The Pope asks Skule to protect the Bishop of Hamar
DN 6/18 · 10 Oktbr. 1234 · Perugia
The letter is probably addressed to Skule Bårdsson, who was of the Giske family and ruled a third of the kingdom. That the Pope asked him to protect the Bishop of Hamar in a dispute with King Håkon shows that Skule was seen as a power of his own.
What the letter says
Pope Gregory IX writes at Perugia on 10 October 1234 to the Duke of Norway, whom DN takes to be Skule. The matter concerns Bishop Pål of Hamar and his church, which have come into conflict with King Håkon. The Pope asks the duke to show the bishop goodwill, to protect him and the church with the power he has, and to do what the archbishop and archdeacon of Lund and the abbot of Herrevad require of him. As a reward the Pope promises him forgiveness of sins and merit in heaven.
The letter in modern English
Bishop Gregory, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved son, the noble man ..., Duke of Norway, greeting and apostolic blessing. [The opening is shortened in the register: «That ... our dearest son in Christ ..., King of Norway, should bow his neck to the enemy» etc. as far as «plundered».] Therefore, since we believe your nobility to be devoted to God and the Apostolic See and intent on the exaltation of churches, we have thought it right to ask you, and to enjoin on you for the remission of your sins, that you wisely consider that you can win no greater favour with God than by being a defender of churches. Show yourself favourable and kind to the said bishop, protect him and his church and defend them with the power given to you. Our venerable brother ... the archbishop, and our beloved sons ... the archdeacon of Lund and ... the abbot of Herrevad in the diocese of Lund, to whom we are writing about this, you shall obey in this when they require it of you, so that your store of merit in heaven may be increased, and we may be bound to answer you with grateful return. Given at Perugia six days before the ides of October [10 October] in the eighth year of our pontificate [1234].
Original text
Gregorius episc. s. s. d. dilecto filio nobili viro . . . . duci Norwagie salutem et apostolicam benedictionem. Ut hostium karissimi in in Christo filii nostri . . . . . regis Norweg(i)e sibi colla submitteret [etc. usque spoliasse]. Hinc est quod cum nobilitatem tuam deo et apostolice sedi credamus esse deuotam, et ad ecclesiarum exaltationem intentam, rogandum te duximus, ac tibi in remissionem tuorum peccaminum iniungendum.
Background
Skule Bårdsson (1189 to 1240), of the Giske family through Tora Skoftesdatter, was jarl and ruled a third of the kingdom after the division with King Håkon Håkonsson. The Bishop of Hamar had probably come into conflict with the king over the Church's rights or property, and the matter had been put before the Pope. The beginning of the letter is shortened in the papal register, so most of the description of the dispute is lost. That the Pope turned to Skule against the king shows that Skule was seen as a power of his own in the kingdom. The letter was written the day before the letter about the settlement between Skule and Håkon (DN 1/15). Herrevad was a Cistercian monastery in Scania, which then belonged to Denmark.
People: Skule Bårdsson