Ingeborg Tott

Lady Ingeborg Åkesdotter Tott or 'Ingeborg Aagesdotter of the Thott' (Year of birth unknown –December 1507), in her lifetime called Ingeborg Åkesdotter or simply Fru Ingeborg (Lady Ingeborg), was a Swedish noble, the consort of the Swedish regent Sten Sture the elder (reign 1470–97 and 1501–03). She was the fiefholder of Häme in Finland. She functioned as the de facto queen consort of Sweden for over three decades and participated in state affairs during the reign of her spouse.

Ingeborg was the daughter of the Danish noble and riksråd Aage Axelsson Tott (1405–1477), governor of Örebro Castle in Sweden, and the Swedish noble Märtha Bengtsdotter of the Vinstorpa family (d. 1480). She belonged to the elite of Dano-Swedish nobility at the time and was related to the infamous Brita Tott.

In 1464, she was engaged to marry the Norwegian noble Hans Sigurdsen, son of the Norwegian drots, noble Sigurd Jonsen, but he died before they were married. In 1467 she married the Swedish noble Sten Sture the elder. The marriage produced no heirs. Sten Sture was the nephew of King Charles VIII of Sweden through his mother, and the paternal uncle of Ingeborg, Ivar Axelsson Tott, was the son-in-law of Charles VIII by his marriage to Princess Magdalena of Sweden.

In 1470, Sten Sture the elder was elected Regent of Sweden after the death of his uncle Charles VIII. While Sten became the King in all but name, she was equally given the position of queen in all but name as the first lady in rank in the Swedish court. The court of Sten and Ingeborg was described as a jolly one.

In 1476, she was granted equal inheritance as her brothers after their parents.

Ingeborg has been described as a wise, brave and intellectually capable character, and the equal match of her spouse. The marriage was described as happy. In the correspondence between regent Sten and Ingeborg, the regent referred to her as "Min kära hjärtans stallbroder" (My hearts dearest Friend and Combrade), and she was entrusted by him with participation in state affairs. Ingeborg became known for her loyalty toward Sten and Sweden against her birth country Denmark. In the absence of Sten, Ingeborg, according to the chronicles, ruled wisely over fortresses and counties. Her political involvement is apparent from her correspondence with Sten. In 1503, for example, a letter is preserved with the message that he had received her report, that a meeting between the Hanseatic League and the Danish monarch was to take place, information she had extracted from a ship from Lübeck, and he gave her the task to find out when and where this meeting was to take place.

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