Margareta Slots or Margareta Cabiljau (died 1669) was the royal mistress of king
Gustav II Adolf of Sweden
Gustavus Adolphus (9 December Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">N.S_19_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/now ...
and the mother of his illegitimate son
Gustav of Vasaborg
Count Gustav Gustavsson of Vasaborg, 1st Count of Nystad (24 April 1616 – 25 October 1653) was a Swedish noble and military officer.
Biography
He was a son of King Gustavus Adolphus (''Gustav II Adolf'') and his mistress Margareta Slots.
In ...
.
Margareta Slots was the daughter of the Dutch merchant Abraham Cabiljau and Maria van Leest.
During the
Ingrian War
The Ingrian War ( sv, Ingermanländska kriget) between the Swedish Empire and the Tsardom of Russia lasted between 1610 and 1617. It can be seen as part of Russia's Time of Troubles and is mainly remembered for the attempt to put a Swedish duke ...
Slots met Gustav at the siege of
Pskov
Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=pskov-ru.ogg, p=pskof; see also names in other languages) is a city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, located about east of the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population ...
in 1615. At the time she was married to the Dutch
military engineer
Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics b ...
Andries Sessandes,
who fell in battle at Pskov soon after (October 1615).
In 1616, she and Gustav had a son,
Gustav Gustavson; Gustav acknowledged her son and granted her an allowance. She then married the
paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...
maker Arendt Slots, who died a few years later, and then the
petard
A petard is a small bomb used for blowing up gates and walls when breaching fortifications. It is of French origin and dates back to the 16th century. A typical petard was a conical or rectangular metal device containing of gunpowder, with a s ...
ist
and "
Feuerwerker
''Feuerwerker'' (ordnance technician or specialist, literally 'fire worker') are specialists in the armed forces of German-speaking countries responsible for the maintenance of ammunition.
From the late Middle Ages until the Early modern period ...
" (
artillerist and
gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...
maker) Jacob Trello (died 1632),
and was given the estate Benhamra in
Uppland
Uppland () is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. On the small uninhab ...
, where she lived with her husbands, often asking for favours from the king.
In 1625, she was involved in an incident. The
bailiff
A bailiff (from Middle English baillif, Old French ''baillis'', ''bail'' "custody") is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their offi ...
Jacob Galle threatened her with confiscation after she had prevented her
tenants
A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a l ...
to take part in royal construction work. As a response she visited Galle, asked if he had not heard of the privileges granted her by the monarch, and struck him with her stick, after which Galle was beaten by her servants.
[Göte Göransson: Gihl Dahlström: Gustav II Adolf och hans folk, Bra böcker, Stockholm 1994. ] Galle died of the injuries and she was accused for his murder, but no legal action against her is mentioned.
Reportedly, she met Gustav Adolph only once, in 1630, after their relationship had ended.
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slots, Margareta
Mistresses of Swedish royalty
Year of birth missing
1669 deaths
17th-century Swedish people
17th-century Dutch people
17th-century Swedish landowners
17th-century women landowners