Catherine Jagiellon 500 years
Princess Catherine Jagiellon was born in Kraków in 1526. Her father was King Sigismund I of Poland and Lithuania, and her
mother was Bona Sforza, daughter of Duke Gian Galeazzo of Milan and Isabella of Aragon. With her very princely ancestry
on both sides, she is often described as Sweden's only Renaissance queen. Through her political connections, cultural
interests and religious convictions, she came to play an important role in Swedish history, both in domestic and foreign
policy.
Catherine had four sisters and one brother. During her childhood, the family travelled extensively within the vast empire,
which stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea, and Catherine was involved from an early age in her parents' major
construction projects for the castles in Krakow and Vilnius. The princess received a good education and learned to speak
German, Polish, Italian and Latin fluently. When her father died, Sigismund II Augustus, Catherine's brother, became
King of Poland and Lithuania.
In 1562, Catherine's brother formed an alliance with Duke John of Finland. The purpose of the alliance was to jointly
fight back against Russia, which had started a war against Poland-Lithuania. The alliance included the marriage of
Catherine and Duke John, and in 1562 they were married in Vilnius. She was then 35 years old and John was 24. It was
unusual for the spouses to be so much older, but as a Polish-Lithuanian princess, the young Catherine Jagiellon was a
sought-after prize on the princely marriage market, and her brother used her as a pawn in high politics.
After the wedding, the ducal couple travelled to Turku, where they arrived at Christmas 1562. However, Catherine
Jagiellon's time as Duchess of Finland was short-lived, as her husband became embroiled in a serious conflict with his
brother Erik. In August 1563, Turku Castle surrendered and Katarina chose to follow Johan into captivity at Gripsholm
Castle for four years.
During her imprisonment, Catherine gave birth to two children, Isabella (1564–1566) and Sigismund (1566–1632). Her
daughter died young from illness. Her son Sigismund later became King of Poland and Lithuania in 1587 and, after Johan
III's death in 1592, also King of Sweden. Johan and Catherine Jagellion were released by King Erik in the autumn of 1567,
and Catherine gave birth to their daughter Anna in the spring of 1568 at Eskilstuna Royal Manor.
In the summer of 1568, Johan started a rebellion against his half-brother Erik and overthrew him from the throne that
autumn. During this time, Catherine lived peacefully with her children at Vadstena Castle. Anna was only a few months old
at the time, and Sigismund was around two years old. After Johan and Catherine were crowned king and queen in Uppsala
Cathedral on 10 July 1569, the royal family often returned to Vadstena, and the town remained close to Catherine's heart.
Vadstena played a key role in the kingdom from a religious perspective. During the 1570s, the Jesuits, who were
missionaries of the Catholic Church, started a Jesuit school, probably in the former monastery, which the royal couple
supported financially. Catherine gave money to the nuns, and in 1579 the royal couple finances the renovation of both
the monastery and the monastery church. Vadstena Monastery experiences a real upswing, and in 1580, 13 new nuns and a
new abbess are enrolled in the monastery.
While John was a Lutheran, Catherine was a Catholic, but she also compromised with the Swedish Church. Among other things,
she took communion with John in the Lutheran manner, which the Catholic Church criticised. Since John and Catherine had
ambitions for their son Sigismund to become king of both Poland-Lithuania and Sweden, it was necessary for the religious
orientations to converge. This is probably why Johan III published a new church order, The Red Book, in the early
1570s.
Through Catherine Jagellion's extensive network, Johan III gained access to Europe's best stonemasons and architects from
Poland, Germany and Italy, and built castles and churches in accordance with the new trends in Renaissance style. An
excellent example of this is Vadstena Castle. During Catherine's time, the court was modernised and new dishes were
served, often featuring root vegetables and greens. In Poland and Lithuania, Catherine's mother Bona Sforza is known for
having brought the dinner fork from Italy. In Sweden and Finland, Catherine is known for the same thing.
Catherine Jagellion was periodically ill with severe pain, probably suffering from scoliosis, and on 16 September 1583 she
died at Stockholm Castle at the age of 57. A year after her death, John III remarried Catherine's lady-in-waiting,
16-year-old Gunilla Bielke.
Eva Mattsson
Author and cultural producer. Mattsson made her debut in 2018 with Furstinnan – a biography of Queen Katarina
Jagiellon. The book was translated into Lithuanian in 2024 and published in Lithuania by the Oboulys publishing
house. In 2023, she published the book Vasarna i Vadstena.
