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

hovmästarinna Court Mistress (; ; ; ; ) or Chief Court Mistress (; ; ; ; ; ) is or was the title of the senior lady-in-waiting in the courts of Austria, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Imperial Russia, and the German princely and royal courts. Chief c ...

'' (Mistress of the Robes) to princess

Anna Vasa of Sweden Anna Vasa of Sweden (also Anne, ; 17 May 1568 – 26 February 1625) was a Swedish princess heavily involved in the politics of that country and of Poland. She was starosta of Brodnica and Golub. The youngest child of King John III 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 I of Sweden, Gustav Eriksson Vasa, who became King of Swede ...

and Beata Stenbock and niece of queen dowager

Catherine Stenbock Catherine Stenbock (Swedish: ''Katarina Gustavsdotter Stenbock''; 22 July 1535 – 13 December 1621) was Queen of Sweden from 1552 to 1560 as the third and last wife of King Gustav I. Early life Catherine Stenbock was born on 22 July 1535 i ...

, 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 E ...

, 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 Cat ...

and Abraham Brahe (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 (, ; 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 from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa. Re ...

in 1592. Princess Anna returned to Sweden with her court the following year and settled with her court at

Stegeborg Castle Stegeborg Castle is a ruined castle in St Anna parish, Söderköping, Östergötland, located on an island in a narrow Sound (geography), sound at the bay of Slätbaken, Sweden. Brief history The oldest part of the castle is a square brick tow ...

. 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 Erik Larsson Sparre (born Erik Larsson; also known as Erik Gyllensparre, Eric Sparre, or Erik Sparre of Rossvik; 13 July 1550 – 20 March 1600) was a Swedish noble, statesman, diplomat, and political theorist who served as Privy Councilor fro ...

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 ...

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 The Battle of Stångebro, or the Battle of Linköping, took place at Linköping, Sweden, on 25 September 1598 (O.S.) and effectively ended the personal union between Sweden and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, that had existed since 1592. ...

during the

War against Sigismund The war against Sigismund () was a war between Duke Charles, later known as King Charles IX of Sweden, and Sigismund III Vasa, Sigismund, who was at the time the king of both Kingdom of Sweden (1523–1611), Sweden and the Polish–Lithuanian Co ...

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 Charles IX, also Carl (; 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 XIV and of ...

during the Kalmar Bloodbath. Margareta fled to Sigismund and Anna in Poland, where she accused her brothers

Erik Brahe (1552–1614) Erik Brahe (born 4 September 1552 at Sundholmen Castle in Västergötland, died 15 April 1614 in Danzig in Poland) was a Swedish governor, councilor and count of Visingsborg. Biography He was the son of Beata Gustavsdotter Stenbock and Per ...

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 a ...

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