In the last post we got to know the young Cecilia Vasa, daughter of Swedish king Gustav I. We left her right before the event that would forever give her the reputation of a renaissance ”bad girl” – the Vadstena Thunder. Let’s continue:
Cecilia’s older sister Katarina married count Edzard II of East Frisia in October 1559. The wedding took place in Stockholm, after which the newlyweds left for Edzard’s home. They travelled with a large company, including big brother Erik and Cecilia.
The king had not wanted Cecilia to go, but Erik and Katarina persuaded him, promising to look after her. They made many stops on the way, and seemed to be partying pretty hard. In December, they came to Vadstena, were their brother Magnus lived. And this is where Cecilia made her lasting mark on Swedish history.
On the night of December 14, the palace guards noticed that count Edzard’s brother, Johan, climbed through a window in to Cecilia’s bedchamber. They notified her brothers, who decided to catch the couple ”in the act”.
Armed guards rushed in to Cecilia’s room, and found the count ”barely wearing pants”. He was immediately arrested, and the entire entourage was recalled to Stockholm by the furious king.
Not only had Cecilia been caught with a man, but Erik had made the whole affair public by arresting the count, instead of hushing it up. The whole family was dishonoured.
The incident has gone down in history as the Vadstena thunder, and in Sweden, that’s what Cecilia is most known for.
The princess later claimed that her father beat her and tore her hair out, but Gustav himself stated that her hair ”simply fell off her”. Gustav was an old man at this time, the scandal is sometimes alleged to hastened his death later that year. Gustav Vasa died on September 29 1560, and Erik (XIV) became king. And his reign meant new, hard rules for his sisters.
Under Erik, Cecilia Vasa and her sisters were not allowed unsupervised visits, and who they were spending time with were closely monitored. There is a story that one night, Erik was told that the light was still on in the princesses’ quarters. The king stormed over and burst in to the room, where his sisters did indeed have a party.
He and Cecilia had a shouting match, but eventually, he gave in and joined them. Although the story might have been embellished through the years, it says something about Cecilia’s temper and tenacity.
And it also give us a clue why she agreed to marry Christopher of Baden-Rodemachern, a younger son to a German margrave. His county was rather small, and he wasn’t very wealthy, which is why he took employment in the Swedish army. You would think that Cecilia might have thought this match beneath her, but she agreed to marry him. Maybe she just wanted to be free of her brother’s restrictions.
They married in June 1564, and it seems the marriage gave Cecilia some of the freedoms she wanted. She had for many years been exchanged letters with queen Elizabeth I, and in vain begged her brother to allow her to visit. Now, she and her new husband set out towards England.
But first, they visited her sister Katarina in East Frisia – and on their way Cecilia tried her best to gain allies in a new cause. Erik had imprisoned their brother Johan, and Cecilia and her sisters took Johan’s side, and on her journey through Europe, she did advocacy work on his behalf, trying to pressure Erik to release him.
On September 11 1565 Cecilia, nine months pregnant, and her husband finally arrived in London and Bedford house, where they would be staying.
A few days later, queen Elizabeth herself came calling. The two royals is said to have embraced and called each other sister.
Soon thereafter, Cecilia gave birth. Elizabeth decided on the boy’s name – Edvard Fortunatus – and became his Godmother. The queen and the princess became good friends, although Cecilia did have official business in England as well as her brother’s ambassador; Erik wanted to marry Elizabeth. As we all know, the English queen had no plans on getting married at all, and Cecilia soon gave up. Instead, she asked the queen to write to Erik about releasing their imprisoned brother Johan.
Cecilia’s visit to England, which began so spectacularly, soon turned into a fiasco. Spending time at the royal English court cost a lot of money – money Cecilia and her husband didn’t have. Although Elizabeth granted Christopher a yearly pension, it was not nearly enough for the extravagant lifestyle the couple led. They began borrowing large amounts of money, which they could not repay.
Eventually the complaints on her guests became too many, and queen Elizabeth began loosing patience with her friend. In April 1566 Cecilia and her family had to leave England, since their creditors became too many and too hostile. Before they left, their possessions were seized as payment for their debts.
The family set course for Christopher’s county of Baden-Rodemachern. In August Cecilia gave birth to her second son, Gustav Kristoffer. He would have health issues his whole life, being partially paralyzed. Cecilia blamed this on the stress she was put through by her creditors while being pregnant.
And life in Baden-Rodemarchen would turn out to be just as stressful… Find out more in the next post!
Sources:
Carlstedt, Anna. Renässans-rebeller – från Cecilia Vasa till kung Kristina. (2020)
Tegenborg Falkdalen, Karin. Vasadöttrarna. (2010)