Hanseatic merchants coerce Sigurd Havtoresson in the royal residence in Bergen
SDHK 9730 · etter 24. juni 1370 · uten sted
What the letter says
In the summer of 1370 King Håkon VI sets out 41 charges against the German maritime towns. The merchants have used the privileges from King Magnus to make their own rules in Bergen and elsewhere, they judge their own cases, trade retail and refuse the king's coinage. They have supported the duke of Mecklenburg, so that the king lost Sweden, and they have burned Marstrand, Konghelle, Lödöse, Agder, Jæren, Ryfylke and the royal farms at Avaldsnes. Article 11 tells that merchants in Bergen climbed over the wall of the royal residence and coerced Lord Sigurd, who offered to answer according to the law. The next day they dragged one of his servants out of a monastery and beheaded him, and they threatened to burn the bishop's residence and the town unless the bishop and the councillors gave in. The damages are reckoned in thousands of marks of silver.
The letter in modern English
Articles and charges which we, King Håkon, on behalf of our realms, Norway and Sweden, [put forward] against the maritime towns. First: our forefathers, and especially our dear lord and father King Magnus, out of goodwill gave the merchants who visited the realm of Norway privileges and liberties to ease their circumstances, and they have enjoyed these right up to now. These liberties and privileges were granted by his grace because of the pure loyalty he expected of them, so that the merchants would support the realm and the crown in their rights. But the merchants, especially those who used to visit our realm of Norway, have repaid the realm and the crown for these liberties and privileges with harm and very great losses. Especially in Bergen and elsewhere in the realm they have made new statutes among themselves, against the law and custom of the realm as it was when they obtained the privileges. These statutes cause no small harm and burden to us and the crown, and they are as explained below in this schedule. First: when one of them offends against another, the merchants, wherever they can, make a secret settlement between the accused and the plaintiff, so that the crown and its officials do not receive what is due to them by law. And what is worse: when anyone is caught for killing or other serious crimes, these wrongdoers are carried away on their ships, so that neithe
Original text
Articuli et cause, quos et quas nos rex Haquinus ex parte regnorum nostrorum, Norwegie scilicet et Zwecie, contra ciuitates maritimas [proponimus]. Jn primis postquam progenitores nostri et precipue carissimus dominus noster et pater, rex Magnus, concessisset mercatoribus regnum Norwegie visitantibus ex sua dileccione ob ipsorum alleuiacionem priuilegia et libertates, quibus semper gauisi fuerant usque modo, atque huiusmodi libertates et priuilegia admissa de sua gracia ob meram fidelitatem, qua
Background
SDHK identifies "Lord Sigurd" as Sigurd Havtoresson of Sudreim, and refers to K. Helle, Bergen bys historie, for his connection with the royal residence in Bergen. Sigurd was a grandson of King Håkon V through his mother and thus related to the king, and he was married to Ingebjørg Erlingsdatter, who had received Giske from her father Erling Vidkunsson in 1354. The charges were written towards the end of the war between King Håkon and the Hanseatic towns, and on 1 July 1370 the king concluded a five-year peace with the towns at Båhus. The list shows how much power the German merchants had gained in Bergen in the years after the German Kontor (Hanseatic office) was organised around 1360. They could force their way into the king's own residence, coerce one of the most powerful men in the realm and kill his servant, and both the bishop and the councillors had to give in. The letter does not say when the incident with Sigurd took place. The charges survive in two medieval copies, in Denmark and in Wismar.
People: Sigurd Havtoresson