The disused sawmills on the Giske estate are abolished
NRR 6, s. 471 · 31. januar 1633 · København
What the letter says
From Copenhagen on 31 January 1633 King Christian IV sends an open letter to the Crown's tenants and servants on the Giske estate. A number of sawmills on Giske estate land, with which Axel Arenfeldt of Basnæs is enfeoffed, stand entirely idle, and in several places there is no longer any forest to keep them going. The tenants have complained of having to keep them and have asked to be spared the dues, both at the royal assembly in Trondheim and at the one in Bergen. The king decides that they are to be spared the dues and that the sawmills are to be abolished.
The letter in modern English
Open letter to the tenants of Giske fief, concerning their sawmills. Christian IV. We greet you all, our and the Crown's tenants and servants who build and live on the Giske estate, eternally with God and our grace. Know that we have graciously learned that a number of sawmills lying on Giske estate land, with which Axel Arenfeldt of Basnæs, our man and servant, is enfeoffed by us, stand entirely idle, and that for some of them there is no forest left to keep them going. You also complain of having to keep them any longer, and have therefore humbly petitioned to be spared the dues, both at the last royal assembly in Trondheim and at the one held in Bergen. We have therefore graciously seen fit that you shall be spared the dues on these sawmills and that the mills shall be abolished. Copenhagen, 31 January 1633.
Original text
Aabne Brev til Giskø Lens Bønder, deres Sager anrør. C. IV. Hilse eder alle, vore og Kronens Bønder og Tjenere, som bygge og bo paa Giskø Gods, evindeligen med Gud og vor Naade. Vider, eftersom vi naadigst forfare, at endeel Sagmøller, liggendes paa Giskø Gods's Grund, som os elskelige Axel Arenfeldt til Basnes, vor Mand og Tjener, af os er med forlenet, at være ganske øde, ei heller til en Deel nogen Skov være, hvoraf de kunne underholdes, I og skal besverge eder dennem længer at beholde og de
Background
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries many water-powered sawmills were built along the coast to saw timber for export, especially to the Netherlands. The dues on the mills were fixed per mill and had to be paid even when the mill stood still. The letter shows that the forest in parts of Sunnmøre and Romsdal had been cut out within a few decades. A herredag was a meeting at which the king or the Council of the Realm held court and received complaints, and the tenants could present a supplication, a written petition, there. The same matter was sent to Axel Arenfeldt in a separate letter on 14 March 1633.