Anna Vasa of Sweden facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Anna of Sweden
Anna Princess of Sweden
Born	17 May 1568 Eskilstuna, Sweden
Died	26 February 1625(1625-02-26) (aged 56) Brodnica, Poland
Burial	Church of St. Mary, Toruń, Poland
House	Vasa
Father	John III of Sweden
Mother	Catherine Jagellon
Religion	Lutheranism

Anna Vasa of Sweden (born 17 May 1568 – died 26 February 1625) was a Swedish princess. She was very involved in the politics of both Sweden and Poland. She held important positions as the leader (called starosta) of Brodnica and Golub.

Anna was the youngest child of King John III of Sweden and Catherine Jagiellon. She was very close to her brother, Sigismund Vasa. Sigismund later became the King of Poland (1587–1632) and King of Sweden (1592–99). Anna was raised as a Catholic, but she changed her religion to Lutheranism in 1584. Even though many people wanted to marry her, she never got married.

Anna's Life Story

Early Years

Anna was born at Eskilstunahus in Sweden. Her family had just been set free from being held captive at Gripsholm Castle. Her father became the King of Sweden in 1569. Like her brother Sigismund, Anna was raised as a Catholic by her mother. She went to Catholic church services.

Many ideas for her marriage came up. In 1577, there were talks about Anna marrying an Austrian Archduke. But this became impossible after she changed her religion. In 1585, her Catholic aunt suggested a Catholic royal marriage for her. However, her father said that Anna had become a Lutheran a year before. People say her conversion happened after her mother's death in 1583. Her mother was worried about purgatory, a Catholic belief. Her priest tried to comfort her by saying purgatory didn't exist. This made Anna dislike what she saw as dishonesty in the Catholic Church.

After her mother died, her aunt, Queen Anna Jagiellon, wanted Anna to come to Poland. But her father, King John III, said no at that time. Anna had her own royal household. It was managed by her mother's former head lady, Karin Gyllenstierna. Her cousin, Princess Sigrid, was one of her maids-of-honour.

Moving to Poland

In 1587, Anna's brother, Sigismund, was chosen to be the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. He became Sigismund III. Her aunt, Anna Jagiellon, again offered to have Anna live with her in Poland. This time, King John III agreed. He wanted to make sure Sigismund felt comfortable in his new role. Anna left for Poland with Sigismund on September 12, 1587. She was there for his coronation ceremony. While at the Polish court, she caused some upset. This was because she held Lutheran church services with her own court members.

In 1589, Anna went with Sigismund to meet their father in Reval, Swedish Estonia. She was present during difficult meetings. King John wanted Sigismund to give up the Polish throne and return to Sweden. Swedish leaders disagreed, and King John became very angry. Erik Sparre asked Anna to help calm her father down. Sigismund went back to Poland, but Anna returned to Sweden with her father. She stayed there for the next three years.

In 1592, Anna went back to Poland. She attended her brother's wedding to Anna of Austria. People at the Polish court did not like her much. This was because of her religion and her influence over Sigismund. They suspected she had supported her father's failed plan. This plan was to arrange a Protestant marriage for Sigismund. The Archbishop was very upset by her Lutheran services. He even threatened to remove Anna and Sigismund from the church. However, her sister-in-law, Anna of Austria, stopped any punishment. In July 1593, Anna held her new niece, Anna Maria, at her baptism.

There was a proposal for Anna to marry the Prince of Transylvania. However, Anna became engaged to her father's cousin, Count Gustaf Brahe. He was a future general in Poland. They grew up together at court and were said to be in love. There were rumors they met in secret. In 1587, Gustaf Brahe went with Sigismund and Anna to Poland. In 1589, he formally asked Sigismund for Anna's hand in marriage. He didn't get a clear answer, but he wasn't refused, which gave him hope. This possible marriage was strongly opposed by Duke Charles. He saw it as a plan for Anna to become ruling queen of Sweden while Sigismund was away. Even though it wasn't the most important marriage proposal, Anna turned down all other suitors. Nothing ever came of her planned marriage, and both Anna and Brahe remained unmarried. Gustaf Brahe stayed with Sigismund and Anna his whole life. He followed them to Poland when they left Sweden for good.

Her Brother's Time as Swedish King

In November 1592, Anna's brother Sigismund became King of Sweden after their father died. In September 1593, Anna returned to Sweden. She came with her brother King Sigismund and his wife Queen Anna. The Pope's representative, Germanico Malaspina, did not trust her. During a big argument between Catholics and Protestants in November 1593, her own priest took part on the Protestant side. Anna herself visited her uncle, Duke Charles, in Uppsala in February 1594. She attended a sermon that spoke against Catholics. Sigismund had plans to make Anna his ruler in Sweden while he was in Poland. However, Duke Charles opposed this plan. He managed to get the Swedish Council to choose himself instead.

In 1594, Sigismund went back to Poland, but Anna stayed in Sweden. The Pope's representative had convinced him to leave her behind. This was because of her involvement in the religious argument. Anna was given money and Stegeborg Castle as her home. She also received control over several areas. At Stegeborg, she studied herbal medicine. In 1595, Anna helped arrange a marriage for her maid of honour Sigrid Brahe and Johan Gyllenstierna. This caused a big scandal because Sigrid was already engaged to someone else by her family. Duke Charles refused to help. Anna finally managed to settle things between the families at a meeting in Söderköping in 1595. This wedding also caused a temporary problem between Anna and Gustaf Brahe, but they soon became friends again.

A situation called the Sparre Affair caused a final break between Anna and Duke Charles. Count Erik Larsson Sparre strongly supported Sigismund. Anna kept a box for his wife, Ebba Sparre, at Stegeborg. Duke Charles suspected the box contained secret documents. When Anna left Stegeborg in 1597, Duke Charles searched her home. He took Ebba Sparre's box and letters between Anna and the Sparre couple. He also questioned Ebba Sparre and Anna's senior lady-in-waiting. He accused Ebba Sparre of helping her brother, Gustaf Brahe, visit Anna in secret.

From 1592, Sigismund tried to arrange a marriage between Anna and Margrave John George of Brandenburg. But political problems kept delaying the agreement. In February 1598, Sigismund demanded that Charles allow Anna to return to Poland. Her wedding to John George was finally set for Easter that year. Charles tried to stop her from leaving. He demanded a list of her Swedish belongings. He also wanted a promise that her property would be taken by the state if she died unmarried. Anna protested. She advised Charles to work with Sigismund and offered to help them make peace. When Sigismund returned to Sweden, Anna immediately joined him in the civil war that started between Sigismund and Charles. She was given the job of mediating, but she couldn't do much because Charles didn't trust her. After Sigismund lost a battle in 1598, she left Sweden to live with him in Poland.

Later Life in Poland

After 1598, Anna lived the rest of her life in Poland. However, she always called herself a Princess of Sweden. She was known as Anna of Svecia (Anna of Sweden). She was a Protestant in a Catholic royal family. She helped protect Swedish Protestants who were loyal to Sigismund, and also Polish Protestants. Princess Anna kept a good relationship with Sigismund and had influence over him. She gave him political advice on state matters. This made her a talked-about person in Poland.

When Carl Gyllenhielm, an illegitimate son of Duke Charles, was held captive in Poland from 1610–13, Anna paid him a lot of attention. Sigismund asked her to question Gyllenhielm, while Sigismund listened hidden behind a curtain. She accused Charles of plotting to cause conflict between Sigismund and John III, which Gyllenhielm denied.

Princess Anne's grave in Toruń

Anna remained unmarried. In 1602, a duke suggested a marriage to a French prince, but it never happened. The talks with Johann Georg von Brandenburg finally ended in 1609. There were rumors that she had a love relationship with the exiled Swedish count Gustaf Brahe. He was a supporter of Sigismund. These rumors were never proven. But Charles IX used them. He feared her political influence. In a letter to Sigismund in 1607, he called her: "Your poisonous sister, the creator of all evil and born to the destruction of all lands and the Kingdom." Charles IX once feared she would marry the Russian Tsar, but this was a false rumor.

Sigismund made Anna the leader (starosta) of Brodnica in 1605 and Golub in 1611. She spent her time between her lands and her brother's court. Anna's own territory was Strasburg (now Brodnica). It was a region in Poland near the Baltic. She lived in Golub and Strasburg. She was very respected because she was so learned. She was interested in books, music, gardening, and medicine. She was an expert in medicinal herbs and had her own apothecary (a place where medicines were made). With an Italian helper, she did her own experiments with herbal medicine. She also helped pay for a book about plants by Simon Syrenius.

Anna was buried at the Church of St. Mary in Toruń, Poland. This happened several years after her death. The Pope had first forbidden a Protestant to be buried in a Catholic graveyard in Poland. But her nephew, King Władysław IV Vasa, got that rule changed. He built a beautiful black marble tomb for her. It had a white alabaster statue of his beloved aunt.

Gallery

• 

  Anna by Elbfas (unidentified by Nationalmuseum but accepted by academic writers)

• 

  Palace of Anna Vasa in Brodnica, where she resided.

• 

  Tower of the Castle in Brodnica, where she resided. The castle was pulled down in 1785 by the Prussians.

• 

  Monument to Anna in Brodnica

• 

  Castle in Golub-Dobrzyń, her residence between 1616 and 1623, which she embellished with an attic.

• 

  Nave of the Church of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Toruń, where she was buried.

• 

  Portal to Anna Vasa's mausoleum in the Church of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Toruń.

• 

  Effigy of Anna Vasa from her mausoleum