by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021
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Under the Kalmar Union, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden were ruled together under one monarch, usually the King of Denmark, from 1397 until 1523 when Danish rule was overthrown by Sweden in a rebellion led by nobleman Gustav Eriksson Vasa, who became King Gustav I of Sweden. The monarchs of the House of Vasa were buried in several different sites. However, most were buried at Uppsala Cathedral in Uppsala, Sweden.
All photos are from Wikipedia unless otherwise noted.
Uppsala Cathedral
Uppsala Cathedral was built in the 13th to 15th centuries and it is the tallest church in the Scandanavian countries. Originally built as a Roman Catholic cathedral, it is now a place of worship for the Church of Sweden, a Protestant denomination. It is the burial site of King Erik IX, Sweden’s national saint, who was killed in 1160 on the site where Uppsala Cathedral was built. Uppsala Cathedral was the traditional site for the coronation of the Swedish monarch from the middle of the 15th century until the end of the 17th century when the Storkyrkan (Great Church) in Stockholm became the coronation church. After the coronation of King Oscar II in 1873, subsequent Swedish monarchs chose not to be crowned. Several of the chapels at Uppsala Cathedral were converted to house the tombs of Swedish monarchs and their families, archbishops, and notable people.
Shrine of King Erik IX, Sweden’s national saint
House of Vasa
- King Gustav I of Sweden (reigned 1523 – 1560)
- King Erik XIV of Sweden (reigned 1560 – 1569, deposed)
- King Johan III of Sweden (reigned 1569 – 1592)
- King Sigismund III Vasa of Sweden (1592 – 1599, deposed)
- King Karl IX of Sweden (Regent of Sweden 1599–1604, King of Sweden 1604 – 1611)
- King Gustavus II Adolphus the Great of Sweden (reigned 1611 – 1632)
- Queen Christina of Sweden (reigned 1632 – 1654, abdicated)
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Gustav I, King of Sweden (reigned June 6, 1523 – September 29, 1560)
King Gustav I was born as Gustav Eriksson Vasa on May 12, 1496, the son of Erik Johansson Vasa, a Swedish noble and the Lord of Rydboholm Castle, and Cecilia Månsdotter Eka, a Swedish noblewoman. Since 1397, Sweden was part of the Kalmar Union in which the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden were ruled by one monarch. Denmark was dominant in the Kalmar Union and this occasionally led to uprisings in Sweden. In 1520, King Christian II of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, who asserted his claim to Sweden by force, ordered a massacre of Swedish nobles. The actions of King Christian II stirred the Swedish nobility to a new resistance. During the Swedish War of Liberation (1521 – 1523), Gustav Vasa successfully deposed King Christian II from the throne of Sweden, ending the Kalmar Union between Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. On June 6, 1523, Gustav Vasa was elected King of Sweden by the Swedish Riksdag (legislature).
Gustav I, King of Sweden married three times:
- Katharina of Saxe-Lauenburg on September 24, 1531, had one son
- Margaret Leijonhufvud on October 1, 1536, had ten children
- Katerina Stenbock on August 22, 1552, no children
King Gustav I died on September 29, 1560, aged 64, at Tre Kronor Castle (Three Crowns Castle) which stood on the site of the present Stockholm Palace in Stockholm, Sweden, and was buried in the Vasa Chapel at Uppsala Cathedral in Uppsala, Sweden with his first two wives. Gustav’s effigy is in the middle of the tomb with the effigies of his wives Katharina of Saxe-Lauenburg and Margareta Leijonhufvud on either side.
Tomb of Gustav I and his first two wives; Credit – Von Skippy13 – Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=726933
Effigies of Gustav and his first two wives; Credit – www.findagrave.com
Katharina of Saxe-Lauenburg, Queen of Sweden
Katharina of Saxe-Lauenburg was born on September 24, 1513, in Ratzeburg, Duchy of of Saxe-Lauenburg, now in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, the daughter of Magnus I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg and Katharina of Brunswick-Lüneburg. She married King Gustav I of Sweden in Stockholm, Sweden on September 24, 1531. In 1533, she gave birth to the future Eric XIV, King of Sweden.
During her second pregnancy, Katharina had a fall that led to complications. 22-year-old Katharina died on September 23, 1535, along with her unborn child. She was initially buried in the Storkykan (Great Church) in Stockholm, Sweden on October 1, 1535. On December 21, 1560, following the death of her husband, her remains were reburied at Uppsala Cathedral together with her husband King Gustav I and his second wife Margareta Leijonhufvud.
Effigy of Katharina of Saxe-Lauenburg, Queen of Sweden
Margareta Leijonhufvud, Queen of Sweden
A member of the Leijonhufvud family, one of Sweden’s most powerful noble families, Margareta Leijonhufvud was born on January 1, 1516, at Ekeberg Castle in Närke, Sweden. She was the daughter of Erik Abrahamsson Leijonhufvud and Ebba Eriksdotter Vasa, the second cousin of King Gustav I. On October 1, 1536, Margareta married King Gustav I, a year after the death of his first wife. Margareta had ten children and her constant pregnancies took a toll on her health and she died from pneumonia at the age of 35. She was temporarily buried at Uppsala Cathedral until after her husband’s death when her remains were reburied together with her husband King Gustav I and his first wife Katharina of Saxe-Lauenburg.
Effigy of Margareta Leijonhufvud, Queen of Sweden
Katerina Stenbock, Queen of Sweden
Born on July 22, 1535 in Torpa, Västergötland, Sweden, Katerina Stenbock was the daughter of Gustaf Olofsson Stenbock and Brita Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud, who was the sister of King Gustav I’s second wife Margareta Leijonhufvud. On August 22, 1552, 17-year-old Katerina married 56-year-old King Gustav I but they had no children. Katerina never remarried despite being only 25-yeas old when King Gustav I died. She dressed in mourning for the rest of her life. She survived her husband by sixty-one years, dying on December 13, 1621, aged 86, and was buried in Uppsala Cathedral in Uppsala, Sweden but has no monument or memorial.
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Erik XIV, King of Sweden (reigned September 29, 1560 – September 29, 1568, deposed)
Born on December 13, 1533, at Stockholm Castle in Stockholm, Sweden, Erik was the only surviving child of King Gustav I and his first wife Katharina of Saxe-Lauenburg who died due to childbirth complications two years after Erik was born. After he had two children with his mistress Karin Månsdotter, he married her on July 4, 1568, and the couple had two more children.
Erik was deposed via a rebellion by his half-brother who became King Johan III. Erik was imprisoned in various castles for eight years. He died on February 26, 1577, aged 43, at Örbyhus Castle in Örbyhus, Sweden. He was most likely murdered due to the three major conspiracies that attempted to depose his half-brother Johan III and place Erik back on the Swedish throne. An examination of his remains in 1958 confirmed that Erik probably died of arsenic poisoning. Erik XIV, King of Sweden was originally buried in a crypt at Västerås Cathedral in Västerås, Västmanland, Sweden. In 1797, Erik’s remains were reburied at Västerås Cathedral in a Carrara marble sarcophagus that King Gustav III originally ordered for himself.
Tomb of Erik XIV, King of Sweden
Karin Månsdotter, Queen of Sweden
Karin Månsdotter, also known as Catharina, was born November 6, 1550, in Stockholm, Sweden. Her father was a soldier and a prison guard named Måns (her surname is a patronym, literally “daughter of Måns”) and her mother Ingrid came from a family of peasants. She was a maid to King Erik XIV’s half-sister Elisabet before became mistress Erik’s mistress in 1565. By 1568, Karin and Erik XIV had two children. On July 4, 1568, Karin married King Erik XIV and was crowned Queen of Sweden the next day. Two more children, who both died young, were born after the marriage. Karin survived her husband by 35 years, dying on September 13, 1612, at the age of 61, at her estate Liuksiala Kungsgård, located in Kangasala, Finland, which was part of the Kingdom of Sweden at that time. She was buried at Turku Cathedral in Turku, Finland.
Tomb of Karin Månsdotter, Queen of Sweden
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Johan III, King of Sweden (reigned January 1569 – November 17, 1592)
Born on December 20, 1537, at Stegeborg Castle in Söderköping, Östergötland, Sweden, Johan III, King of Sweden was the son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife Margaret Leijonhufvud. He became King of Sweden through a rebellion against his half-brother Erik XIV, King of Sweden. With his first wife Katarina Jagellonica, he had three children. After Katarina’s death, he married again to Gunilla Bielke and had one son.
Johan III, King of Sweden died on November 17, 1592, aged 54, at Tre Kronor Castle in Stockholm, Sweden, and was buried in Uppsala Cathedral in Uppsala, Sweden.
Tomb of Johan III, King of Sweden
Katarina Jagellonica of Poland, Queen of Sweden
Katarina Jagellonica of Poland was born on November 1, 1526, in Kraków, Kingdom of Poland. She was the daughter of Sigismund I, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania and Bona Sforza of the powerful House of Sforza, which ruled the Duchy of Milan. On October 4, 1562, Katarina married the future Johan III, King of Sweden in the Lower Castle of Vilnius, Lithuania. The couple had three children.
In the spring of 1583, Katarina became seriously ill with gout, and after much suffering, she died on September 16, 1583, aged 56, at Tre Kronor Castle in Stockholm, Sweden, and was buried in Uppsala Cathedral in Uppsala, Sweden.
Tomb of Katarina Jagellonica of Poland, Queen of Sweden
Gunilla Bielke, Queen of Sweden
Gunilla Bielke was born on June 25, 1568, the daughter of Johan Axelsson Bielke, Governor of Östergötland and Margareta Axelsdotter Posse. Both her parents died when she was a child and so Gunilla was raised at the Swedish court where she became a maid of honor to Queen Katarina Jagellonica. After the death of Queen Katarina, Gunilla married Johan III, King of Sweden on February 21, 1585, and they had one son. Gunilla survived her husband by only five years, dying at the age of 29 of a fever at Bråborg Castle in Östergötland, Sweden on July 19, 1597. She was buried at Uppsala Cathedral in Uppsala, Sweden.
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Sigismund III Vasa, King of Sweden (reigned November 17, 1592 – July 24, 1599, deposed)
Sigismund III Vasa was not only King of Sweden but also King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania through his mother. Born on June 20, 1566, at Gripsholm Castle in Mariefred, Södermanland, Sweden, he was the son of Johan III, King of Sweden and his first wife Katarina Jagellonica of Poland. Sigismund, who was Catholic, was deposed in 1599 as King of Sweden by his Protestant uncle who reigned as King Karl IX of Sweden. Sigismund lived the remainder of his life in Poland.
Sigismund had two wives, both sisters. Anna of Austria and then Constance of Austria, daughters of Archduke Karl II of Austria and Maria Anna of Bavaria. Sigismund and Anna had four children before Anna died of childbirth complications along with her fifth child. With Anna’s sister Constance, Sigismund had seven children. Sigismund had been deposed as King of Sweden before his marriage to Constance so she was not Queen of Sweden.
Greatly distressed by Constance’s death in 1631, Sigismund died nine months later on April 30, 1632, aged 65, at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland. He was buried in the crypt under the Vasa Chapel at Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, Poland.
Tomb of Sigismund III Vasa; Credit – www.findagrave.com
Anna of Austria, Queen of Sweden
Born on August 16, 1573, in Graz, Austria, Anna of Austria was the daughter of Archduke Karl II of Austria and Maria Anna of Bavaria. She married Sigismund III Vasa, King of Sweden in Krakow, Poland on May 31, 1592. The couple had four children before Anna died due to childbirth complications on February 10, 1598, in Warsaw, Poland, aged 24. She was buried in South Ambulatory Crypt at Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, Poland.
The coffin of Anna, Queen of Sweden is in the back on the left
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Karl IX, King of Sweden (Regent of Sweden 1599 – 1604, King of Sweden March 22, 1604 – October 30, 1611)
Karl IX was born at Tre Kronor Castle in Stockholm, Sweden on October 4, 1550. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife Margaret Leijonhufvud, the brother of King Erik XIV of Sweden and King Johan III of Sweden, and the paternal uncle of Sigismund III Vasa, who was king of both Sweden and Poland. The Protestant Karl IX deposed his Catholic nephew Sigismund III Vasa as King of Sweden.
Karl’s first wife Maria of Palatinate-Simmern died before he became King of Sweden. They had six children including Katharina who was the mother of King Carl X Gustaf of Sweden. After Maria’s death, Karl married Christina of Holstein-Gottorp with whom he had four children including his successor King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (Gustav II Adolf).
Karl IX, King of Sweden died on October 30, 1611, at Nyköping Castle in Nyköping, Södermanland, Sweden at the age of 61. He was buried at Strängnäs Cathedral in Strängnäs, Sweden. Karl IX has a most unusual grave monument – a rider on a horse wearing gold armor placed over Karl IX’s family crypt. The gold armor was made by twelve of Stockholm’s most prominent goldsmiths.
Karl IX’s grave monument; Credit – Av Kigsz – Eget arbete, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71076804
Maria of Palatinate-Simmern, Princess of Sweden, Duchess of Södermanland
Born on July 24, 1561, in Heidelberg, Electorate of the Palatine, now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, Maria of Palatinate-Simmern was the daughter of Ludwig VI, Elector Palatine and Elisabeth of Hesse. She married Karl of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland, the future Karl IX, King of Sweden, in Heidelberg on May 11, 1579. Maria and Karl had six children but only one daughter survived childhood. After a long illness, Maria died before her husband became King of Sweden, on July 29, 1589, aged 28, at Eskilstuna Castle in Eskilstuna, Södermanland, Sweden. She was buried in the family crypt below her husband’s equestrian grave monument at Strängnäs Cathedral in Strängnäs, Sweden.
The family crypt of Karl IX, King of Sweden is located under his equestrian grave monument
Christina of Holstein-Gottorp, Queen of Sweden
Christina of Holstein-Gottorp was the daughter of Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and Christine of Hesse. She was the first cousin of Karl IX’s first wife Maria of Palatinate-Simmern as their mothers were sisters. Christina was born on April 13, 1573, in Kiel, Holstein-Gottorp, now in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. On July 8, 1592, she became the second wife of Karl of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland, who in 1599 became Regent of Sweden and in 1604 became Karl IX, King of Sweden. Christina and Karl had four children.
Christina survived her husband by fourteen years, dying at the age of 52, on December 8, 1625, at Gripsholm Castle in Mariefred, Södermanland, Sweden and was buried in the family crypt below her husband’s equestrian grave monument at Strängnäs Cathedral in Strängnäs, Sweden.
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Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden (reigned October 30, 1611 – November 16, 1632)
Gustavus Adolphus (Gustav II Adolf) was born on December 9, 1594 at Tre Kronor Castle in Stockholm, Sweden, the son of Karl IX, King of Sweden and his second wife Christina of Holstein-Gottorp. Upon his father’s death in 1611, 16-year-old Gustavus Adolphus became King of Sweden with his mother serving as Regent until he became of age. Gustavus Adolphus married Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg. The couple had two stillborn children, a daughter who died in infancy, and their last child, a daughter who succeeded her father as Queen Christina of Sweden.
Gustavus Adolphus, aged 37, was killed in the Battle of Lützen during the Thirty Years War on November 16, 1632. Gustavus’s wife kept his body at Nyköping Castle for over a year. Finally, the remains of Gustavus Adolphus were interred on June 22, 1634, at Riddarholmen Church in Stockholm, Sweden.
Sarcophagus of Gustavus Adolphus: Credit – Howard Flantzer
Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, Queen of Sweden
Born on November 11, 1599, in Königsberg, Duchy of Prussia, Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg was the daughter of Johann Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg and Anna of Prussia of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. Maria Eleonora married Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden in Stockholm, Sweden on November 25, 1620. After having two stillbirths and a daughter who died in infancy, Maria Eleonora finally gave her husband his much-needed heir Christina in 1626. Christina became Queen of Sweden at the age of six upon the death of her father. Maria Eleanora was offended when she was not included in the regency government during the minority of her daughter, as the council of the state did not consider her suitable as regent.
Maria Eleanora survived her husband by twenty-three years, dying at the age of 55, on March 28, 1655, in Stockholm, Sweden, shortly after her daughter Queen Christina abdicated in favor of her cousin who reigned as Carl X Gustaf, King of Sweden. Maria Eleanora was interred next to her husband at Riddarholmen Church in Stockholm, Sweden.
Tomb of Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, Queen of Sweden; Credit – Howard Flantzer
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Christina, Queen of Sweden (reigned November 16, 1632 – June 16, 1654, abdicated)
Born on December 18, 1626, at Tre Kronor Castle in Stockholm Sweden, Christina, Queen of Sweden was the only surviving child of Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden and Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg. She became Queen of Sweden at the age of six upon the death of her father in battle. Christina caused a scandal when she decided not to marry and when she abdicated her throne and subsequently converted to Roman Catholicism.
Christina left Sweden and lived most of the rest of her life in Rome where she played a prominent role in the city’s cultural life. She died, aged 62, on April 19, 1689, at the Palazzo Corsini in Rome after suffering from erysipelas, an acute bacterial infection, and pneumonia. Christina had asked for a simple burial in the Pantheon in Rome. However, Pope Innocent XI insisted that her body be displayed and interred in the fashion of a pope. She is one of three women to be interred in the crypt at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.
Christina’s sarcophagus in the extensive papal crypt at the Vatican
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