Source:
Anteckningar om svenska qvinnor, page 394, by Wilhelmina Stålberg and Per Gustaf Berg, 1864
The biography:
Sparre, Ebba, född 1626, var dotter af riksrådet Lars Eriksson Sparre och kom såsom helt ung till drottning Christinas hof, der hon, framför alla andra fruntimmer, väckte monarkinnans uppmärksamhet och vann hennes ynnest till den grad, att det slutligen blef henne besvärligt. — Ebba, som var så vacker, att hon af hela hofvet kallades la belle Comtesse, fick snart flera tillbedjare och bland dem en, som hennes hjerta utkorade och med hvilken hon sedan gifte sig, nemligen grefve Jakob Casimir De la Gardie, en bror till Magnus Gabriel, drottning Christinas gunstling. Men detta giftermål var likväl icke i drottningens tycke. Sjelf hatande äktenskapet, som hon kallade ett ok, ett tvång, predikade Christina oaflåtligen för sin älskade sällskapsfröken, att hon skulle förblifva höjd öfver all sådan frestelse och visa verlden att det dock funnes någon qvinna, som förblef ogift, af öfvertygelse om det rätta deruti. — Den stackars Ebba Sparre, som innerligen älskade sin Jakob Casimir och som i alla fall var långt ifrån att i allmänhet ingå på drottningens åsigter angående äktenskapet, led mycket af den förställning hon måste iakttaga; och fastän de älskande egde sina föräldrars ömsesidiga samtycke, måste de dock smyga med sin kärlek, som om den hade varit brottslig. — Ändtligen blef det dock, 1652, giftermål af, sedan Christina hade måst gifva med sig; men hon gjorde det ogerna och med stor motvilja; ty hon tänkte då redan på thronafsägelsen och resan till främmande länder, dit hon hade hoppats att få medföra sin älskade Ebba, hvilket nu, naturligtvis, ej kunde komma i fråga. På Ebbas bröllop var spel på slottet, der alla gudar och gudinnor voro gäster hos herdar och herdinnor. Ulfeld var Jupiter, Piementelli var Mars och polska kansleren var Bacchus; drottningen och hoffolket visade sig i herdedrägter. En månad sednare gaf grefve Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie till det nygifta parets ära en ringränning vid fackelsken, då brodern, grefve Jakob, vann ett pris. — Skiljsmessan mellan drottningen och grefvinnan var smärtsam, och då Christina rest, sörjde henne djupt den sköna Ebba, som sedan underhöll brefvexling med drottningen. — Fru Ebba dog år 1662. Hennes tre barn dogo före henne. Mannen blef skjuten 1658, under belägringen af Köpenhamn.
English translation (my own):
Sparre, Ebba, born in 1626, was the daughter of the councilman Lars Eriksson Sparre and came as a very young woman to Queen Kristina's court, where she, above all other women, attracted the monarch's attention and won her favour to the extent that, in the end, it became difficult for her. —
Ebba, who was so beautiful that she was called la belle comtesse by the whole court, soon had several admirers, and among them one whom her heart chose and whom she later married, namely Count Jakob Kasimir de la Gardie, a brother of Magnus Gabriel, Queen Kristina's favourite. But this marriage was nevertheless not to the Queen's liking. Hating marriage herself, which she called a yoke, a compulsion, Kristina constantly preached to her beloved courtesan that she should remain above all such temptation and show the world that there was some woman who remained unmarried, out of conviction of the rightness of it. —
Poor Ebba Sparre, who loved her Jakob Kasimir dearly and who was in any case far from generally agreeing with the Queen's views on marriage, suffered greatly from the dissimulation she had to observe; and although the lovers had the mutual consent of their parents, they had to sneak their love, as if it had been criminal. —
Finally, however, in 1652, the marriage took place, after Kristina had been forced to give in; but she did so reluctantly and with great reluctance, for she was already thinking of abdicating the throne and traveling to foreign lands, where she had hoped to take her beloved Ebba, which, of course, was now out of the question. At Ebba's wedding there was a game at the castle, where all the gods and goddesses were guests of shepherds and shepherdesses. Ulfeldt was Jupiter, Pimentel was Mars and the Polish chancellor was Bacchus; the Queen and the court appeared in shepherd's costumes. A month later, Count Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie gave a ring race by torchlight in honour of the newlyweds, when his brother, Count Jakob, won a prize. —
The separation between the Queen and the Countess was painful, and when Kristina left, the beautiful Ebba mourned her deeply and then maintained an exchange of letters with the Queen. —
Lady Ebba died in 1662. Her three children died before her. Her husband was shot in 1658 during the Siege of Copenhagen.
Above: Ebba Sparre.
Above: Kristina.
Above: Wilhelmina Stålberg.
Above: Per Gustaf Berg.
Note: Ebba Sparre and Jakob Kasimir de la Gardie were married in 1653, not 1652.
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