  karin mÃ¥nsdotter (in english catherine, in finnish kaarina maununtytÃ¤r; november 6, 1550 â september 13, 1612) was queen of sweden, first a mistress and then, for a few months in 1568, the consort of eric xiv of sweden. the asteroid 832 karin is named in her honour. karin was born in stockholm to a soldier and later jailkeeper named mÃ¥ns (her surname is a patronymicon, literally "daughter of mÃ¥ns") 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, eric 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; in reality, however, karin mÃ¥nsdotter 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. == royal mistress == karin seems to have entered into a relationship with eric 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. thus, she could be regarded as the first official royal mistress in sweden, although only hedvig taube otherwise is considered an official royal mistress in sweden. in the summer of 1565, she belonged to the kingâs retinue to skara, where she was provided for from the baliffâs 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 
1550_births 1612_deaths 16th-century_Finnish_people 16th-century_Swedish_people 17th-century_Finnish_people 17th-century_Swedish_people House_of_Vasa Mistresses_of_Swedish_royalty People_from_Uppland Swedish_queens