Karin Månsdotter

Who was Karin Månsdotter?

Karin Månsdotter was Queen of Sweden, first a mistress and then, for a few months in 1568, the consort of Eric XIV of Sweden. The asteroid 832 Karin is named in her honour.

Karin was born in Stockholm to a soldier and later jailkeeper named Måns and his wife Ingrid. Her mother came from a family of peasants in Uppland, and was said to have sold vegetables on the square. Both her parents are believed to have died c. 1560. According to legend, Eric XIV first noticed her selling nuts at a square in Stockholm, and was so astonished by her beauty that he took her to court as his lover; in reality, however, Karin Månsdotter was in 1564 employed as a servant to Karin, wife of the king's trusted court musician Gert Cantor, who held a tavern and a guest house in his home, and likely served their guests as a waitress. She was a maid to the King's sister, Princess Elizabeth, when she became mistress to the king in 1565.