Cecilia Månsdotter, (c. 1476 - 1523), also called Cecilia of Eka, was a Swedish noble. She was the spouse of Erik Johansson (Vasa) and mother of King Gustav I of Sweden (Vasa).
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Biography
Cecilia was born around 1476 in Eka, Lillkyrka, or what is now known as Eka, Örebro (Swedish: Örebro Län) in Sweden. She was the oldest of the two children from Sigrid Eskilsdotter (Baner) and Magnus Karlsson (Eka). Her mother later remarried, and became the mother of the famous Christina Gyllenstierna, who was thereby Cecilia's halfsister. Cecilia Månsdotter married Erik Johansson and with him had eight children.
In 1520, Cecilia's halfsister Christina defended Stockholm from the Danish invasion, but was forced to surrender. Cecilia became a widow when her husband was executed at the Stockholm bloodbath in 1520. She, as well as her halfsister Christina Gyllenstierna, her mother and her daughter's, belonged to the Swedish noblewomen taken as prisoners by the Danes.
They were taken to Denmark in 1521 and imprisoned in the infamous Blaatornet (Blue Tower) in Copenhagen - where she died of the plague in 1523, along with her two younger daughters Martha and Emerentia. Cecilia died the same year her son Gustav became king of the newly independent Sweden, which he had liberated from Denmark.
Old legends claim that she did not die of the plague, but the king of Denmark had her executed as an act of revenge toward her son, because he had taken the throne of Sweden from him: tradition say, that she was forced to sew a sack, in which she herself was put, thrown in to the sea, and drowned. This was done because of his hatred towards her son.
There is no confirmation that this legend is true, however, though the women were said to have been badly treated in the prison by the cold air, harsh treatment and starvation.
Her mother, her halfsister Christina, and her eldest daughter Margareta was eventually relasead and returned to Sweden.
Family
Cecilia Månsdotter married Erik Johansson and with him had eight children. Their children were:
- Gustav Eriksson (Vasa) (May 12, 1495 - September 29, 1560)
- Gustav Eriksson would become King of Sweden in 1523
- Margareta Eriksdotter (Vasa) (1497 - December 31, 1536)
- Johan Eriksson (b. 1499, d. young)
- Magnus Eriksson (1501 - 1529)
- Anna Eriksdotter (1503 - 1545), nun at Vadstena Abbey
- Birgitta Eriksdotter (b. 1505, d. young)
- Marta Eriksdotter (1507 - 1523)
- Emerentia Eriksdotter (1507 - 1523)
All of their children were born in either Orkesta or Rydboholm Castle, in the present-day county of Stockholm (Swedish: Stockholms Län), in southeastern Sweden.
See also
- House of Vasa List
- Foundation of modern Sweden
- Line of succession to the Swedish Throne
- Kalmar Union
- Swedish History
References
- Ahnlund, Nils. Gustav Adolf the Great. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1940.
- Herman Lindqvist, Historien om Sverige. Gustav Vasa och hans söner och döttrar. (History of Sweden. Gustav Vasa and his sons and daughters). (In Swedish)
- Wilhelmina Stålberg, Anteckningar om svenska qvinnor
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