Sigrid Brahe (1568–1608), was a Swedish countess, known for the great scandal ''Onsdagsbröllopet'' (The Wednesday Wedding) in 1595. Sigrid Brahe was the daughter of count

Per Brahe the Elder Per Brahe the Elder (1520–1590) was a Swedish statesman. Brahe was the son of Joakim Brahe (died 1520 in the Stockholm Bloodbath) and Margareta Eriksdotter Vasa, the sister of Gustav Eriksson Vasa, who became King of Sweden in 1523. Brahe wa ...

and Beata Stenbock and niece of queen dowager

Catherine Stenbock Catherine Stenbock (Swedish: ''Katarina Gustavsdotter Stenbock''; 22 July 1535 at Torpa, Tranemo Municipality, Västergötland – 13 December 1621 at Strömsholm, Västmanland) was Queen of Sweden from 1552 to 1560 as the third and last wife of ...

, and sister of

Erik Brahe (1552–1614) Erik Brahe (Stockholm, 23 June 1722 – 23 July 1756, Stockholm), was a Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken pr ...

Gustaf Brahe Gustaf Brahe (8 March 1558 – 10 January 1615) was a Swedish ''riksråd'' and a Polish Field marshal. Gustaf Brahe was the son of Per Brahe the Elder and Beata Stenbock, and related to the royal family. He was the paternal grandson of Margareta Er ...

(1558–1615),

Margareta Brahe (1559–1638) Margareta Brahe (2 July 1559 – 26 April 1638) was a Swedish courtier; '' hovmästarinna'' (Mistress of the Robes) to princess Anna Vasa of Sweden, from 1591. Born to count Per Brahe the Elder and Beata Stenbock and niece of queen dowager Cathe ...

, Magnus Brahe (1564–1633) and

Abraham Brahe Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jews ...

(1569–1630). After the death of queen

Catherine Jagiellon Catherine Jagiellon ( pl, Katarzyna Jagiellonka; sv, Katarina Jagellonica, Lithuanian: ''Kotryna Jogailatė''; 1 November 1526 – 16 September 1583) was a Polish princess and Queen of Sweden as the first wife of King John III. As such, she ...

in 1583, king

John III of Sweden John III ( sv , Johan III, fi, Juhana III; 20 December 1537 – 17 November 1592) was King of Sweden from 1569 until his death. He was the son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife Margaret Leijonhufvud. He was also, quite autonomou ...

had plans to marry her, but gave up the plan in consideration for the opposition of his siblings and instead married

Gunilla Bielke Gunilla Bielke; Swedish: ''Gunilla Johansdotter Bielke af Åkerö'' (25 June 1568 – 19 July 1597) was Queen of Sweden as the second wife of King John III. Queen Gunilla is acknowledged to have acted as the political adviser to John III and to ...

in 1585. Instead, her family engaged her to count Erik Bielke af Åkerö upon the wish of the family and queen Gunilla Bielke. The engagement was made against the will of Sigrid Brahe, who was in love with baron Johan Nilsson Gyllenstierna. When she was made aware of the gossip that her betrothed had been given a venereal decease in Poland, she fled to the court of Princess Anna at

Stegeborg Castle Stegeborg Castle is a ruined castle in St Anna parish, Söderköping, Östergötland, located on an island in a narrow sound at the bay of Slätbaken. Brief history The oldest part of the castle is a square brick tower in the southeast corner, ...

and placed herself under the protection. Shortly thereafter, Gyllenstierna arrived at Stegeborg. The same day, the 19 March 1595, Princess Anna ordered her court to assemble in her chapel: she had the envoy Lindorm Nilsson Lilliehöök of her brother King Sigismund escort Gyllenstierna to the chapel, while she herself escorted Brahe: they took the couple to the altar, and before the eyes of her astonished court, she had her vicar conduct a wedding ceremony. This became a great

scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

: by placing the feelings of two individuals before that of their families, Anna had helped them violate, as her contemporaries viewed it, the rights of their families. The families of both Brahe and Gyllenstierna protested as well as the Bielke family, who made demands on the life of Johan Gyllenstierna. In vain, Anna asked her uncle Duke Charles to protect the couple. Eventually, Anna managed to mediate between the families. On Riksdag of 1595 in

Söderköping Söderköping is a 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 referred to as a ''tow ...

, the feud was ended: Sigrid Brahe and Johan Gyllenstierna were sentenced to one-year house arrest in their country estate and fined for two thousand riksdalers: one thousand to the poor and the other half to Bielke.

References

* Sigrid Brahe i Wilhelmina Stålberg, Anteckningar om svenska qvinnor (1864) * Den introducerade svenska adelns ättartavlor utgivna av Gustaf Elgenstierna, band I (Stockholm 1925) sid.556 och supplementband 1 (2008) sid.415 * Per Brahe, urn:sbl:18053, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Georg Landberg.), hämtad 2014-05-04. * Gyllenstierna, släkt, urn:sbl:13393, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, hämtad 2014-05-04. * Anna, urn:sbl:18719, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av H. Almquist.), hämtad 2014-05-04. * Small Sketch of Owl.pngDen här artikeln är helt eller delvis baserad på material från Nordisk familjebok, Gyllenstierna, Johan G., 1904–1926. *

References

Further reading