Karin Månsdotter

Karin Månsdotter
Queen Catherine as drawn by her husband in prison
Queen consort of Sweden
Tenure	4 July 1568 - 29 September 1568
Born	(1550-11-06)6 November 1550 , Uppland, Sweden
Died	13 September 1612(1612-09-13) (aged 61) Liuksiala Manor, Finland
Burial	Turku Cathedral, Turku, Finland
Spouse	Eric XIV of Sweden
Issue	Sigrid Eriksdotter Vasa Gustav Eriksson Vasa

Karin Månsdotter (in English Catherine, in Finnish Kaarina Maununtytär; 6 November 1550 – 13 September 1612) 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 to a soldier and later jailkeeper named Måns (her surname is a patronymicon, literally "daughter of 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.

Karin seems to have entered into a relationship with Eric in the spring of 1565. The position seems to have been quite official, as she was given expensive clothes and appeared with him openly at court, and was given her own apartment and servants. Thus, she could be regarded as the first official royal mistress in Sweden, although only Hedvig Taube otherwise is considered an official royal mistress in Sweden. In the summer of 1565, she belonged to the king’s retinue to Skara, where she was provided for from the baliff’s provision for the warfaring army, which was otherwise reserved for the army, and illustrates her new status. The royal accounts states that she was given a new and expensive wardrobe and her own staff, among them her own former employer: Karin, the wife of Gert Cantor. When her daughter Sigrid was born in 1566, she was treated as a legitimate princess. Before this, the king had a whole harem of mistresses, such as Agda Persdotter and Doredi Valentinsdotter, but when Karin entered his life, he dismissed them all. She also received education and learned to read and write. His treatment of her caused much astonishment. The ideas of the time suggested witchcraft and love potions to explain the deep attachment.