Jon Havtoresson's gift to Skara cathedral
DN 6/352 · 29 March 1397 · Fryks-Hered
What the letter says
At the thing in Fryk hundred in March 1397 Agmund Hat, knight and lawman in Värmland, awards the deanery in Skara a mill at Østre Burvika and several farms in Grums hundred. The property had been given to the deanery many years before by the knight Jon Havtoresson and his son, the knight Ulv Jonsson, but had since been kept from it. Two witnesses and a panel of twelve men confirmed the case.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
Be it known to all men who hear or see this letter that I, Agmund Hat, knight and lawman in Värmland, acknowledge with this my open letter the following. When 1397 years had passed from the birth of our Lord, on the Thursday before Mid-Lent Sunday, I awarded the deanery in Skara at a lawful thing in Fryk hundred the mill at Østre Burvika in the stream, except the fifth part, and these properties named here: Starkær, Takan, Aartakan, Sparranæs and half of Kafflakær, which lie in the parish of Grums hundred, with everything that lies under them and of old has lain under them, in wet and dry, nothing excepted. This property Sir Jon Havtoresson, knight, and his son Sir Ulv Jonsson, knight, had many years before conveyed to the said deanery, and it had been kept from it against law and right [uncertain reading]. This emerged from what two reliable witnesses, Halvard in Sigerstad and Tore bryte (farm manager), and twelve men who sat on the panel testified and swore according to their best truth, and they examined the case thoroughly. For greater proof of this I had the seals hung to this letter of the honourable man Sir Brynjolf, cathedral provost in Skara, and of the wellborn men Sir Magnus Logesson, knight, Magnus Joarsson and Birger Laurensson, squires, who were present at this judgement, together with my own. Given and done at the place and time named above.
Original text (excerpt)
Thet scal allom mannom witerlikt wara som thetta breff høra ællir see at jak Agmund Hat riddare oc lagman j Vermalande kenniz med thesso mino opno breffwe at tha lidhit war fra wars herra byrd m ccc xc oc siw aar thorsdaghen nest fore midfasto synnadagh til dømpde jak dækina dømeno j Scarom a rættara thinge j Fryka herret østre Burwika qwarn vtan femte delin j strømin. oc thæssin gooz her eptir næmpnas som æro Starkær Takan Aartakan, Sparranæs, halfft Kafflakær liggiande j Gromzherret sokn med a
Background
Jon Havtoresson was the brother of Sigurd Havtoresson of Sudreim, who married Ingeborg Erlingsdatter and thereby brought Giske into the Sudreim family. The brothers were grandsons through their mother of King Håkon V and had land both in Norway and Sweden. The letter is a letter of judgement from a Swedish lawman and shows that the family gave property to the church, probably for the salvation of the soul, as magnates often did. A deanery was the office of the dean or cathedral provost at a cathedral, with its own farms that yielded income. The case has no direct connection to Giske, but it shows how far the family network around the Giske heirs extended.