Stone face
ⓒRebecca Bugge, All Rights Reserved
Do not use without permission.
Detail from the burial monument of the king Gustav Vasa and two of his wives. The king died in 1560, but this monument in Uppsala cathedral wasn't finished until 1583 and depicts the king and his two first wives Katarina of Sachsen-Lauenburg (died 1535) and Margareta Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud (died 1551). His third wife, Katarina Gustavsdotter Stenbock, did not die until 1621 - but she is buried with the king and the other two queens in the crypt underneath the floor in this chapel.
This is Katarina (in English referred to as Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg - in German, her native tongue she was Katharina von Sachsen-Lauenburg). She was born in 1513 in Ratzeburg to the duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, brought up a Protestant and suitable from a political standpoint for the new king of Sweden. They married in 1531. She gave birth to a son in 1533 (the son would later become Eric XIV, one of Sweden's more ill-fated kings), but in 1535 she was in an accident while dancing at a ball: she was pregnant and fell very badly, complications ensued and she died a short while later, just 21 years old.There were actually rumours that the king had murdered her (with a silver hammer no less), but the accident was recorded by a guest at the ball, and that was the king of Denmark, who had no reason to hide the truth. And a modern exhumation of her body showed no signs of such foul play.
Stone face
ⓒRebecca Bugge, All Rights Reserved
Do not use without permission.
Detail from the burial monument of the king Gustav Vasa and two of his wives. The king died in 1560, but this monument in Uppsala cathedral wasn't finished until 1583 and depicts the king and his two first wives Katarina of Sachsen-Lauenburg (died 1535) and Margareta Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud (died 1551). His third wife, Katarina Gustavsdotter Stenbock, did not die until 1621 - but she is buried with the king and the other two queens in the crypt underneath the floor in this chapel.
This is Katarina (in English referred to as Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg - in German, her native tongue she was Katharina von Sachsen-Lauenburg). She was born in 1513 in Ratzeburg to the duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, brought up a Protestant and suitable from a political standpoint for the new king of Sweden. They married in 1531. She gave birth to a son in 1533 (the son would later become Eric XIV, one of Sweden's more ill-fated kings), but in 1535 she was in an accident while dancing at a ball: she was pregnant and fell very badly, complications ensued and she died a short while later, just 21 years old.There were actually rumours that the king had murdered her (with a silver hammer no less), but the accident was recorded by a guest at the ball, and that was the king of Denmark, who had no reason to hide the truth. And a modern exhumation of her body showed no signs of such foul play.