his son Sigismund III Vasa, the elected King of Poland, which was opposed by Duke Charles. Catherine participated in the burial of John III in 1594, and had her fiefs confirmed by Sigismund, with the right to appoint the officials in Åland. In 1595, civil war erupted between Sigismund and Duke Charles. Her brothers refused to join Duke Charles, who declared them, her brother-in-law Klaus Fleming, Governor of Finland, and her nephew as his enemies. Klaus Fleming had a new official appointed to her fief of Åland and used its supplies for Sigismund against Charles. This was likely done with the approval of Catherine, who had sent warnings about Charles to Fleming, but this could not be proven, even though Charles had one of Fleming's men arrested and interrogated. In November 1597, Catherine's fief Åland was confiscated by Charles on the ground of it having been used against him. The same year, after the warfare of Duke Charles toward the loyalists of Sigismund in Finland, Fleming was killed, and Catherine's sister Ebba Stenbock and her daughters were taken captive by the Duke and imprisoned in Stockholm: the son of Ebba was killed during the Åbo Bloodbath in 1599. Several of the relatives of Queen Dowager Catherine remained loyal to Sigismund and fled to Poland. She visited Queen Christina to plead to the King through her in 1599. Duke Charles could prove nothing against Catherine herself, and her fief of Åland was eventually replaced by Drottningholm. Her residence of Strömsholm became a refuge for the abandoned wives and daughters of her male relatives, who fled to Sigismund in Poland and had their estates in Sweden confiscated, and she petitioned for the confiscated property to be returned to her female relations, sometimes eventually with success. Her sister Ebba and her daughters lived with her after they were released from prison in 1600. Among the female relations she received as maid of honor were Ebba Brahe in 1614, who was the removed from the employ of the mother of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden to prevent a love match with the King, and whose wedding she hosted in 1618. Queen Dowager Catherine Stenbock spent her last years tending to her estates, engaging in iron works and other enterprises, and spending time with her relatives, especially her sisters. During her last years, she became periodically crippled, and was for this reason not able to attend