Princess Frederika of Swabia

Frederika Marie Ermengarde was the first child of Prince Bernard, Duke of Swabia and Dagna of Thuringia. Born in 966, Frederika would later be followed by 13 siblings, though the youngest child, Maximilian, died shortly after being born. As the eldest, Frederika was raised very formally with some sort of governess. She followed strict Swabian court etiquette which was enforced by her father, who was rather stern and work heavy. Frederika was closer to her mother but was particularly close to her younger sister, Anne. Frederika would not even get to know some of her younger siblings, as when she was just 9 she was sent to Norway and at thirteen her father and the dowager Queen Ingeborg of Norway set up a marriage between Frederika and King Olaf II Godwinson, who was 14. Frederika and Olaf had known each other for four years and grown up a bit together and rather liked each other. Frederika was a talented artist and designed her own wedding dress. The two were married in a rather large ceremony which signified the king becoming man, though the couple waited a year to consummate the marriage. At 17, Frederika gave birth to her first child, a son named Eric. Her next children were both stillborn, daughters Catherine and Margarethe. They had a third daughter in 991, a daughter named Thyra. Their final child was born in 993, a son named Harald. Olaf had a longing for war and Frederika frequently accompanied him on crusade. She made friends with a lot of foreign royals, particularly those in the Holy Roman Empire including her cousin, Albert, Duke of Bohemia, and his wife, Gwendolyn. In 1007, Frederika went to the neighboring kingdom of Sweden, where her younger sister, 20 year old Leyna, went to marry Crown Prince Magnus. Frederika never knew her younger sister, as she was already married, had one son, and pregnant when Leyna was born in 987. Now, though, in neighboring kingdoms, Frederika and Leyna became very close and in 1010 Leyna helped Frederika and her son's fiancée, Leonor of Barcelona, plan the wedding. Frederika was close to her daughter in law and Leyna, Frederika, and Leonor, called Eleanor in Norway, frequently dressed alike and held breakfasts together. In 1017, Frederika, Olaf, Leyna, and Magnus went to Swabia to attend the funeral of Frederika and Leyna's father and their brother Octavius being named duke. On the way back from this trip, Frederika was a nurse to Leyna as she constantly vomited. It was while stopping in Norway that it became clear Leyna, 30, was pregnant. Frederika, 51, was already a grandmother and was excited to have a niece. She insisted that Leyna stay in Norway and was very present in the pregnancy. She was present at the birth of a healthy daughter, Leyna Christina, named, unfortunately, after Leyna had died in childbirth in Norway. Her body went on a funeral route to Sweden and Frederika insisted on raising her niece herself as her mother. Magnus accepted this, and Leyna Christina grew up happily in Norway with her second cousins. In 1029, Olaf died in his sleep and Frederika witnessed her son, Eric, become King, who was 46. His first wife, also his cousin, Titania of Austria, had died of spattergroit and the couple had only one daughter, Maude, who was married and living in England. Determined that her son have an heir, always a lover of children, she arranged a marriage between Eric and Philippa of France in a political union with the king. Philippa was 26 and had an annulled marriage and no children, Eric was 47, twenty-one years her senior. The couple, despite the age gap, was much happier than in their previous marriages and had two sons, Eric and Frederick, and Frederika was very present in her grandsons lives, despite her age starting to catch up to her. She became rather fond of knitting and her niece, Leyna Christina, was a loyal companion to her. Frederika, who called her Christie, reminded her more frequently how much she was like Leyna and spent much time with her grandchildren, including Eric and Frederick who were now in early teenage years. Frederika died peacefully in 1044 at the age of 78. She outlived her father by 27 years, her sister Leyna by 26 years, and her husband by 15 years.