Euphemia of Rügen (c. 1280 – May 1312) was Queen of Norway as the spouse of Håkon V of Norway. She is famous in history as a literary figure, and known for commissioning translations of romances.

Biography

Euphemia was most likely the daughter of Vitslav II, Prince of Rügen (1240–1302). Older Norwegian historiography claims she was the daughter of Günter, Count of Arnstein, and thus Prince Vitslav would have been her maternal grandfather. This claim has, however, been refuted. Euphemia married Håkon V of Norway in the spring of 1299. Håkon's brother, King Eric II, subsequently died in July 1299 at which time Håkon became king of Norway. The marriage between Euphemia and Håkon had probably been agreed upon at a Danish-Norwegian settlement meeting in the autumn of 1298, at which Prince Vitslav participated as a mediator and guarantee. The couple resided at Akershus Castle in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. Queen Euphemia was well known for her cultural interests. She loved to read and owned a large collection of books, which was said to have been one of the largest collections in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

at that time. Queen Euphemia represented the emerging chivalric culture. Queen Euphemia, who was eager to cultivate continental culture within the Nordic courts, had translations made of three French and German twelfth-century chivalric romances in verse and had copies sent to the Swedish court. The three ballads were titled '' Herr Ivan lejonriddaren'' (1303), '' Hertig Fredrik av Normandie'' (1301 or 1308) and '' Flores och Blanzeflor'' (probably 1312). Each poem has a final statement that they were translated by initiative from Queen Euphemia. These became known in Swedish as the '' Eufemiavisorna'' (Norwegian ''Eufemiavisene''), the 'Euphemia ballads', and were popular in both

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Her only surviving child was Ingeborg of Norway. In 1312, Ingeborg married Duke Eric Magnusson of Sweden, who was a younger son of King Magnus III of Sweden and the brother of King Birger of Sweden. Their son Magnus Eriksson would succeed both Håkon as king of Norway and Birger as king of Sweden. King Håkon and Queen Euphemia were buried in St. Mary's Church in

. Remains of two people, deemed to be Håkon and Euphemia, were discovered during excavations of the ruins of that church and reinterred in the Royal Mausoleum in Akershus Castle.''Gamlebyen – boligstrøk i Oslo'' (Store norske leksikon)
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References

Sources

* Bandlien, Bjørn (ed.) ''Eufemia: Oslos middelalderdronning'' (biografi) 2012 * Thuesen, Nils Petter ''Norges dronninger gjennom 1000 år'' (Tiden, 1991) {{DEFAULTSORT:Euphemia Of Rugen 1280s births 1312 deaths Norwegian royal consorts Burials at the Royal Mausoleum (Norway) Fairhair dynasty House of Sverre 13th-century Norwegian people 13th-century Norwegian women 14th-century Norwegian people 14th-century Norwegian women