Later Life and Family
In 1527 Gyllenstierna remarried, to Johan Turesson, Lord of Falun. Gustav Vasa saw her as a threat when she first returned, as she was as great a national symbol as he was. This marriage was arranged as a form of retirement for her; she thereby promised not to involve herself further in politics.
In 1527, a rebellion broke out in Dalarna in opposition to Gustav's introduction of the Protestant Reformation to Sweden. The leader of the rebellion was the so-called Daljunkern ("the youngster from Dalarna"), who claimed to be Nils Sture, the 15-year-old elder son of Lord Sture and Gyllenstierna. Gustav defeated the rebels, and Daljunkern fled to Norway and then Germany, where he was arrested and executed by Gustav's order. Gustav had Gyllenstierna write a statement where she declared that Daljunkern was not her son but "To my knowledge a thief and impostor." According to Gustav's official history, Nils had died a year earlier. But some modern historians think that Nils may have been Daljunkern.
Gyllenstierna was briefly made responsible for the court of the royal children between the death of queen Margaret Leijonhufvud in 1551 and the king's marriage to queen Katarina Stenbock in 1552.
She had two sons from her first marriage: Nils and Svante Sture. From her second marriage, she had a son, Gustaf Johansson. Eric XIV made Svante Count of Vestervik and Stegeholm, and at the same time made Gustaf Count of Enköping (later changed to county of Bogesund). Most of Sweden's highest nobility is descended from Gyllenstierna through daughters of these two counts. Her distant direct descendant, Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha married Prince Gustav Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, and with Sibylla's son, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Gyllenstierna's blood returned to the Swedish throne.
Read more about this topic: Christina Gyllenstierna
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