Catherine Jagiellon, the youngest daughter of Sigismund the Old, was Swedish queen for 16 years through her marriage to John Vasa. After her death, her body was laid to rest in Uppsala Cathedral. Remembered by her subjects as a good and pious ruler, she was also commemorated near Taxinge.

Near the village of Taxinge (municipality of Nykvarn), located about 50 km west of Stockholm, there is a little-known polonica in the forest. It is a commemorative slab of red sandstone in the form of a roughly standing rectangle with irregular edges. On the plain face of the slab is carved an inscription, above which is carved a royal crown highlighted with gilding. The stone was set on a slope above a triple spring, worshipped still in pagan times. The exact date of its construction is unknown. Swedish sources date it quite generally to the modern period, but the monument was already described in 19th century lexicons on Swedish antiquities.

Marriage of Catherine Jagiellon and John Vasa

Catherine Jagiellon was born on 1 November 1526 in Kraków as the youngest daughter of King Sigismund I the Old and Bona Sforza. Her marriage to Prince John III of Finland was the result of the Jagiellonians' dynastic policy. Previously, King Gustav of Sweden, Albrecht Hohenzollern, Archduke Ferdinand Habsburg and Tsar Ivan the Terrible of Russia had been considered as candidates for Catherine's hand. In the end, these efforts were won by Prince John of Finland, whose union with the Polish princess was intended to help him in his political dealings with his brother, the then Swedish King Eric XIV. Despite Eric's objections, the marriage was concluded on 4 October 1562 in Vilnius. As their residence, the princely couple chose a medieval castle in the then Finnish capital Åbo (today's Turku), where Catherine Jagiellon held her own court.

Slavery at Gripsholm Castle

Fearing his brother's growing political importance, King Eric XIV laid siege to Åbo Castle, which he captured on 12 August 1563. The princely couple were imprisoned in Gripsholm Castle, near Stockholm. There Catherine Jagiellon and John Vasa spent the next four years. During this time, the son of the ducal couple, later King of Poland and Sweden, Sigismund III Vasa, was born (1566).
Legend

The inscription on the memorial plaque refers to a legend according to which Catherine Jagiellon drew water from the spring every day and carried it to her husband when he was imprisoned in Gripsholm Castle. She feared that the guards might try to kill him by giving him poisoned water to drink. The spring has since been called Drottningkällan - meaning Queen's Spring.
The Swedish queen

As a result of the civil war that broke out in 1568 between supporters of the two brothers, John III Vasa seized power in Sweden. In January 1569, the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament) accepted the formal act of removing Eric XIV from the throne and elected John III as king, thus Catherine Jagiellon became queen. The coronation of the royal couple took place in the summer of 1569 in Uppsala Cathedral.

As Swedish queen for 16 years, Catherine Jagiellon took care to maintain good relations between Sweden and the Republic. As a devout Catholic, she tried to preserve the influence of Catholicism in Sweden. It was certainly thanks to her that a new liturgy modelled on the Catholic one was adopted in the country in 1576 by the will of John III. Many Swedish art historians believe that Catherine had a decisive influence on King John's artistic tastes and thus on the emergence of the Renaissance in Swedish art.

Catherine Jagiellon died on 16 September 1583 and was buried in Uppsala Cathedral.

The plaque commemorating Catherine Jagiellonian was subjected to comprehensive conservation work in 2019, financed by the POLONIKA National Institute for Polish Cultural Heritage Abroad.