Princess Elizabeth of Sweden
Encyclopedia
Kungsör
Kungsör is a locality and the seat of Kungsör Municipality in Västmanland County, Sweden with 5,610 inhabitants in 2005.- References :...
, Sweden- 20 November 1597 Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
), was a Swedish princess and a duchess consort of Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...
-Gadebusch
Gadebusch
Gadebusch is a town in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in the district Nordwestmecklenburg, half-way between Lübeck and Schwerin.The town is known for two notable monuments: the Stadtkirche , built in 1220, considered the oldest brick church in Mecklenburg, and the Schloss , built in 1580-1583...
. She was a daughter of King Gustav Vasa of 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....
and his second spouse, Queen Margaret
Margaret Leijonhufvud
-Children:#John III , Duke of Finland, King of Sweden 1567-1592#Catherine , wife of Edzard II, Count of East Frisia#Cecilia , wife of Christopher II, Margrave of Baden-Rodemachern...
.
Biography
In contrast to her older sister Sofia Vasa, who was described as the most unhappy of the children of Gustav Vasa, Princess Elizabeth has been described as the happiest; she seemed to have a cheerful and placid personality. She was described as blond and pretty. A portrait originally believed to be of queen Karin MånsdotterKarin Månsdotter
Karin Månsdotter was Queen of Sweden, first a mistress and then the spouse of King Eric XIV of Sweden...
now is believed to be of her.
Princess Elizabeth was betrothed in 1562 to Christopher, the third son of Albert VII, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. Soon after, however, he was captured and held hostage for several years, and the engagement was considered broken. Her brothers negotiated for several years to arrange a marriage for her to ensure the highest possible political and economical status, both in Germany and Italy. Among the suitors considered was the Grand Duke of Tuscany
Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was the second Grand Duke of Tuscany, ruling from 1574 to 1587.- Biography :...
. In 1574, arrangements were made between her brother John III
John III of Sweden
-Family:John married his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland , house of Jagiello, in Vilnius on 4 October 1562. In Sweden, she is known as Katarina Jagellonica. She was the sister of king Sigismund II Augustus of Poland...
and the French queen dowager Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici was an Italian noblewoman who was Queen consort of France from 1547 until 1559, as the wife of King Henry II of France....
to marry her to Henry III of France
Henry III of France
Henry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.-Childhood:Henry was born at the Royal Château de Fontainebleau,...
. Catherine de Medici regarded Elizabeth as suitable because she wished for her son to marry a royal princess; because the match was seen as beneficial to maintaining French influence in Poland, and also because it would gain France an ally outside of the Habsburg lands which surrounded France. The French ambassador was given the task of providing a portrait of Elizabeth, and gave the following report of her character:
Everything was almost decided, when the French king announced that he long ago had decided to marry Louise of Lorraine-Vaudémont.
"I have been assured that she is very beautiful, has good sense, that she is pleasing, has a good figure and posture ... everyone recommends her great humility, in truth Sire, everyone that knows her admires and honors her virtues ... She finds her pleasure at the spinetVirginalsThe virginals or virginal is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family...
and plays it better than most, she also plays the luteLuteLute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
, and she is also of a mild and soothing temperament."
Elizabeth herself lived quite happily at the Swedish court and did not appear sorry that the marriage negotiations failed. She had her own court and was responsible for the upbringing of her brothers' illegitimate children. Karin Månsdotter
Karin Månsdotter
Karin Månsdotter was Queen of Sweden, first a mistress and then the spouse of King Eric XIV of Sweden...
was among her maids before Karin became the mistress and later queen of Elizabeth's brother, King Eric XIV of Sweden
Eric XIV of Sweden
-Family and descendants:Eric XIV had several relationships before his marriage. With Agda Persdotter he had four daughters:#Margareta Eriksdotter , married 1592 to Olov Simonsson, vicar of Horn....
. When Eric was deposed in 1568, she was the last to abandon him, leaving the capital in a boat together with her stepmother Dowager Queen Katarina
Katarina Stenbock
Catherine Stenbock was the third and last consort of King Gustav I of Sweden, and Queen consort of Sweden between 1552 and 1560...
and her sister Sophia of Sweden
Princess Sophia of Sweden
Princess Sophia of Sweden also Sofia Gustavsdotter Vasa , was a Swedish princess, daughter of King Gustav Vasa of Sweden and Margareta Leijonhufvud, a Swedish noble...
. She seems to have been a stabilizing factor and a mediator among her often quarreling siblings.
In 1577, her old engagement to the now recently widowed Christopher of Mecklenburg was acknowledged again, and on 14 May 1581 they married and she left for Germany to live with him in Schwerin
Schwerin
Schwerin is the capital and second-largest city of the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The population, as of end of 2009, was 95,041.-History:...
. Their long wait for each other has been considered a sign that this was not merely an arranged marriage, but also a love match; and it does seem, judging from letters, that their union was happier and more personal than most royal marriages of the time. They had one surviving child, Margaret Elizabeth, later Duchess of Mecklenburg, who married her kinsman Johann Albrecht II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow in 1608 and had issue.
In 1592, Elizabeth Vasa became a widow, and the following year she returned to Sweden. She died suddenly and unexpectedly in 1597 during negotiations regarding another marriage. Elizabeth had a grave monument constructed for herself and her spouse in the Cathedral of Schwerin
Schwerin Cathedral
Schwerin Cathedral, as old as the city itself, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint John, was built following the move of the seat of the Bishopric of the Abodrites, established by Henry the Lion, to Schwerin from Mecklenburg in the late 12th century. At first a timber construction served the...
, but in the end she was buried in her father's family grave in Uppsala Cathedral
Uppsala Cathedral
Uppsala Cathedral is a cathedral located centrally in the city of Uppsala, Sweden. It dates back to the late 13th century and at a height of 118.7 m is the tallest church building in Scandinavia. Originally built under Roman Catholicism and used for coronations of the Swedish monarch, since the...
.