MOWATT, KAREN [SSNE 5371]
Text source
Karen Mowatt was the daughter of the Shetlander Andrew Mowatt of Hoveland [SSNE 3837] and his second wife Karen Axeldatter Gyntersberg. She was the half-sister of Axel [SSNE 1817]. She was born ca. 1592. Karen's father ensured she received her education from a Scottish governess and she could apparently write better Scots than Norwegian. Ca. 1608 Karen married Eric Ottesen Orning (1582-1645), who later became an admiral in the Danish-Norwegian navy, about 1616. The marriage was considered illegal in Norway as the couple were first cousins once removed. They spent eighteen years in Scotland, and the Netherlands, before they were allowed back to Norway in 1627. Karen's son Berndt (Berendt) Orning wrote to his uncle Axel Mowatt on 29 August 1648 requesting that Axel might act as his mother's guardian while Berndt remained in the king's service which suggests her husband was dead by that point. In 1667-68, Karen tried to get part of her inheritance which she believed she was owed from her mother and her brother Christoffer, and the king sent a letter to Ludvig Rosenkrants referring to the matter. Karen died before 29 May 1679.
Norwegian Rigsarkiv, Danske Kanselli: Norske Kansellinnleg 1121/50, p.238; R. Fladby, (ed.), Norske Kongebrev (6 vols., Oslo, 1962), I, p.242; A. Espelland, Skottene i Hordaland og Rogaland, pp.31-32; A.M. Wiesener, 'Axel Movat og Hans Slegt' in Bergens Historiske Forenings Skrifter, no. 36 (Bergen, 1930), p.93; Norsk Biografisk Leksikon, X, p.523. Female.
Service record
- SCOTLAND, THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, SCOTLAND, THE DUTCH REPUBLIC
- Arrived 1616-01-01
- Departed 1626-12-31
- Capacity EXILE, purpose MISC.
- DENMARK-NORWAY, BERGEN, NORWAY
- Arrived 1627-01-01
- Departed 1668-12-31
- Purpose MISC.