thumb|Modern Statue of Christina Gyllenstierna at [[Stockholm Palace as defender of the city]]
thumb|16th century sculpture by the altar of [[Västerås Cathedral]]
Christina Nilsdotter Gyllenstierna of Fogelvik (Swedish: Kristina or Kerstin: 1494 – January 1559) was a Swedish noblewoman. She was married to the Swedish regent Sten Sture the Younger and led the Swedish resistance against Christian II of Denmark after the death of her spouse. In her own lifetime, she was simply referred to as Fru Kristina ('Lady Christina'), but she has become known in history as Kristina Gyllenstierna because of the noble family to which she belonged.
Early life
Christina Gyllenstierna was born to riksråd Nils Eriksson (Gyllenstierna), Lord of Tullgarn (also written with the Danish spelling Niels Eriksen, and surnamed "Gyllenstjerna" by later historians) and Sigrid Eskilsdotter (Banér) of Venngarn, Heir of Lindholm. She was a great-granddaughter of King Charles VIII of Sweden through her paternal grandmother princess Christina Karlsdotter Bonde (1432–1493/1500), heir of Fogelvik, after whom she was named. Her grandfather Erik Eriksen of Demstrup ("Gyldenstjerne") originated from Denmark, but during the power struggle between Denmark and Sweden, two formally united parts of the Kalmar Union, he allied with the Swedish claimant, Charles VIII, who made him his son-in-law and High Steward of Charles' court. By the first marriage of her mother, Christina was the half-sister of Cecilia Månsdotter of Eka and thereby the maternal aunt of the future king Gustav I.
Christina was first engaged to Nils Gädda (d. 1508), governor of Kalmar and Lycka, but the marriage never took place due to his death. On 16 November 1511 in Stockholm, she married the son of the Swedish regent Svante and the nephew of her former betrothed, Sten Sture the Younger. She had six children during her marriage, but only one of them survived to mature adulthood:
- Nils (1512–1527 or 1528), died in adolescence
- Iliana (1514–1521), died in early childhood
- Magdalena (1516–1521), died in early childhood
- Svante Stensson Sture (1517–1567)
- Anna (1518–1521), died in early childhood
- Gustav (1519–1520), died in early childhood
Reign of Sten Sture
In 1512, Sten Sture succeeded his father as elected regent of Sweden upon his death. During this period, Denmark, Norway and Sweden were formally part of the Kalmar Union through a personal union under the King of Denmark, but in reality, Sweden had been a de facto independent kingdom under "regents" (Sw. riksföreståndare) native high nobles elected to rule the country.
Sten Sture's election as regent was not without opposition. At the death of his father, Sten was only 18 years old, and High Councillor Eric Trolle, who supported the union with Denmark, was initially chosen as regent by the council. However, Sten utilized the castles and troops granted to him by his late father and took power in a coup: after having promised to continue negotiations with Denmark, the High Council accepted him as regent instead of Trolle.
In reality, Lord Sten's purpose was to keep Sweden independent from Denmark. He took the Sture name, a heritage from his great-grandmother, because it symbolized the independence of Sweden as a reminder of Sten Sture the Elder, his father's third cousin.
Regent Sten had already in 1504 been proposed as a candidate in the election of a new king of Sweden as a replacement for John, King of Denmark, who had been elected King of Sweden in 1497 but who was ousted from there in 1502. Upon the death of John in 1513, it was again proposed to elect regent Sten as King of Sweden rather than the son of John, Christian II of Denmark, and Sten was making preparations to arrange an election, including seeking support for it from the pope.
It is considered likely that Christina participated in state affairs and acted as the political adviser to her spouse, given her later role. In reality, Sten and Christina already functioned as king and queen of Sweden: by 1519, Peder Månsson, Bishop of Västerås, expressed his surprise in a letter from Rome to Abbess Anna Germundsdotter of Vadstena Abbey that Sten had not yet been crowned, This resulted in the infamous Stockholm Bloodbath upon the followers of Sten Sture.
Christina's brothers Erik Nilsson, Lord of Tullgarn and Eskil Nilsson, her maternal uncle and her brother-in-law were executed by beheading, as were many other Swedish Sture party followers. Her husband's remains were exhumed and burned publicly at the stake as a heretic, as were those of her youngest son Gustav. Her mother Sigrid became the only woman sentenced to be executed: she was sentenced to be drowned, but avoided execution by ceding her property to the king. Christina herself was not executed. King Christian called upon her and asked her to choose which method of execution she preferred, being burned at the stake or being buried alive. Confronted with this choice, she was unable to reply and fainted with horror. Christian was advised to spare her life and neither of these alternatives was carried out. To save her life, she ceded a large part of her property to Christian.
The king stated that she "is now dead to the world, for she is judged as the others for heresy". after which her children, mother, and finally herself were all transferred to the infamous Blåtårn ("Blue Tower") of Copenhagen Castle along with a large number of other women and children related to the executed of the Stockholm Bloodbath, among them her half sister Cecilia and nieces Emerentia and Margareta. Christina herself and her daughters joined them there in September.
On 20 July 1525, however, the rebellion was crushed when Nils, the son of Christina, was taken prisoner by King Gustav after his victory at the Siege of Kalmar. Gustav defeated the rebels, and Daljunkern fled to Norway and then Germany, where he was arrested in Rostock. In August 1528, King Gustav had Christina issue an official statement that Daljunkern was not her son. Preserved documents show that the first version of Christina's letter was written carefully and only asked the authorities in Rostock to send the person claiming to be Nils to Sweden for questioning: in the final version of the letter, which was eventually sent, however, she called him a thief and impostor and demanded that he be executed on the spot.