6 Ellen Key Marie Louise, married to Baron Cari Raab of Helgerum. Through Ellen Key's mother, Sophie Posse, royal and old aristocratic blood was fused into the family. German emperors are among the ancestors,—Karl the Great, Fredrik the Second Hohenstauen, and many other princes, if the table of genealogy can be trusted. Ellen Key's forefathers have been squires and statesmen, judges and warriors. None of them has been a clergyman. Another circumstance connected with her origin is noteworthy. Ellen Key has grown up in Southern Tjust, one of the most beauti- ful parts of Smaland, where her paternal family had lived for centuries. Her mother's family came from Skane. And although her ancestors had all belonged to the aristocracy, and had enriched their stock by intermarriage with families outside of their own province, it is more than likely that the characteristics of the national disposition in these two south- ern provinces have exercised a certain influence. May not the indomitable will and strength in Ellen Key be due in part to her Smaland origin, and may not her desire for contempla- tion, her tranquillity and introspection, come from Skane?