Eske Bille asks the archbishop to make peace with fru Inger
DN 9/652 · 13 January 1530 · Bergenhus
What the letter says
Eske Bille, commander at Bergenhus, writes on 13 January 1530 to Archbishop Olav about the long dispute with fru Inger and Sir Vincens Lunge. He regrets that the archbishop did not come to the herredag in Oslo the previous summer, where Duke Christian and the Council of the Realm could have reconciled them, and reports that fru Inger and her closest kin find his terms too harsh and intend to go to the king in Denmark. Eske has persuaded Nils Lykke to travel to the archbishop in person, and he advises him to give fru Inger and Lunge their fiefs, farms and estates back. Finally he raises Lunge's ship, the fish from the fief of Vardøhus, the arrears of the gjengjerd tax from 1528, an utfareleidang from Helgeland and the matter between Trond Iversson and Mattis the scribe.
The letter in modern English
My humble, willing and loving greeting to Your Grace's Worthiness always sent beforehand with our Lord. Dear lord, I thank Your Grace humbly and gladly for all good things, and especially for the jakt [uncertain reading: a catch or a vessel] and the rekling [dried strips of fish] that Your Grace gave me, which I will always willingly repay with all my power, as is fitting. Dear lord, as Your Grace well knows of the long-drawn-out quarrel, ill will, damage and ruin that has for some time been between Your Grace and the honourable and well-born woman fru Inger, widow of Sir Nils Henriksson, God have mercy on his soul, and the honourable and well-born man and stern knight, my dear kinsman Sir Vincens Lunge, Your Grace must know that they were and are more than ready to answer to Your Grace and every man. They went down to Oslo this past summer to attend the general herredag that His Majesty the King had then summoned and held. Dear lord, had it suited Your Grace to attend that meeting of lords, then without any doubt the high-born prince, our gracious young lord, with the councils of the two realms gathered there, would have found good means and counsel to arrange and order everything into good concord, peace and stability between Your Grace and them.
Original text
Mynn ydmyge weluillige oc kierlig helszenn ether nadis werdighett altiidt tiilfornn szendt mett wor herre. Kiere herre tacker ieg ether nade ydmygeligenn och gierne for alt gott oc beszønderligenn for then jacht oc recling szom ether nade meg gaff huilchett ieg altiidt weluilligenn forskylde well aff aldt myn macht som tiilbørligt er.
Background
The dispute between Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson and fru Inger Ottesdatter and Vincens Lunge had broken out in 1529, and the archbishop had among other things seized a ship from Lunge. Eske Bille had come to Bergenhus the same year, and he calls Lunge «my dear kinsman». The mediator Eske found, Nils Lykke, was married to fru Inger's daughter Eline and so was Lunge's brother-in-law. At this time fru Inger also had control of Giske, and Eske's advice to give her farms and estates back suggests that the archbishop had seized some of what she owned or managed. The gjengjerd was a tax to the king, and the utfareleidang was an extra leidang (naval levy) tax, here to help Bergenhus, which Eske writes he had taken over completely empty of supplies. The fish from the fief of Vardøhus had been impounded in Bergen because both the archbishop and Lunge claimed it. The settlement was reached in March 1530 (DN 9/656).
People: Ingerd Ottesdatter (fru Inger)