Agneta Horn (1629–1672)

Agneta Horn was born into a prominent aristocratic Swedish family. Much of what is known about her comes from her autobiography. Her father Gustave Horn, Count of Björneborg, was a close aide to King Gustav II Adolf and a military commander in the Thirty Years War. Her mother Kristina Oxenstierna followed her husband in the field, and Agneta was born in Riga. Her mother died of the plague in 1631, leaving Agneta and her younger brother Axel with servants in the city of Stettin (today Szczecin, Poland). After two months, the children were placed with their paternal aunt, Ebba Leijonhufvud, in northeastern Germany. Agneta says Axel died there of mistreatment by the "cold and heartless" aunt. She spent her childhood and teenage years living with the aunt and her grandparents. At age 18, she secretly became engaged to Lars Kruus, a cavalry officer, instead of the nobleman chosen by her family, and married him in 1648. Agneta Horn, too, followed her soldier husband on his military campaigns. In 1649, she gave birth to her first child, Gustav, and had three more children before her husband died of fever in 1655 in Poland. She went to live on the family manor in Björklinge, Uppland, and never remarried. She died at age 43. The autobiography was written after her return to Sweden but abruptly ends with the year 1652 for unknown reasons. It's considered one of the most important documents of Swedish life before the 18th century.