Sigbrit Willoms

She was educated in counting, reading and writing in Low German, the business language of Northern Europe.

Little is known about her presumed son, Reynold Sigbritssøn, though her daughter Dyveke Sigbritsdatter gained note as the mistress of King Christian II of Denmark.

[3][5] In 1507, the close confidant of Crown Prince Christian, Erik Valkendorf, met Sigbrit and Dyveke at a stand in the market where they sold pastries.

The king put her in charge of the customs office and the royal treasury, in effect making her the de facto royal treasurer and Minister of Finance: she was however never formally called minister, but instead given the title of Mother Sigbrit, at that time normally an honorary title for the female head of a family.

In 1522, she instigated a new law about hygiene in the capital city of Copenhagen, where people were told to have their houses cleaned every week.

[3] She was unpopular with the nobility, and the target of public slander: because of her herbal knowledge, her critics spread rumors that she was a witch, and she was blamed for being the person behind the Stockholm Bloodbath in 1520.

According to one source, she managed to escape the hostile environment in Denmark by being smuggled onto Christian II's fleet inside a coffin.