Maria Gustava Gyllenstierna (27 October 1672–5 November 1737) was a Swedish countess, writer and translator.
She was the daughter of count Christoffer Gyllenstierna and Gustava Juliana Oxenstierna and married in 1693 to count Karl Bonde of Björnö. After she became a widow in 1699, she lived on Tyresö Palace, which she had inherited from her grandmother Maria Sofia De la Gardie. She translated foreign works, wrote a work of the life of Jesus which was published in 1730–36, and wrote 600 sonnets. She gathered a circle of professors on Tyresö and corresponded with among others Sophia Elisabet Brenner. She was described as one of the most learned women of her epoch, and it was said that this made her unpopular among the male aristocracy, because she was generally to superior to them.
During the Russian Pillage of 1719-1721, when the Russians where sacking the territory, she made saved Tyresö Palace from being burnt. She tore down the towers of the palace, which, upon a distance, gave the Russians the impression that the palace had already been sacked: therefore, they turned back, and the palace was saved. Her documentation of the sacking is a valuable document over the contemporary historical infrastructure of the area.
References
edit- Norrhem, Svante (2007). Kvinnor vid maktens sida : 1632–1772. Lund: Nordic Academic Press. Libris 10428618. ISBN 978-91-89116-91-7
- Skärgårdsöar och fiskekobbar, del 2, av Bertil Hedenstierna 1990,Rabén & Sjögren, ISBN 91 29 59262 3
- Nordiska museets och Skansens årsbok 1933, red. Andreas Lindblom, Gösta Berg, Sigfrid Svensson
- Rysshärjningarna i ornö socken 1719, av Britt-Marie Utter Wahlström 2002
- Rysshärjningarna på Ostkusten sommaren 1719, av Magnus Ullman 2006
- Svenska Adelns Ättartavlor, utgiven 1927 av Gustaf Elgenstierna
- https://web.archive.org/web/20170202002756/http://nordicwomensliterature.net/sv/article/grevinnan-p%C3%A5-tyres%C3%B6-slott#1.2.Sonetter_ver_Jesu_liv_lidande_och_dd