Anna taskomakare was a respected businesswoman in Stockholm during the 1520s.
Anna taskomakare was probably born in Stockholm around 1480 into a wealthy bourgeois family. Her parents were certainly dead by 1513 as her brother Simon sold the parental home that year, with Anna taskomakare’s permission. They inherited equal shares from their parents. Anna taskomakare married a bag maker (at the time called "taskomakare"), probably in the early 1500s. During the 1510s Anna taskomakare worked alongside her husband.
Both Anna taskomakare’s husband and her brother Simon died in the Stockholm Bloodbath of 1520. As neither she nor her brother had dependents Anna taskomakare not only inherited everything from her husband but also half of her brother’s assets. The other half of Simon’s assets and personal property went to his widow Margit. Anna taskomakare thus became a wealthy widow with considerable business options. She took over her late husband’s enterprise and paid off her brother’s debts. Using her inheritance from her brother Anna taskomakare was able to become active in the property market in Stockholm. She used her capital to buy, renovate, and expand buildings in the town. The buildings were then rented out to other citizens and provided her with a steady income. Anna taskomakare also made money by selling properties or parts of properties to other citizens.
Anna taskomakare was active as a merchant during the turbulent years following the Stockholm Bloodbath. She traded in iron from Arboga and copper from Kopparberg, lucrative businesses which her brother had engaged in before his death. At some point during this period King Gustav I Vasa illegally seized 30 ship-pounds of copper and ten loads of iron which belonged to Anna taskomakare. The king compensated her for her losses several years later by giving her a stone house in Stockholm. The building had previously belonged to a religious foundation established by the Sankta Katarina guild in Stockholm. Following the 1527 parliament at Västerås King Gustav I Vasa had gained the right to confiscate properties which had been donated to the guild in order to allow it to provide spiritual care. The house that Anna taskomakare received in 1528 was one of these.
The date of Anna taskomakare’s death remains unknown.
