Exchange of land on Voss with Alv Knutsson
DN 8/395 · 21 August 1472 · Gyrestad
What the letter says
On 21 August 1472 at Gyrestad Ketil Brynjulfsson makes known that he has exchanged 15 månedsmatsbol in Mykle Ringin in Øvretunet on Voss with Alv Knutsson and his wife Magnhild Oddsdatter. In return he received 10 månedsmatsbol in lower Røten in the same parish and a balancing payment in land, cows, butter and grain. Six men, among them the king's hirdman Anund Olavsson, set their seals to it.
The letter in modern English (excerpt)
I, Ketil Brynjulfsson, acknowledge this with this open letter: With the consent of my wife and my children I have made an exchange of land (makeskifte) with the well-born man Sir Alv Knutsson and his wife Lady Magnhild Oddsdatter. I have given them 15 månedsmatsbol (land that pays land rent equal to one month's food) in Mykle Ringin in Øvretunet, which lies in Barstrand otting (district quarter) in Vang church parish on Voss, with all shares and benefits that lie and have lain with it, outside and inside the fence, from old to new, free and without claim from any man. Sir Alv Knutsson and his wife Lady Magnhild gave me in return 10 månedsmatsbol in lower Røten in Dørvedal otting in Vang church parish on Voss, with all shares and benefits that have lain with that land from old to new, free and without claim from any man. I, Ketil, also acknowledge that I have received the first and the last penny of what Sir Alv Knutsson and Lady Magnhild promised me as a balancing payment, in land, in cows, in butter and in grain, so that I am well satisfied. For greater certainty I ask these discerning men to set their seals under this letter together with mine: Anund Olavsson, the king's hirdman, Sigurd Guttormsson, Tormod Helgesson, Olav Anundsson, Aslak Pedersson and Nikolas Halsteinsson. Written at Gyrestad on the Friday before Bartholomew's Mass (24 August) in the year 1472 after the birth of God. Endorsement: (16th-century hand on the back) Letter
Original text (excerpt)
Tess kennis iak Kætil Brynolffson med tesse vpna breffue thet iak hawer giort iorde skipte med mine hustrv oc barna samtykke, med wælbœrdugh man her Alff Knutson, oc hans hustrv fru Magnil Ods dotter, sa ad iak hawer fanget them xv momata bol i mykla Ringin i œffre tuna som liger i Barstrand ottungin i Vangx kirkio sokn pa Vos, med ollum lutum oc lundidum som ther til liger og legit hawer vtan gards ok innan fran forno til nyo *ferlst oc akærelœst fœr huario manne ok fik her Alff Knutson oc hans
Background
Alv Knutsson of Tre Rosor, who later owned the Giske estate, gathered land in many places, including Voss, where his wife Magnhild Oddsdatter probably had family and property. An exchange (makeskifte) is a swap of land, and the balancing payment (mellomlag) was the extra one party paid because the pieces of land were not of equal value. Månedsmatsbol was a measure of land by how much it yielded in rent, reckoned as the value of one month's food. The letter shows that payment in goods such as cows, butter and grain was still common in the countryside in the 15th century. Such exchange letters were kept as proof of ownership, and the 16th-century endorsement shows that the letter lay in the estate archive long afterwards.
People: Alv Knutsson, Magnhild Oddsdatter