Agneta Rosenbröijer (ca. 1620 - 11 September 1697) was a Finnish-Swedish

noblewoman A noblewoman is a female member of the nobility. Noblewomen form a disparate group, which has evolved over time. Ennoblement of women has traditionally been a rare occurrence; the majority of noblewomen were linked to the nobility by either their ...

and business person. She was a significant figure in the local history of Viborg, known for her pride, temperament and feuds, which has been the subject of many stories.

Biography

Agneta Rosenbröijer was born in

Vyborg Vyborg (; , ; , ; , ) is a town and the administrative center of Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of Vyborg Bay, northwest of St. Petersburg, east of the Finnish capital H ...

. She was the daughter of the burger Tönnies Antonius Bröijer,

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Viborg in

Swedish Finland Finland was an integral part of Sweden from the Middle Ages until 1809. The starting point of Swedish rule is uncertain and controversial. It is traditionally linked to the First Swedish Crusade in the mid-12th century. Historical evidence of ...

. She married in 1640 to

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

Tönnies Antonius Bröijer (d. 1652) who was engaged in commodity trading. As was usual in Sweden at the time, kept her own surname after her marriage In 1647, her father was ennobled with the surname Rosenbröijer. She took her father's new surname and became known as Agneta Rosenbröijer. Widowed in 1652, she took over the trading business of her late spouse. In 1655, she married the recently ennobled captain Peter von Gertten (d. 1671). After marriage, he left for six years to serve in the

Polish–Swedish wars This is a List of wars between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to ...

. After his return in 1661, the couple attracted attention with their extravagant life style and belonged to the leading people of the city. They bought the manor Ahijärvi in 1663 to live in accordance with their noble status, while she continued to manage the trading business. It was an important business and belonged to the few in Viborg at that time to trade with foreign nations. After the death of her second spouse in 1671, Agneta Rosenbröijer was dragged in to a fourteen year long period of lawsuits: she was forced to pay of the

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money Loan, borrowed or otherwise withheld from another party, the creditor. Debt may be owed by a sovereign state or country, local government, company, or an individual. Co ...

s accumulated by her spouse and herself during all their years of extravagance, while she herself sued the state and demanded to be given the salary of her late spouse to pay of the

creditor A creditor or lender is a party (e.g., person, organization, company, or government) that has a claim on the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some propert ...

s. Her situation was worsened through the reduction of 1683. In 1685, finally, the king granted her the income from a couple of farms for her personal support.

References

Other sources

* ''Biografiskt lexikon för Finland'' 1. Svenska tiden (2008). {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenbroijer, Agneta 1620s births 1697 deaths 17th-century Swedish businesswomen 17th-century Swedish businesspeople 17th-century Finnish nobility People from the Swedish Empire 17th-century Finnish women