Karin Månsdotter (in English Catherine; 6 November 1550 – 13 September 1612) was first the mistress and then the queen consort of King Erik XIV of Sweden.
Karin was born in Stockholm to a soldier and later prison guard named Måns (her surname is a patronym, literally "daughter of Måns") and his wife Ingrid. Her mother came from a family of peasants in Uppland, and was said to have sold vegetables on the square. Both her parents are believed to have died c. 1560. According to legend, Erik XIV first noticed her selling nuts at a square in Stockholm, and was so astonished by her beauty that he took her to court as his lover, a story mentioned by Dorothea Ostrelska In reality, however, Karin Månsdotter was in 1564 employed as a servant to Karin, wife of the king's trusted court musician Gert Cantor, who held a tavern and a guest house in his home, and likely served their guests as a waitress. She was a maid to the king's sister, Princess Elizabeth, when she became mistress to the king in 1565.
Karin seems to have entered into a relationship with Erik in the spring of 1565. The position seems to have been quite official, as she was given expensive clothes and appeared with him openly at court, and was given her own apartment and servants. In the summer of 1565, she belonged to the king's retinue to Skara, where she was provided for from the bailiff's provision for the warfaring army, which was otherwise reserved for the army, and illustrates her new status. The royal accounts states that she was given a new and expensive wardrobe and her own staff, among them her own former employer: Karin, the wife of Gert Cantor. When her daughter Sigrid was born in 1566, she was treated as a legitimate princess. Before this the king had several mistresses in parallel, such as Agda Persdotter and Doredi Valentinsdotter, but when Karin entered his life, he dismissed them all. She also received education and learned to read and write. His treatment of her caused much astonishment. The ideas of the time suggested witchcraft and love potions to explain the deep attachment.
Karin is reported to have had a fiancé before she met Erik, an ensign named Maximilian. After she became royal mistress, he managed to get into the palace, where he was discovered by Carl the manservant and taken to the king, who had him killed. According to chronicler Daniel Hund, he was in fact trapped by Erik, who had asked Karin to send for him. The truth of the story is unknown.
Karin Månsdotter's portrait was done only in her husband's scribbled drawings in captivity and in a latter-day bust at her grave (a portrait long believed to be of her has been discovered to be of her sister-in-law). She was described as very beautiful with long blond hair and innocent eyes, and her personality seems to have been calm, humble and natural. The king was mentally unstable, and she seems to have been the only one who could comfort him and calm him down, which made her appreciated by his relatives, who considered her good for him. She had no personal enemies at court, but she was not respected, and their marriage in 1568 was considered a scandal and may have contributed to his dethronement.
Sometime in 1567, Erik decided to marry Karin in accordance to the agreement he made with the council in 1561, which allowed him to marry whom he pleased. His plans was supported by his advisor Jöran Persson, as foreign negotiations had failed and a native aristocrat as queen would have threatened Persson's position. Karin is reported to have been a good friend of Persson's wife Anna Andersdotter, who apparently often accompanied her on her travels between the different royal palaces.
It is unknown whether Karin Månsdotter had any political influence, but a popular image in Swedish history was of her serving as a counterweight to Jöran Persson; a painting by Georg von Rosen three hundred years later (1871) illustrates this, showing the king on the floor, confused by his inner demons, with Karin Månsdotter at one side holding his hand, looking like an innocent angel giving him strength to resist the demands of Jöran Persson, standing on the other side of him, trying to get him to sign a document.
Her contemporaries, especially the nobles at court, early used her to appeal to Erik on their behalf, and it seems as she did her best to do so, which is illustrated in the Sture Murders in Uppsala in 1567, which could perhaps describe the form of her influence on Erik. In May 1567, Erik is considered to have suffered from some sort of mental collapse. He imprisoned several men from the Sture noble family, among them Count Svante Sture. Countess Märta Sture, sister of the former queen Margaret Leijonhufvud, appealed to Karin Månsdotter for the prisoners' protection. Karin assured her no-one would hurt the prisoners. Later the same morning, the king visited Svante Sture in prison, fell on his knees before him and begged for his friendship. Later the same day, however, the Sture prisoners were executed. Erik disappeared shortly afterwards, and Karin participated in the search; he was found in the Odensala vicarage.
Karin Månsdotter donated to the sisters of Vadstena Abbey on three occasions between 1566 and 1568, and it is noted that her largest donation was made during Erik's sickness in 1567.
Erik XIV married Karin morganatically in 1567, and officially in 1568, when she was ennobled and crowned queen under the name Katarina Magnusdotter (a formal version of her name). The first, secret wedding ceremony, was performed by Archbishop Laurentius Petri on 29 December 1567. During this period, Erik was periodically affected by his mental problems, and a regency ruled in his stead. The marriage, Erik's mental problems and Karin's elevation caused rumours. In a letter to Erik's sister Sophia, it was reported that "The lunacy which dominates him is a consequence of his deeds. He was somewhat unstable even before, and now he is completely so, guided by his wife", implying that Karin used witchcraft. The wife of Jöran Persson, Anna Andersdotter, a close friend of Karin, was accused of having spread the rumours and sentenced for slander, but was pardoned at the request of Karin herself. The regency arrested many of Erik's advisors, and Karin intervened for many of them. When Erik recovered and the regency was ended, Karin intervened to make peace between Erik and his brother, Duke John.
On 10 February 1568, Karin was ennobled and given the official seal of a queen. In a letter to her sisters-in-law, the princesses Sophia and Elisabeth, she erased the first draft, which formally called them "Dear sisters", and she did not call herself "Queen", but "Chosen Queen", which has been interpreted as meaning that she knew that her position was not fully accepted within the aristocracy. Erik is reported to have plans to have his brothers and other enemies killed before the wedding, but they were warned of these plans by Karin Månsdotter through the dowager queen Catherine Stenbock. These people did not attend the wedding.
The official wedding took place in Storkyrkan on 4 July 1568, followed the next day by the coronation. Karin Månsdotter was walked to the altar by the king's cousin Per Brahe under a banner of golden textile carried by four nobles. The wedding was unique; never before had the children of the couple been present at a royal wedding. Both the infant son and the daughter of Erik and Karin were present to confirm their official status. They were placed under the banner between their parents. On 9 June the son was baptized carried by Catherine Stenbock. The coronation was celebrated with great festivities in Stockholm to confirm the new queen's legitimacy. Karin's peasant relatives, her three maternal uncles from Uppland, Hans Jakobsson, Jakob Jakobsson and Erik Nilsson, were present dressed in clothes made for them by the royal tailor. During the coronation, Lord Chancellor Nils Gyllenstierna fainted and dropped the crown he was carrying to the floor. This was regarded as a bad omen.