Magnus Gustavsson Wasa

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Duke Magnus

Magnus Gustavsson Wasa (born July 25, 1542 in Stockholm , † June 20, 1595 in Kungsbro ) was a Swedish prince and duke of Östergötland .

Life

The Duke's coat of arms on his tomb

He came from the Wasa dynasty and was the third son of King Gustav I and the second son of Margareta Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud .

Succession to the throne and madness

Magnus was the only one of his father's adult sons who did not become king of Sweden.

The old King Gustav († 1560) had given his other sons under Erik XIV as their liege lord hereditary duchies in his will . Magnus became Duke in Östergötland. He came into the inheritance at the age of 19 and also received the titles of Swedish Prince, Duke of Westanstång, Count of Dal and Wassbo . Westanstång means the part of Östergötland that lies west of Stångån .

From 1563 he began to show signs of madness . The disease is said to have broken out when his older half-brother King Erik XIV forced him to sign the death sentence imposed on his eldest brother Johann . In 1563, Johann was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. In the end he stayed alive after stubborn resistance, but was deprived of his right to the throne.

Due to Magnus' so-called stupidity , in 1563 his younger brother Karl was next in line to the throne after his older half-brother, King Erik, who was still unmarried , because the eldest brother Johann was no longer entitled to the throne. However, Johann became king in 1568 after the overthrow of his older half-brother Erik, and due to the progressive madness of Duke Magnus, responsibility for Magnus' fief was transferred to his older brother, now King John III, in 1574 .

The Duke of Östergötland spent his last years at the manor at Kungsbro and at Vadstena Castle in Östergötland. One day he thought he saw a mermaid on the water there. Enchanted by the beauty of the mermaid who is said to have waved to him, he threw himself headlong into the water from a window in the castle . His guards pulled him out, he wasn't hurt. He then reported that two outstretched arms caught him in his free fall.

family

The Duke of Östergötland was never married, but had three legitimate children from various relationships.

  • Lucretia Magnusdotter Gyllenhielm (1562-1624) came from the cohabitation with Valborg Eriksdotter . In 1586 she married Christoffer von Warnstedt (1542–1627), later the Swedish governor. They met in 1581 at the wedding of Lucretia's aunt Elisabeth of Sweden to Duke Christoph of Mecklenburg . They became first parents of the now only living Swedish branch of the von Warnstedt family .
  • The daughter with a stranger was named Virginia Magnusdotter Gyllenhielm .

Heir to his Duchy of Östergötland was his nephew Johann , the youngest son of his eldest brother Johann III. and his second wife Gunilla Bielke .

literature

  • Greta Runnquist-Olsson: Hertig Magnus from Östergötland: en psykiatrisk studie . Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1987, ISBN 91-22-01188-9
  • Birgitta Lager-Kromnow: Magnus . nad.riksarkivet.se/sbl, Svenskt biografiskt lexicon.

Web links

Commons : Magnus Gustavsson Wasa  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Erik Gustaf Geijer (Ed.): History of Sweden , Volume 2. Hamburg 1834, p. 150 ff.
  2. ^ Magnus Gustavsson Wasa . In: Herman Hofberg, Frithiof Heurlin, Viktor Millqvist, Olof Rubenson (eds.): Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon . 2nd Edition. tape 2 : L – Z, including supplement . Albert Bonniers Verlag, Stockholm 1906, p. 115 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
  3. ↑ a b Gottlieb Mohnike : Folk songs of the Swedes: from the Geijer and Afzelius collection , Volume 1. Berlin 1830, p. 232
  4. ^ E. Schieche, A. Erler, A. Waas: German landscapes . In: Historische Zeitschrift , Volume 170, Issue 3 (1950), pp. 669–671
  5. ↑ Biografiska anteckningar: Yxkull nr 76. accessed on October 17, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Wasa, Magnus Gustavsson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Magnus Gustafsson Vasa, Sveriges arfhertig, hertig till Westanstång, samt grefve till Dal och Vadsbo (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish Prince and Duke of Östergötland
DATE OF BIRTH July 25, 1542
PLACE OF BIRTH Stockholm
DATE OF DEATH June 20, 1595
Place of death Kungsbro