Karin Hansdotter

Karin (Katarina) Hansdotter (1539 - 1596), was the royal mistress of King John III of Sweden in the 1550s before his marriage during his time as Prince and Duke of Finland.

Biography

Karin is believed to be the daughter of Hans Klasson Kökkemäster, a former monk, which had been made priest in Stockholm after the reformation of 1527, and his wife Ingeborg Åkesdotter, a former nun and the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman. Her father was later fired from his work because of adultery. Karin worked as a servant in the court of Queen Katarina Stenbock when John met her sometime in the middle of the 1550s,(before 1556) and she followed him to his fief in Finland where she was installed as his mistress.

In 1561, before John's marriage to Catherine Jagellonica of Poland, Karin was married to Klas Andersson Westgöte (d. 1565), a friend and servant of John, and given the Wääksy Manor in Kangasala in Finland. When John became King in 1568, he continued to support Karin and his illegitimate children.

In 1572 Karin was married again, her earlier husband was murdered by Erik XIV in 1563, to a Lars Henrikson Hordeel (d. 1591). In 1576, Lars was nobled by John on the condition that he took care of his issue with Karin. In 1577, she became the neighbour of the deposed queen Karin Månsdotter. Karin died in 1596 during the great Finnish peasant rebellion and did not have to witness the plundering of her estate.

Children and family

Karin and John had four children:

• Sofia Johansdotter Gyllenhielm (b. 1556 d. 1583) - who married Pontus De la Gardie (d. 1585),
• August Johansdotter Gyllenhielm (b. 1557 d. 1560),
• Julius Johansdotter Gyllenhielm (b. 1559 d. 1583),
• Lucrecia Johansdotter Gyllenhielm (b. 1560 d. 1585).

Karin and her first husband Klas had one child:

• Brita Klasdotter Westgöte (b. about 1563 d. 1620) - who married Carl Stenbock (d. 1609).

Karin and her second husband Lars had one child:

• Anna Larsdotter Hordeel (b. 1573 d. 1646) - who married Hans Roije (d. 1617).

A fuller genealogy about her.

References

• Lars-Olof Larsson, "Arvet efter Gustav Vasa".
• http://historiska-personer.nu/min-s/pe8f47a8c.html