15th-century English princess and queen of Norway, Sweden and Denmark
Philippa of England
(mid-1394 ? 5 January 1430), also known as
Philippa of Lancaster
, was
Queen of Denmark
,
Norway
and
Sweden
from 1406 to 1430 by marriage to King
Eric
of the
Kalmar Union
. She was the daughter of
King Henry IV of England
by his first spouse
Mary de Bohun
and the younger sister of
King Henry V
. Queen Philippa participated significantly in state affairs during the reign of her spouse, and served as
regent
of
Denmark
from 1423 to 1425.
[2]
Biography
[
edit
]
Early life
[
edit
]
Philippa was born to
Henry Bolingbroke
and
Mary de Bohun
, at
Peterborough Castle
,
Peterborough
. Her father became king in 1399. She is mentioned a couple of times during her childhood: in 1403, she was present at her widowed father's wedding to
Joan of Navarre
, and the same year, she made a pilgrimage to
Canterbury
. She mainly lived at
Berkhamsted Castle
and
Windsor Castle
.
Marriage
[
edit
]
In 1400 or 1401, King Henry suggested to Queen
Margaret I of Denmark
, Norway and Sweden that an alliance be formed between England and the
Kalmar Union
through a double wedding between Henry's daughter Philippa to the heir to the Nordic thrones,
Eric of Pomerania
, and Henry's son
Henry
to Eric's sister
Catherine
.
[3]
Queen Margaret could not agree to the terms and the marriage between Henry and Catherine never occurred. In 1405, however, a Scandinavian embassy composed of two envoys from each of the three Nordic kingdoms arrived in England, and the marriage between Philippa and Eric was proclaimed.
On 26 November 1405, Philippa was married to Eric by proxy in Westminster, with the Swedish nobleman Ture Bengtsson Bielke as the stand-in for the groom, and on 8 December, she was formally proclaimed Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden in the presence of the Nordic ambassadors.
[4]
Philippa left England from
Lynn
in August 1406 with an entourage of male and female English nobles and arrived in
Helsingborg
in September, where she was greeted by Eric and Queen Margaret.
The wedding between Philippa and
Eric of Pomerania
took place on 26 October 1406 in
Lund Cathedral
. Philippa was the first documented princess in history to wear a white
wedding dress
during a royal wedding ceremony: she wore a
tunic
with a
cloak
in white
silk
bordered with grey
squirrel
and
ermine
.
[5]
The wedding ceremony was followed by her coronation. The festivities lasted until November, during which several men were knighted and Philippa's dowry was officially received by the court chamberlain and clerics from the three kingdoms. Philippa was in turn granted dower lands in all three kingdoms: Narke and Orebro in Sweden, Fyn with Odense and Nasbyhoved in Denmark, and
Romerike
in Norway.
[4]
Queen and Regent
[
edit
]
Queen Philippa and King Eric lived in
Kalmar Castle
in Sweden with their court the first three years of their marriage. Philippa was given her own court, supervised by her chief lady in waiting, Lady Katarina Knutsdotter, a granddaughter of Saint
Bridget of Sweden
through Lady
Marta Ulfsdotter
, who had been the chief lady in waiting of Queen Margaret herself.
[4]
From 1409 onward, and particularly after the death of Queen Margaret in 1412, when Eric became King
de facto
, the royal couple mainly resided in Denmark. However, Philippa frequently returned to Sweden, and as she had lived there during her first years in Scandinavia, she was given a close relationship to Sweden, of the three Kingdoms, from the beginning.
Her particular interest in Sweden was
Vadstena Abbey
, which came to be a refuge for her and a base whenever she was in Sweden. Her English entourage had included Henry Fitzhugh, who had visited the Abbey with an English delegation for members in order to establish a Bridgettine monastery in England, and in 1415, four nuns, three female novices, one monk and one priest left the abbey under great celebrations for the foundation of what became the famed
Syon Abbey
. Philippa herself likely saw Vadstena for the first time in 1408, when she would have accompanied Eric there.
During her second visit to Vadstena Abbey in January 1415, she followed the example of Queen Margaret and was accepted as a
soror ab extra
.
[4]
In 1421, she made a donation to the Abbey in exchange for prayers for her, her spouse and her parents; in 1422, she delivered the relic of an arm from
Canute the Holy
to the Abbey, and in 1425, she donated the Choir of
Saint Anne
, whose inauguration she attended the following year.
[4]
When
Pope Martin V
banned double monasteries in 1422, Queen Philippa and her spouse sent an embassy to Rome to ask for a retraction of the ban, and she also asked her brothers in England to intervene: the result was that an exception from the ban was made for the
Bridgettine Order
.
[4]
Queen Philippa was actively involved in state affairs. By the Pomeranian Act of Succession of 1416, Eric named his cousin
Bogusław IX
of Pomerania as heir to the three Kingdoms if his marriage to Philippa remained childless.
[4]
When Eric left to participate in warfare in Femern in 1420, the Act was amended and Philippa was given an active role. The revised Act stated that upon the death of Eric, Queen Philippa should be appointed Regent of the realm until Bogusław could be instated as King; and should Bogusław inherit the three Kingdoms while still a minor, Philippa would serve as Regent during his minority.
[4]
In connection to this, Philippa's dower lands were also altered: instead of having dower lands in all three Kingdoms, she was given an immense dower land in Sweden consisting of Narke, Uppland, Stockholm, the fief of Koping, fief of Talje, fief of Vasteras, Arboga as well as Snavringe, essentially making her ruler of Central Sweden, with Sjalland as security.
[4]
Eric evidently had great trust in Philippa. Both ancient and modern authors give a favourable account of her rule. It is said that in certain matters she was more efficient than Eric. However, scholars have largely accepted this judgment of the Queen without going into detail.
[6]
Her great dower lands in Sweden increased Philippa's interest in this Kingdom, and while Eric preferred to reside in Denmark, Philippa made such frequent and long visits in Sweden, where she acted as Eric's proxy while present, that she was the
de facto
Regent of Sweden for the most part of the 1420s, though not formally made such.
[4]
In March 1422, she formally summoned and presided over a Council of the Estates in Vadstena, where she mediated in a dispute between noble factions.
[4]
She was often given power of attorney by Eric to handle Swedish affairs, such as the taxes of Oland in August 1425.
[4]
During the pilgrimage of King Eric from 1423 until May 1425, Queen Philippa served as regent of the three kingdoms from Copenhagen.
[4]
During which, in the autumn of 1424, she solved a dispute with the
Hanseatic League
by establishing a new convention concerning the validity of the coin system, which they had wished for.
[4]
During her regency, she also summoned the Swedish Council of the Estates in Stockholm in the spring of 1425.
In the spring of 1426, Philippa was sent to Sweden by Eric where she summoned the Swedish council in Vadstena and managed to secure support and funds for the
Dano-Hanseatic War (1426?35)
despite the Swedish opposition to this war.
[4]
In January 1427, when the war was going the wrong way for Eric, she summoned the Swedish council to Nykoping, where she again managed to secure Swedish support for Eric in his war.
[4]
At this visit, she also acquired additional Swedish estates to support her future in Sweden, where she evidently planned to retire as a widow.
In March 1427 she returned to Denmark, where she stayed for three years during the war. In 1428, Philippa successfully organized the defense of the Danish capital against the attack of the Hanseatic League during the
1428 bombardment of Copenhagen
.
[4]
She was hailed as a heroine by the people of Copenhagen for rallying the citizens to fight the Hanseatic fleet in Copenhagen Harbor.
In late 1429, Philippa left for Sweden, officially on a mission from Eric to secure support for his war in Sweden, where the war had been opposed from the start.
[4]
In Sweden, she traveled to
Vadstena Abbey
as usual, where she was welcomed by a delegation of Swedish
riksrad
. Not long after her arrival, however, she fell ill. This was an attack of some kind of a recurring illness which had been noted to affect her at times for at least the previous five years.
[4]
The queen bore a stillborn boy and her health deteriorated after the stillbirth. She died on 5 January 1430 at the age of 35 and was buried in the Cloister Church at
Vadstena
, close to
Linkoping
in
Ostergotland
,
Sweden
. She made several donations to Vadstena Abbey in her will. After her death Eric formed a relationship with a former lady-in-waiting of Philippa's,
Cecilia
.
[7]
Legacy
[
edit
]
- Philippa is described as one of few royals of the Kalmar Union who was actually popular outside Denmark, and in Sweden, she was often praised as a positive contrast to Eric, who was generally unfavorably depicted.
[4]
- Her defence of Copenhagen in 1428 was later famously recounted by
Hans Christian Andersen
in
Godfather's Picture Book
(1868).
[8]
- She is portrayed by New Zealander actress
Thomasin McKenzie
in the movie
The King
.
- In the Danish language movie
Margrete: Queen of the North
she is played by child actress Diana Martinova.
Gallery
[
edit
]
-
Philippa (genealogically misidentified) with King Eric on an old print displayed at
Darlowo Castle
-
Seal of Queen Philippa
-
Philippa's grave at
Vadstena Abbey
Ancestry
[
edit
]
Ancestors of Philippa of England
|
---|
|
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Marie-Louse Flemberg in
Filippa, Engelsk prinsessa ? nordisk unionsdrottning
ISBN
978-91-7359-072-3
p 350
- ^
Terje Bratberg.
"Filippa Av England, Dronning"
. Norsk biografisk leksikon
. Retrieved
25 May
2016
.
- ^
Dansk biografisk Lexikon / III. Bind. Brandt ? Clavus
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
Filippa,
urn:sbl:14127
, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Gottfrid Carlsson), hamtad 7 September 2016.
- ^
The History of Matrimony
- ^
"
Queen Philippa as a benefactor of the Birgittines
(Flemberg, Marie-Louise)"
. Archived from
the original
on 28 September 2007
. Retrieved
1 April
2007
.
- ^
Helge Salvesen.
"Filippa av England"
. Store norske leksikon
. Retrieved
25 May
2016
.
- ^
Godfather's Picture Book
(Hans Christian Andersen)
- ^
a
b
Armitage-Smith, Sydney (1905).
John of Gaunt: King of Castile and Leon, Duke of Aquitaine and Lancaster, Earl of Derby, Lincoln, and Leicester, Seneschal of England
. Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 77
. Retrieved
17 May
2018
.
- ^
a
b
Cokayne, G.E.; Gibbs, Vicary; Doubleday, H.A.; White, Geoffrey H.; Warrand and, Duncan; de Walden, Howard, eds. (2000).
The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant
. Vol. II (new ed.). Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing. p. 70.
- ^
Tout, Thomas Frederick (1911).
"Edward III"
. In
Chisholm, Hugh
(ed.).
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- ^
Chisholm, Hugh
, ed. (1911).
"Philippa of Hainaut"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- ^
Weir, Alison (1999).
Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy
. London: The Bodley Head. p. 84.
ISBN
9780099539735
.
- ^
Mosley, Charles, ed. (1999).
Burke's Peerage and Baronetage
. Vol. 1 (106th ed.). Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd. p. 228.
- ^
a
b
Weir (1999), p. 84.
- ^
Cokayne et al (2000),
I
, p. 242
- ^
Weir (1999), p. 78.
Other sources
[
edit
]
- Lars-Olof Larsson (2006)
Kalmarunionens tid Kalmarunionens tid : Fran drottning Margareta till Kristian II
(Bokforlaget Prisma)
ISBN
978-91-518-3165-7
(Swedish)
Related reading
[
edit
]
|
---|
|
- † also Queen of Norway
- ‡ also Queen of Sweden
|
|
---|
|
*
also Queen of Denmark
^
also Queen of Sweden
|
|
---|
|
- *
also Queen of Norway
- ^
also Queen of Denmark
|
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Artists
| |
---|