Euphemia of Rügen (c. 1280 – May 1312) wasQueen of Norway as the spouse ofHåkon V of Norway. She is famous in history as a literary figure, and known for commissioning translations ofromances.^[1]

Euphemia was most likely the daughter ofVitslav II,Prince of Rügen (1240–1302).^[2] Older Norwegian historiography claims she was the daughter of Günter, Count ofArnstein, and thus Prince Vitslav would have been her maternal grandfather. This claim has, however, been refuted.^[3]

Euphemia marriedHåkon V of Norway in the spring of 1299. Håkon's brother, KingEric II, subsequently died in July 1299 at which time Håkon became king of Norway. The marriage between Euphemia and Håkon had probably been agreed upon at a Danish-Norwegian settlement meeting in the autumn of 1298, at which Prince Vitslav participated as a mediator and guarantee. The couple resided atAkershus Castle inOslo.

Queen Euphemia was well known for her cultural interests. She loved to read and owned a large collection of books, which was said to have been one of the largest collections inEurope at that time. Queen Euphemia represented the emergingchivalric culture. Queen Euphemia, who was eager to cultivate continental culture within the Nordic courts, had translations made of three French and German twelfth-century chivalric romances in verse and had copies sent to the Swedish court. The three ballads were titledHerr Ivan lejonriddaren (1303),Hertig Fredrik av Normandie (1301 or 1308) andFlores och Blanzeflor (probably 1312). Each poem has a final statement that they were translated by initiative from Queen Euphemia. These became known in Swedish as theEufemiavisorna (NorwegianEufemiavisene), the 'Euphemia ballads', and were popular in bothNorway andSweden.

Her only surviving child wasIngeborg of Norway. In 1312, Ingeborg married DukeEric Magnusson of Sweden, who was a younger son of KingMagnus III of Sweden and the brother of KingBirger of Sweden. Their sonMagnus Eriksson would succeed both Håkon as king of Norway and Birger as king of Sweden.^[4]

King Håkon and Queen Euphemia were buried inSt. Mary's Church inOslo. Remains of two people, deemed to be Håkon and Euphemia, were discovered during excavations of the ruins of that church and reinterred in the Royal Mausoleum inAkershus Castle.^[5]

• Bandlien, Bjørn (ed.)Eufemia: Oslos middelalderdronning (biografi) 2012ISBN 9788282650397
• Thuesen, Nils PetterNorges dronninger gjennom 1000 år (Tiden, 1991)

• 1280s births
• 1312 deaths
• Norwegian royal consorts
• Burials at the Royal Mausoleum (Norway)
• Fairhair dynasty
• House of Sverre
• 13th-century Norwegian people
• 13th-century Norwegian women
• 14th-century Norwegian people
• 14th-century Norwegian women

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata