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Catherine of Sweden, Countess Palatine of Kleeburg

1584–1638

Born
1584, Nyköping Castle
Country of birth
Sweden
Died
1638, Västerås Town
facts
10
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · Nyköping Castle

    Birth, Nyköping Castle

  2. Child born: Christina Magdalena of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken

    Birth, Nyköping

  3. Child born: Charles X Gustav of Sweden

    Birth, Nyköping

  4. Child born: Countess Palatine Eleonora Catherine of Zweibrücken

    Birth, Stegeborg Castle

  5. Died · Västerås Town

    Death, Västerås Town

What was it like?

The world around Nyköping Castle, 1584: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Both men and women wore belts where they carried practical items, including leather pouches and knives, and women specifically kept farm keys on theirs.

Fashion

Functional accessories on belts

Both men and women wore belts where they carried practical items, including leather pouches and knives, and women specifically kept farm keys on theirs.

Sheepskin skirts for servants

In 1559, servant girls in Ångermanland received skirts made of sheepskin, with each garment requiring 12 skins to produce.

Music

Chanting the mass to the laity

In the Lutheran Mass, priests chanted biblical passages to the congregation using melodic formulas called accentus, which helped illiterate laypeople engage with the text.

Instruments for song and dance

Common instruments used by people for singing and dancing included the flute, drum, fiddle, lute, and bagpipe.

Getting around

Impersonating royal servants to secure horses

Travelers who were not on royal business sometimes impersonated royal servants to secure horses, as ordinary peasants were often unwilling or unable to provide fresh teams when the roads were poor. If they could not find transport, they had to rely on the limited hospitality of local peasants or priests, often sleeping on floors near farm animals.

Slow travel and meal costs

Travel could be very slow, with one group taking five hours to cover just two miles because of deep snow. Guests at the parish-appointed inns paid for their meals with two 'Rondstuckh', which were worth about four Kreuzer.

Daily life

Cramped winter living with livestock

In winter, peasant families lived in a single room with their young animals; infants slept in hanging wooden cradles, and other children slept near the baking oven for warmth. Households often kept the door threshold very high to keep young livestock inside the room.

Home-based learning and labor socialization

Formal schooling was not yet a dominant part of children's lives, as religious instruction took place within the home. Children were primarily socialized through labor, working as apprentices, farm laborers, or helping their families.

Food

Beaver Served as Fasting Fish

Beaver was consumed as a fish substitute on fasting days because people believed it was a water-dwelling animal that swam using its tail. This allowed it to be eaten during the religious periods when meat was prohibited.

Daily Diet of Ordinary Families

Ordinary families typically ate two meals a day, consisting of staples like porridge, bread, cabbage, peas, turnips, and various fish or meat. Beer was a standard drink consumed by people of all ages, often starting in the morning.

Prices and wages
Around 1592–1592

Food distributed as essential wages in 1592

During extreme inflation in 1592, workers at the Horn brick-yard were given herring and smelt as food to ensure they remained capable of performing labor.

Price of bread and meat in Ångermanland

In Ångermanland, a single loaf of bread was valued at 2 öre, while 1 liter of meat cost 24 öre.

Work

A demanding working day

Following the 1571 Church Order, work days were long as holidays were halved, and laborers often relied on in-kind payments like food or grain.

Common jobs for ordinary people

The most common jobs were agricultural work as servants or wage laborers, including tasks like threshing, fencing, and animal husbandry, as well as production of tar, charcoal, and wooden objects.

News and letters

Couriers required travel passports for essential support

Couriers carrying letters relied on travel passports to secure fresh horses, food, and lodging from residents along their routes.

Slow and unreliable mail between Sweden and Tallinn

Between Stockholm and Tallinn, the fastest possible delivery of a letter under favorable conditions was six days, though the average delivery time exceeded six weeks.

During their lifetime

  1. 1593

    Lutheranism established as the state religion

    The Uppsala Synod affirmed the Evangelical Lutheran faith as the state religion, solidifying Sweden's break from the Catholic Church.

  2. 1596

    Crop failures caused widespread hardship

    General crop failures caused by severe weather led to widespread hardship and peasant unrest in Finland.

  3. 1613

    First Swedish population census conducted

    To pay a huge ransom to Denmark to recover the Älvsborg fortress, Sweden conducted one of its first population censuses in 1613.

  4. 1621

    Founding of Gothenburg forces relocation

    King Gustav II Adolf founded the city of Gothenburg in 1621, forcing residents of the town Nya Lödöse to dismantle and relocate their homes.

  5. 1622

    Birth records system introduced

    In 1622, Bishop Johannes Rudbeckius of Västerås established the first official birth records in Sweden.

  6. 1638

    Establishment of Swedish colony in America

    In 1638, the first Swedish ships, the Kalmar Nyckel and Fågel Grip, arrived in Delaware to establish a Swedish colony.

Family

Parents

Spouses

Children

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.