Sofia Johansdotter Gyllenhielm (1556/59 – June 1583) in Reval, Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

, was a Swedish noble

Nobility

Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...

. She was the illegitimate daughter of King John III of Sweden

John III of Sweden

-Family:John married his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland , house of Jagiello, in Vilnius on 4 October 1562. In Sweden, she is known as Katarina Jagellonica. She was the sister of king Sigismund II Augustus of Poland...

 and Karin Hansdotter

Karin Hansdotter

Karin Hansdotter was the royal mistress of King John III of Sweden in the 1550s before his marriage during his time as Prince and Duke of Finland.- Biography :...

.

Sofia spent her childhood with her mother in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

. She became a lady-in-waiting

Lady-in-waiting

A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...

 of her aunt Princess Elizabeth of Sweden

Princess Elizabeth of Sweden

Princess Elizabeth of Sweden, , was a Swedish princess and a duchess consort of Mecklenburg-Gadebusch...

 in 1576. The same year, she was engaged to by her father to her father's favourite, the French immigrant Baron Pontus De la Gardie

Pontus De la Gardie

Pontus De la Gardie was a French nobleman and general in the service of Denmark and Sweden.He was born Ponce De La Gardie in Russol , Languedoc, as a son of Jacques De la Gardie and Catherine de Sainte-Colombe. As a youngster, he wanted to become a priest and was educated in a monastery...

 as a reward for his service toward her father. Sofia, her sister Lucretia and her brother Julius was ennobled in 1577 and given the name Gyllehielm. 14 January 1580 her wedding

Wedding

A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...

 was held in Vadstena

Vadstena

Vadstena is a locality and the seat of Vadstena Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden, with 5,612 inhabitants in 2005. From 1974 to 1979 Vadstena was administered as part of Motala Municipality....

. It was a grand ceremony with many guests, and during the ceremony a gallery

Balcony

Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...

 broke under the weight of the spectators at church resulting in the death of one person. This was interpreted by present Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

s as a divine verdict of over the heretics. In 1581, she accompanied her spouse to his command in Swedish Estonia. She died in childbirth in Reval in 1583.