King Håkon announces a truce with the Hanseatic towns to Sigurd Havtoresson
HR I,1 nr. 506 · 1369 Sept. 5 · Bjurland kirke ved Båhus
What the letter says
King Håkon VI writes near Båhus on 5 September 1369 to the Archbishop of Nidaros and his bishops, to the drottsete Ågmund Finnsson and Sigurd Havtoresson, and to all knights, squires and officials in Norway. His envoys have come home from Germany with a truce with the Hanseatic towns and merchants that is to last until Midsummer 1370 and a whole year after that. At Whitsun the king and the council of the realm are to meet the towns near Båhus to negotiate a final peace. The king orders that all who owe the merchants anything are to pay, and that officials who have taken the merchants' goods in the king's name are to return them or pay compensation.
The letter in modern English
Håkon, by the grace of God King of Norway and Sweden, sends to the venerable fathers in Christ, the lord Archbishop of Nidaros and his suffragans, and likewise to his dear and faithful councillors, Sir Ågmund Finnsson, drottsete, and Sigurd Havtoresson, and all other knights and squires, also sysselmenn, treasurers and officials, and all other men and subjects living in his realm of Norway, greeting in the Lord. By this letter we let you know that our men and councillors, whom we sent as our envoys to Germany for the sake of peace and the benefit of our lands, have now returned. They have agreed with the townsmen and merchants that a truce is to be kept between us, our men, subjects and lands on the one side and all the townsmen and merchants who have until now been our enemies on the other. The truce has now been concluded and is to last until the next feast of the nativity of St John the Baptist [24 June 1370] and from then a whole year, and it is to be kept inviolably by both parties. At the next Whitsun we, together with the council of our realm of Norway, will hold friendly days of negotiation near Båhus with the said townsmen and merchants to make a final peace, God willing, and also with the princes and lords who are our adversaries, if they will come to this day. Whether a final peace is made then or not, the truce between us and the merchants is still to be kept and h
Original text
Haquinus, Dei gracia Norwegie et Swecie rex, venerabilibus in Christo patribus, dominis archiepiscopo Nidrosiensi et ejus suffraganeis, necnon suis dilectis et fidelibus consiliariis, domino Agmundo Finninzsson dapifero ac Sigurdo Haffthorsson omnibusque aliis militibus et militaribus, eciam prefectis, thesaurariis et officialibus suis ceterisque hominibus suis et subditis quibuscumque regnum suum Norwegie inhabitantibus in Domino salutem. Ad vestram per has nostras litteras deducimus noticiam,
Background
Sigurd Havtoresson (d. c. 1392) of Sudreim was married to Ingebjørg Erlingsdatter, the heiress of Giske, and he was a cousin of King Håkon VI's father, King Magnus Eriksson. He is named here right after the drottsete, ahead of all other knights, which shows how high he stood in the realm. In 1367 the Hanseatic towns had joined together against King Valdemar of Denmark and King Håkon, and the war also struck Norwegian coasts and Norwegian trade. The letter is the king's announcement of the truce to his own men, so that it could take effect in practice. The order to return confiscated goods suggests that the king's men had taken a great deal from German merchants during the war. Bjurland is probably a church near Båhus, but the place has not been securely identified.
People: Sigurd Havtoresson