Maja Stina Kiellström (15 June 1744 – 20 January 1798) was a Swedish silk

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...

 manufacturer and alleged prostitute. She inspired Carl Michael Bellman

Carl Michael Bellman

was a Swedish poet and composer. Bellman is a central figure in the Swedish song tradition and remains a very important influence in Swedish music, as well as in Scandinavian literature in general, to this day....

 to create his character, the prostitute "Bar-Nymph", demimonde, and courtesan Ulla Winblad

Ulla Winblad

Ulla Winblad was a semi-fictional character in many of Carl Michael Bellman's works. Ulla Winblad was, or at least inspired by, Maria Kristina Kiellström .Ulla Winblad was described as a goddess of sex, worshiped and adored, but not respected...

.

Biography

Kiellström was born into a poor family in Stockholm, and her mother died when she was merely five years old. Her father, Johan Kiellström, had resigned from military because of epilepsy and supported himself as a street sweeper. At the age of 14, she was forced to support herself as a maid, and in 1763, she is listed as a silk manufacturer. In 1765, she had a daughter who died after eight days by a nobleman who promised to marry her. During these years, she was rumored to be a prostitute. Historians, however, are not convinced that she truly was a prostitute. She was only arrested once, but not for prostitution; in 1767, she was arrested for wearing silk, which was forbidden for workers according to the laws of abundance, but she was released after having proved that she was a silk manufacturer and thereby entitled to wear silk. She was to have met Bellman in this period. She used the name Winblad a couple of times; her stepmother's name was Catharina Elisabeth Winblad.

In 1772, she married Eric Nordström, a childhood friend of Bellman, who was helped by Bellman to a position at the customs in Norrköping

Norrköping

Norrköping is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County. The city has a population of 87,247 inhabitants in 2010, out of a municipal total of 130,050, making it Sweden's tenth largest city and eighth largest...

. The marriage was unhappy as Nordström treated her badly. She became a widow in 1781, when she moved back to Stockholm, and in 1786, she married Erik Lindståhl, a man eleven years her junior. She was at this time described as a very well preserved beauty.

It is said that both Kiellström and her husband felt persecuted by Bellman's portrayal of her, and she was exposed to much humiliation because his songs involving her alter ego. Kiellström died in Stockholm.