''Anna Catharina'' Charlotta Wilhelmina von Bärfelt (1673 –

Linköping Linköping ( , ) is a city in southern Sweden, with around 167,000 inhabitants as of 2024. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Chu ...

, 2 April 1738), was a Swedish courtier and an influential royal favourite of Queen Hedwig Eleonora. She was immensely unpopular and rumoured to abuse her influence and position to receive

bribe Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official duty, to act contrar ...

s for influencing the queen and stealing from the royal possessions. She was convicted of

theft Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shor ...

and expelled from court.

Royal favorite

Bärfelt was the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Bernhard Bärfelt. In 1687, she became seamstress and in 1695 the lady's maid of the Queen Dowager Hedvig Eleonora: this was, at that point, a position which could be filled by a member of the lesser nobility.Fabian Persson (1999). Servants of Fortune. The Swedish court between 1598 and 1721. Lund: Wallin & Dalholm. sid 192-93 Bärfelt soon became a personal favorite of the Queen Dowager, which placed her in a position of power at court. She was rumored to accept

s from supplicants. According to the French envoy, Jacques de Campredon, Anna Catharina von Bärfelt had accumulated a fortune amounting to the sum of 100.000 ecus from supplicants to the queen dowager. Among the supplicants were clients from both the nobility and the public, and she was able to secure positions for applicants through her influence. Reportedly, she had the talent to caricature people, and made enemies by ridiculing them before the queen. Her position as a favorite made her unpopular, and she was exposed to slander. As a person, she was described as a cunning, bold, promiscuous and greedy character, and was accused of stealing from the royal residences and from the household of the queen dowager herself, and of using

poison A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...

against her enemies. On one occasion, Anna Catharina von Bärfelt was attacked and mistreated on the street by unknown men.

Exile from court

In 1709, the Queen Dowager's alleged lover, count Carl Gyllenstierna, attempted to convince Hedvig Eleonora to exile Anna Catharina von Bärfelt from court. Von Bärfelt retaliated by accusing Gyllenstierna of greed and

embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

. This caused an open conflict, upon which Gyllenstierna openly gave the queen dowager an ultimatum: "Either miss Bärfelt leave or I will leave".Anna Catharina von Bärfelt i Wilhelmina Stålberg, Anteckningar om svenska qvinnor (1864) The Queen Dowager reacted by leaving the room. Carl Gyllenstierna now united with a party of von Bärfelt's enemies consisting of the Queen Dowager's confessor Molin,

Arvid Horn Count Arvid Bernhard Horn af Ekebyholm (6 April 166418 April 1742) was a Swedish general, diplomat and politician, a member of the noble Horn family. He served twice as president of the Privy Council Chancellery of Sweden, privy council chancel ...

, Christina Piper, Märta Berendes and Beata Sparre, and united in their request to Hedvig Eleonora that von Bärfelt should be investigated and banished. Hedvig Eleonora eventually relented and agreed to send von Bärfelt away from court. However, she refused any charges put against her and banned any one from searching the luggage of von Bärfelt to investigate of any stolen goods were there. Carl Gyllenstierna gave the order that the door of Hedwig Eleonora be locked the last night Bärfelt was in the castle to prevent her from having any chance to gain access to the queen dowager and convince her to let her stay. Anna Catharina von Bärfelt left her position with a full royal pension. During her departure from the capital, she was reportedly followed by a mob of street urchins who sang insulting songs and threw stones after her.

Trial

After her departure, however, it was found that several of the missing goods she was suspected of having stolen, were stored by her friend, the royal court painter Andreas von Behn, and with her alleged lover, the

Steward (office) A steward is an official who is appointed by the legal ruling monarch to represent them in a country and who may have a mandate to govern it in their name; in the latter case, it is synonymous with the position of regent, vicegerent, viceroy, Luog ...

of Karlberg Palace. In 1712, Anna Catharina von Bärfelt was arrested and put on trial for theft despite the opposition of Queen Dowager Hedvig Eleonora. Her lover and accomplice committed suicide once he learned of her arrest. Among her possessions, several objects were found traditionally used for the practice of magic: a collection of

teeth A tooth (: teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, tear ...

s from pigs and

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

s and feet of

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live Solitary animal, solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are precociality, able to fend for themselves ...

s. Evidently, she had manufactured several magic objects and practiced a form of ritual magic to keep the affection of the queen dowager, and control which supplicants the latter should approve or turn down. Because of this, witchcraft was formally added to her charges, though it seems that this charge was not regarded as something of importance, and the trial against her focused on the charge of theft. Anna Catharina von Bärfelt was found guilty of the theft of a

velvet Velvet is a type of woven fabric with a dense, even pile (textile), pile that gives it a distinctive soft feel. Historically, velvet was typically made from silk. Modern velvet can be made from silk, linen, cotton, wool, synthetic fibers, silk ...

jacket. While in prison awaiting the final verdict, she sent a letter of appeal to the court in which she included a counter accusation against Carl Gyllenstierna on the same charges that she was herself accused of. She was sentenced to death. However, in July 1712, the sentence was soon after commuted to fourteen days on water and bread followed by imprisonment in a work house. In May 1715, her property was restored and she was by that time evidently released from prison. From 1721, Anna Catharina von Bärfelt lived a life of poverty in

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * Wilhelmina Stålberg: ''Anteqningar om Svenska kvinnor'' (Notes on Swedish women) (Swedish) * Linköpings domkyrkoförsamlings kyrkoarkiv * Riddarhusets stamtavlor * Svante Norrhem : ''Kvinnor vid maktens sida'' (Women alongside power) {{DEFAULTSORT:Barfelt, Anna Catharina von 1673 births 1738 deaths Swedish ladies-in-waiting 18th-century Swedish criminals Female thieves Royal favourites 17th-century Swedish nobility People from the Swedish Empire Swedish royal favourites

Royal favorite

Exile from court

Trial

See also

References