Berdor Guttormsson sells land in Anestad to Lady Magnhild
DN 8/439 · 12 March 1497 · Grefsheim
What the letter says
Berdor Guttormsson acknowledges on 12 March 1497 that with the advice and consent of his wife he has sold to Lady Magnhild Oddsdatter one markebol of land in Anestad by Alvestad in Ringebu. The land was the odal (ancestral land) of his father-in-law, Ivar Ottarsson. It passes with everything belonging to it, free and warranted, to Magnhild and her heirs to own for ever, and she has paid him in full. Lord Gunnar, parish priest at Ullershov, and the juryman Torstein Ulvsson seal the letter.
The letter in modern English
Before all honest men who see or hear this letter, I, Berdor Guttormsson, acknowledge that with the advice and consent of my wife I have conveyed and transferred to the well-born lady Lady Magnhild Oddsdatter one markebol of land in Anestad, which lies by Alvestad in Ringebu, which was the odal of my father-in-law, Ivar Ottarsson, God have mercy on his soul. It passes from me and my heirs and to the said Lady Magnhild and her heirs to own for ever and to dispose of fully, with all appurtenances [everything belonging to it] that lie and have lain with it, outside and inside the fences, of old and of new, nothing excepted, free and warranted against every man. And the said Lady Magnhild has satisfied me in full for the said land. In witness of this I ask for the seals of the honourable man Lord Gunnar, parish priest at Ullershov in Hedmarken, and Torstein Ulvsson, juryman in the same place, on this letter, which was made at Grefsheim in the year of the Lord 1497, on the day of Pope and Martyr Gregory [12 March]. [On the back, in a 16th-century hand: Letter on Anestad, which Lady Magnhild bought.]
Original text
Ffor allom dandemannom som thette breff se eller høræ bekennes jek Berdor Guttormson at jek haffwer [met rad oc samtykt minne quinnes set oc affhent velbørdoge quinne frv Magnild Odzdotter merkerbol jerder j Anestad som ligger vid Alvestad j Ringebw som min verfaders odaal var Jvar Ottarsons gud hans saal nade fra mek oc minom ervingom oc vnder ford frv Magnild oc hennes ervinge til æverdelig æigæ oc alz afrædis med lutum oc lunnindom som ther til ligger oc leiget haffver vttan gardz oc innan
Background
Magnhild Oddsdatter was gathering land in Gudbrandsdalen in these years, and Anestad is today called Ånstad. Odal land was land that had passed by inheritance in the family for several generations, and anyone selling odal land needed the consent of those with odal rights. Here it was the wife who held the odal right after her father, and therefore the letter states that the sale took place with her advice and consent. A markebol was a unit of land rent, eight times as large as an øresbol. The letter was written at Grefsheim, where the priest from Ullershov was also present.
People: Magnhild Oddsdatter