sister and daughters of native Swedish kings of late medieval period
M Sjostrom
union with Denmark in late 1300s, and that situation effectively lasted
until mid-1500s, when (after the kingdom was even enacted as hereditary)
king Gustav I's daughters grew to adulthood and started to get married
off....
During that period, Sweden had not a native dynasty.
One and a half century. Without established native dynasty with royal
daughters of long royal lineage...
But Sweden was not totally without 'princesses' during that long time.
However, such were 'only' daughters and sisters of elected -at the time
perceived non-dynastical- kings and not in so favorable a position in the
international marriage market of royals and sovereigns.
Previously, for example in medieval centuries of 1000s, 1100s, 1200s and
1300s, daughters (and to lesser extent, nieces and sisters) of Swedish kings
had usually married other kings or sovereign rulers.
But those ladies of the 1400s and early 1500s, did not anyone marry a king,
nor a proper sovereign.... still, though of diminished value, their
marriages were used by their father/brother, to acquire substantial support.
And, to their husbands, these ladies generaly were worthy princesses.
However, I believe the term 'prinsessa', 'princess', was not authentic to
that period. The term in Swedish, authentical even in those centuries (as to
smaller rulers and their wives and such), was 'furstinna', denoting a
princely lady whose own position is substantial. Such as, a castle or more
following her to a marriage...
These adult princely ladies native to Sweden of the period 1400..1550 were:
furstinna Kristina Karlsdotter av Sverige, heiress of Fogelvik, elder
daughter of the elected king Charles Knutson
furstinna Magdalena Karlsdotter av Sverige, heiress of Bjurum, younger
daughter of the elected king Charles Knutson
furstinna Margareta Eriksdotter av Rydboholm, heiress of Lindholm, the only
surviving sister of king Gustav I
Although ladies (such as, sisters and nieces) of the families of intervening
Regents of the ciuntry, were also of beneficial marital alliances, still
their valuations were apparently obviously lower than the actualized values
of the abovelisted ladies. Members of regebnt families were not having a
'royal luster' - it was not possible to say that one were daughter or sister
of KING. So, an assessment of their marriages shows ties with high nobility,
but not as such castles following...
----
What did their fathers/brothers arrange, when making marital alliances?
furstinna Kristina Karlsdotter av Sverige, heiress of Fogelvik, elder
daughter of the elected king Charles Knutson
http://genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00201261&tree=LEO
was married already before her father actually got elected and crowned. Her
husband was prospectively an advantage to her father, who already had once
been regent, to go further. It was knight Erik Eriksen af Demmestrup. And he
was made the Steward of the Kingdom when his father-in-law ascended the
royal throne.
Since Kristina of Fogelvik did not get widowed during her father's reign, it
is not possible to know how her father would have arranged any further
alliances using her.
She enjoyed a princely status during her father's reign in her country.
furstinna Magdalena Karlsdotter av Sverige, heiress of Bjurum (same name as
'princess Madeleine'), younger daughter of the elected king Charles Knutson
http://genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00431165&tree=LEO
She was still young when her father became the king, and she was perhaps the
most telling example of the value of royal daughters and sisters: Her
husband was a 'de facto' sovereign, or autonomous, ruler of the island
polity of Gotland. Of a family which held important (and often
semi-autonomous) fiefs around the two warring kingdoms: his brothers held
Raasepori, Viipuri, and some Scanian castles.
Furstinna Magdalena's marriage was augmented by the grant of fortresses.
So, this marriage was technically 'between equals', two princely personages.
Had her husband ascended his father-in-law's throne of Sweden (as was one of
plans in those days), perhaps Gotland would have been united to Sweden
already in the 1400s [instead the island fell to Denmark, and was conquered
by Sweden only in mid-1600s.]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalen_of_Sweden
furstinna Margareta Eriksdotter av Rydboholm, heiress of Lindholm, the only
surviving sister of king Gustav I
http://genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00030799&tree=LEO
She was a young widow at the time her brother Gustav Erikson ascended the
Swedish throne as elected monarch. The brother had her as tempting marriage
supply for some years. Negotiations with some German petty rulers were
ongoing but did not bring much fruits - they were not helpful enough to the
kingly brother of the lady. Also some prospects were among highest nobility
of Sweden itself. In the end, Gustav had her married to a 'landless' younger
son of a German comital family who held a HRE petty principality. Utilizing
his new brither-in-law as source of additional troops, and as an exalted
personage in positions in the home country.
So, this marriage was technically 'between equals', two princely personages.
--------------------------
It is very few that in this entire period, one and a half century, there was
effectively only three ladies native of sweden for some sort of roytal
marriage market. Other kingdoms during this very same period, had dozens of
dynastical royal daughters (to marry off).