We have seen that Klevar in Sauherad was allodial property in the Vrålstad Family in 1535. Since the estate was allodial property in 1535, it must also have been so at least sixty years earlier. It was customary at that time that allodial property was almost never sold. A central document which concerned allodial property in the families at Lindheim and Vrålstad is the gift document which was composed at Søndre Bjørntveit in Solum in 1397.
In a time with so few sources which directly report family connections, one must use the information which, among other things, can be obtained from naming customs, ownership circumstances and marks on the seals which were affixed to documents.
The Fate of a Document -- At Nistugu Klevar there are a couple of extremely old buildings, a storehouse and a residence which people on the estate call the old house. Experts think that the storehouse is from before 1350. The residence is not nearly as old but it is known that it was repaired in 1798. A national antiquarian with expertise in building techniques says that the first story is probably from early in the 1600s while the second story was added later and repaired in 1798.
During a restoration around 1868, the carpenter Andres Moen found a parchment document behind a cupboard in the second story of that house. In 1870 he gave the document to the National Archives. It appears that it was a confirmation from 1399 of the gift document which that old Royal Official Bjørn Torleivsson had composed in 1397 when he gave the whole of Klevar to those two women relatives of his, Margareta and Gudrun Hallvardsdaughters.
The document gives us several matters about which to muse. Why did Bjørn give the estate to his woman relatives and not to his male relatives? He owned other estates and they probably went to his kinsmen by inheritance but no documents about these transactions exist now, only some about the estates which he sold or purchased or gave to ecclesiastical institutions.
Another question in connection with the document from Klevar is when it was brought there. The document must have come to the area at the latest when Hallvard Torbjørnsson of Vrålstad sold Klevar to his kinsman, Rolleiv Torsteinsson of Lindheim. As a new owner, it is reasonable that he received those old title documents which existed. If this is so, the letter probably came to Klevar from Lindheim with the son of the son of Rolleiv Torsteinsson, Rolleiv Anundsson, who became the owner of Klevar in the 1580s and settled on the estate.
The letter may have come to Klevar by other means but it is certain that the letter had been at Vrålstad and that Margareta and Gudrun received it in 1399. The question then becomes how it had come from these two women to Vrålstad and what relationship they had to that estate. Before we look more closely at those questions, we shall look at the document itself.
The Gift Document at Klevar -- H.J. Huitfeldt, "an assistant at the National Archives" on 22 November of 1870 sent a letter to Andres Moen with a translation of the document he had discovered at Klevar and given to the Archives. The letter which had been found reads as follows:
The gift document is printed in DN X 75 and 76 and the confirmation in DN X 77. They are thus not printed in one document but the gift document from 1397 is printed first and thereafter the confirmation from 1399.
It must have been particularly urgent for those two sisters to obtain confirmation that the document was correct. They enlisted the Lagmann in Skien and three of the most prominent men there to give them just that. That Old Royal Official, Bjørn Torleivsson, was probably dead in the meantime and, during the probate after his death, disputes about Klevar may have developed. That may have occurred because Torer Ogmundsson was one of the two witnesses in 1397. If he were in as close a relationship with Margreta Hallvardsdaughter as we have suggested, he may have been considered disqualified.
In 1399, the four men give their guarantee for the document itself even if they say no more than that they have seen it and read it carefully.
Royal Official Bjørn Torleivsson held that high office circa 1370-1385, but we hear about him already during the great family strife in Sauherad in the middle of the 1330s. We also have some other documents which mention him. In 1337, he is mentioned as the son of Torleiv Saksabjørnsson of Lindheim so the family connection is clear. In 1368, we find him at Klevar and two years later in Gjerpen. In the latter year, Sigurd Gyrdarsson and Olav Torsteinsson, the Priest in Gjerpen, are witnesses to a document where Bjørn Torleivsson becomes owner of the Brekke Estate in Idd. Olav Torsteinsson later became Priest at Solum and the Dean of the Gjerpen Deanery. We also find him as witness when Bjørn Torleivsson composes the gift document in 1397.
In 1370, Bjørn Torleivsson must have become the Royal Official in the Skien District. He then probably lived in Gjerpen. Perhaps it was only after he was, circa 1385, no longer the Royal Official that he first moved to Søndre Bjørntveit in Solum.
2. The Great Family Feud and New Generations
The oldest known document which tells about the family from Lindheim in Sauherad is an agreement which was recorded at Tinne in Heddal on the 31st of January in 1337 -- DN IV 197. In it Royal Official Ivar Ogmundsson and Lagmann Eirik Steinarsson make known that Erling of Haukvik, Tord of Låvell, his son Steinulv, and many of the kinsmen of the people of Haukvik came before them. As their opponents, Torleiv Saksabjørnsson, his son Bjørn, together with Bjørn Saksabjørnsson and a large number of people from Lindheim met.
Both parties complained about manslaughters, weapon injuries and various other matters. Before they came and presented their cases for arbitration, they had passed judgment among themselves but that judgment did not gain adherence. Now they agreed that those who did not keep a new agreement would be disturbers of the peace and a shame for their families.
The Judgment of the Lagmann and the Royal Official was as follows:
The document listing rules of conduct for the King's followers established the manner in which judgment in disputes among them should be reached. A man who honorably served the King, when he violated another of the King's followers, should be judged according to the council of the Royal Official and the verdict of the Lagmann. The Royal Official should furthermore inform the King of this in writing.
This is exactly what was done in this case. It is therefore clear that the people involved in this feud were men who served the King on honorable terms, that is, good men or noblemen, as they were later called.
The document listing the conduct for the King's followers also mentions that the fine for manslaughter of another of the King's followers was one mark gold or eight merk silver. This completely corroborates the fact that this strife was settled by a fine of one mark gold by Torleiv Saksabjørnsson for the death of Hallvard Erlingsson. When the agreement was not kept, the Royal Official raised the fine to double the amount.
Old Family Feud -- It is not known how the strife began between the people from Lindheim and the people from Hem on the one side and the people of Låvell and Haukvik on the other. Probably an ancient family feud was the basis of it. In the documents, it says that the strife concerned "old and new issues".
It appears that the people from Lindheim and Hem were the most noble families but that the people on the east side of the Sauar river attempted to be close competitors.
The feud did not completely end with the judgment in January of 1337. At a meeting of the common people in Skien in December of the same year -- DN II 1890 --
Both parties said that they were willing to obey the judgment. They complained about all their legal cases and disagreements, old and new. The settlement went against the people from Haukvik. Borgar of Hem had brought severe accusations against Hallvard Erlingsson who later was killed by Torleiv Saksabjørnsson.
The Family of Saksabjørn of Lindheim -- Saksabjørn is the oldest person mentioned by name in this family. He had a rare and little used name which actually was composed of two names, Sakse and Bjørn. His son was called only Bjørn and he is one of the few who were mentioned by name in 1337.
The family of Saksabjørn had probably lived at Lindheim for a long time and it must have been the central estate in that part of Grenland since the Upper Skipreide was named for it, Lindheim Skipreide.
We know the names of five of Saksabjørn's offspring, three boys and two girls: (1) Bjørn who was mentioned from 1335 to 1337 but not later, (2) Torleiv, (3) Sveinke, (4) Hustru Ingirid who was married to Bergulv Åsteson at Mæla in Gjerpen and whose son Åste was the Royal Official in the Skien District circa 1350 - 1370, and (5) Aslaug who was married to Borgar Vetrlidesson of Hem in Sauherad.
In the document from January of 1337, Torleiv is mentioned first among the offspring of Saksabjørn but that is probably because he was the man who was the accused killer of Hallvard Erlingsson of Haukvik. Bjørn may have been the oldest and named for grandfather Saksabjørn.
Torleiv Saksabjørnsson of Lindheim and the history of his family deserve closer scrutiny. Torleiv and his son Bjørn are mentioned in 1337. Torleiv was married to Cecilia or Sissel Ivarsdaughter. They had three offspring about whom we know: (1) Bjørn who was the Royal Official circa 1370-1385 and who was mentioned above and will also be discussed later, (2) Ogmund who will also be mentioned later, (3) Ormar who used Klevar in Sauherad and then moved to Sandsvær and it seems was the Sheriff there and is mentioned in 1400 and in 1411 -- DN VI 392, DN XI 90, DN VII 354 and DN XXI 197.
Torleiv Saksabjørnsson probably did not live long after that great family strife in the 1330s and may have died around 1340. Cecilia was married again and then to a man whose name was Vetrlide or Vetle who was probably the same person as Vetrlide Borgarsson of Hem who was mentioned in 1337. Even to the present day there are legends about these two, among other things, that they survived the Black Death in 1350.
Among the offspring of Torleiv there are two who are of special interest in connection with the working hypothesis which is presented above. They are Bjørn and Ogmund.
Bjørn Torleivsson is mentioned for the first time in 1337 and the last time sixty years later. He must have been a rather young man during the family strife in the middle of the 1330s. He inherited Klevar, among other properties, and it appears that he lived there in 1368 since he composed a letter there at that time. Two years later we find him in Gjerpen.
Bjørn Torleivson was married to Elin Torsteinsdaughter Dylla from Rakkestad and they had two offspring about whom we know (1) Rolleiv who no doubt lived at Lindheim and who was mentioned as a juror at the Sauherad parsonage in 1400 -- DN XI 90 and again in 1408 -- DN XIII 51, but probably moved to Sandsvær, and (2) Hustru Margreta who was married to Solve Ormarsson from Hem -- DN VI 392 and DN XI 90. The Hustru Margreta of Lindheim who was mentioned early in the 1400s -- RB 9 -- may have been Margreta Bjørnsdaughter.
Rolleiv Bjørnsson was married to Gunnor Alvarsdaughter whose father was from Hem. They had a son named Anund.
Ogmund Torleivsson of Lindheim probably took over the estate when his brother Bjørn became the Royal Official circa 1370 and moved from the area. Then Bjørn's son Rolleiv Bjørnsson, came to Lindheim and it must have been then that Ogmund moved to Hybbestad in Tjølling from where his wife probably came. Among their offspring, (1) their son Torleiv took over Hybbestad, and (2) the son Asvald is often mentioned in documents from southern Vestfold. In addition, it appears that two of their sons became priests: (3) Sira Bjørn Ogmundsson became the Priest in Tjølling and (4) Sira Torer in Sauherad. There are some indications that they lived with Gudrun and Margreta Hallvardsdaughters who in 1337 received the gift document for Klevar from Royal Official Bjørn Torleivsson, the brother of Ogmund. We shall consider these matters later.
We have seen that it was a prominent family of "good men" or noblemen who lived around 1400 and who had their roots at Lindheim in Sauherad. We encounter this family already in the 1330s as one of the most prominent families in Grenland. It is clear that it had a family connection with the knights who lived on Hesby, that is, the Finnøy knights, probably through Cecilia Ivarsdaughter who was married to Torleiv Saksabjørnsson.
The Knight Ivar Ogmundsson Rova from Hesby of Finnøy in Ryfylke is mentioned as Drottsete of Norway in 1334, but from March of 1336 at the latest he was the King's Royal Official in Skien and remained in that position until he died during the winter of the Black Death in 1349-50. Lord Ivar was married and had at least two daughters -- DN VIII 154. The one was named Kristin or Kristina who was probably named for her mother and was married to that Swedish Squire Nils Magnusson of Åbo in Södermanland. The other can scarcely be anyone but that Cecilia of Nes who was first married to the King's man, Torleiv Saksabjørnsson of Lindheim, and in 1341 married a second time to Torleiv's sister's son, Vetrlide Borgarsson of Hem.
Halvdan Koht says -- NBL VI 549 -- that Ivar Ogmundsson Rova had no offspring and that his inheritance went to his brother's son Lord Ogmund Finnsson who was also Drottsete and Feudal Lord in Vestlandet. He did not have a position in the Skien District. Ogmund Finnsson was married but had no offspring. He died in 1388 and a Torer Uspaksson was his heir. It has been said that Lord Ivar had an "illegitimate" son Uspak who was the father of Torer Uspaksson. Others contend that Uspak was the son of Torstein who was a brother of Ivar and Finn.
A letter from Bishop Håkon which was dated in Bergen on the 24th of August of 1341 shows that Ivar Ogmundsson Rova had at least two daughters. The Bishop wishes Lord Ivar success with their marriage and we learn that the marriage of those two was to occur on the 29th of September in 1341 -- DN VIII 154. Koht may only have thought that Lord Ivar did not have any offspring because his brother's son Ogmund Finnsson was his heir. The offspring of his first marriage must have received their inheritance when their mother died or when Lord Ivar married a second time because it appears that he was married a second time and then to Rønnaug Smidsdaughter. See notes at the end of this book.
3. Kinsmen and Kinswomen - Frendar og Frendkoner
An explanation of the designation of frendkone is of significance in connection with the gift document from the Royal Official Bjørn Torleivsson in which he gave Klevar in Sauherad to his frendkoner. The question is what family connection there was between Bjørn and the daughters of Hallvard, Margreta and Gudrun.
In the Middle Ages in Norway, there were several designations for kinship and relationships among individuals in families, among both close and distant relatives. In order to express a general family connection, the word frende, that is, kinsman or relative, frændr in Old Norse, was the most common. Originally the meaning was friend from the German Freund.
Frendar -- in legal terms, frændr meant all relatives on the father's side and the mother's side. For relationships by marriage, måg or in Old Norse mágr, that is, kinsman by marriage, was the most usual word, particularly for those who were closest, such as father-in-law, son-in-law, brother-in-law, in other words, a man who married into the family.
The family connection could be considered both agnatic, that is in the male line, or cognatic, in the female line. In the old laws, both were recognized but the greatest weight was put on the agnatic relationship.
The Old Norse society went from a society of families to a national society. Economically and societally the family continued to be particularly important but legally the king and his officials were to handle protection and security. See A.O. Johnsen: From Family Society to National Society, Oslo, 1948, KLNM XX, pages 587 ff about Family.
In the strife among the families on the east and west side in Sauherad during the 1330s, we obtain a good insight into what families still had to say concerning legal disputes. The letter of 13 December 1337 -- DN II 189 -- reports that the people of Lindheim and Hem on the west side in Sauherad "med frendane of mågane sine", that is, "with their kinsmen and in-laws" met before the Royal Official and the Lagmann in Skien. Their opponents also met. They were Tord of Låvell and Erling of Haukvik from the east side of Sauherad, their sons "og ei mengd frendar og mågar", that is, "and a number of kinsmen and in-laws".
Offspring of siblings, sons of brothers, sons-in-law, brothers-in-law and many other people who were closely related may have participated without it being possible to say anything more about their specific relationships. The word frende is thus a designation which does not say anything more than that they are not related by marriage because that meaning is covered by the word måg, that is, kinsmen by marriage.
Frendkoner and Frenker-- For women relatives, the word frendkone was used but Old Norse speech did not have a corresponding name for women who had married into the family. The word mågkone is not known and the måg could not be used about women.
The problem with frendkone is that it could mean both "female relative" or "wife of a relative", thus the lack of a word like mågkone presents a problem. Frenke is not that word but only a contraction of the word frendkone used in late Old Norse speech.
We shall look at a couple of examples which show the use of frendkone. On the 6th of November in 1425 -- DN I 509 -- Ragnhild Herleiksdaughter gave an estate in Hedrum to "my frendkono Hustru Sigrido Niculos daughter". On the 24th of February in the following year -- DN I 510 -- Markvard Bukk of Brunla makes known that Eivind Brandsson, son of Ragnhild, is dead and that she has given three merk of an estate in Tjølling to her "frendkonæ Sigrid Nyklisdaughter, my wife".
Ragnhild had been married to Erling Niklasson, brother to Sigrid Nikulasdaughter, so Ragnhild was married to a relative of Sigrid, her brother. Those two women were sisters-in-law.
In 1397 -- DN X 76 -- Olav Torsteinsson, the Priest in the Solum Parish and Dean in the Gjerpen Deanery, was present as a witness together with Torer Ogmundsson when Bjørn Torleivsson gave all of Klevar to "Margharetto ok Gudhruno systor henne Haluardz dottrom frendkonone sinom", that is, "Margareta and her sister Gudrun, Hallvard's daughters, Bjørn's frendkoner".
Bjørn is mentioned as early as in the 1330s and must have been extremely old in 1397. Those two sisters cannot have been married to two of his brothers but perhaps to two of his brother's sons. They may also have been members of the family and not women who married into it. The word frendkone cannot help us here. It is necessary to find other pieces of information on which to rely.
4. Priests, Priests' Wives and Heirs
In those five hundred years during which Catholicism was the only religion in the nation, celibacy was never universally practiced by the priests. In the first centuries the concept was not even discussed.
The Norwegian priests insisted for a long time that the Pope's own delegate had exempted them from celibacy when the Norwegian ecclesiastical province was established in 1152. They could not, however, produce any documentation of this.
The Struggle Against Celibacy -- The Norwegian Bishops held a Provincial Council in 1236 where, among other things, the implementation of celibacy was discussed because the Pope had made it a concern of great importance. The Pope responded the following year by saying that it was no defense for any sin that it had existed for a long time and then reiterated his demand that celibacy be practiced. Little was done, however, about the matter during the 1200s in Norway.
The Archbishop Eilev Arnesson said in 1327 that "nearly all the priests let their property go to their frendar", not least to their sons and daughters with whom they "in an indecent manner have provided themselves....in an illicit and forbidden life with mistresses".
Eilev Arnesson stipulated that the priests should give a tenth of all they earned to ecclesiastical institutions which they ruled. The basis for this was that the priests were accustomed to giving everything to their offspring.
The Demand that the Priests Should Separate Themselves from their Mistresses -- Bishop Eilev demanded in the statute of 1320 that within a month the priests move away from the mistresses they had. If they did not do this, they would have to pay a fine. If they waited too long, the fine would be doubled. The response to this command, however, was the same as it had been to all the others.
Archbishop Olav in 1351 reports that the situation with regard to celibacy was just as bad as it had been earlier and that many priests
It was customary that sons followed their fathers into the priesthood. In 1311 Bishop Eilev applied to the Pope regarding the ordination to the priesthood of 100 men who were born out of wedlock and among them 40 were sons of priests. Many of the people we meet in ancient documents had the cognomen presteson, that is, priest's son, or even prestedotter, that is, priest's daughter. A document from Valdres in 1322 reports that a priest ættleidde those two sons of his and "all the children he would thereafter have with Ragnhild Håkonsdaughter".
Around 1340 we hear about a priest from another country having a mistress even though he was teaching Church Law at Nidaros which was the locale of the Archbishop's throne. We can read of this in the Laurentius Kalvsson saga. He, himself, that is, Laurentius Kalvsson had a mistress by whom he had a son. When Laurentius was transferred, the mistress was inherited by Canon Solomon Toraldsson who also had a son by her. Later Solomon became the Bishop in Oslo.
In 1338, Margreta Filippusdaughter of the well known Losna Family ættleide a son named Jon whom she had with Sira Haldor Jonsson. Present at the time that this case was legalized were the most prominent men in the Kingdom because Haldor was a prominent Prelate. Others of the most well known secular and ecclesiastical families also had connections which were similar to the one between Margareta and Haldor.
"Priests' Wives" -- Most often the actual situation of the "priests' wives" is not discussed in contemporary sources. One letter of testimony however, from the estate of the Canons of Maria Church in Oslo shows us the following: A witness under oath reported that,
Elin is mentioned as a woman servant but she inherited the Brand Estate from Sira Brynjulv so she must have been the mother of his children because it was possible for them to be her heirs but not their father's. One of their offspring was Hustru Margareta Brynjulvsdaughter who was married to a man of lower nobility and hence her title of Hustru. She bequeathed the northern portion of the Brand Estate to Maria Church -- DN IV 579, 583 and 590.
In 1366 Canon Torstein Einarsson at the Oslo Cathedral mentions Ragnhild Aulvirsdaughter or Alvarsdaughter as kumpane minom, that is, my companion -- DN I 299. She probably fulfilled the same role as the aforementioned Elin. It is interesting that Torstein later gave Ragnhild away in marriage and gave her an extremely large dowry -- 100 merk in money and land -- DN I 299, 305 and 309. The first document about this was composed in Oslo on the 4th of August in 1366 and the second at Klevar in Sauherad on the 26th of February in 1368 and the third in Gjerpen on the 13th of January in 1370.
The document from 1366 tells about the dowry of 100 merk and land at the Brekke estate in Idd. Pål Sveinkasson was the betrothed of Ragnhild "Aulfirsdotter". The document from Klevar which is confirmed by the Lagmann in Skien and Ormar Torleivsson tells that Pål mortgaged Brekke to Bjørn Torleivsson who was later the Royal Official in the Skien District. In the third document Ragnhild leaves Brekke to Bjørn. Pål was then dead. Ragnhild must have been the daughter of Aulvir or Alvar or Olve Borgarsson Hem. He was a cousin of Bjørn Torleivsson. Later we will see that two of Bjørn Torleivsson's brother's sons were priests who also seem to have had their "priests' wives".
Heirs -- Legal documents demonstrate that the priests used many methods to care for their offspring. It was very customary to bequeath landed property to them or to "the priests' offspring's mothers", as it was often stated. Torgeir Olavsson, the Priest at Enebakk, gave both of his sons twelve øyresbol land til giftings, that is, at the time of their marriages in 1417. The custom was often that the Priest ættleidde the offspring who thereby received full rights of inheritance. It also happened that close relatives of the father, for example, a brother took exception to such action. To guard against this, a priest could convince his brother to ættleie the children. In 1786, H. J. Wille points in "Description of Sillejord's Parish" to a document which has now disappeared where a priest ættleidde the child as an heir to his mother while his own property would go to the Church. A mother could also ættleie the children as heirs.
In 1443 Sira Olav Askelsson of Sauherad, together with the Priests at Seljord and Kviteseid, was present in the Heddal stave church when the Priest there, Audun Asmundsson, ættleidde a child he had fathered.
It became more complicated when a distant relative, for example, a brother of the father of the priest who had fathered such "illegitimate" offspring wanted them to be his heirs. It appears that the old Royal Official, Bjørn Torleivsson, managed this by letting his frendkoner inherit Klevar. These frendkoner may have been "married" to sons of his brother Ogmund who were priests. When they were born out of wedlock, these offspring of priests lost their right to inherit allodial property which was in the family. They were nevertheless the heirs of the mother and she often had the same social status as the father. If he were of a noble family, the offspring also were generally considered to be noblemen. The children often received a new noble name and thus new noble families continuously came into existence and they could each have a new coat of arms.
It is difficult to see any other basis for Bjørn Torleivsson giving his frendkoner and not his frendar Klevar, than that frendane were priests and lived together with those two sisters. If this is correct, their offspring were heirs of their mothers and not of their fathers, that is if no special legal arrangements had been made. This was not anything that Bjørn Torleivsson could control. If he wanted the offspring of his brother's sons to have any of his landed property, the most certain method was to give it to their mothers.
5. Allodial Property of the Families from Lindheim and Vrålstad
The oldest complete cadaster of allodial property in Telemark and Grenland is from 1603. From earlier times, there is only scattered information. In order to obtain as complete a view as possible of the earlier land property, it is necessary to go a long way back by using a retrospective method.
That which was allodial property in 1603 was usually also allodial property 60 years earlier. Furthermore we must look at all the relevant information which is even older. Some sources after 1603 may also be of help. But mainly one must see what the contemporary sources tell about the land property of these two families. It is appropriate to begin with a probate in 1466. It informs us about the past and about the future.
The Probate of Søum in Sandsvær -- On the 14th of April in 1466, five jurors were at Lower Simenstad at Sande in Vestfold -- DN VII 461 -- and announced the probate after Torstein Ranesson and his wife Gunnor Arnfinnsdaughter, who had died. They had two offspring, daughters Liv and Ingrid. Liv was undoubtedly the oldest because she and her husband Roluer Elingson inherited, among other properties, all of South Søum, valued at 4 markebol and Fyndarfossen, a waterfall with a mill, and all of Myrer at Søum and also a little part of the East Åsnes estate at Sande, property number 7, and a part of the fishing rights there. Ingrid and her husband received a part of Åsnes and of the fishing rights which were equal to what her sister received, but had to be satisfied with 2½ markebol in Lower Simenstad, property number 114, which was considerably less than Liv received of Søum.
We can trace the family at Søum backward in time but it is not known where Roluer Elingson that is Rolv Erlingsson, was from. He and Liv lived at Søum or Reine in Sandsvær, both of which were ancient allodial properties in the family.
Rolv Erlingsson -- We do not know anything more about this man than that he in 1466 obtained Søum with his wife, Liv Torsteinsdaughter from Søum. His name is found only this one time. It is spelled Roluer, that is, Rolvr, which is now Rolv or Rolf.
Rolv and Rolleiv are two different names. The first is originally a combination of Rod which means ros, lov, frægd, that is, honored or renowned and ulv, wolf. Rolleiv has the same first part but the second is leiv which means the one who is back or chosen.
The name Rolleiv was used a great deal in Sauherad and the neighboring districts but Rolv was not. This name was, on the other hand, common in Vestfold and at Eiker. It is known that men who were named Rolleiv in Sauherad were called Rolv when they moved east.
People of Lindheim Owned Property at Reine in Sandsvær -- Rolleiv Torsteinsson of North Lindheim in Nes, who is mentioned from 1510 to 1566, was the owner of parts of Reine, Komnes, and South Hvam in Sandsvær but exchanged them in 1533 -- DN XI 670 -- for 3 ½ markebol in South Lindheim which was half of that estate. A family connection between him and Rolv Erlingsson is therefore very probable.
The father of Rolleiv Torsteinsson was Torstein Rolvsson and his mother was Tone about whom we do not know more than that it must have been she who owned allodial rights to North Lindheim. Furthermore, it is probable that she was closely related to Torbjørn Hallvardsson of Vrålstad so that it was through her that her son Rolleiv Torsteinsson and Hallvard Torbjørnsson were related. Tone Lindheim was probably a sister of Torbjørn Hallvardsson Vrålstad.
Rolleiv Torsteinsson at North Lindheim is a central person in tracing the family line backwards. He is mentioned the first time in a document dated the 15th of May in 1520 or 1519 -- DN XI 306. In it Eilev of Haukom acknowledged that he had promised Bjørn at Hove in Lisleherad a spoon which weighed three lodd and that he would get the money for the spoon the same winter and send it to Rolleif Lindheim "and it is now over ten years later".
According to this, Rolleiv lived at Lindheim even before 1510. He is mentioned as its user in a tax list from 1528. An official document from 1532 shows that he was a juror at Upper Kise. The next year he obtained half of South Lindheim and in 1535 he bought all of Klevar. He is listed as a juror many times.
In 1566, the last official document known which concerns Rolleiv while he is still alive tells that he exchanged with Siri Ramundsdaughter Upper Gunheim which was valued at 4 markebol -- DN XI 817. She received in exchange 3 markebol and 2 laupsland of Gvåla in Bø. Rolleiv was also mentioned in documents from the 1570s and the 1580s so his memory was long lived.
In 1542, Rolleiv was indicted for calling a Gunnulv Asgeirsson a heretic during a dispute at Vegheim. Several depositions were taken but evidently nothing more came of the case. Rolleiv must have had opponents in the district because on the day after Christmas in 1549 -- DN III 1051 -- he requested a certificate of character from the congregation at Sauherad and he received it:
Rolleiv was rich and loaned out money and in addition he was so familiar with law and justice that he could help people. That he requested a certificate of character from the people of the district is one of the several proofs that he was from outside the district. It may indicate that his parents, Torstein and Tone of Lindheim, lived outside the district and that Tone came there with her son when he took over Lindheim between 1510 and 1520.
In the 1400s, the sources which directly tell about family connections are few. It is therefore necessary to use the information which can be deduced from naming customs, the circumstances of ownership and families' coat-of-arms. We have copies, for instance, of seals which belonged to Rolleiv Torsteinsson.
Lindheim and Vrålstad -- The close connection between Tone Lindheim and the people of Vrålstad is also shown through the circumstances of the ownership of Dale in Seljord. Hallvard Torbjørnsson inherited that estate together with Vrålstad and Klevar, among other properties, but he sold Dale to a foreigner -- DN X 812. Rolleiv was awarded the right to purchase it back in a legal case in 1554 and we subsequently find him as the owner of Dale. Hallvard was dead in 1554 and his daughter Aslaug appeared in court.
In 1535 Rolleiv Torsteinsson had purchased all of Klevar from Hallvard Torbjørnsson of Vrålstad -- DN XXI 612. The descendants of Rolleiv have since then owned Klevar.
His son Anund Rolleivsson of North Lindheim died in 1603 and then his son Per took over Lindheim and his son Rolleiv took over Klevar. We know that Anund Rolleivsson had in all four offspring with his wife Gunhild Persdaughter who was from Bergan Sauherad. The two others were Tone and Anne. Old Tone Lindheim had a namesake there.
The Landed Property Belonging to the Lindheim Family in 1603 -- The size of estates and portions of estates are shown by their value which in this area were mainly calculated in terms of grain and hides. A tunne which is abbreviated as tn. was divided into six mæler. A hud or cowhide was equal to twelve skins, that is calf hides, and had the same value as a tunne of grain. In 1603, Anund Rolleivsson owned, among other things, land property of nine tn. of North Lindheim, that is, the whole estate, ½ tn. of West Prestholt, 3 tn. of Dale in Seljord and 4 tn. of Vefall in Drangedal.
In all, Anund Rolleivsson owned allodial property in total value of around 44 tn. In 1603, his son Per Anundsson Lindheim was the owner of approximately the same amount, among other properties, 6 tn. of Bergan, ½ tn. of Dale in Seljord and 4 tn. of Nordbø in Bø. Per Anundsson Lindheim thus owned a part of Dale in Seljord.
The Landed Property Belonging to the Vrålstad Family -- Allodial land records for Drangedal are not extant for the period as early as 1603 but from 1611 and 1624 we have a good survey of land property there. In 1624, Torbjørn Jørgensson Vrålstad owned, among other properties, 9 huder of Vrålstad, 2 pund and 4 mæler grain of Vefall in Drangedal, ½ tn. of Holtan in Nesherad, 1 hud of West Prestholt and ½ hud of Nordbø in Bø. Anund Rolleivsson Lindheim moreover, also owned part of Vefall in Drangedal under the allodial system. Similarly, there was joint allodial ownership of Nordbø in Bø.
Among the land property owned by Torbjørn Jørgensson we can separate out Holtan in Nes which he obtained through his wife Liv Anundsdaughter from Upper Holtan. It appears that her mother was from Nordbø in Bø. Her father, Anund Kittilsson from Upper Holtan, owned 2 tn. 1 mæle of West Prestholt and of this Liv and Torbjørn inherited that which in 1624 was valued at 1 hud. Of the common allodial property in the early 1600s, it is therefore only Vefall which can be traced back farther than to the end of the 1500s.
The survey of the landed property in 1611 shows that Torbjørn did not then own allodial rights to Holtan, Prestholt or Nordbø. He obtained these from his wife but Vefall was allodial property which also belonged to the Vrålstad family earlier.
We see that the connection between the people at Vrålstad and the families in Sauherad remained unchanged in the 1600s also. In around 1612, Torbjørn Jørgensson Vrålstad was married to Liv Anundsdaughter from Upper Holtan.
Land Property in the Family from Hybbestad in Tjølling -- Ogmund Torleivsson, a brother of Bjørn Torleivsson who in 1397 wrote the document about Klevar, in 1375 bought a part of Vestgarden Gjekstad in Sandar, property number 88. His wife's name was Asa and she was from Hybbestad in Tjølling where Ogmund probably settled. According to the circumstances of ownership of land property and certain other information, we can list their offspring as follows: (1) Torleiv who used Hybbestad and was mentioned as late as 1419 -- DN XIV 28, (2) Asvald who is mentioned several times between 1398 and 1410, (3) Bjørn who was mentioned as the Priest at Tjølling from 1393 to 1397 and was dead before 1402 -- DN VII 341, (4) Torer who was mentioned between 1393 and 1401 and who was the Priest at Sauherad in 1400.
Torleiv at Hybbestad gave a part of Vestgarden Sky in Brunlanes valued at 1½ øyresbol to the Tjølling prestebord for the salvation of the soul of Asa of Hybbestad -- RB 53. Sira Bjørn gave a large part of Sky in Brunlanes valued at 14 øyresbol to the Tjølling prestebord -- RB 51 -- and a smaller part of 2 øyresbol of Skallist in Tjølling to the Tjølling Church -- RB 54.
Both Torleiv and Bjørn thus gave parts of Sky to the Tjølling Priest and Church. Rolv or Rolfuer Sigurdsson of Sudgarden Hem in Tjølling who was mentioned also in 1374 -- DN III 301 -- in 1393 sold a part of his estate to Sira Bjørn Ogmundsson, the Priest at Tjølling -- DN III 811.
From Bergan in Tjølling, Asvald Ogmundsson and Tord Gunvaldsson announced that in 1398 Guttorm Tormodsson and his wife, Eidborg, sold 1 ½ øyresbol of North Hybbestad to Arne Drengsson -- DN IX 292. Earlier in the same year -- DN III 397 -- Asvald Ogmundsson witnessed, together with Arne Hallvardsson, that Gløer Torgiersson had sold 2 øyersbol of Smørbrekke at Sandar to Arne Drengsson and that this was the same part that Arne had received from Torer Ogmundsson. Arne Drengsson was certainly that Arne of Bergan in Tjølling who gave a part of North Hybbestad to the Tjølling Church -- RB 54 -- and his wife was probably that Hustru Margreta of Bergan who made a gift of part of Hybbestad to the Sandar Church -- RB 57. Arne Drengsson probably lived on North Hybbestad and Torleiv Ogmundsson on South Hybbestad -- see Berg's Tjølling.
Torer Ogmundsson had been the owner of part of Smørbrekke in Sandar and it must be he whom we also find in several documents, in among others, the one in which the old Royal Official Bjørn Torleivsson in 1397 gave his two frendkoner all of Klevar. Sira Torer Ogmundsson is mentioned as the Priest at Sauherad in a document which was written some time between September of 1400 and the same time during the following year -- DN XI 105. If this is the Torer Ogmundsson from 1397, he must have become the Priest in Sauherad after 1398. That year or a little earlier, a Sira Halstein was probably the Priest there -- RB 5.
In 1410, Arne Drengsson and Asvald Ogmundsson were present together with four other jurors at West Brekke in Sandar "the property on which the cleric Torer had lived" -- DN III 433. These two were supposed to handle a dispute between Sira Eirik and a man by the name of Gudmund about the ownership of the estate. In another document from the same year -- DN III 434 -- Gudmund, who was married to a daughter of Torer the cleric, was ordered to maintain in good repair the land and buildings on Brekke which was valued at twelve øyresbol.
Torleiv, Asvald, Bjørn and Torer Ogmundsson, the sons of Ogmund Torleivsson, all owned property at Tjølling and Sandar. From these very sparse sources we have seen that these men to some extent all owned pieces of land on the same estate.
6. Concluding Words About Hallvard Gråtopp
A clear demonstration of the boundaries between the Oslo Diocese and the Hamar Diocese is extremely important in order to succeed in the investigation about Hallvard Gråtopp. The incorrect understanding of these boundaries has resulted in the fact that all the debates about the events of 1438 have persisted for more than a century.
The Boundary Problem -- First it must be made completely clear that what we now call Telemark County was in both the 1300s and in the centuries following divided into two Deaneries, the Telemark Deanery in the Hamar Diocese and the Gjerpen Deanery in the Oslo Diocese. The boundary between these two Deaneries was during this period not changed as radically as one can find asserted in all the historical work which has been done regarding this question. It says that the districts of Kviteseid, Tørdal, Nissedal, Fyresdal, Skafså and Mo were moved from the Hamar Diocese to the Olso Diocese. This is not true.
Among the districts named, only Tørdal was moved as an annex to Drangedal over to the Gjerpen Deanery in the Oslo Diocese. The others remained in the Telemark Deanery in the Hamar Diocese. It is not mentioned in one single place in any of the original documents that those other districts about which we write here belonged to the Gjerpen Deanery in the 1300s and 1400s and they must have belonged there if they were in the Oslo Diocese. No new deanery was established for these districts so they either belonged to the Gjerpen Deanery and the Oslo Diocese or to the Telemark Deanery and the Hamar Diocese. Nothing in between existed. In order to establish it one more time: with the exception of Tørdal which became an annex to Drangedal and Lisleherad which became an annex to Heddal in the Gjerpen Deanery of the Oslo Diocese, the above mentioned districts remained in the Telemark Deanery of the Hamar Diocese.
This is important to have in mind when we read the letter from Dean Hjarrand Toraldsson of the Gjerpen Deanery to "all who live in Telemark as far as the Oslo Diocese reaches".
The source of the misinterpretation is the Pastoral Letter which was published at Gimsøy in November of 1395 from Bishop Eystein to the common people in those aforementioned districts in the southwestern part of Telemark. In it he also refers to the "last time we visited". It was not unusual at that time for one Prelate to make visitations on behalf of another one. It need not even be mentioned but it could be.
A Skeptic -- The only one whom I have seen who has doubted that it is correct that these districts were transferred to the Oslo Diocese is Lars Ivar Hansen. In his book Markebol and Deserted Estates, on page 28, he says,
Lars Ivar Hansen does not say anything more than that. He only questions the interpretation. He also reprints the map which is known from many publications on which the southwest has one boundary between the Tax Land and the Tithe Territory and a completely different one between the two Diocese. Even worse than this in connection with maps is that Cappelen's Norwegian History, Volume 15, map 55 of the Diocese in Norway around 1100 to 1300 put these under the Oslo Diocese, actually much earlier than in Bishop Eystein's time.
By "in the meantime" Lars Ivar Hansen means the period from 1395 to the Reformation. In other words, he considers whether the aforementioned districts were first transferred to the Gjerpen Deanery in the Oslo Diocese and then back to the Telemark Deanery in the Hamar Diocese. This must, in any case, have occurred before 1433 when Bishop Jens sent his visitation schedule to the Priests in the Gjerpen Deanery. In the sources, however, there are no traces of any such transfers back and forth.
The Revolt Did Not Begin in West Telemark -- The letter from Dean Hjarrand Toraldsson which was dated the 23rd of March in 1439 was not addressed to the common people of the Telemark Deanery in the Hamar Diocese where the settlements of Kviteseid, Nissedal, Fyresdal, Skafså and Mo belonged. With even the best good will, one cannot interpret the letter in such a way that he means the people in these districts.
It would also be strange if such an inflammable revolt had begun there. The districts in the historical Telemark were probably those among all of the Austland which were least plagued by bailiffs and huge taxes. The most uniform circumstances existed among the people there -- see the article in "Heimen" of April 1991 by Aanund Olsnes: "Telemark's Late Integration into the Kingdom of Norway, Background and Consequences" -- and there was not a large class of the lower nobility who felt their position threatened and who could therefore make common cause with the bønder. In Grenland the circumstances were entirely different and everything was right for such cooperation.
The Revolt Began in the Lindheim Skipreide -- Hjarrand Toraldsson turns in the letter to the common people in his own Deanery and he says this clearly and distinctly with the words, "..... Telemark as far as the Oslo Diocese reaches".
Sira Hjarrand mentions in the letter that people in the Skipreida of Gjerpen, Bamble and Ulefoss had cooperated with the demands of Olav Bukk. So there was only one skipreide left in the Gjerpen Deanery, the Lindheim Skipreide. It is to the people there that he turns to say that "the same which now is demanded of you" the people in the three other skipreida have already promised.
Lord Halvor -- From Vrålstad we have those many legends about Lord Halvor. That he was a Lord, that is of the nobility, was distinctly stressed in all of these legends. Since in all the documents which mention people on this estate not once is it said that they were "good men" or "lords", we must interpret the legends to mean that it was an exception that there was a Lord on that estate.
Lord Halvor can, on the basis of this among other things, only have come from outside that area. In the legends, disputes in which Halvor had participated are also mentioned but there is always something diffused about this. It is as if they had occurred at a time when Halvor was not connected with Vrålstad, as if they were something in which he had participated earlier in his life.
The Klevar Document -- The gift document from 1397 is that which binds the family at Vrålstad most decisively to the old Chieftain Family at Lindheim in the Nes Parish in Sauherad.
It is hardly probable that Klevar as allodial property was transferred to a different family during the period between 1399 and 1535. The most reasonable conclusion therefore is that Margreta and Gudrun Hallvardsdaughters were from Vrålstad and that one of them or one of their offspring came back there. It is also natural to connect this occurrence to Torer Ogmundsson who was a witness when Bjørn Torleivsson composed the gift document. To a great extent this is made likely because the document which in 1399 confirmed the gift does not mention him.
There can be no doubt that Torer Ogmundsson was a member of the family at Lindheim. The naming customs, the circumstances of ownership of land property and the seal marks which the family affixed to their documents all point to the idea that Hallvard Gråtopp was a son of Torer Ogmundsson and one of the daughters of Hallvard. A presupposition for this is that Hallvard Gråtopp is the same as Hallvard Toresson who signed his name to the document which was composed at the Oslo Bishop's residence in 1436. There Hallvard Toresson and Gudmund Helgesson were among the five who signed it together with Amund Sigurdsson Bolt.
Naturally there is no completely decisive proof for it being so but, according to those documents which are extant, this is the most reasonable solution to the question.
This Investigation of the original documents which mention Hallvard Gråtopp has had as its aim to place information there in a geographical, political, social, economic and familial context.
The documents without doubt report that the revolt began in that Upper Skipreide in the Gjerpen Deanery, that is, in the Lindheim Skipreide. Politically the revolt was a response to developments which found realization in the fact that a Union King who was a foreigner ruled the Norwegian nation with foreign feudal lords and bailiffs.
The revolt was not social in the sense that an underclass rose up against an upperclass. The revolt was led by men of the lower nobility and where it began in the Gjerpen Deanery everyone supported the revolt and fines were levied against both poor and rich there. For the men outside of that District against whom fines were levied, economic considerations were taken into account and the poor did not have to pay fines while the rich had to pay until they hurt. There is no direct information about who Hallvard Gråtopp was but there is no doubt that he was the leader of the revolt in 1438 and therefore he would not have been of a humbler family origin than his closest assistants, that is, he was at least a man of the lower nobility. It is not unreasonable to look for the leaders of the 1438 revolt among the foremost of the men who were with Amund Sigurdsson Bolt two years earlier, and then Gudmund Helgesson from Ullensaker is clearly indicated as the leader of the group which approached Oslo from the east in 1438.
The leader of the group of the west we know was Hallvard Gråtopp. If he had been with Amund Sigurdsson then he could also have been no one else but Hallvard Toresson. The seal which he affixed to the document in 1436 shows a lily in one field and an indistinct figure in the other. This is very similar to the coat of arms of the Bolt family. For example, a seal on a document from Alv Haraldsson Bolt in 1369 has a half lily on the one field and two bars on the other -- DN VIII 188. Aslak Kolbeinsson Bolt has a similar one in 1358 -- DN II 341 and so does Cecilia Håkonsdaughter Bolt in 1346 -- DN IV 296.
Torleiv Saksabjørnsson of Lindheim was married to Cecilia Ivarsdaughter of the Bolt family. Their son's son was Sira Torer Ogmundsson who was a witness when the gift document of Klevar was composed in 1397. Hallvard Toresson's seal thus points to the family from Lindheim.