Katarina Vasa

Katarina Gustavsdotter Vasa, princess of Sweden, (June 6, 1539 - December 21, 1610) was the oldest daughter of Gustav Vasa and Margareta Leijonhufvud and later regent of Ostfriesland.

As the first Swedish princess in two hundred years, Katarina's birth was seen as a good opportunity to make foreign alliances, and many negotiations were made to see which state would make the best bid; as daughter to a King and a Queen who were not born royal, the expectations for her marriage could not be too high, but this disadvantage was partially compensated for with a careful education and a large dowry. Edzard of Ostfriesland was chosen because Ostfriesland controlled the important port of Emden, a rival to Lübeck, because it was strategically positioned with Denmark and because Emden was the provider of many Calvinistic craftsmen and artists to Sweden at this point. The negotiations took a long time, so long it Gustav Vasa pointed out in his anger that it was taking so long that it was a blessing that his daughter was at least neither "limped or blind"; Ostfriesland was afraid that the marriage would lead to Swedish domination, and in 1558, the Count's mother, the dowager-regent Anna of Oldenburg-Delmenhorst, split the power in Ostfriesland between her three sons to prevent this from happening.

In 1559, the wedding between Katarina and Edzard finally took place in Sweden, but the celebrations was interrupted by the great scandal in Vadstena, where Katarina's beautiful sister Cecilia was discovered having intercourse with Edzard's brother, who refused to marry Cecilia and so was imprisoned and possibly castrated as a result. Because of this, the couple could not leave for Ostfriesland until 1561.

Katarina Vasa was a well educated Renaissance princess; she was considered an intelligent and learned woman with an independent character and she had a great interest in literature and theology; she was a firm Protestant, visited Wittenberg and wrote interpretations of the bible, and after her husband's death she wrote an ode for his funeral in 1599. She had great influence both on her husband and her son, and she was in contact with her ruling brothers in Sweden through letters and is known to have protested against the marriage of her brother King John III to Gunilla Bielke in 1585. In 1599-1610, she ruled Ostfriesland as regent.

She is considered to be the one of her siblings who had the greatest resemblance to her father.

Family

Katharina was married to Edzard II of Ostfriesland on October 1, 1559, in Stockholm. They had the following children:

#Margareta of Ostfriesland, 1560-1588
#Anna of Ostfriesland, 1562-1621
#Enno III of Ostfriesland, 1563-1625, (ancestor of Queen Victoria)
#John III of Rietberg, 1566-1625
#Christopher of Ostfriesland, 1569-1636
#Edzard of Ostfriesland, 1572?-1573
#Elizabeth of Ostfriesland, 1572?-1573
#Sophia of Ostfriesland, 1574-1630
#Karl Otto of Ostfriesland, 1577-1603
#Maria of Ostfriesland, 1582-1616

References

*Herman Lindqvist, "Historien om Sverige".