Cecilia Johansdotter

Cecilia Johansdotter of Sweden, (d.after 1190), was a Swedish queen, Queen Consort of king Canute of Sweden and mother of King Eric of Sweden.

Despite of the fact that she was queen for almost thirty years, the queen consort of King Canute is one of the most unknown of Swedish queens. Neither her name, her parents or her birth and death years are confirmed. Some sources guess, that she was the daughter of Prince John (johan) Sverkersson of Sweden (d.1150), son of King Sverker of Sweden (d.1156). The name Cecilia is not entirely confirmed. She was to have ben married to Canute in about the year of 1160. In 1167, seven years later, her husband became King and she was made Queen of Sweden.

There is only one story that truly mentiones the queen more in detail. In 1190, the queen was taken ill. It was a grave illness, and people worried that she should die. To avoid death, the queen promissed on her sick bed, that if God would spare her life, she would enter a convent after her recoverie to show her gratitude. Eventually, she recovered form her sickness completely. But she did not wish to become a nun, nor did her husband, and they sent an appeal to the Pope in Rome to ask if the queen could be released from her promise. The Pope answered that the queen should honour her promise to god, and Queen Cecilia was forced to abandon her throne and enter a convent and become a nun. The year of her death is unknown.

Queen Cecilia Johansdotter is used as a character in a book made by author Jan Guillou in 1998, where she was used to creat the fictional queen Cecilia Blanka.

Children and family

• Eric of Sweden, (d.1216), King of Sweden 1208-1216.

References

• Lars O. Lagerqvist, "Sverige och dess regenter under 1.000 år", (1976) ("Sweden and it's regents under a 1000 years").
• Åke Ohlmarks, "Alla Sveriges drottningar".