Margareta Brahe (2 July 1559 – 26 April 1638) was a Swedish courtier; ''

hovmästarinna Court Mistress ( da, hofmesterinde; nl, hofmeesteres; german: Hofmeisterin; no, hoffmesterinne; sv, hovmästarinna) or Chief Court Mistress ( da, Overhofmesterinde; ('grand mistress'); ; no, overhoffmesterinne; sv, överhovmästarinna; russia ...

'' (Mistress of the Robes) to princess Anna Vasa of Sweden, from 1591. Born to 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 ...

, she married noble Johan Larsson Sparre in 1587. She was the sister of

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 ...

, who was rumored to be the lover of princess Anna, as well as Erik Brahe (1552–1614), Magnus Brahe (1564–1633),

Sigrid Brahe 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 and Beata Stenbock and niece of queen dowager Cathe ...

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 Jew ...

(1569–1630). In 1591, she was appointed head lady in waiting to princess Anna and her spouse to chamberlain of Anna's court. They accompanied Anna to Poland when she left to join her brother

Sigismund III Vasa Sigismund III Vasa ( pl, Zygmunt III Waza, lt, Žygimantas Vaza; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland from 1592 to ...

in 1592. Princess Anna returned to Sweden with her court the following year and settled with her court at Stegeborg Castle. In 1595, Anna arranged the scandalous Wednesday Wedding between Margareta's sister

and Johan Nilsson Gyllenstierna. Princess Anna and her uncle Duke Charles were involved in several conflicts. The Sparre Affair was to be the final break between Anna and Duke Charles, and it involved also Margareta Brahe and her family. Her brother-in-law Count Erik Larsson Sparre was a staunch supporter of Sigismund, and Anna kept a box for his wife, Margareta's sister Ebba Sparre at Stegeborg, which Duke Charles suspected to contain suspicious documents. When Anna left Stegeborg to attend the deathbed of Queen Dowager

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 h ...

in 1597, Duke Charles had her household searched. Ebba Sparre's box and the correspondence between Anna and the Sparre couple was confiscated, and he subjected Ebba Sparre as well as Margareta Brahe to an interrogation regarding the

encoded In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...

information he found in Anna's papers. He accused Ebba Sparre of having smuggled in their brother, Anna's alleged lover Gustav Brahe to her.Tegenborg Falkdalen, Karin, Vasadrottningen: en biografi över Katarina Stenbock 1535–1621, Historiska media, Lund, 2015 After the Battle of Stångebro during the

War against Sigismund The war against Sigismund ( sv, Kriget mot Sigismund) was a war between Duke Charles, later known as King Charles IX of Sweden, and Sigismund, who was at the time the King of both Sweden and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (that is, the ...

in 1598, Princess Anna fled with Sigismund to Poland, while Margareta remained; her spouse having been given command of Kalmar by Sigismund. In May 1599, her spouse and her brother-in-law were executed as followers of Sigismund by Charles IX of Sweden during the Kalmar Bloodbath. Margareta fled to Sigismund and Anna in Poland, where she accused her brothers Erik Brahe (1552–1614) and

Magnus Brahe (1564–1633) Count Magnus Brahe (1564–1633) was a Swedish noble. Being both Lord High Constable and Lord High Steward of Sweden, he was a notable figure in 17th century Sweden. Early life Magnus Brahe, a son of Per Brahe the Elder and Beata Stenbock and ...

of complicity in the death verdict of her spouse. She was provided with a pension by Sigismund for her loyalty and settled with her children in Denmark. In 1628, she was given permission to return to Sweden, where she died ten years later. She was the paternal aunt of

Margareta Brahe Margareta Abrahamsdotter Brahe (28 June 1603, Rydboholm – 15 May 1669, Weferlingen) was a Swedish aristocrat and court official, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg by marriage to Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg. She aroused a lot of attentio ...

References

* Gustaf Elgenstierna
Den introducerade svenska adelns ättartavlor.
1925-36. * Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon
Anna, urn:sbl:18719, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av H. Almquist.), hämtad 2013-12-07.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brahe, Margareta 1559 births 1638 deaths Swedish ladies-in-waiting Mistresses of the Robes (Sweden) People of the War against Sigismund 16th-century Swedish women 16th-century Swedish nobility 17th-century Swedish nobility