Catherine of Ymseborg
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Catherine Sunadotter of Ymseborg (born c 1215, died 1252 at Gudhem monastery), in Swedish, Karin Sunadotter av Ymseborg or Katarina was queen consort of Swedes and Goths 1244-50 and then her last years Abbess of Gudhem monastery.
She was the eldest daughter of the sonless Helena of Sweden and Sune Folkason (died 1247), Lord of Ymseborg, lawspeaker of Västergötland, who in some literature is also titled as Earl of the Swedish. Sune Folkason's father was Folke Birgersson of Bjelbo (killed 1210), Earl of the Swedish, and thus Sune's paternal grandparents were Birger Bengtsson of Bjelbo (died 1202), Earl of the Swedish, and his wife Bridget of Norway. Descending from the families of Bjelbo and Sverker, she was of the Geatish clans regarding the original formation of Sweden. Helena Sverkersdotter's parents were king Sverker II of Sweden (c 1160-1210) and queen Benedikte Ebbesdatter.
After the death of Sverker II's last surviving son, king John I of Sweden in 1216, lady Helena, and her daughters, were the chief heirs of the Sverker dynasty, one (the more Geatish) of the two rival houses to alternate on the Swedish throne at least since 1150s.
After 1234, the young king Eric XI (1215-50) of the rival Eric dynasty has held the throne, in midst of difficulties and after an intervening exile 1229-34. Young Eric was, according to semi-legendary material, physically lame and spoke with stutter ("läspe och halte"), though reportedly of kindly nature. Catherine's father Sune and mighty supporters of the young king agreed to strengthen his position and to foreclose one source of rival throne claims by marrying Eric and Catherine. The marriage took place in 1244, or 1243, at Fyrisängen near Upsala.
Same year 1244, Catherine's younger sister Benedikta of Ymseborg, who was finishing her education in a females' monastery, was kidnapped by Lars Petersson, the lawspeaker of Östergötland, in an attempt to have her as his wife. There are some sources insinuating royal ambitions also to lord Lars and this marriage plan. The coup failed and Benedikta was returned.
Catherine had received an immense dower upon the marriage, some legends narrate romantically about "half the kingdom".
Her husband king Eric died in 1250, at the age of 34 years.
It is unclear whether the marriage produced any children. Some researchers have directly conclude that it did not. On the other hand, there are some old sources indicating existence of some babies. Possibly such died young. What is certain is that no son survived at the time of Eric's death, as such son would either had been made a king under regency, or at least some groups would have used a boy's existence as pretext of throne pretension (so had occurred at least in 1234, 1216 and 1210 and everyone contemporary knew this custom). Later German sources have dubbed one or two this era's Scandinavian ladies married to German princely houses as daughters of king Eric. If one or more really were such, it seems that no one seriously tried to use any of them as pretext of a revolt or a coup (perhaps waiting for a baby girl to grow up to age to marry a pretender king or to give birth to a son was deemed too long) despite of the customary and high potential to do so, nor were any such girl tried to be married to later incumbent kings to further legitimize the settlement of the Swedish crown. Catherine herself immediately devoted to sequestered religious life and not to family. Conclusion has tended to be that they did not have surviving children.
Upon the death of her husband, the fresh Queen Dowager retreated to monastery, to the Gudhem convent. Because Scandinavian customary law dictated that no clan property (i.e, lands and such) can be held by a religieus, she then donated and transferred all her lands, including her queenly dower, to certain relatives and as donations to ecclesiastical institutions. For example, her sister Benedikta received as gift from her the town of Söderköping, one of queen's dower possessions.
The underage Valdemar Birgersson, a nephew of king Eric, was chosen as the next king of Sweden.
The widowed Queen soon became the Abbess of her convent, and served in that position until her own death.
Her sister lady Benedikta (c 1225-c 1261) married, presumably sometime in early 1250s (we do not know if Carherine yet lived or not) lord Svantepolk Knutsson of Viby (c 1220 - 1310), son of the Danish duke of Reval, Estonia, Laland and Blekinge, and his wife, a Pomerelian princely lady. In 1250s, Benedikta gave birth to at least one son and several surviving daughters.
