Vreta Abbey - History

History

The exact year of the foundation is not known. The abbey was founded by King Inge the Elder of Sweden and Queen Helena on the orders of Pope Paschal II, which gives a date range for the foundation: Paschal became pope in 1099; the date of Inge's death is disputed, but probably occurred around 1105 or a little later. In the following decade King Inge the Younger and Queen Ulvhild made large donations to it.

Vreta Abbey was a house of Benedictine nuns until 1162, when it was turned into a Cistercian nunnery. The first Cistercian abbess was Ingegerd, sister of Charles VII. A second sister, Helena, widow of Canute V of Denmark, entered Vreta as a nun after her husband's death in 1157, and other members of the Swedish and Danish royal families were also here. In the 13th century, Helena Sverkersdotter were among its abbesses. Vreta Abbey has entered folklore as the scene during the 13th century of a number of prominent abductions of girls for marriages disapproved of by their families.

It was a prestigious establishment, and the church is the burial place of the kings Inge the Elder, Philip, Inge the Younger and Magnus II, and the princes Ragnvald (son of Inge the Elder) and Sune, plus according to an older source the latter's young nephews, Alf and Boleslaw Johansson. It served as a school for daughters of Sweden's ruling families and nobility.

Vreta was the mother house of Askeby Abbey near Linköping, Riseberga Abbey in Närke and Solberga Abbey in Gotland.

The buildings burned down in the early 13th century, but were rebuilt, and a new church was dedicated in the presence of Magnus III and Hedwig of Holstein in 1289.

After 1527, as a result of the Reformation the abbey was forbidden to accept any new novices, but was otherwise treated very leniently. It continued in use as a school for daughters of the nobility and a retirement place for old noblewomen, and in 1529, the king allowed the last abbess, Sigrid Botholfsdotter (d. 1538), to buy it, and its activities continued undisturbed. Vreta Abby received the nuns from the former Askeby Abbey and Skänninge Abbey when they were closed in 1529 and 1544 respectively. In 1536, Gustav I gave the abbey and its assets to his Roman Catholic mother-in-law Ebba Eriksdotter Vasa; she spent her last years here and died in 1549. There were still nuns here in 1562, and the last two of whom, Brita Gisledotter and Kirstin Månsdotter, died in 1582.

Vreta Abbey's remaining church now belongs to the Church of Sweden.