Truce between King Magnus and Sigurd Havtoresson
DN 7/163 · 13 February 1339 · Skara
What the letter says
In Skara on 13 February 1339 King Magnus Eriksson concludes a truce with Sir Ivar Ogmundsson, Sigurd Havtoresson and their companions Peter Olavsson, Arne Andresson and Alv Petersson. The peace is to last until 8 September, and on 15 August the king is to come to Båhus and Ivar and Sigurd to Konghelle to negotiate a final settlement. Sigurd promises not to build new castles or take the king's revenues in the meantime, and to hand over Akershus to a Norwegian born man within fourteen days of the negotiations. Ten Swedish lawmen and councillors stand surety for the king's promise.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
Magnus, by God's grace King of Sweden, Norway and Scania, sends all who see this letter eternal greeting in the Lord. We announce with this letter that in the year of the Lord 1339, on the Saturday after Ash Wednesday (13 February), in the town of Skara, the following agreement was made concerning the enmities and disputes that have arisen between us on the one side and the noble men Sir Ivar Ogmundsson, Sigurd Havtoresson, Peter Olavsson, Arne Andresson and Alv Petersson on the other. First we for our part, and Sigurd for himself, Sir Ivar and their said companions, have on both sides promised in good faith that between us and our men and Sir Ivar, Sigurd and their said companions, each and every one of them and their servants, secure peace and firm safety shall be kept unbroken until the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin (8 September) now coming. We shall come in person to our castle of Båhus, and Sir Ivar and Sigurd to our town of Konghelle, on the feast of the Assumption of the same Blessed Virgin (15 August) now coming, to negotiate and put an end to the said enmities and disputes. In the meantime both we, as best we can, and Sigurd shall see to it that all our councillors and other prominent men from our kingdom of Norway, both clergy and lay, come together for this negotiation. Sigurd further promised that neither Sir Ivar nor he himself shall in the meantime build or raise any castles, fortresses, defences or fortifications anywhere in the
Original text (excerpt)
Magnus dei gratia rex Swechie Norwegie et Skanie omnibus presentes litteras inspecturis, salutem in domino sempiternam. Notum facimus per presentes, quod anno domini m. ccc. xxx. ix. sabbato proximo post diem cinerum, in civitate Skarensi, inter nos ex una parte, et nobiles viros dominum Jwarum Oghmundason, Sighwardum Hafthoresson, Petrum Olafsson, Arnonem Andresson, et Alverum Petersson, ex altera, super inimicitiis et dissentionibus inter nos ortis, in modum qui sequitur, exstitit placitatum.
Background
Sigurd Havtoresson of Sudreim was a grandson of King Håkon V through his mother and considered himself one of Norway's foremost magnates. In 1338 and 1339 he and several Norwegian magnates rebelled against King Magnus, who was king of both Sweden and Norway and mostly stayed in Sweden. This suggests that the discontent concerned who was to govern Norway and who controlled the castles and revenues. Sigurd had established himself at Akershus, the most important castle of the realm in the east, and the demand that the castle should go to a Norwegian born man shows that national belonging mattered in the struggle for power. The letter is a treaty of truce, sealed by the king and his Swedish council. Sigurd married Ingeborg Erlingsdatter, and in this way Giske came into the Sudreim family.
People: Sigurd Havtoresson