Background
She was the daughter of the riksråd Måns Bryntesson Lilliehöök (d 1529) and Brita Jönsdotter Roos of Ervalla. Her father was one of the rebels of the Westrogothian rebellion.
She was the daughter of the riksråd Måns Bryntesson Lilliehöök (d 1529) and Brita Jönsdotter Roos of Ervalla. Her father was one of the rebels of the Westrogothian rebellion.
Her spouse was the brother-in-law of King Gustav I as the brother of Queen Margaret Leijonhufvud in 1536, which gave them both an influential position at the royal court. Upon the coronation of Erik XIV in 1561, her spouse was created a Baron. During the event, Ebba was present in Uppsala with her sister-in-law in Uppsala and placed in house arrest to prevent them from interfering.
In 1568, her spouse was given the title of Count at his death bed, having sustained an injury after being imprisoned by Erik XIV. Ebba received the title of Count and was in 1571 granted the County of Raseborg in Finland as a fief.
She thereby became, alongside her sisters-in-law Brita and Martha Leijonhufvud, one of the five greatest fief holders in Sweden during the reign of John III. She was generally known as "Count Ebba", as it was said, for her "masculine" ways. She herself commented about the ongoing conflict stating: "I am the mother and he is the son".
Count Ebba was also politically controversial. In 1592, she came in to conflict with the current monarch and was warned for having spread rumours about the king.
In 1607, she was placed under house arrest on her estates by the order of Charles IX. She was the grandmother of Ebba Mauritzdotter Leijonhufvud.
Ebba Lilliehöök is the ancestral mother of the Lewenhaupt noble family.