Helsinki, National Archives, Erik Fleming’s land records 1442–1551 Cataloguer Jesse Keskiaho Ville Walta Finnish Literature Society (SKS) Codices Fennici Creative Commons BY 4.0 Helsinki National Archives Erik Flemingin maakirja / Erik Flemings jordebok Saec. XVI 2/3, Finland, Kuitia(?) A record of the lands and estates owned by <persName type="owner">Erik Fleming</persName> (1487–1548) and his spouse Hebla Siggesdotter (d. ?1571), consisting of two separate inventories of cattle on estates and rents levied from them, and copies of documents and notes relating the estates and their boundaries (edited by Oja 1964, 1a–172).

P. 1 ‘Thetta är Strengie ridderis här Eriich Flämingx Iorda Book Innehollendhe alla the Vtdragna Copier aff hans Iorda brieff’, and, in another hand, ‘Oc huru mykin Inuentarium på huart hans godz her j Finland är. Oh så huad alle hans gordar och godz Rentte bode i Sverige oc j Finland, Bescriffuet Anno MDXLVI:o.’ Also the mottoes (possibly in the same hand as the original title): ‘Initium sapientie Timor Domini’ and ‘Respice finem’. (Oja 1964, 1b.)

Pp. 2–7, 14–17: copies of documents concerning especially estates in Siuntio.

Pp. 19–21, copies of documents concerning estates in Lohja

Pp. 25–88, inventory of the livestock and record of rents levied from Fleming’s estates, presumably from 1545 (the text is written by the same hand that dates the addition on p. 1). The text has been furnished with various notes (for example on houses owned in Swedish and Finnish cities) and copies of documents added in different times.

Pp. 92–95, Copy of a charter dated 1524 of Lars Siggesson (the brother of Erik Fleming’s widow Hebla Siggesdotter), containing a list of the estates and rents he had inherited.

Pp. 127–134, copies of Gustav Vasa’s charters and privileges to Fleming and his kin, dated 1524–1543.

Pp. 139–190, copies of documents concerning various estates.

Pp. 197–268, copies of documents concerning various estates (for example, Gårdskulla i Siuntio, pp. 197–217).

Pp. 423–426, copy of Erik Fleming’s memorandum in 1541 to his nephew >Lars Fleming regarding the family estates.

Pp. 428–466, inventory of cattle, and record of rents levied from Fleming’s estates, dated April 7 1541.

Pp. 467–471 notes on Hebla Sparre’s estates.

On inner back cover various probationes pennae.

Pp. 8–13, 18, 22–24, 89–91, 96–126, 135–138, 191–196, 269–422 and 427 are blank.

The years mentioned in the modern name of the book are misleading: the older terminus only marks the original date of the oldest document copied. Based on the dates entered in the book, it includes copies of documents made between 1532 (e.g. p. 53) and 1560 (p. 154), and two inventories of rented estates from 1541 and 1545 (see the addition to the title of the book, p. 1).

Extra quire 1–32: Inside the manuscript there is a loose quire containing an alphabetical index of place-names found in the manuscript. This quire was written in Stockholm by the Finnish cameral scribe, A. E. Schwartz, 1767.

 Paper 474 pages (237 fols.) + 16 fols. (registry) 22 32,5 text area varies Page numbering has been added into the upper outer margin apparently in saec. XIX. This numbering has skipped some pages (after pp. 191 and 192); page 286 has been counted twice. In the lower margin older foliation is visible until p. 103 (fol. 52). >(V-2)16 + (V-2)32 + V52 + IV68 + 6V188 + IV202 + 2V242 + IV248 + 7V397 + (V-1)415 + 2V455 + (V-2)471

Upper third of pp. 468–471 has been torn. Several leaves exhibit moisture damage and are dirty especially at the edges. In general, however, the manuscript is in good condition.

The manuscript has a similar type of watermark (a crown) appearing throughout the manuscript, but there are at least two different series; both of the type commonly found in Germany during the first half of the 16th century (see, for example, Piccard Online, nrs. 52571–52586).

 Text in one column, on some pages vertical bounding lines in ink. Varying number of lines.

At least six different scribes. Most of them write a cursive typical of the middle of saec. XVI, but on pp. 2 and 53 one hand writes a script more typical of saec. XV2 or saec. XVI1.

No decorations.

Blind-tooled brown leather on wooden boards. Probably made by bookbinder Bartolomeus, attested at Uppsala in 1519 and Stockholm in 1527–1538 (Oja 1964, vi). The edge of the front cover has two attachments for hook clasps, fastening at the edge of the back cover. A 19th-cent. paper label has been pasted in at the back of the book, reading ‘Erik Flemings Jordebok 1420–1558’.

The manuscript contains charters from 1442 onwards, notes and inventories from 1541 and 1545, with list of levied rents from the estates of Erik Fleming and his spouse Hebla Siggesdotter. The manuscript has various sections that overlap: in additions to the overlapping inventories, there are for example, charters concerning the boundary lines between Gårdskulla and Svidja both on pp. 3–4 and 197–199. The regular quire structure and the fact that much of the paper comes from the same source suggests that the manuscript was formed in an organized manner, although its contents were put together from a few different sources created over a period of time. There are plenty of empty leaves that would have allowed for further entries. The term ‘copybook’ could thus perhaps more accurately describe the volume.

The earliest year in the title only refers to the earliest document included in the copybook. The manuscript was actually written in saec. XVI 2/3. In addition to copies of various charters, lists of estates from 1541 and 1545, and levied rents, the manuscript includes various notes dated between 1532 and 1560. This suggests that the manuscript was written between these dates, and that writing was continued after the death of Erik Fleming in 1548 by his widow Hebla Siggesdotter.

Possibly the manuscript was originally kept in Kuitia, Erik Fleming’s manor in Finland. Inside the front cover, the coats of arms and initials of Erik Fleming and his wife, Hebla Siggesdotter Sparre (the same coat of arms are depicted on the inside back cover, but lacking the initials). Also notes, possibly in Erik Fleming’s own hand, concerning the births of his sons and correspondence (this latter note struck through), as well as pen trials.

‘Bleff Hertiig Eriich födt viij dagar före jull anno 33 och min son Jachim Fleming bleff födt på samme ori j fastenn.’ ‘Item sende jag til Abo … sit signette före.’ (Oja 1964, 1a.)

Donated to the present National Archives in 1864 from the Archives of the Swedish Chamber Collegium, where it had probably ended up in the 1590s after the Crown dispossessed the heirs of Klaus Fleming, Erik’s son (Oja 1964, vii–viii).

 A. Oja (ed.), Eerik Flemingin maakirjat, Lisiä Suomen historiaan VII, Helsinki 1964. Encoding added