Christina Nilsdotter Gyllenstierna of Fogelvik ( or Kerstin: 1494 – January 1559) was a Swedish noblewoman. She was married to the Swedish regent Sten Sture the Younger and led the Swedish resistance against Christian II of Denmark after the death of her spouse. In her own lifetime, she was simply referred to as Fru Kristina ('Lady Christina'), but she has become known in history as Kristina Gyllenstierna because of the noble family to which she belonged.Tegenborg Falkdalen, Karin, Margareta Regina: vid Gustav Vasas sida : [en biografi över Margareta Leijonhufvud (1516–1551)], Setterblad, Stockholm, 2016
Early life Christina Gyllenstierna was born to riksråd Nils Eriksson (Gyllenstierna), Lord of Tullgarn (also written with the Danish spelling Niels Eriksen, and surnamed "Gyllenstjerna" by later historians) and Sigrid Eskilsdotter (Banér) of Venngarn, Heir of Lindholm. She was a great-granddaughter of King Charles VIII of Sweden through her paternal grandmother princess Christina Karlsdotter Bonde (1432–1493/1500), heir of Fogelvik, after whom she was named. Her grandfather Erik Eriksen of Demstrup ("Gyldenstjerne") originated from Denmark, but during the power struggle between Denmark and Sweden, two formally united parts of the Kalmar Union, he allied with the Swedish claimant, Charles VIII, who made him his son-in-law and High Steward of Charles' court. By the first marriage of her mother, Christina was the half-sister of Cecilia Månsdotter of Eka and thereby the maternal aunt of the future king Gustav I.
Christina was first engaged to Nils Gädda (d. 1508), governor of Kalmar and Lycka, but the marriage never took place due to his death. On 16 November 1511 in Stockholm, she married the son of the Swedish regent Svante and the nephew of her former betrothed, Sten Sture the Younger. She had six children during her marriage, but only one of them survived to mature adulthood:
Nils (1512–1527 or 1528), died in adolescence Iliana (1514–1521), died in early childhood Magdalena (1516–1521), died in early childhood Svante Stensson Sture (1517–1567) Anna (1518–1521), died in early childhood Gustav (1519–1520), died in early childhood
Reign of Sten Sture In 1512, Sten Sture succeeded his father as elected regent of Sweden upon his death. During this period, Denmark, Norway and Sweden were formally part of the Kalmar Union through a personal union under the King of Denmark, but in reality, Sweden had been a de facto independent kingdom under "regents" (Sw. riksföreståndare) native high nobles elected to rule the country.
Sten Sture's election as regent was not without opposition. At the death of his father, Sten was only 18 years old, and High Councillor Eric Trolle, who supported the union with Denmark, was initially chosen as regent by the council. However, Sten utilized the castles and troops granted to him by his late father and took power in a coup: after having promised to continue negotiations with Denmark, the High Council accepted him as regent instead of Trolle. In reality, Lord Sten's purpose was to keep Sweden independent from Denmark. He took the Sture name, a heritage from his great-grandmother, because it symbolized the independence of Sweden as a reminder of Sten Sture the Elder, his father's third cousin.
Regent Sten had already in 1504 been proposed as a candidate in the election of a new king of Sweden as a replacement for John, King of Denmark, who had been elected King of Sweden in 1497 but who was ousted from there in 1502. Upon the death of John in 1513, it was again proposed to elect regent Sten as King of Sweden rather than the son of John, Christian II of Denmark, and Sten was making preparations to arrange an election, including seeking support for it from the pope.Kristina Nilsdotter Gyllenstierna, urn:sbl:13412, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art. by Hans Gillingstam), hämtad 2015-03-10.
It is considered likely that Christina participated in state affairs and acted as the political adviser to her spouse, given her later role. In reality, Sten and Christina already functioned as king and queen of Sweden: by 1519, Peder Månsson, Bishop of Västerås, expressed his surprise in a letter from Rome to Abbess Anna Germundsdotter of Vadstena Abbey that Sten had not yet been crowned, and in the contemporary Stockholm chronicle, Christina is referred to as "Our Gracious Princess." By their ambitions, they became the natural enemies of King Christian II of Denmark, whose ambition it was to be elected king of Sweden and thereby again make Sweden a part of the Kalmar Union in practice and not only in name.
Sten became involved in a conflict with archbishop Gustav Trolle, son of his previous rival Eric Trolle. The archbishop claimed more autonomy for the church. In 1516, Sten besieged Staket, the fortress of archbishop Trolle, and when Staket was taken the following year, Sten had the fortress dismantled, Trolle taken captive, imprisoned and deposed as archbishop. The deposition of an archbishop resulted in the excommunication of Sten Sture by the pope, who gave Christian II support in his designs against Sten Sture. On the New Year of 1520, Christian II invaded Sweden.
Defender of Stockholm On 19 January 1520, Regent Sten was mortally wounded at the battle of Bogesund. Lady Christina emerged as the leader of the Sture party and defender of her son's right. She took command of the city and Castle of Stockholm in the name of her underage son, and secured support from the majority of the peasantry and burgher class. The commanders of the most important fortresses of the realm pledged their loyalty to her. These were the Västerås Castle, Nyköping Castle, Kalmar Castle as well as the province of Finland. However, she did not manage to secure enough support from the nobility: "Some stated their will to fight for the children of Lord Sten, while one party gave a stern now to Lady Christina the widow of Lord Sten, with the city of Stockholm and those of her followers, and often wrote to them that they should unite and resist the enemy, although such letters were not considered." On 6 March 1520, several members of the Privy Council of Sweden submitted to Christian II, electing him king of Sweden in Uppsala. The peasantry of central Sweden roused by her patriotism, flew to arms and defeated the Danish invaders at Balundsås on 19 March and were only with the utmost difficulty finally defeated at the bloody battle of Uppsala, on 6 April.
In late May, the Danish fleet arrived and the city of Stockholm was besieged by land and sea by the Danes under Christian II. Shortly before, Christina managed to send her eldest son, the seven year old Nils Stensson Sture to safety in Danzig in Poland with an envoy headed by the chancellor of the Sture family, Peder Jakobsson (Sunnanväder). This was done to issue negotiations with Sigismund I the Old and the Hanseatic League for support against Denmark. In her embassy to Danzig, she stated that she governed the realm until her sons had reached the age of majority and could take over the regency. She had the support from the burghers of Stockholm, who referred to her as their Princess. Lady Christina took command and held out stoutly at Stockholm, while the second stronghold of Sweden, Kalmar, was commanded and defended and by the widow of its governor, Anna Eriksdotter (Bielke), in the same fashion.
On 7 September 1520, after four months of siege, Christina was persuaded to capitulate in exchange for a letter of amnesty. In the letter of amnesty issued by Christian II, an amnesty of the most explicit and absolute character was extracted for Christina herself, her dead spouse and all their followers for all acts of resistance against Christian II himself, his father King John and his grandfather Christian I before him, regardless of all acts against bishop Trolle. Personally, Christina was granted Häme Castle and county, Kuhmo state in Finland, Hörningsholm Castle in Södermanland and Eksjö estate in Småland.
Stockholm Bloodbath
On 1 November Christian II was proclaimed King Christian I of Sweden, followed by his coronation in Storkyrkan by the reinstated archbishop Gustav Trolle on 4 September. The coronation was followed by three days of festivities attended by the Swedish nobility, during which he danced with Christina on a ball.
On 7 November, King Christian summoned the Swedish nobility to a meeting in the throne hall at Stockholm Castle. When the meeting was opened, the doors were closed and guarded, and archbishop Trolle accused her, her mother, her late spouse and the followers of Sture for his deposition and demanded compensation and punishment. Lady Christina stepped forward and pointed out the fact that the deposition of bishop Trolle had been a decision taken by a united parliament: everyone had signed the bill of deposition, placing the responsibility on the entire realm and making it impossible to accuse and punish a particular individual for the act. Furthermore, the amnesty granted by the king as a term for her surrender made it impossible for the king to punish them for their actions against him and his followers.
She stated that there was proof as the protocol from the meeting of 1517, when the removal of Trolle was decided upon, was there: the document with signatures was then presented to the king. Because of the amnesty, the Swedes now considered the matter solved. However, Christian had found a loophole, which the Swedes had overlooked. Previously advised by Didrik Slagheck and Jens Andersen Beldenak not to keep his word to heretics, he stated that the deposition of an archbishop was a crime against the church, and that a monarch had no jurisdiction to pardon anyone for heresy. In effect, this meant that the king could in fact execute the participators in the rebellion against him despite the amnesty, by having them judged by the church for heresy rather than accused of treason by a secular court.Larsson, Lars-Olof (2003). Kalmarunionens tid. Stockholm: Prisma. This resulted in the infamous Stockholm Bloodbath upon the followers of Sten Sture.
Christina's brothers Erik Nilsson, Lord of Tullgarn and Eskil Nilsson, her maternal uncle and her brother-in-law were executed by beheading, as were many other Swedish Sture party followers. Her husband's remains were exhumed and burned publicly at the stake as a heretic, as were those of her youngest son Gustav. Her mother Sigrid became the only woman sentenced to be executed: she was sentenced to be drowned, but avoided execution by ceding her property to the king. Christina herself was not executed. King Christian called upon her and asked her to choose which method of execution she preferred, being burned at the stake or being buried alive. Confronted with this choice, she was unable to reply and fainted with horror. Christian was advised to spare her life and neither of these alternatives was carried out. To save her life, she ceded a large part of her property to Christian. The king stated that she "is now dead to the world, for she is judged as the others for heresy".
However, Danish rule in Sweden was threatened by her nephew Gustav Vasa, who soon became the leader of the Swedish War of Liberation. In the spring of 1521, Christina and her half-sister Cecilia (Gustav's mother) were forced to write to Gustav Vasa in an attempt to persuade him to surrender to Denmark.
Denmark Christina was held captive at Stockholm Castle until August 1521,Ohlmarks, Åke (1973). Alla Sveriges drottningar, Almqvist & Wiksell Förlag, Stockholm. after which her children, mother, and finally herself were all transferred to the infamous Blåtårn ("Blue Tower") of Copenhagen Castle along with a large number of other women and children related to the executed of the Stockholm Bloodbath, among them her half sister Cecilia and nieces Emerentia and Margareta. Christina herself and her daughters joined them there in September.