Görvel Fadersdotter (Sparre)
Encyclopedia
Görvel Fadersdotter (Hjulsta
, Sweden
, 1509 or 1517 - Börringekloster, Scania
, 20 April 1605), was a Danish-Swedish (Scania
n) landholder and county administrator.
) of Hjulsta
and Ängsö
(d. 1520) and Bodil Knutsdotter (Tre Rosor) from Norway.
Married in 1532 to Swedish riksråd Peder Nilsson Grip (1507–1533), in 1534 to Danish riksråd Truid Gregersen Ulfstand (1487–1545) and in 1547 to Danish riksråd Lave Brahe (1500–1567). She had one child; her son Nils Ulfstand, (1535 - 1548), who died of the plague during a trip with his stepfather.
Görvel Fadersdotter was an early orphan and a great heiress of both her parents. Her maternal grandfather Knut Alvsson
was the greatest landholder in Norway when he rebelled against the Danish King and sided with the Swedes in 1502, and his estates was after he was slain confiscated by the Danish crown; this property, 200 estates in Norway and Denmark, was granted his granddaughter Görvel Fadersdotter.
During her second marriage, she left Sweden for Varberg Fortress
in then Danish (now Swedish) Halland
, where her spouse was county administrator; during the Count's Feud
she was held as prisoner there. She was confronted with various legal claims of her lands from her Norwegian and Swedish relatives and her stepchildren, and in the 1530s, she had the Danish monarch appointed her guardian to protect her interests. At the death of her son in 1548, she was in sole control of large territories. In 1574 she renounced her claims on the debets owed to her by the crown, and was in exhange granted the fief Verpinge hovedgård (Trolleberg) as county administrator, and in 1582, she received the fiefs Börringekloster, Froste herred and some minor parishes in exhange for 250 of her Norwegian holdings. Between 1586 and 1599, she granted the Danish crown 600 of her Norwegian farms, and in 1601, she made the Danish King the heir of her Danish and Swedish lands. Her Swedish holdings had been confiscated during the 1563-1570 war, but was given back at the Danish-Swedish treaty at Flakkebäck in 1603.
Görvel Fadersdotter is described as clever and sensible, with the ambition to "learn to count as a bailiff, hammer nails like a carpenter, think like a professor, construct as an architect and farm like a farmer", and she was reportedly successful in her ambitions. She managed her estates by the help of good tenants, and constructed the Torup Castle
in Scania
after her own drawings. She only visited Norway once, but was from the 1530s a frequent guest of the Danish King, as he was of her. Among her estates, she preferred to live at Börringekloster in Scania, where she acted as the ward of many daughters of the nobility.
Hjulsta
Hjulsta is a working-class suburb of Stockholm. It is considered being part of Tensta, but with its own subway station which was opened in 1975 and is the end station of the blue line....
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, 1509 or 1517 - Börringekloster, Scania
Scania
Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...
, 20 April 1605), was a Danish-Swedish (Scania
Scania
Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...
n) landholder and county administrator.
Biography
She was the daughter of Fader Nilsson (SparreSparre
Sparre is a Scandinavian surname - originally borne by a noble family - and can refer to:* Aage Jepsen Sparre, Danish priest* Christian Sparre, Norwegian politician* Desirée Sparre-Enger, Norwegian pop singer...
) of Hjulsta
Hjulsta
Hjulsta is a working-class suburb of Stockholm. It is considered being part of Tensta, but with its own subway station which was opened in 1975 and is the end station of the blue line....
and Ängsö
Ängsö
Ängsö is a Swedish National Park. It lies in Stockholm's skärgård, between Norrtälje and Stockholm. The park can only be reached by water.-External links:* from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency...
(d. 1520) and Bodil Knutsdotter (Tre Rosor) from Norway.
Married in 1532 to Swedish riksråd Peder Nilsson Grip (1507–1533), in 1534 to Danish riksråd Truid Gregersen Ulfstand (1487–1545) and in 1547 to Danish riksråd Lave Brahe (1500–1567). She had one child; her son Nils Ulfstand, (1535 - 1548), who died of the plague during a trip with his stepfather.
Görvel Fadersdotter was an early orphan and a great heiress of both her parents. Her maternal grandfather Knut Alvsson
Knut Alvsson
Knut Alvsson was a Norwegian nobleman and politician descended on his paternal grandfather’s side from the influential and wealthy Swedish Tre Rosor noble family, who was active during the period of the Kalmar Union....
was the greatest landholder in Norway when he rebelled against the Danish King and sided with the Swedes in 1502, and his estates was after he was slain confiscated by the Danish crown; this property, 200 estates in Norway and Denmark, was granted his granddaughter Görvel Fadersdotter.
During her second marriage, she left Sweden for Varberg Fortress
Varberg Fortress
Varberg Fortress is a former fortification in Varberg, Halland County, Sweden .-History:Varberg Fortress was built in 1287-1300 by count Jacob Nielsen as protection against his Danish king, who had declared him an outlaw after the murder of King Eric V of Denmark.Jacob had close connections with...
in then Danish (now Swedish) Halland
Halland
' is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden , on the western coast of Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat.-Administration:...
, where her spouse was county administrator; during the Count's Feud
Count's Feud
The Count's Feud , also called the Count's War, was a civil war that raged in Denmark in 1534–36 and brought about the Reformation in Denmark...
she was held as prisoner there. She was confronted with various legal claims of her lands from her Norwegian and Swedish relatives and her stepchildren, and in the 1530s, she had the Danish monarch appointed her guardian to protect her interests. At the death of her son in 1548, she was in sole control of large territories. In 1574 she renounced her claims on the debets owed to her by the crown, and was in exhange granted the fief Verpinge hovedgård (Trolleberg) as county administrator, and in 1582, she received the fiefs Börringekloster, Froste herred and some minor parishes in exhange for 250 of her Norwegian holdings. Between 1586 and 1599, she granted the Danish crown 600 of her Norwegian farms, and in 1601, she made the Danish King the heir of her Danish and Swedish lands. Her Swedish holdings had been confiscated during the 1563-1570 war, but was given back at the Danish-Swedish treaty at Flakkebäck in 1603.
Görvel Fadersdotter is described as clever and sensible, with the ambition to "learn to count as a bailiff, hammer nails like a carpenter, think like a professor, construct as an architect and farm like a farmer", and she was reportedly successful in her ambitions. She managed her estates by the help of good tenants, and constructed the Torup Castle
Torup Castle
Torup Castle is a castle in Svedala Municipality, Scania, in southern Sweden. It is situated approximately east of Malmö....
in Scania
Scania
Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...
after her own drawings. She only visited Norway once, but was from the 1530s a frequent guest of the Danish King, as he was of her. Among her estates, she preferred to live at Börringekloster in Scania, where she acted as the ward of many daughters of the nobility.