Brita Tott

Brita Olovsdotter Tott (or Thott) (in Swedish) or Birgitte Olufsdatter Thott (in Danish), (fl. 3 March 1498) was a Danish and Swedish noble, landowner and royal county administrator She was judged for treason and for the forgery of seals. She was one of the biggest landowners in Scandinavia, and her estates played a role in politics in Sweden and Denmark. Background Brita was born the eldest daughter of two Danish nobles; statesman Olov Axelsson Tott (d. 1464) and Karen Jensdotter Falk (d. 1429). Her family was one of the most powerful in Scandinavia: her father was politically influential in both Sweden and Denmark, and her mother was the heir of Vallø Castle. She was related to the Swedish regent consort Lady Ingeborg Tott (d. 1507), consort of the Swedish regent Sten Sture the elder. She was in 1442 married Swedish noble councillor Eringisle Nilsson (d. 1469) son of Erengisle Nilsson (d. 1406) and Margareta Bengtsdotter Bielke (d. 1370). He had inherited the estate of Hammersta at Nynäshamn and the manor Hammerstahus after the death of his father in 1406. Treason During the war between Sweden and Denmark (1451–52), she corresponded with the enemies of king Charles VIII of Sweden and became involved in a plot against the king. During the war, her spouse was governor of Örebro. When the Danes invaded Västergötland, Brita Olovsdotter corresponded with them and informed them of every movement of the Swedish army which, among other things, enabled the Danish army to capture the fortress of Lödöse and avoid being cast out by the Swedish army. She was charged with having falsified a number of documents. She was put on trial for treason against the crown at the assembled court in Stockholm of 1452. She was judged guilty of high treason and sentenced to be burned at the stake. The sentence was then changed and she spent a period of time at St. John's Priory, Kalmar. After her release, she financed the paintings of Ösmo Church in Södermanland as a penance; one of the paintings there is said to be her own image. Landowner and county administrator In 1469, she became a widow and managed the estate herself. The following years was spent on the managing of her large estates and the ownerships over them which, due to their size, was a question debated in the Swedish council. Her stepchildren questioned her right to the Swedish estates of her late spouse, and her stepmother, her father's widow Anne Jensdatter Present (d.