In the previous two posts about Katarina Jagellonica, we followed her journey from Polish princess, to Swedish duchess, from luxury to imprisonment.
Let’s continue our story in the fall of 1567, after Katarina, her husband duke Johan and their young son Sigismund had finally been released.
The same summer, Erik XIV had in secret married his mistress, Karin Månsdotter. When this became known, it was a scandal as Karin was a commoner. The outrage of the nobility suited Johan and his younger brother Karl, who had started to conspire against the king.
While the duke planned their rebellion, Katarina Jagellonica gave birth to her third child, Anna, in May 1568. It was a difficult delivery and Katarina would never fully recover from it. She was then 42 years old.
In July king Erik celebrated an official wedding to Karin Månsdotter, and had her crowned as queen. Johan used Katarina’s childbirth as an excuse not to attend, but in reality, the conspirators prepared for battle. The rebellion broke out the same month, and in September it was over. Erik had lost, and was imprisoned with his family.
In January 1569, Johan was declared king. He and Katarina was crowned on July 10th the same year. As queen, Katarina was interested in culture and architecture. She and Johan started many building projects, built both new and renovated old castles. Johan III has often been given the credit for this and for the real entry of the Renaissance into Sweden, but the fact is that Katarina was behind much of this. After all, it was she who grew up at an established and culturally rich court and who had contacts who now came to Sweden to work here.
She also worked to re-strengthen the influence of Catholicism in Sweden. Her husband also took an interest in this, although he had to be more careful as Sweden was a Protestant country.
At this time, there was a succession crisis in Katarina’s homeland Poland. Her brother Sigismund August had died without heirs, and sister Anna had assumed the throne with her husband Stefan Batory of Transylvania. They had no children however, and both sisters worked to get Katarina’s Sigismund elected as next king. He would eventually become king of Poland in 1587, but Katarina didn’t live to see that happen.
In the 1580s Katarina became increasingly ill. She probably suffered from scoliosis, which increasingly limited her life. Another sadness was that she and her husband had drifted apart. Johan, who had always asked her for advice before, had turned away from her.
In 1583 she fell ill with severe gout. After months of pain queen Katarina Jagellonica passed away on September 16th the same year. She was 56 years old.
Katarina had been beloved and respected as queen, and Johan III gave her a grand funeral. But he had already set his sight on a new, much younger woman…
Sources:
Lindqvist, Herman. Historien om alla Sveriges drottningar. (2006)
Mattson, Eva. Furstinnan – en biografi om drottning Katarina Jagellonica. (2023)
Tegenborg, Falkdalen, Karin. Svenska drottningar – i blickfånget från Vasatiden till idag. (2020)