8×10″
private collection.
Elizabetta the II (1580 – 1639)
After the death of her older brother , the 2nd Baron Einar of Moravic, her newly titled family line had seemed to be near extinction before it had begun. It fell unto Elizabetta to carry on their now affluent and demanding way of life by marrying above her. Her presentation at court paid off, in the form of Henrik, the Deputy and Lord Chamberlain who proposed days later. This was treated more as a business transaction than romantic gesture; Elizabetta was held in near captivity at Henrik’s country estate with only her newly acquired and indomitable mother-in-law for company. Bound by rules, duty, and social codes that were still new to her, her mother-in-law set out to make the young lady worthy of her son’s position. The tedious and often cruel ‘lessons’ her mother-in-law imposed helped Elizabetta to grow a thick skin and bloom into a grand dame in her own right. After 7 children (only 2 would survive into adulthood) she had become an exemplary Lady.