Katarina Sunesdotter (c. 1215 – 1252), also known as Karin, was

Queen of Sweden The monarchy of Sweden is centred on the monarchical head of state of Sweden,See the Instrument of Government, Chapter 1, Article 5. by law a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system.Parliamentary system: see the Ins ...

from 1244 to 1250 as the wife of King

Erik Eriksson Erik Eriksson (; 1216 – 2 February 1250), sometimes known as Erik XI or with the epithet the Lisp and Lame (), was King of Sweden from 1222 to 1229 and again from 1234 to 1250. Being the last ruler of the House of Erik, he stood in the shado ...

. In her later years she served as

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa'') is the female superior of a community of nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Lutheran and Anglican abbeys, the mod ...

of Gudhem Abbey in Falbygden.

Heir of the Sverker dynasty

Katarina was the eldest daughter of Helena Sverkersdotter and Sune Folkesson. Katarina did not have any brothers, but a sister, Benedikta. Katarina's maternal grandparents were King

Sverker the Younger Sverker the Younger (before 1167 – 17 July 1210), also known as Sverker II or Sverker Karlsson, was King of Sweden from 1195 or 1196 to 1208 when he was defeated in the Battle of Lena by Erik Knutsson. Sverker died in the 1210 Battle of Gestil ...

and Queen

Benedicta Hvide Benedicta Hvide also called ''Benedicta Ebbesdotter'' (c. 1165 or 1170 – c. 1199 or 1200) was Queen of Sweden as the first wife of king Sverker II. She belonged to the House of Hvide of Denmark and in Sweden was often called ''Queen Bengta''. ...

. Descending from the families of

Bjälbo Bjälbo is a small village in Mjölby Municipality, Östergötland, Sweden. The medieval House of Bjälbo had a church and a manor house at Bjälbo. Magnus Minnesköld was probably born here, and in around 1210 his son Birger Magnusson. Today ...

and Sverker, she was a member of one of the

Geatish The Geats ( ; ; ; ), sometimes called ''Geats#Goths, Goths'', were a large North Germanic peoples, North Germanic tribe who inhabited ("land of the Geats") in modern southern Sweden from antiquity until the Late Middle Ages. They are one of ...

clans. Katarina's father Sune Folkesson was Lord of Ymseborg,

lawspeaker A lawspeaker or lawman ( Swedish: ''lagman'', Old Swedish: ''laghmaþer'' or ''laghman'', Danish: ''lovsigemand'', Norwegian: ''lagmann'', Icelandic: , Faroese: '' løgmaður'', Finnish: ''laamanni'', ) is a unique Scandinavian legal offic ...

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Vä ...

, and in some literature he is referred to as Earl of the Swedish.

Queen of Sweden

(1215–50) of the

House of Erik The House of Erik () was a medieval Swedish royal dynasty with several pretenders to the throne between 1150 and 1220, rivaling for kingship of Sweden with the House of Sverker. The first king from the House of Erik was Erik Jedvardsson, lat ...

became king in 1222 and was exiled by co-king Knut Långe from 1229 to 1234. Eric returned to Sweden on Knut's death in 1234 and served as king until his own death in 1250. Young Erik was, according to semi-legendary material, physically lame and spoke with a stutter ("läspe och halte"), and he was reportedly of a kindly nature. Erik and Katarina were married in order to strengthen Erik's claim to the throne, as Katarina was of royal blood on her mother's side. The marriage took place in 1243 or 1244, at Fyrisängen near

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

. Katarina had received an immense

dower Dower is a provision accorded traditionally by a husband or his family, to a wife for her support should she become widowed. It was settlement (law), settled on the bride (being given into trust instrument, trust) by agreement at the time of t ...

upon the marriage: some legends speak romantically about "half the kingdom".

Queen dowager and abbess

Erik died in 1250. Upon the death of her husband, the

Queen Dowager A queen dowager or dowager queen (compare: princess dowager or dowager princess) is a title or status generally held by the widow of a king. In the case of the widow of an emperor, the title of empress dowager is used. Its full meaning is cle ...

retreated to Gudhem Abbey. Because Scandinavian customary law dictated that no clan property could be held by a member of a religious order, she transferred some lands, including her queenly dower, to certain relatives and gave others as donations to ecclesiastical institutions. For example, her sister Benedikta received as a gift from her the town of

Söderköping Söderköping is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Söderköping Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 6,992 inhabitants in 2010. Söderköping is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still refe ...

. Katarina soon became the Abbess of Gudhem Abbey, and served in that position until her death in 1252. Since she immediately devoted herself to a sequestered religious life and not to family at Erik's death, the conclusion has tended to be that they did not have any surviving children. Erik's nephew,

Valdemar Birgersson Valdemar Birgersson (1239 – 26 December 1302), also Waldemar, was King of Sweden from 1250 to 1275. Biography Valdemar was the son of the Swedish princess Ingeborg Eriksdotter and Birger Jarl, from the House of Bjälbo. When Ingeborg's ...

was chosen as the next

King of Sweden The monarchy of Sweden is centred on the monarchical head of state of Sweden,See the #IOG, Instrument of Government, Chapter 1, Article 5. by law a constitutional monarchy, constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system.Parl ...

Heir of the Sverker dynasty

Queen of Sweden

Queen dowager and abbess

References

Further reading