Karin Thomasdotter (Swedish; ; 1610–1697) was an official

Vogt An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...

(court advocate) and länsman, in the province of Finland that was then part of Sweden. Her position as an official was near to unique for a woman of her time, particularly as she was not of noble birth.

Biography

She was the granddaughter, daughter, wife, mother and grandmother of vogts, and took over this position herself after the death of her spouse. She functioned as vogt in

Pargas Pargas () is a town and municipality of Finland, in the Archipelago Sea, the biggest archipelago in the world by the number of islands, 50,000. The big limestone mine in Pargas is the base of the main industry and except for the central parts, t ...

(now Finland) for forty years, which makes her one of the longest serving vogts in contemporary Finland. She was also one of only two females to have the position in contemporary Finland. She has been described as a person with great authority.Ohlander, Ann-Sofie. ''Tusen svenska kvinnoår'', 2008. Upplaga 3. uppl.

References

1610 births 1697 deaths 17th-century Finnish people 17th-century Finnish women 17th-century Swedish judges {{finland-bio-stub