is, until the said sum, 200 light gulden [so it reads here, against 150 above], has been paid to him in full as is written above.
Original text
Ollom monnom them som thetta bref sea eder høira sender Elef Hierne af vapn q. g. oc sina kvnnikth gørandis med thesso mino opno brefue at ek hauer pantseth heidherlikom manne oc wyrdelikom herra Alfue Thordhgardhssyni profaste ath Apostola kirkio j Bergwen jordh mina som Lvnd hethir ligiandis i Siorn j Ryiafylke swa mykit som min modher frw Katerina Jons dotter atte ther vti fore halft annadh hundhradha lettæ gyllen som ek honom med retto skyllogher er fore huilket som fornemd herra profast
Background
Eiliv Hjerne was the son of Katarina Jonsdatter, sister of Sigurd Jonsson, and Jens Hjerne. The DN summary says that Eiliv had inherited Lund from his mother, but Katarina was still alive in 1455 (DN 2/810), and the letter only says that she had owned the land. Eiliv had probably received it in a division with her, just as they divided the Berg estate in 1448 (DN 2/781). A pledge of this kind was a loan with land as security, and here the lender kept the whole land rent as interest for as long as the loan stood. The letter first names 150 and then 200 light gulden, and it does not show which sum is correct. The Church of the Apostles was the king's chapel church in Bergen, and its provost was a powerful man with revenues of his own.
People: Katarina Jonsdatter