Christina of Saxony

Sweden

In 1497, John was elected king of Sweden. Two years later, Christina followed him to Sweden, and on 4 February 1499, they were crowned king and queen of Sweden in Uppsala. She accompanied John on his second visit to Sweden in 1500, and his third in January 1501. During the 1501 visit, John entered into his love affair with one of her ladies-in-waiting, Edel Jernskjæg, which attracted a scandal and caused a de facto termination of her marriage.

The stay in the Swedish capital was dominated by the king's suspicions toward the Swedes, who were known to be hostile to the Kalmar Union; when the queen announced that she intended to attend mass at the Storkyrkan in the city, the king refused to allow her until she begged him crying, and when the queen and her ladies-in-waiting were observed to return with a crowd of Swedes, the king's guards aimed fire at them in the belief that they had taken the queen hostage, when in fact they had just wished to escort her back to the castle as a way of honoring her.

When the War of Deposition against King Hans and Dano-Swedish War (1501–1512) took place later that same year, John left Sweden for Denmark in August 1501 in the company of Edel Jernskjæg. He left Christina, who was at that time too ill to travel, in charge of the garrison of the Castle of Tre Kronor in Stockholm as regent and as moral support for his followers.

From September 1501 until 6 May 1502, Queen Christina was besieged by the Swedish rebels. This was one of the hardest sieges known during the Kalmar Union, during which a garrison of 1,000 men was reduced to 70 out of plague and starvation.

On 9 May 1502, Queen Christina surrendered to the Swedish regent Sten Sture the Elder. According to the peace settlement, was to be kept at a convent in Stockholm until she could travel back to Denmark. When she surrendered her position, she turned herself over to lady Ingeborg Tott, who met her at the castle and followed her to a convent.

She was kept first at the Black Friars' Monastery of Stockholm and then at the Grey Friar's Abbey, Stockholm. However, the treaty was broken by Sten Sture: when John had a ship sent to Stockholm to collect her, the regent had her taken from Stockholm to the Vadstena Abbey in a form of captivity. In October 1503, she was finally released and escorted to the Danish border by Sten Sture, where she was met by her son Christian in Halmstad.

Later life

In 1504, she made a pilgrimage to Wilsnack and Sternberg in Brandenburg, where she also met her daughter Elizabeth. Upon her return to Denmark, she founded convents for Poor Clares in Copenhagen and Odense.

From her return to Denmark after her release onward, Queen Christina lived the rest of her life separated from King John. She had her own separate court, headed by Anne Meinstrup, and resided on her dower lands at Næsbyhoved Slot and in Odense with her son Frans. She hosted a grand court with many guests, but the visits from the king was almost non-existent.

Christina was interested in art and music and acted as the benefactor of musicians, writers and painters. She commissioned the famous altar piece of Claus Berg, who depicted the royal Danish family and was placed in the Odense cathedral, as well as the literary work of the priest Michael of Odense.

She was a critical Catholic, who wished for a reformation of the Catholic church, and the benefactor of the order of Saint Clare and Saint Francis, and supported Laurids Brandsen, who worked to reform the discipline of the Danish convents. She was also known for her philanthropy.

In 1513, she was widowed.

Christina of Saxony died on 8 December 1521, aged 59.

Issue

Christina and John had five or six children: