Ebba Gustavsdotter Stenbock (ca. 1550 – 8 March 1614,
in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
) was a Swedish
noble. She led the defense of the stronghold
Turku Castle for the loyalist of
Sigismund III Vasa during the Siege by
Charles IX of Sweden
Charles IX, also Carl ( sv, Karl IX; 4 October 1550 – 30 October 1611), reigned as King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I () and of his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, the brother of King Eric X ...
in succession of her spouse
Clas Eriksson Fleming (1530–1597), governor of
Finland. The sister of queen
Katarina Stenbock, she married
Clas Eriksson Fleming (1530–1597), governor of
Finland, in 1573.
Life
Ebba Stenbock was the daughter of
riksråd Gustaf Olofsson Stenbock and Brita Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud, and the sister of Queen
Catherine Stenbock. She was the niece of Queen
Margareta Leijonhufvud
Margaret Leijonhufvud ( née ''Margareta Eriksdotter''; 1 January 1516 – 26 August 1551) was Queen of Sweden from 1536 to 1551 by marriage to King Gustav I. She played a political role as the advisor of, and the intermediary to, her spouse the ...
, and thereby the cousin of the royal children of that marriage, including the future
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 autonomous ...
and
Charles IX of Sweden
Charles IX, also Carl ( sv, Karl IX; 4 October 1550 – 30 October 1611), reigned as King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I () and of his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, the brother of King Eric X ...
. In 1573, she married
Clas Eriksson Fleming in the house of her sister, the Queen Dowager in Stockholm, and moved with him to Finland. She had three children during her marriage: the daughters Katarina, Hebla and Margareta, and her son
Johan Fleming Johan
* Johan (given name)
* ''Johan'' (film), a 1921 Swedish film directed by Mauritz Stiller
* Johan (band), a Dutch pop-group
** ''Johan'' (album), a 1996 album by the group
* Johan Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada
* Jo-Han, a manu ...
.
In 1594, her spouse was appointed Governor-General of Finland.
Ebba Stenbock was noted for her fearless conduct toward Duke Charles. In the civil war the erupted in 1595 when
Sigismund III Vasa was challenged by his uncle, the future
Charles IX of Sweden
Charles IX, also Carl ( sv, Karl IX; 4 October 1550 – 30 October 1611), reigned as King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I () and of his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, the brother of King Eric X ...
, her spouse was one of the strongest supporters of
Sigismund III Vasa and opposed to
Charles IX of Sweden
Charles IX, also Carl ( sv, Karl IX; 4 October 1550 – 30 October 1611), reigned as King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I () and of his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, the brother of King Eric X ...
, and held the Swedish province of Finland against Duke Charles. In parallel, the
Cudgel War erupted in Finland in 1596.
Cudgel War
In April 1597, after having subdued the
Cudgel War and preparing to resist the expected invasion of Duke Charles, Fleming died. He was succeeded as governor by
Arvid Stålarm the Younger, but Ebba took over the moral leadership and decided to continue the line of her spouse and defend
Turku Castle against the army of Duke Charles with the help of two noble officers, who took the military leadership by her side.
She prepared the castle for a siege awaiting relief from King Sigismund in Poland. In August 1597, Duke Charles and his army invaded Finland, took
Ã…land, which was the fief of her sister Queen Dowager Catherine, and besieged Turku Castle. He offered the women of the Castle safe passage through the lines, including Ebba, but was given no reply. During the siege, he fired through the windows of the castle to frighten the female entourage of Ebba, but: "They would not allow themselves to be afraid, as Lady Ebba spoke to them both nobility and the rest, who were there with her, that they should keep themselves manly",
that is to say, that they should show courage. Ebba was eventually forced to surrender, as no help from Poland arrived.
Fleming was still not buried, and, according to
legend, Charles had the coffin opened to reassure himself that Fleming was indeed dead. After having identified the face of Fleming, he was to have pulled Fleming's beard with the words, "If you had been alive, your head would not have been safe", upon which Ebba Stenbock replied, "If my late husband was alive, Your Grace would never have been here."
[Warburg, Karl (1881)]
''Från vår konstverld: Taflor och skulpturer af svenska och finska konstärer i vår tid.''
Albert Bonniers förlag, Stockholm.
Later life
Ebba and her daughters were taken prisoner and brought to Stockholm, where they were separated and placed in house arrest. Ebba was placed in a house belonging to Welam de Wijk, captain of Duke Charles' fleet, and in 1598, de Wijk was arrested for attempt to start a mutiny, encouraged by Ebba, who had promised him marriage to one of her daughters.
[Falkdalen, Tegenborg: ''Karin, Vasadrottningen: En biografi över Katarina Stenbock 1535–1621'' he Vasa Queen: A biography of Catherine Stenbock, 1535–1621 Historiska media, Lund, 2015.] In 1599, a messenger of Sigismund from Finland was arrested in Stockholm, with Ebba as one of the loyalists he had delivered letters to.
Her son was executed in the
Ã…bo Bloodbath the same year. No formal accusation was brought against her, and she and her daughters were released after the
Linköping Bloodbath. Like many other wives and daughters of the exiled loyalists to Sigismund, whose estates had been confiscated by Charles, they took refuge with Queen Dowager
Catherine Stenbock at Strömsholm.
See also
*
Ebba Bielke
References
Sources
Profile, Anteckningar om svenska qvinnor
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stenbock, Ebba
1614 deaths
16th-century Finnish people
16th-century Swedish people
Swedish nobility
Swedish prisoners and detainees
Women in 16th-century warfare
Year of birth unknown
Place of birth unknown
Women in war in Sweden
People of the War against Sigismund
16th-century Finnish women
16th-century Swedish women