Fru Inger on Jens Hansson, the Dalecarlian Junker and the tax from her fiefs
DN 9/614 · 30 August 1528 · Karmsund
What the letter says
On 30 August 1528 fru Inger writes from Karmsund to Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson. When she arrived in Bergen on 17 August, Vincens Lunge had left for the meeting at Lödöse and had been summoned from there to King Frederik. She believes that King Gustav's letters concern Jens Hansson, who had been with herr Peder the chancellor, and not junker Nils, who according to the Germans is held in honourable captivity in Rostock. She asks the archbishop to instruct his steward in Bergen, Jon Teiste, to keep Jens Hansson in custody. The tax from her fiefs, Sunnmøre, Edøy, Fosen and Stjørdal, lies ready with her steward at Austrått.
The letter in modern English
My humble, loving greeting now and always sent first with our Lord Jesus Christ. Dear lord, I thank your grace for all the kindness and goodwill your grace has shown me. I will always gladly repay it according to my means, wherever I can and may. Dear lord, be pleased to know that I came to Bergen eight days before St Bartholomew's [17 August], and by then herr Vincens had left for the meeting of lords that was to be held at Lödöse. When herr Vincens came to Lödöse, Christiern's brother, who is the king's clerk and spoke with your grace in Trondheim, came to herr Vincens with a letter from our dearest gracious lord King Frederik saying that he was to go down to Scania to herr Tyge Krabbe, take herr Tyge with him and come to his grace without delay, both together. Herr Nils Lykke also wrote to me that a meeting of lords was to be held at Nyborg on Falster [as written] after St James' day, and I know nothing other than that they are to meet his grace there, for I have had no letter from herr Vincens since he left. But I read a letter that herr Vincens wrote to Christen the clerk from Lödöse and to Bergenhus, and I understood from Christen's letter that herr Vincens gave up the meeting with King Gustav at Lödöse and went straight down to our dear gracious lord with Christen's brother.
Original text
Mynn ødmegelig kerlig helssen nw oc altiide forsent met vor herre Jesv Christo. kere herre tacker jeg eter node for alt dydt oc wille szom eters node mig beuist haffuer, huilket jeg altiide gerne forskillo wil effter myn mact y huar jeg kan oc maa. kere herre werdis eters node at wide at jeg kam thiil Berren otte dage for sancti Bartolomej oc tha war her Wincencius astad reist neder thiil then herdage szom skule staa y Løsse.
Background
In the summer of 1528 fru Inger was travelling south along the coast, and Karmsund is the sound by Karmøy, on the sea route between Bergen and Tønsberg. The Dalecarlian Junker Nils Stensson had fled from Norway and was held prisoner in Rostock, and according to generally known history he was executed there the same year. Fru Inger tries to show that Gustav Vasa's accusations really concerned another man, and she gives an exact description of Jens Hansson: short, white hair, yellow beard, a stubby nose, about 30 years old. The letter shows which fiefs she held in 1528, and Sunnmøre was among them, so she governed on the king's behalf in the same district where Giske lay. She had kept the tax from each fief separate and enclosed registers, and Per Mikkelsson was her ombudsmann (estate steward) at Austrått. Anne and Lucie Nilsdatter, who send greetings, are her daughters.
People: Ingerd Ottesdatter (fru Inger)