In the first post about Karin Månsdotter, we learned how the bar maid was secretly married to the king, Erik XIV while pregnant with their second child. Let’s continue:
As Karins stomach grew, so did the resistance against Erik, and thus also the need for legitimate heirs to consolidate his power. Therefore the secret marriage was announced in december 1567, and in January their son Gustav was born.
To have a commoner as mistress was probably bad enough according to some – but for a king to marry a common girl and make her queen – THAT was more than many could take.
The king’s sisters is said to have been infuriated that a simple maid was to be given seniority over them, who were royal princesses.
An official wedding was held on the 4th of July 1568, but despite being a very costly affair it was boycotted by many of the nobles – including most of Erik’s siblings. The scandal was made even bigger by Erik himself carrying their little son into the church, and Sigrid walking behind him, to make them legitimate.
The next day Karin Månsdotter was crowned queen of Sweden. A title she would not keep for very long. 87 days, to be precise.
For by then, many of the noble families had had enough, and among them Erik’s brothers Johan and Karl. They rebelled against the king who, deserted by almost all, was forced to surrender in the end of September 1568.
The small family was put in house arrest at Stockholm castle. It was pretty comfortable prison, they had their own servants and were served 12 course dinners. At first, they were together, and Karin gave birth twice more during their inprisonment. Sadly, both children died young.
They were moved from castle to castle as the new king Johan III’s own paranoia increased and he feared that Erik would be freed and try to reclaim his crown.
And thus, in 1573, Karin and the children were separated from Erik and sent to Turku castle. Erik wrote in his diary how his “spouse by force” was taken from him. They would never see each other again.
On february 26 1577 Erik died, poisoned on his brother Johan’s command. After his death, Karin, who was then 26 years old, and her daughter Sigrid, 10, was freed.
Karin’s son Gustav on the other hand had been taken from her in 1575 when he was only seven, and it would be another 20 years before she saw him again. The former crown prince would later die impoverished in Russia 1607.
Karin Månsdotter lived a quiet but wealthy life at Liuksiala royal estate, which was granted her by Johan III. She never remarried, and as a widow she was the head of the estate, which increased its income during her lead.
Maybe surprisingly, she seems to have had a good relationship to the new royal couple, Erik’s brother Johan III and his queen Katarina Jagellonica. She even traveled to Stockholm with her daughter in 1582 and met with Katarina, and the dowager queen Katarina Stenbock; the so called ”meeting of the three queens”. During the visit, Karin got back some of her valuable jewelry and she had her property in Finland expanded with a number of estates.
Sigrid became lady-in-waiting to her cousin princess Anna, and would later marry twice, both times with men from the nobility.
Karin Månsdotter died on the 13th of September 1612. She was buried in Turku cathedral and is the only queen buried in Finland.
Karin’s journey from the bottom of society to the very top is completely unique in Swedish history. Not until the current king Carl XVI Gustav married queen Silvia would a Swedish king marry a woman of the people, neither royal or even noble.
Sources:
Lindqvist, Herman. Historien om alla Sveriges drottningar. (2006)
Tegenborg, Falkdalen, Karin. Sveriges drottningar – i blickfånget från Vasatiden till idag. (2020)