Alv Haraldsson and Amund Bolt settle over Tufn
DN 5/441 · 4 May 1405 · Tunsberg
Alv Haraldsson was married to Katarina Jonsdatter, sister of Sigurd Jonsson, who later won Giske. The settlement concerns land within the Bolt family, but one of the witnesses, Tideke Vistenaker, was married to Margareta Eilivsdatter, who later made Sigurd Jonsson her heir.
What the letter says
The knight Gyrd Gyrdsson, Herleik Åsulvsson, Tideke Vistenaker and Jon Karlsson, lawman in Tønsberg, declare that they were in Tønsberg on the Monday after Holy Cross Day in the spring, 4 May 1405. There the knights Sir Alv Haraldsson and Sir Amund Berdorsson made a settlement with a handshake. Alv was to keep the settlement he had earlier made with Jon Torgilsson about Tufn, and Amund was to go to Tufn in these days and take over the farm and the property he was to receive for it. By Midsummer Alv was to pay Jon's widow, Ingerid Andresdatter, the ready money he had promised Jon when they settled over Tufn.
The letter in modern English
To all men who see or hear this letter, Gyrd Gyrdsson, knight, Herleik Åsulvsson, Tideke Vistenaker and Jon Karlsson, lawman in Tønsberg, send God's greeting and their own. We make known that we were in Tønsberg on the Monday after Holy Cross Day in the spring in the sixteenth year of the reign of our worthy lord Sir Erik, by God's grace King of Norway. We saw and heard that the well-born men Sir Alv Haraldsson and Sir Amund Berdorsson, knights, made a settlement between them with yes and handshake. The condition was that the said Sir Alv should keep the settlement he had made with Jon Torgilsson about Tufn. The said Sir Amund was to go in these days to the said Tufn and receive it from Sir Alv, and also the property that he was to give for it. The often-mentioned Sir Alv shall also hand over to Mistress Ingerid Andresdatter the ready money that he had promised Jon Torgilsson, who was her husband, when they settled over Tufn, before St John's Day (24 June). In truth of this we set our seals to this letter, which was made as stated above (1405).
Original text
Ollum monnum þæim sæm þetta bref seea æder høyræ sændir Giurdær Giurdson riddære Hærlæykær Asulfsson Tidikær Wistænakke oc Jon Karlson logman j Tunsbergi q. g. ok sinæ kunnikt gerande at mer varom j Tunsbergi a manædagen nest æftir krosmesso vm varen a sextande are rikis vars wrdeligs herra herra Erigs mæder guds naad Noregs konongs.
Background
Alv Haraldsson and Amund (Ogmund) Berdorsson both belonged to the Bolt family, and Tufn was probably land to which several in the family had a right. Alv was a knight and councillor of the realm and was married to Katarina Jonsdatter, sister of Sigurd Jonsson, who later won Giske. Tufn in Råde in present-day Østfold is probably the farm Tomb, and the settlement was followed up on the farm itself six days later (DN 5/442) and by a division of odal land in 1410 (DN 10/110). Tideke Vistenaker, one of the witnesses, was married to Margareta Eilivsdatter, a granddaughter of Erling Vidkunsson through her mother, who later made Sigurd Jonsson her sole heir. Ready money meant payment in coin or silver, and the sum was probably part of the price Alv had agreed with Jon for Tufn. The letter survives in a contemporary vidimus, a witnessed copy.
People: Alv Haraldsson (Bolt)