| Notater |
- From "Danske adelige sigiller fra det 13. til 17. ?rhundrede", page 37:
Nr. 785. Johannes Wf: S' . . . HANN. . . I skjoldet en Sparre. 1379 1/1. Stockholm. Tegning i Langebecks Sigilsamling.
(Translation of above:)
Nr. 785. Johannes Uf: On seal: Sir (damaged)HANN(damaged); the coat of arms display's a chevron; dated: January 1, 1379; Stockholm; drawing held in Langebeck's seal collection.
The following is a translation of the article "De bornholmske v?bnersl?gter Uf og Splid - noget nyt om deres v?bener", written by Sigvard Mahler Dam, published in Heraldisk Tidsskrift, 1982.
Sparre-Uf:
This family hails from a venerated old Sk?nsk noble-family - the first recorded member was the "Ridder" (Knight) "Johannes dictus Wff" - mentioned in records dated 1299 and 1302 (1). He could be the great grandfather of the Gelre-armorial's Joenz U, whose father Lawe Uf was married to a sister of the Archbishop of Lund (in Sk?ne), Niels Joensen, who carried the twinned coat of arms (5) of the Bild-family. Joenz U is quite an historical personage! He was the commander of Hammershus Fortress, and in records from that time known as: "Johannes Uf" in 1379; "Hans Uf" - also in 1379; "Johannes Wf" in 1387; "Jens Uff" in 1389; and lastly as "Johane lawesson" in 1407 (6). His family relationship to the Archbishop probably gave him a freer rein as commander of Hammershus (7).
(Note: Evidently Sigvard Mahler Dam has since discovered that Jens/Joenz/Hans/Johannes Uf and Johannes Lawesen are NOT the same person. Edvard Skovgaard, in "1000 Aner til en Skovg?rdssl?gt", identifies Johannes Uf's parents as being Peder Uf/Ulf and Marie Jensdatter; and that Peder Uf might be the son of a Niels (Uffsen?) (-1302-) - likely this is the same person as Sigvard Mahler Dam's Nicholaus/Niels Uf (-1302-). And it would seem likely that Marie Jensdatter is identical to the daughter of Jens/Joens Nielsen Bild, who was the mother of Joenz Uf. - Norman Lee Madsen, December 9, 2005)
Niels Jensen became archbishop of Lund at a time when the Danish Crown had taken over Bornholm; but very shortly the king, Valdemar Atterdag, leased the island back to Sweden. We have the letter, wherein the archbishop promises to honour the Danish king's conditions - dated December 8, 1362 (8). A man named Hr. Jacob Splid was chozen as the king's representative - we will discuss his family later. But it is highly likely that the archbishop very soon chose his own representative as well to look out for his concerns at Hammershus - who better than someone from his own family? But we will not meet Joenz U until the late 1370s. At the bottom of the archbishop's funeral testament, issued in 1379 at Hammershus, can be found the oldest rendition of the Uf-family's coat of arms (not counting the arms in Gelre) (9).
On a deed (sk?de) dated the 7th of January 1407 (between the widow of Peder Hal and her son-in-law Orm Herlugsen) can be found the seal of "Johane lawesson aduocati castri & terre nostre borendeholm" (Johane lawesson, advocate for the castle and our Bornholm). The document was written by the archbishop himself - therefore "nostre" (our) (10). The seal used on this document is different from the one used in 1379: the "sparre" was much slimmer. He had probably grown very old, because a co-representative, Paulus Di?gens, is mentioned. Since no further records mention him by name, he probably died not long afterwards.
A seal picturing the helmet-design is first known from Joenz U's great grandson Oluf Ottensen (Uf), who was appointed chief justice for Bornholm after Jep Splid. From 1510 through 1522 can be found records mentioning him in that position; his seal can be found on a document dated 1522 - though it is not in very good condition. It shows a helmet with two vesselhorns. ("Vesselhorns" look like two curved horns sprouting from the top a helmet.) Oluf Ottesen (Uf)'s great grandson, Hans Olufsen (Uf), the last male member of his family-line, used the same helmet-design on his seal in 1599 (11).
Last mentioned as Hans Olufsen (Uf)'s father's brother, Peder Hansen (Uf) also used the two vesselhorns on his helmet-design. He was born in 1536; he was the chief justice for Bornholm from 1574 through 1588; and he died in 1596. His seal shows another oddity, which might be an engravers flaw, but seems entirely conscious (more on this presently); namely an "inverted" (or sinister) chevron! No one in this family-line had previously used such a design.
A Coloured Coat of Arms:
In Laurids de Thurah's "Omst?ndelig og tilforladelig Beskrivelse over Bornholm og Christians?e" [published in 1756], on page 70 (12) can be found the following: "In the church of this parish (Saint Knud's Church i Knudsker parish) the altar-tablet has been preserved in excellent condition and on it is engraved: 'Anno 1596, da gav J?rgen Gagge og hans Hustrue Mette Peder Hansdatter denne Tavle til St. Knuds Kirke. Begge Givernes Vaabener staaer der ved udhugne' (The year 1596, J?rgen Gagge and his wife Mette Peder Hansen's daughter donated this tablet to St. Knud's Church. Both donors' coats of arms have been engraved into the tablet) (13). (The name of J?rgen Gagges wife was really Margrethe and she was the daughter of Peder Hansen Uf.) This led me to believe I hopefully would find some coloured coat of arms. J?rgen Gagge's wife being a member of the Sparre-Uf family.
The antique-topographical archive of the Danish National Museum tells us that Knudsker Church was closely studied in 1972: ". . . altar-tablet dates back to the Renaissance - according to an inscription, which later had received several coats of paint (the above mentioned engraving) was dated to 1596. The tablet was made from oak, it measures 276 centimeters in length and 239 centimeters in height." It had been carved design displays slim columns and was crowned with a triangular gable, but its condition had deteriorated and suffered insect damage. Very excited I began to read about the findings under the many layers of paint - there were 5 different layers! But alas! No coats of arms were mentioned, inspite of Thurah's description of them as being engraved into the tablet. Probably both the inscription as well as the two coats of arms were removed in connection with the renovation which took place in 1762. A little disappointed I looked through some additional church-records from the Uf-family home parishes for similiar detailed descriptions.
Under Nyker Round-Church (Nyker parish): a description was found concerning a chalice, whereupon the donor's chevron coat of arms had been soldered, along with a inscription. The chalice is shown on a photograph in J?rn Klindt's book "P? spor af de f?rste Kofod'er" (R?nne, 1979), but he changed the date given by the National Museum. According to the National Museum a Mrs. Cecilia donated the chalice to the Nyker Round-Church sometime in the second-half of the 15th century. Joenz U had a daughter with this name, but she never lived on Bornholm, so why donate a chalice to the church in Nyker? Rather, the above Mrs. Cecilia must have been the daughter of Joenz U's son, Petrus Wf, who is mentioned in the year 1416 (14) this would match the date of the donation, and Mrs. Cecilia was the wife of an officer of the crown in Nyker parish.
A Pew in Saint Clement's Church:
After leafing through numerous journals, I casually looked over the description of St. Clement's Church (Klemensker parish), when suddenly my eyes caught a poorly done drawing of two coats of arms. The text read: "Clement's Church: door to pew, carved oak framed with smooth fir planks - showing helmeted coats of arms with vesselhorn and the following markings: a shield with an inverse chevron design, and the other shield sporting a "halv hummerklo" (half lobster claw), Chief Justice Peder Hansen Uf and wife Margrethe Hansdatter. The door was painted green, the coats of arms and the door frame painted red and white. Height 84 centimeters, length 56 centimeters. . ."
An earlier description from 1947 tells more: ". . . the pew-door from the 1700s is made of fir with three insets: the top one made of oak with two beautifully carved coat of arms decorated with helmets, vesselhorn, and feathers, and with the inscription: PH - MHD. On the back of this inset in the pew-door can be vaguely seen traces of two black-painted coats of arms below a layer of grey paint, the same as carved on the front." In a copy of "Danmarks Kirker" from 1954, the date has been altered to the end of the 1500s, which better suits the persons involved and the style of the time.
This sounded very enticing! And I decided (in 1979) to approach the clergy of Bornholm, pastor for Klemensker C.W. R?boe Dam, about these coats of arms, and he very kindly sent me some colour-photos of the pew-door, which had been hung in the entry ot the church. Since the red and white paint on the door frame sounded a bit odd to me, I decided to pay a visit to the church, which is situated on top of a hill in beautiful surroundings. And found that it appeared that the pew-door had received several coats of paint through the years! But you can clearly see that the earliest coat of paint on the inset was black - later it was covered with a gruesome green color! The Uf coat of arms, both the shield and the helmet, appeared to have been covered with a dark-red oilpaint - after a fairly thorough removal of the earlier layers of paint; but we can still see traces of the earliest layer: red on the vesselhorns; and white in the shield; the chevron has white paint on top of a coat of red. The wife's coat of arms shows white paint remnants on the vesselhorns; her shield has two layers: white over an old layer of red paint, and the "hummerklo" (lobster claw) has red paint on top of an old layer of white. It is peculiar that an inverse chevron is shown in the shield - Peder Hansen (Uf) was the only one on Bornholm using an inverse chevron. Was the carving done from a faulty design of his seal? Mette Hansdatter was the last member of the Bornholm Myre-family (myre=ant), she was the daughter of Hans Myre, they had a design with three black ants on a white shield in their coat of arms, and the helmet had two white vesselhorns (15).
An Old Church-bell:
Peder Hansen (Uf)'s coat of arms seem to have brought some confusion for researchers, because it appears that J?rgen Gagge and his wife Margrethe put up yet another memorial to honour Peder Hansen (Uf) and Mette Hansdatter. In 1601 they had cast a new large church-bell (which later disappeared) for Klemensker Church. Thurah quotes the following (12): "Paa den st?rste Klokke findes tvende Vaabener, det ene med et Spende udi, som ventelig er de Adelige Koefoders; Det andet med en Giedde Kieft udi." (On the large bell you find two coats of arms, one carries the chevron, the emblem of the noble Koefod-family, the other carries the pike's jawbone.) The engraving reads: "Anno 1601 Lod Claus Kames denne Klokke st?be til St. Clemmens Kirke paa Bornholm, efter Velbyrdige Hr. J?rgen Gages og Hr. Lars Nielsens i den Tiid Sogne-Herres Befalning, af Rheinholt Benning i L?beck". (In 1601 Claus Kames had this bell cast for St. Clemen's Church of Bornholm after the request of the Well-Born Mr. J?rgen Gage and Mr. Lars Nielsen. . .)
Unfortunately nothing is noted about an inverse chevron, but there is a reference to the Kofoed-family, who carried a blue chevron on a red background with 2 white vesselhorns. "Danmarks Kirker", volume 7, Bornholm, tells the same, but lists those coats of arms as the property of the Gagge and Splid families.
M.K. Zahrtmann (well versed in all the Bornholm-families) writes (16): "J?rgen Gagge gave a beautiful memorial in honour of his parents-in-law Peder Hansen Uf and Mette Hansdatter Myre, because in 1601 he had cast a large church-bell, engraved with the Uf-family's chevron-emblem and the Myre-family's crawling ant." Yes, Zahrtmann knew very well which families this pertained to, and has deliberately made the correction from the "Giedde Kieften" (pike's jawbone) to one crawling ant - but as we know the Myre coat of arms carried three ants! Zahrtmann never did see the bell for himself, so we must believe Thurah's impartial account of the above, and say that the very same set of coat of arms which today can be seen on the pew-door must have been engraved on the church-bell! Thus we are ensured that it can not be a mistake incurred later if the pew is a copy of the original.
The Splid-Family:
But who then is the rightful owner of the pew's inverse coat of arms? We are not entirely clueless: the Splid-family carried a half (or sometimes a whole) lobster claw (hummerklo) in their coat of arms, but how do they enter the picture here? Since the above coat of arms can not belong to Peder Hansen (Uf)'s wife, maybe it could belong to his mother? The initials could possibly have been carved later; we do not know anything about his father Hans Olufsen (Uf)'s wife (17). She might have been of the Splid-family - which would have been the last chance! For the last member of the Splid-family, Jep Splid, was mentioned in 1508 as deceased, whereupon his widow gives 200 L?beck-Mark to Lund Cathedral for purchase of land in Sk?ne. Among the witnesses signing the document is Peder Hansen Uf's grandfather Oluf Ottesen Uf, who at that very time had just succeeded Jep Splid as chief justice of Bornholm (18). Therefore the timing disproves the theory of the coat of arms belonging to another wife of Peder Hansen (Uf) - maybe the pew carried the emblems of both his parents?
The Splid-family was not very prolific - neither did they leave very many written accounts compared to other Bornholmer-families. We have already met the first Splid on the island: Jacob Splid, known to be King Valdemar Atterdag's commander (hovedmand) for Hammershus fortress in 1361 and 1362. The Splid-family did not likely originate from Sk?ne (where the archbishop recruited his commanders), but from another region. On Sj?lland and in Norway we find two (inter-connected?) families, both carrying the lobster claw in their emblems. In Norway the most important was Siewerd Bj?rnsen, known to be a bishop in 1458. On Sj?lland we have a Jep Nielsen (Splid) in Guml?se in 1492, his seal with the helmet is from 1503, his seal from 1492 looks like the Bornholmer Splid-family's "giedde kieft". A Jep Splid was chief justice of Bornholm in 1497. On a document dated the 10th of August 1497 we find him using his father's seal - the inscription states: "andreas split". The colours on the coat of arms are not known, but now we can see that the "hummerklo" (lobster claw) was white on a red field - if we accept the identification of the female's coat of arms from Klemensker church.
The helmet emblem with the two vesselhorns probably resulted from copying the other arms carrying families on Bornholm - the island being isolated from mainland heraldic influences. Also due to smaller areas, the land-owners never could afford the elaborate splendour shown in the coat of arms in other regions. Some of the important people on Bornholm still had their coat of arms hanging in the churches. Furthermore the prefect, Urne (he reported to Laurids de Thurah), in the 1700s mentions a painted friese with coat of arms in Hammershus fortress, but unfortunately it was already badly deteriorated.
The (known) helmet designs of the Bornholm land-owners of the 1400 and 1500s are as follows:
Splid: 2 white vesselhorns.
Sparre-Uf: 2 red vesselhorns.
Myre: 2 white vesselhorns.
Kofoed: 2 vesselhorns.
K?ller/Kj?ller: 2 vesselhorns.
Per Truelsen (Baad's family?): 2 vesselhorns.
Giedde: 1 blue and 1 white vesselhorn.
Bagge: 1 blue and 1 white vesselhorn.
Lang: 2 horizontally divided green/white - white/green vesselhorns.
Agern-Uf: 2 horizontally divided red/blue - blue/red vesselhorns; helmet sprouts a yellow twig with 3 acorns.
Myre/Kyrning: 1 white and 1 blue vesselhorn with a 6-pointed star divided in blue and white like the shield.
Hals: 2 vesselhorns with a crown in between them, like the emblem in the shield.
Niels Mogensen family: 1 upward-growing lily.
Sparre (of Sk?ne): 2 white vesselhorns with 3 blue chevrons, or a black eagle-wing. It is not known if the Bornholmer Sparre-family used this helmet design.
Agern-Uf:
A sister of Chief Justice Oluf Ottesen (Uf) (19) married freeman Oluf Tuesen of Store Krashaveg?rd in Klemensker. As far as we know they only had one son; maybe because Oluf Tuesen was killed by Christiern von Haffn, the archbishop's commander at Hammershus. Oluf Tuesen's farms and land were taken by the greedy archbishop Birger to be added to Hammershus fortress' lands while Oluf's son was still underage (20). He took his mother's family-name - Mogens W - and he probably grew up on the Sparre-Uf farm. In 1525 a very unfortunate happening for the Bornholmers took place: their island was mortgaged away to L?beck for 50 years. The Danish king "put wind in the sails' of several courageous freemen and they served as trouble-makers against the L?beck'ers; among them was Mogens W, who fought to retrieve his father's farms and land, and in 1533 he managed to retrieve part of his property. Two years later he joined the Bornholm-uprising against L?beck, but the peasants and the few freemen were no match against the seasoned soldiers of L?beck's army. The freemen had to flee to Sk?ne. While Mogens W stayed there, he received the nomination to become chief justice for Bornholm from the Danish king, and he was issued a document stating his right to his farms and land on Bornholm without any conditions (21). But let us leave history behind and return to the heraldic. We know Mogens W's seal from 1533 - the shield is the wrong way round compared to Storck's drawing in "Danske Adelsv?bener".
A Deviant Emblem:
Now we again go back to the Sparre-Uf's. The above mentioned Chief Justice Oluf Ottesen (Uf)'s father Otte W carried a deviant emblem - and if we did not know any older emblems we might believe that the family had changed from their emblem to Shield and Helmet. Because he used a triangle with cross-bars over the two lower corners - looking like the "sparre" (truss) on a house. Possibly this is just a mistake, or a variation, since some people at that time called a "sparre" a "husgavl" (house-gable) or a "gavl-sparre" (gable-truss).
The same phenomenon can be found in with another Bornholmer family. J?rgen Gagge's seal from 1522 shows a half wheel in the second part of the shield, but in the first part there is a triangle instead of the usual "sparre" (chevron). The Gagge-family had, as far as is known, no connection to the Uf-family at that time (22).
Allan T?nnesen has proven (H.T. II, s. 275f) that it was common practice for the arms-carrying families to carry an estate-mark (bom?rke) for some situations and in other situations arms mark (v?benm?rke). It seems a little strange though, that it was Otto W carrying an emblem, if he was brother to Cecilia, who gave the chalice to Nyker Church and carried the chevron in her coat of arms.
We can safely acknowledge that the Gelre Armorial's "Joenz U", who carried a red chevron on a white background in his shield, is the man whose coat of arms is carved on the pew-door in St. Klemens Church, and that the family's helmet-design had 2 red Vesselhorns. Furthermore, there is no doubt that Joenz U was also known as Johannes/Hans/Jens Lawesen Uf, the archbishop's nephew as well as his commander at Hammershus fortress.
We might even dare to say that the Splid-family carried a white half lobster claw (halv hummerklo) on a red background in their shield-design, and on the helmet two white vesselhorns. Thus we can add a few more pieces to our heraldic puzzle thanks to a simple pew-door in a remote Bornholmer church.
Notes:
1) The first known member of the Uf-family is mentioned in 1299 - he must be the father of the hitherto oldest known member: coat of arms carrying Nicholaus Wf, who is mentioned with "his father" in 1302.
2) Document of 1493 found in "Den Arnamagn?anske Samling", K?benhavn. Also printed n "Suhms Samling".
3) In Anders Galen's funeral testament of 1511 - see Thiset, State Archives.
4) Letter on paper from 1533 in State Archives, printed in J.R. H?bertz "Aktstykker til Bornholms Historie 1327-1621", K?benhavn, 1852.
5) Archbishop Niels Joensen's coat of arms can be seen in Henry Petersen's "Danske gejstlige sigiller fra Meddelalderen", K?benhavn, 1886, tables 20 & 21.
6) Johannes Uf: 1379 in the archbishop's funeral testament, Kr. Erslev "Testamenter fra DK's Middelalder", from the original parchment, Swedish State Archives; and in "Trap Bornholm" page 553; in 1387 witness for Peder Munk (in Thiset's files, State Archives); in 1407 as witness for Marine Clausdatter, original on parchment in State Archives - reprinted in H?bertz nr. 11.
7) An old handwritten paper by prefect Urne, found in an attic in R?nne, early 1900, (see "Bornholmske Samlinger", vol. 3, 1908) which tells us ". . denne Hans Uff regner Resen ej med, skj?nt Hvitfeldt l.e. siger udtrykkelig: Han var Selvhersker paa Hammershus paa Bornholm" (Resen does not pay any heed to this Hans Uff, although Hvitfeldt clearly states: He was the sole Commander for Hammershus on Bornholm), see: Hvitfeldt l.e. page 78.
8) This letter is printed in Laurids de Thurah's "Omst?ndelig og tilforladelig Beskrivelse over den ?ster-S?en liggende. . . ?e Bornholm og. . . Christians?e. . .", K?benhavn, 1756, page 209.
9) Johannes Uf's oldest seal can be seen in Henry Petersen's "Danske adelige sgiller fra det 13 og 14 Aarh.", K?benhavn, 1897, nr. 785.
10) Thiset has erroneously placed this seal under the Kofoed-family, because that family also carried a "sparre" coat of arms, the first Kofoed to carry it was probably Chief Justice Jens Kofoed of Kyndeg?rd in Nyker. A document from 1514 by the archbishop of Lund, introducing the Kofoed's "sparre" coat of arms has been branded as a falsehood - but regardless of this, a Kofoed could have used a "sparre" coat of arms or have been commander of Hammershus on Bornholm as early as 1407.
11) Hans Olufsen (Uf) has also wrongly been categorized as Kofoed by Thiset (see note 10), a close look into Kofoed genealogy will show that no one has the name Oluf. Hans Olufsen (Uf) was the owner of Vard?hus in Sk?ne and died in 1601.
12) Thurah's "Bornholmskbeskrivelse" (see note 8).
13) The name of J?rgen Gagges wife was really Margrethe and she was the daughter of Peder Hansen (Uf). She and her sister Merete (married in 1606 to Hans Grabow of Pederstrup) were the two last members of the Sparre-Uf's. Note that the year the altar-tablet was given to the church: 1596, is the year Peder Hansen (Uf) died. J?rgen Gagge (the younger) is of the Borholm-branch of that family; Gagge III in "Danske Adelsv?bener". In the year-book from 1893 you find their family-tree, but it's wrong in several instances. At the time this is written, I just now found the following in P.N. Skovgaard's "Beskrivelse over Bornholm", K?benhavn, 1804, page 315:
"Paa Altertavlen l?ses: 'Ao. 1596 da gaf J?rgen Gage oc hans hustru Merete Peder Hans datter denne altertafle til st. Knudskirke, vort haab til Gud alene'. Derved ere begge Giveres Vaabner udhgne. Gagges Vaaben er et Gavlsp?nde, et halvt Kaggehjul o.s.v. Hendes Vaaben: et Gavlssp?nde omvendt, i r?dprikket Feldt."
(On the altar-tablet you'll read: "In 1596 J?rgen Gagge and his wife Merete (sic!) Peder Hansen's daughter gave this altar-tablet to St. Knud's Church, our Hope in God only." Both of their coats of arms are carved into the tablet. Gagge's coat of arms shows a gable-truss and a half wheel. Her arms: an upside down gable-truss, on a red-dotted background.)
If the red-dotted background is on both of their emblems is difficult to ascertain.
14) State Archives - Private Archives, new chronological order on parchment: March 23, 1416.
15) The family known as "Myre on Bornholm" and the coat of arms is known from Hans Myre's seal. He died in 1518 as the last male of that family on Bornholm, but he had a sister, Bodil, who married a man named Jacob of the family Kyrning-Myre. Their descendants took the name Myre only, and some of them resided on Bornholm as well.
16) M.K. Zahrtmann: "Optegnelser om Almeg?rd i Knudsker sogn", in "Bornholmske Samlinger", volume 21.
17) Not to be mistaken with the Hans Olufsen (Uf), mentioned in note 11, as being the Uf-family's last male. This man is his father's father.
18) Thiset's files in State Archives under Jep Splid. The original is said to be in the Swedish State Archives.
19) Oluf Ottensen (Uf) whose seal is the very first to carry a helmet-design. He has been erroneously mentioned in "Danske Adelsv?bener" to be the last man in his family, but Hans Olufsen (Uf), mentioned in note 11, was the last.
20) The letter regarding this is printed in H?bertz, nr. 83. Original on paper of 1533 in State Archives with Mogens W's seal.
21) To be found in H?bertz, nr 87. Contrary to common belief this family is not from Sk?ne, but is an old Bornholmer noble-family. That Mogens W is connected to Oddersberg in Sk?ne, is due to his marriage to Berete (Kyrning/Myre).
22) This J?rgen Gagge (senior) comes from the family mentioned in note 13. He carried a "sparre" in the first half of his shield and a half wheel in the second half. The same goes for his son Henning Gagge, and re: Skovg?rd (see note 13), also for J?rgen Gagge (junior). This being opposite to the design of the Sk?nsk branch of the family. I know the seal carried be two of J?rgen Gagge jr.'s sons (namely Claus' and Sivert's), but by now they had changed the design back to the "true" Gagge coat of arms, that being a half wheel in the first half and the chevron in the second half. We can wonder if the older Gagge's deliberately changed the design, for the elder J?rgen Gagge was said to be an illegitimate son of the Sk?nsk Gagge-family?
* * * * *
Extracted from the article "Stranges?nnerne", by Sigvard Mahler Dam, published by Personalhistorisk Tidsskrift, 1993:
In the fall of 1378 (Archbishop) Niels (Jensen) journeyed to Bornholm to install his nephew as Commander of Hammershus. Archbishop Niels took ill that November, and started to prepare a testament, although he did not feel ill enough to finalize it. He survived over Christmas, but in January his illness worsened, and on February 3rd he had his final testament recorded. He died two days later.
His testament provides valuable information about his family. His nephew Jens Uf was appointed as the executor of the testament. The Archbishop willed Jens his largest drinking-horn of gilted silver, and some bottles painted with Niels Joensen's coat of arms. Jens Uf's fianc?e (According to Aage Kure she was Marine/Maren Pedersdatter Munk - Norman Madsen) received 80 pieces of fur for a coat, as well as the chess set Niels had received from Queen Margrethe. Jens Uf's daughter Cecilie was given a gold ring. From the records we find that Cecilie's mother must have died, and her father had just been betrothed.
Jens Uf's sister, Marine, received Niels Jensen's best chest and a furlined cape. Since Tage Mus' daughter Marine received a cape also, we can presume that the first mentioned Marine was married to Tage Mus. Next a sum is given to the Archbishop's brother's son Peder Larsen, as Niels owed him and his step-brothers 26 silver Mark "som deres fader Hr. Lars Jensen, fordum ridder, vor broder" (which their father Mr. Lars Jensen, deceased Knight, our brother) lent him so that he could travel to Rome, a journey Niels apparently had to pay for himself.
"Our 'fr?nke', Estrid, Mogens Mogensen's wife" was the next person mentioned in the testament. "Fr?nke" was a word used for female relations far removed, and since Estrid is mentioned among nieces and nephews, she must belong to "inheritance class 4" to which aunts and uncles also belong. Estrid must have been the daughter of one of Niels Jensen's uncles or aunts, as Niels by this time was pretty old.
Katerine, Mogens Ringsen's wife is the last relative mentioned, and she must be a sister of Jens Uf, because in the testament she is referred to as "nepte nostre" (our niece), while Jens Uf is referred to as "nepto nostro" (our nephew), whereas Peder Larsen is referred to as "fratrueli nostro" (our brother's son). Katerine being the last mentioned must be because she is the least prominent, i.e. poorly married; her husband (aka Mogens Rynghsen) possibly was a Bornholm officer - the name "Ring" was very common on the island at that time.
This database researched and compiled by Norman Lee Madsen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 21 July 2015.
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1345 - 1389 (~ 45 år)
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