When Gustav Vasa died on september 29 1560, the crown passed to his eldest son, Erik.
To inherit the throne was something new in Sweden, where the king traditionally had been elected.
To cement his position Erik’s coronation in June 1561 was a very lavish affair. He also did his best to find a woman worthy of being his queen. Among others, he proposed to queen Elizabeth of England, but she turned him down.
The Vasa family was seen by many as upstarts with a weak claim to the throne. So Erik had to keep looking.
But he wasn’t exactly celibate while looking for a wife. He had sort of a harem in the palace of Three Crowns, where many of his mistresses lived with their illegitimate children.
While all of this was going on in the palace, a young girl was working at a tavern in Stockholm. Her name was Karin Månsdotter, and she was 14 at the time. And she was just a commoner. Not royal, not noble and certainly not wealthy.
Her parents, Måns and Ingrid, had moved to the capital from Uppland, where they had been farmers. In the city her father worked as a jailor and her mother sold nuts in the square. Both parents died before Karin’s 10th birthday.
It so happened that the tavern where Karin worked was frequently visited by the king himself. We don’t know when or where Karin and Erik met for the first time, but a good guess is that they met at that tavern where Karin worked as a bar maid.
As mentioned, Karin Månsdotter was just 14 – Erik was 31. But he was immediately enchanted by this young girl, or woman as she was seen back then despite her young age.
In no time at all Karin had a new job, as chamber maid to Erik’s half sister Elisabet. She also got to take care of his illegitimate children.
At the castle she also recieved an education, since common people at this time didn’t go to school and Karin could neither read nor write.
She must have been pretty clever because it is reported that she learned quickly. She also had to learn how to carry herself in her new environment. She was dressed in fine clothes by Erik, who seemed to have done everything to make her fit in. At 15 she became one of his mistresses.
It wasn’t unusual at this time for lords to have mistresses, so did Erik’s brothers, and the illegitimate children and their mothers were taken well care of.
But what was different about Karin Månsdotter, was that she was not of noble birth, but just a poor girl of the people. This was probably frowned upon by the noble ladies and gentlemen at the court, but so far it wasn’t really a problem.
Karin soon became Erik’s only mistress, and no matter what they thought of her simple background, the court quickly learned to turn to her if they had problems with Erik, since she was the only one who could calm his temper.
Karin and Erik’s first child was born october 15 1566, their daughter Sigrid. Erik notes this in his diary, and maybe he felt differently for Sigrid than his other illegitimate children, since there is no doubt he had fallen in love with Karin. What she felt about the situation is impossible to know.
But when did Erik abandon the thought of marrying a princess, and instead marry a commoner? We don’t know for sure, but he had gotten the councils approval to marry whomever he himself wanted – which he also did.
Erik and Karin married in secret i July 1567. Maybe because the now 16 years old Karin was pregnant again, and Erik wanted their children to be legitimate heirs to the throne.
But not all was well and good. Erik suffered from occasional mental illness. He was suspicious towards everyone and saw conspiracies everywhere.
A few monts before the secret marriage his mental illness turned to a psychosis and infuriated by what he saw as conspiracies by the powerful noble family of Sture, he murdered three members of their family.
He then ran away into the forrest and disapeared. We can only imagine how scared Karin must have been. Not just for Erik’s sake, but also for her and her daughter’s safty. Who knew what could happen to them without Erik’s protection?
But he was found after a few days, and it is said that it was Karin who eventually calmed him down and brougth him back to reality.
Read part 2 here!
Sources:
Lindqvist, Herman. Historien om alla Sveriges drottningar. (2006)
Tegenborg, Falkdalen, Karin. Sveriges drottningar – i blickfånget från Vasatiden till idag. (2020)