Sigurd Jonsson wants the Germans out of Norway
HR II,2 nr. 590 · [1442] · [uten sted]
What the letter says
The German merchants in Oslo and Tønsberg complain to the council of Lübeck and all the Hanseatic towns that they have been driven from their privileges. Behind this stand the townsmen of the two towns, Junker Erlend, son of Sir Endrid, and Sigurd Jonsson. The Germans may not stay over the winter, must arrive no earlier than 3 May and be out of the country by 14 September, must sell to the townsmen and not to the farmers, and their prices are set for them. Sigurd Jonsson is reported to have said that with all his might and all his men he would work to get the merchant out of Norway, even if he had to drink water for the rest of his life. The merchants ask the towns to get a messenger or a letter to King Christopher before Whitsun, so that he does not confirm the townsmen's privileges before he has heard those of the Hanseatic towns.
The letter in modern English
To the honourable, prudent and wise lords, burgomasters and councillors of Lübeck, and especially to all the towns of the Hansa, be it known and manifest that the merchant of Oslo and Tønsberg complains openly and bitterly before your grace that they have been completely driven from your privileges. Lords and princes have confirmed, given and sealed them for you, as old King Håkon, King Olaf, King Valdemar, young King Håkon, Queen Margaret and King Eric have given and sealed them, for your people to use in full force, and likewise all other letters which the merchant himself has obtained from king to king. [1] Here the townsmen of Oslo and Tønsberg, Erlend, Sir Endrid's son, and Sigurd Jonsson have driven you and the merchant of all the towns away from here. The merchant is also forbidden to stay the winter there or to keep his own household. When the merchant wants to be there, he is to come on Holy Cross Day after Easter [3 May], and he is to sell his goods to the townsmen and not to the farmers. [2] Moreover they have set the price of the merchant's goods, how dear he is to sell them: the barrel of beer for 12 Lübeck shillings, and all other goods accordingly. Beer is to be sold by half lasts, meal by lasts and half lasts, hops by ship-pound sacks, grey cloth in whole pieces and other fine cloth in whole and half pieces as they are folded, raisins by baskets, figs by baske
Original text
Jw erzamen vorsichtechen wysen heren borghermestere, ratmanne to Lubeke, sunderghen den menen steden der hense, sy wytlyk unde openbar, wo dat de kopman van Anslo unde van Tunsberghe claghet openbar cleghelyken juwer gnade, dat se synt ghentzelyken vordreven van yuwer privilegia, de yw heren unde vorsten bestedighet ghegheven unde beseghelt hebben, also de olde konynk Haken unde konynk Oleff unde konynk Woldemer unde de junghe konynk Hake, konyngynne Marghrete unde konynk Eryk jw ghegheven unde
Background
Sigurd Jonsson (c. 1390 to c. 1453) owned Giske and was drottsete (steward of the realm) and councillor of the realm, and after Eric of Pomerania was deposed in Denmark and Sweden in 1439, he led the government in Norway until Christopher of Bavaria was accepted as king here too in 1442. The complaint comes from the German merchants who traded in Oslo and Tønsberg, and the Kontor in Bergen sent its own complaint, which is printed in a later volume of the Hanserecesse. The townsmen of Oslo and Tønsberg wanted to control the trade between the Germans and the farmers themselves, and the deadlines in the letter follow older Norwegian law: as early as 1331 King Magnus Eriksson, with Erling Vidkunsson in the council, forbade unmarried foreigners to live in Bergen between Holy Cross Day in autumn and Holy Cross Day in spring (HUB 2 nr. 502). The fine of «8 witten and 13 mark» points to the old Norwegian fine of 13 mark and 8 ørtuger, the same one found in the ordinances of 1330 and 1331. The words about the water are reported by the opposing side, and they are the contemporary basis for the later tradition that Sigurd Jonsson wanted to drive the Germans out of Norway. Beer was among the goods the Germans brought in, so the words probably imply that he would rather do without German beer. The letter is undated: the Hanserecesse place it at the Hanseatic diet in Stralsund in May 1442, and the Lübeckisches Urkundenbuch (LUB 8 nr. 712) dates it 1440 to 1447, but the king's summons to Lödöse at Whitsun points to the spring of 1442.
People: Sigurd Jonsson