Hallvard Gråtopp

Hallvard Gråtopp (* probably around 1390 in Drangedal , Norway ; † around 1438; at least not documented later) was a Norwegian leader of a peasant revolt against King Erik of Pomerania .

His origin and family are uncertain. The priest in Sauherad Torer Ogmundsson is assumed to be his father and his mother was Margrete Hallvardsdotter from the Vrålstad family. Recent research locates him at Vrålstad farm and suggests that it is Hallvard Toresson. Hallvard is documented only from a time when the uprising was already suppressed.

Hallvard's Peasant Revolt was a continuation of the uprising of Amund Sigurdsson Bolt , which had taken place in 1436-1437. He might even be there at the time, because a Hallvard Toresson was one of the leaders around Amund Sigurdsson. Its band consisted of farmers from the central area in the east. Hallvard's insurgents came from Telemark . Later, when the insurgents moved to Oslo, they also received influx from Asker and Bærum .

The rebels first moved to Hof Mæla, the seat of the Danish bailiff Herlaug Pedersøn, then to Brunla in Brunlanes (today Larvik ), the widow's seat of Sigrid Nikolasdotter Galle. She was the widow of the Pomeranian nobleman Markvard Bukk and mother of the Akershus castle captain Olav Bukk. The Danish Vogt Jusse Jakobsøn also lived there. He and his family fled to the church in Tanum , where he was not safe either, but was attacked. After a steadily growing influx, the rebels finally moved to Oslo . Olav Bukk got help from his predecessor Svarte Jens, and these two managed to drive away the disorganized peasant crowd. The farmers were promised that they could bring their complaints to a diet in the summer of 1439. There are many indications that Hallvard was already dead by this time. In addition, there seems to have been more looting in this uprising than in the uprising of Amund Bolt, probably because more uprooted people were involved in the army than among the peasants of Bolt.

There is no news of this imperial assembly of 1439. Instead, it is clear that the insurgents in Telemark, unlike the insurgents of Amund Sigurdsson, were punished collectively. The standard punishment was the delivery of a cow, or four hides - two good marten skins and two good lynx skins . The followers outside Telemark received individual penalties. The leaders had to pay 60 marks to the king and compensate the looted.

The political background was apparently the abuses of the bailiffs and the fact that the officials were foreigners. Because only against these was the uprising directed.

literature

• Halvard Bjørkvik: Folketap og sammenbrudd 1350–1520. Oslo 1996. Aschehougs Norges historie Volume 4. P. 163 ff.
• Halvard Bjørkvik: “Hallvard Gråtopp” in: Norsk biografisk leksikon , accessed on January 1, 2012.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Diplomatarium Norvegicum Vol. 21 No. 420 .
2. ↑ Diplomatarium Norvegicum Vol. 3 No. 754 .
3. ↑ Diplomatarium Norvegicum Vol. 3 No. 752 .
4. ↑ ^{a b} Bjørkvik, Norges historie p. 166.