Sko Abbey (Swedish: Sko kloster), was a

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, in operation from 1230 until at least 1588. It was located in the Skokloster parish in Uppland. It was the predecessor of the baroque Skokloster Castle. Skokloster fasad 2013b

History

Sko monastery was founded around 1230 by Knut Långe. Byarums monastery was relocated to Sko in 1236. Sko Abbey was founded because an already existing convent, Byarum Abbey, which was founded in about 1170, was moved from

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to Sko in the 1230s. Sko Abbey seem to have functioned as a school for daughters of the nobility, and the nuns often came from noble families. In 1520, the sister of Gustav I of Sweden, Margareta Eriksdotter Vasa, was given refuge there during the Stockholm Bloodbath.

Dissolution

During the

Swedish Reformation The Reformation in Sweden is generally regarded as having begun in 1527 during the reign of King Gustav I of Sweden, but the process was slow and did not end definitively until the Uppsala Synod of 1593 and the following War against Sigismund, with ...

in 1527, the Abbey was banned from accepting novices and its assets was confiscated by the crown in accordance with the

Reduction of Gustav I of Sweden The Reduction of Gustav I of Sweden, was an important reform during the Protestant Swedish Reformation, in which king Gustav I of Sweden ordered a reduction in church property and the return of land to the crown, making the national church dependent ...

. The members were free to leave or to remain supported by an allowance from the estates formerly belonging to the Abbey. In 1566, these rights were confirmed, at which point the nuns were apparently still managing their school for daughters of the nobility. In 1577, only two nuns remained, and the last allowance to a nun of the Sko Abbey is recorded from 1588. After the Reformation, the monastery seems to have functioned as a girls' school and as a retirement home for older women.

Post dissolution

The building of the abbey itself was torn down in 1574. In the early 1600s, King Charles IX donated the property to the then 27-year-old Herman Wrangel as a reward for services rendered. His son Carl Gustaf Wrangel had Skokloster Castle built on the site in 1654–1676. Skokloster Church (''Skoklosters kyrka'') is used as the church of Skokloster Castle.

Abbesses

The abbesses are only partially known. * R(ichissa) (1254) * Elin (1277) * Ramborg (1296) * Helga (1321) * Katarina (1326) * Vendilgerd (1352) * Leva (1398) * Alzeka Hennikadotter (1407) * Elisabet (1412) * Kristina Jonsdotter (1413) * Ragnhild (1423) * Katarina Jönsdotter (1410-1452) * Elin Filipsdotter (1457) * Brigitta Olofsdotter (1464) * Barbara Ludvigsdotter (1489) * Elin Petri (1503) * Katarina Jönsdotter (1509) * Ingeborg (1513) * Katarina Jönsdotter (1516) * Katarina Olofsdotter (1521) * Ingegärd Hansadotter (1534) * Benedicta (Bengta) Eriksdotter (1553)

References

* Signum svenska kulturhistoria, ''Renässansen'' * Fornvännen: Frith Hall: Skokloster (1909). * Gustaf Elgenstierna, Den introducerade svenska adelns ättartavlor. 1925-36

External links