Settlement between the drottsete Erling and Sir Finn Ogmundsson
DN 6/128 · 24 Decbr. 132[6?] · Oslo
What the letter says
A badly damaged letter, written in Oslo on Christmas Eve, probably in 1326, settles the losses between two parties. On one side stands the drottsete Sir Erling Vidkunsson, as estate steward (ombudsmann) for Duchess Ingebjørg, together with knights and squires. On the other side stands Sir Finn Ogmundsson and his men. Following letters from Archbishop Eiliv of Nidaros, the judges went through the complaints about goods and money that had been taken, valued everything in old money value and divided up who was to pay what. The letter mentions among other things swords, a shield, armour, grain, an ox, boards and land in Ranrike, Skaun and Sudreim parish.
The letter in modern English
[The beginning of the letter is missing.] ... in Tønsberg [send] God's greeting and their own. We make known to you that, following letters and command from the worthy lord Eiliv, by God's mercy Archbishop of Nidaros, ... we have examined as worthily as we could the complaints about loss of goods and money which Sir Erling, drottsete and estate steward ... [for] the duchess in Sweden [uncertain reading], and their companions, knights and squires, who are named later, have suffered from Sir Finn Ogmundsson, ... [and what his] companions have suffered from Sir Erling and his companions on the other side. We proceeded in this examination so that we ... [what] the lord king, our lady the duchess, the lord drottsete and their companions had lost to them, and what was witnessed before us. ... the half, following our proposal and that of the good men whom we called to us and who are named later, that the true debt should be ... either in current money [coin in circulation] or in all other things. And ... we valued all of this by old money value with ... half a mark. And first what our lord the king ... and ... in Hedmark was valued at ... 7 øre and one ørtug [an eighth and a twenty-fourth of a mark] ... 20 [marks], 7 marks and 2 øre. ... Torvard was valued at 100 ... and his son was sentenced ... King Håkon had given him ... Balke [uncertain reading] ...
Original text
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . j Tunsberghi. q. g. ok sina. Ver gerom yðr kunnight at æfter brefue ok boðskap vyrðuleghra herra. Eilifs með guðs miskun ærki[biskups i Nidarose] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ver ok profuaðom sæm jnvyrduleghastt akiæror vm missu goðz ok feaar þærs sæm herra Erllingr drotzsete ok vmboðs maðr . . . . . . . . . . [herto]ghinnu j Swia riki ok þæirra kumpana riddara ok suæina sæm siðarmæir næmfnazst hafua mist firir herra Finni Ogmundar syni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Background
Erling Vidkunsson (c. 1292 to 1355) of Bjarkøy and Giske was drottsete (steward of the realm), ruling the kingdom for the young King Magnus Eriksson from 1323. Duchess Ingebjørg was the king's mother, and she had lost power in Norway the year he was chosen. That Erling appears here as her estate steward suggests that he was also meant to look after her interests. The letter shows that the strife between the great men in these years ended in seizures and plunder of weapons, grain and cattle, and that the archbishop was drawn in to have the matter settled. Forngild mark was a way of reckoning by old money value, and the judges converted everything into it in order to compare losses made in different kinds of goods. The left part of the letter is missing and the middle has rotted away, so many names and sums are lost. The year is also uncertain: DN reads 132[6?].
People: Erling Vidkunsson