Land exchange on Voss with Alv Knutsson and Lady Magnhild
DN 4/974 · 20 August 1472 · Birke
What the letter says
At Birke on 20 August 1472 Gunhild Sigurdsdatter exchanges land with Alv Knutsson and Lady Magnhild Oddsdatter, in accordance with her late husband's wishes and with her children's consent. She gives them land in Gyristad in Vang parish on Voss, half of the Skelleros fishery and 2 løpsbol in the Flagar river. In return she receives 5 månedsmatsbol of land in the lower farmyard of Great Ringheim in Vang. Six men set their seals to it as witnesses.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
I, Gunhild Sigurdsdatter, acknowledge this with this open letter: I have made an exchange of land, in accordance with my husband's wishes while he lived, God be merciful to his soul, and with the consent of our children, with the well-born man Sir Alv Knutsson and his wife Lady Magnhild Oddsdatter. I have handed over to them half a pundsbol (land rent reckoned in pounds of butter) less 7 månedsmatsbol (land rent for one month's food) [uncertain interpretation] of land in Gyristad, which lies in Dyrvedal attung (an eighth of the district) in Vang church parish on Voss, and half of the Skelleros fishery, and 2 løpsbol (land rent reckoned in løp, a measure of butter) in the Flagar river, which lies below Lineland, and what more there was in both fisheries, which Lady Magnhild and her parents owned before [uncertain interpretation]. I hand over to Sir Alv Knutsson and Lady Magnhild these lands and fisheries free and without claim from any man, with all the shares and appurtenances (everything that belongs to them) that lie and have lain with them. In return Sir Alv Knutsson and Lady Magnhild gave me 5 månedsmatsbol of land in Mykle Ringheim (Great Ringheim), in the lower farmyard, which lies in Gulfjordung attung in Vang church parish on Voss, free and without claim from any man, with all the shares and appurtenances that lie and have lain with it. For further certainty about this I ask these trustworthy men for their seals under this letter: Sigurd Guttormsson, Orm Iversson, Tormod Helgesson, Odd Andbjørnsson, Od
Original text (excerpt)
Thess kennis iak Gunnil Siwerdsdotter med tesse vpne breffue thet jak hawer giorth jorder byte eptir mi(n)s husbonde vilia mædhen han i liffue var gud hans siel nade, ok begges vare barne samtykke, med vælburdug man her Alff Knutson oc hans hustru fru Magnil Ods dotter sa at iak hawer fangit tøm halft punds bol minder en vii momata bol iorder i Gyristadom som liger i Dyruindedals attungh i Va(n)gx kyrkio sokn pa Vos oc heltene i Skelleros fiskene, oc ii lope bol i Flagar anne som liger for Line
Background
Alv Knutsson of Tre Rosor inherited Giske in 1490 after Junker Hans Sigurdsson, and in the years before that he and his wife Magnhild Oddsdatter gathered land in several places, among them Voss. The letter is an exchange deed, an agreement to swap land where no money needs to change hands. Land was reckoned by how much land rent, yearly rent, it yielded: a månedsmatsbol (a land-rent unit) gave rent equal to one month's food, and pundsbol and løpsbol were reckoned in quantities of butter. The fisheries in the rivers on Voss were probably salmon fisheries, which were of great value. The text suggests that Lady Magnhild's parents already owned parts of the fishery, so the exchange probably gathered her inheritance into fewer hands, but the interpretation of that sentence is uncertain.
People: Alv Knutsson, Magnhild Oddsdatter