Martha Leijonhufvud

Märta Erikdotter Leijonhufvud, (English: Martha) known as King Märta (24 December 1520 in Ödeby Lillkyrka, Ekeberg, Närke – 15 January 1584 in Stegeholm), was a politically active Swedish noble. She was the sister of Queen Margaret Leijonhufvud and sister-in-law of King Gustav I of Sweden: she was also the maternal aunt of Queen Catherine Stenbock and the daughter-in-law of the regent Christina Gyllenstierna. In 1568, she financed the deposition of King Eric XIV of Sweden, which placed her nephew John III of Sweden on the throne.

Biography

Marriage

Born to Erik Abrahamsson Leijonhufvud (d. 1520), a victim of the Stockholm Bloodbath, and Ebba Eriksdotter Vasa, and relative of Gustav Vasa, who became king of Sweden in 1523.

Her sister Margaret was engaged to Svante Stensson Sture, the son of former regent Christina Gyllenstierna, but the engagement was broken in 1536 when king Gustav decided to marry her. Instead, Sture was married to Märta. There is a well known legend as to how this came about: Svante Sture threw himself at the feet of Margaret, and the king entered the room and discovered them. The king asked: "What is this?" Margaret replied: "My lord Sture is asking me for the hand of my sister Märta!", at which the king said: "Granted!"

Martha and Svante Stensson Sture was married 3 March 1538 at Nyköping Castle.

King Martha

Märta had at least fifteen children, of which ten became adults. The couple resided in Stegeborg Castle. In 1542, Stegeborg was besieged by Nils Dacke during the Dacke War, and Dacke offered the couple to become the king and queen of Sweden. They denied the offer.

Svante was often absent on his official missions: he became marshal in 1543 and commander in Finland in 1556, and governor of Livonia and Reval in 1562. During his absence, Märta took the responsibility for Stegeborg and his estates, and her dominance earned her the nickname King Märta, by which she is known in history.

As the sister of the queen and by marriage to the head of one of the most prestigious families in Sweden, Martha had a position of high status and participated in certain ceremonies in court life. Martha, as well as her sister Brita and her mother-in-law, often took care of the royal children. After the death of her sister the queen in 1551, the royal children was placed in the care of her and her sister Brita, after her mother-in-law Christina Gyllenstierna had asked to be relived of the duty, until the king's remarriage to the daughter of Brita, Martha's niece Catherine Stenbock.

In 1561, King Eric XIV of Sweden introduced the new title of count in Sweden at his coronation, and her husband was created one of Sweden's first three counts, making Märta the first countess in Sweden. King Eric, however, feared that the Sture family had desires on the throne, and during his reign, they also became a center of the opposition within the nobility.

The Sture murders

Main article: Sture Murders

Eric XIV eyed Martha and the Sture family with suspicion. The Vasa dynasty was not regarded to have the same right to the Swedish throne as did the Sture family, which had on several occasions had the position of regent of Sweden during the former century. Despite this, Martha's spouse Svante and her sons Erik and Nils was appointed to serve in the Nordic Seven Years' War (1563-1570). In 1565, her son Nils was accused of treason and forced to a humiliating entry to the capital. He was acquitted by the court, but the case created hostility among the nobility toward the king. The King therefore had Svante Sture and his sons Nils and Erik imprisoned. In August 1566, Martha's son wrote to her: "I do hope to be able to defend myself with other things than letter and seal", which hinted preparations of a conspiracy. Märta sent an appeal for mercy to Karin Månsdotter, who sent for her and assured her that no harm would come to them, and that she would speak to the king on their behalf. This made Eric hesitate temporarily, but 24 May 1567, he ordered the murder of the three men all the same. This is known as the Sture Murders. The clothes worn by Svante, Nils and Erik Sture at the time of their deaths were kept by Martha, and are now on display in Uppsala Cathedral's northern tower.[1]

After the murders, the king regretted them: he arranged for a grand funeral for the victims, and paid Martha fines of compensation in silver bricks. When the half brothers of King Eric XIV, which were also nephews of Martha, rebelled against him in September 1568, Martha financed the deposition of the monarch which placed her nephew John III on the throne with silver. After the coup, in 1570, John III granted Martha personally the former County of her spouse as a fief, now enlarged.

Her daughter's elopement

Her daughter, Malin (Magdalena), (1539–1610), was in love with her cousin, Erik Gustavsson Stenbock (1538–1602), and wished to marry him. Martha refused because they were cousins.[2] In 1573, after ten years had passed without any change in the matter, Erik convinced Prince Charles to provide them with 200 men to help them elope. Erik asked Malin to take a trip on the sleigh with him, and when they were seated, the prince's guards came forward and the couple departed from the estate.

Martha convinced her royal nephew the king to arrest Erik and confiscate his property. He was eventually released and his property was restored to him, after the siblings and spouse of the king as well as his own family, among them his aunt (and Martha's niece) Queen Dowager Katarina Stenbock, had united in convincing the king to concede to it, and married Malin in 1574. According to the legend, it took one year of begging from the couple's relatives to convince Malin's powerful mother to forgive the couple for defying her authority; the women of the family begged her "crying upon their knees" before she agreed to see her daughter. According to legend, her daughter had to crawl on her knees up to her while pregnant.

Issue

Notes

  1. ↑ "The Cathedral Museum, Uppsala, Sweden". University of Washington. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  2. ↑ Wilhelmina Stålberg, P. G. Berg : Anteckningar om svenska qvinnor (Notes of Swedish women) (in Swedish)

References