Contents
Christina of Sweden
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Christina
Queen of Sweden (more...)
Reign 6 November 1632 – 6 June 1654
Predecessor Gustav II Adolf
Successor Charles X Gustav
Coronation 20 October 1650
Royal house House of Vasa
Royal motto Columna regni sapientia ("Wisdom is the prop of the realm")
Father Gustav II Adolf
Mother Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg
Born 18 December [O.S. 8 December] 1626
Stockholm
Died 19 April 1689 (aged 62)
Rome
Burial 22 June 1689
St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
Christina (Swedish: Kristina Augusta) (18 December [O.S. 8 December] 1626 – 19 April 1689), later known as Christina Alexandra[1] and sometimes Countess Dohna, was Queen regnant of Sweden from 1632 to 1654. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and his wife Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg. As the heiress presumptive, at the age of six she succeeded her father on the throne of Sweden upon his death at the Battle of Lützen in the Thirty Years' War.
After converting to Catholicism and abdicating her throne, she spent her latter years in France and Rome, where she was buried in St. Peter's Basilica.
Early life
Christina was born in Stockholm, and her birth occurred during a rare astrological conjunction that fueled great speculation on what influence the child, fervently hoped to be a boy, would later have on the world stage.[2] The king had already sired two daughters, both buried in Riddarholmskyrkan (= the Knight-isle-church) in Stockholm - a nameless princess born in 1620, and then the first princess Christina, who was born in 1623 and died the following year. So great expectations arose at Maria Eleonora's third pregnancy in 1626, and the castle filled with shouts of joy when on December 8th she delivered a child that was first taken for a boy - he was so hairy and screamed with a strong, hoarse voice. Christina writes in her autobiography, "Deep embarrassment spread among the women when they discovered their mistake." The king however was larkhappy, stating that "She'll be clever, she has made fools of us all!" [3] Christina was born with what Scandinavians call a victory-shirt (= a more or less intact fetal membrane clinging to the newborn baby). This could explain the confusion about Christina's gender; but a victory-shirt was always regarded as a lucky omen. Gustav Adolf was closely attached to his daughter, who admired him greatly, whereas her mother remained aloof in her disappointment at the child being a girl. Before Gustav Adolf left to defend Protestantism in the Thirty Years' war, he secured his daughter's right to inherit the throne, in case he never returned. (He was killed in battle in November 1632.)
Her father gave orders that Christina should be brought up as a prince.[4] Her mother, Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, came from the Hohenzollern family. She was a woman of quite distraught temperament, and her attempts to bestow guilt on Christina for her difficult birth, or just the horror story itself, may have prejudiced Christina against the prospect of having to produce an heir to the throne.
Christina wept for three days after her father's departure, although she was a child who rarely took to tears. Letters still exist, written by her in German to her father when she was five - school lessons were to her the highlight of her days. Her mother had fetched the king home from Germany in a coffin, opening it occasionally to pat the remains - he fell on November 6th 1632, but was not buried until June 22nd 1634, more than 18 months later. His daughter, who had inherited his looks, suddenly became centre of her mother's attention. From showing her daughter complete indifference, Maria Eleonora suddenly became perversely attentive to her. Gustav Adolf had sensibly decided that his daughter, in case of his death, should be cared for by his sister, Catharina of Pfalz, who was married to count Johan Kasimir of Pfalz, and had moved home to Sweden after the outbreak of the Thirty Years' war. Christina knew the couple well; their children were Maria Eufrosyne, who later married one of Christina's close friends, and Karl Gustav, who inherited the throne after Christina. But this happy solution did not suit the queen, who had her sister-in-law banned from the castle. She herself was to bring up the child, who suffered with her mother's fits of weeping in the apartment where no daylight was permitted. The chancellor, Axel Oxenstierna (= Ox-star), saw no other solution to this than exiling the queen to Gripsholm castle, while the governing regency council would decide when she was allowed to meet her 9-year-old daughter. This was followed by three good years, with Christina thriving in the company of her aunt Catharina and her family; but when Catharina died in 1639, Oxenstierna had her family moved out of the castle.
The nurses had carelessly dropped Christina to the floor when she was a baby. A shoulder bone broke, leaving one shoulder higher than the other for the rest of her life. Yet she was brilliant on horseback, also taking lessons in the arts of fencing and shooting. She was very mature for her age - on March 15th 1633 she became queen at the age of six, and as her first official assignment received the Russian embassy, who were most impressed with the child. The king had ensured that the theologist Johannes Matthiae Gothus would be her tutor; he gave her lessons in religion, philosophy, Greek and Latin. She also learnt Swedish history as well as modern languages; her talent for languages was nothing short of unique. When the ambassador of France, Pierre Hector Chanut, arrived in Stockholm in 1645, he stated admiringly, "She talks French as if she was born in the Louvre!" Otto Sperling, who was doctor at the household of Christian IVs daughter Eleonora Christine, met Christina in Sweden in the winter of 1653, talking with her in Italian, which he was in good command of after having lived in Italy for four years. He was overwhelmed that she, who had never even been to Italy, spoke the language like a native. [5]
Christina was a model student, and chancellor Oxenstierna wrote proudly of the 14-year-old girl, "She is not at all like a female", on the contrary she had "a bright intelligence" - after her father, who had studied under Galileo Galilei. Oxenstierna taught her politics. He and Gustav Adolf had used the crown's properties as payment to gentry and generals to win their loyalty, a policy which Christina would later realize came to change the power balance between king and gentry. Her greatgrandfather Gustav Vasa had converted to Protestantism, thereby increasing the crown's property with goods belonging to the Church and abbeys, so that the crown possessed 30% of Swedish land, free farmers a little over half, and gentry 20%. But in part because Gustav Adolf had continued to dole out the crown's land as a reward to gain loyalty, the gentry in Christina's time possessed almost 75% of Swedish land. [5]
Relationship to her mother
Maria Eleonora wrote regularly to her daughter about her and her German court wanting to leave their exile at Gripsholm castle. Christina replied tactfully, knowing that the Council would not permit the queen mother any leave. Eventually she asked to leave Sweden altogether. Christina invited her mother to Stockholm, attempting to persuade her into staying in the country; but in 1640 the queen mother fled together with her lady-in-waiting, Anna Sofia von Bülow, to Denmark in a Danish boat, and was well received by Christian IV - not that it made the demanding Maria Eleonora like Denmark any better. She wanted home to Brandenburg, in which case the electoral prince there demanded financial compensation from Sweden, where on the contrary the Council expected to withdraw her appanage as well as her properties. Finally the teenage Christina succeeded in negotiating a certain alimony for her mother, adding to this from her own purse.
By 1648 her mother returned to Sweden. Christina then bought the newly erected castle Makalös (= Unequalled) for her, close to the royal castle in Stockholm. It would have been enormously expensive, but Christina never paid. Instead she handed it back in 1652. Her mother died in 1655, the year following Christina's abdication.
Visit from Descartes
Christina's good friend, ambassador Chanut, corresponded with the philosopher René Descartes, discussing his ideas with Christina. She became interested enough to start corresponding with Descartes herself, and presently invited him to Sweden. She warned him against the winter cold, suggesting he arrived in spring or summer. Instead he arrived on October 4th 1649, and during the following months the cold climate bothered him considerably. He resided with Chanut, but with Christina's strict schedule he came to the castle library at 5 am to discuss philosophy with her and librarian Johan Freinsheim. The premises were icy, and in February 1650 Descartes fell ill with pneumonia and died ten days later. Christina was distraught from feelings of guilt.
Christina took the oath as king, not queen, because her father had wanted it so. Growing up, she was nicknamed the "Girl King."
Queen regnant
In her autobiography from 1681 Christina wrote: "In my opinion, women should never reign". That is a remarkable comment from a woman who herself reigned a country for ten years, and did it well.
The National council suggested that Christina joined the government when she was sixteen; but she asked to wait until she had turned eighteen, as her father had waited until then. In 1644 she took the throne. Her first major assignment was to conclude peace with Denmark. She did so successfully; Denmark handed the isles of Gotland and Ösel (today's Saaremaa in Estonia) over to Sweden, whereas Norway lost the districts of Jämtland and Härjedalen, which to this day have remained Swedish.
Chancellor Oxenstierna soon discovered that Christina held other political views than himself. To the peace congress in Germany in 1645 he sent his son Johan Oxenstierna, presenting the view that it would be in Sweden's best interest if the Thirty years' war continued. Christina however wanted peace at any cost, and therefore sent her own delegate, Johan Adler Salvius. Shortly before the conclusion of peace she admitted Salvius into the National council, against chancellor Oxenstierna's will and to general astonishment, as Salvius was no aristocrat; but Christina wanted opposition to the aristocracy.
She knew it was expected of her to provide an heir to the Swedish throne. Her 1st cousin Charles was infatuated with her, and they became secretly engaged before he left in 1642 to do army service for 3 years in Germany. However Christina reveals in her autobiography that she felt "an insurmountable distaste for marriage"; likewise "an insurmountable distaste for all the things that females talked about and did". She slept for 3-4 hours a night and was chiefly occupied with her studies; she forgot to comb her hair, donned her clothes in a hurry and used men's shoes for the sake of convenience. However she was said to possess charm, and the unruly hair became her. Her best female friend was Ebba Sparre, whom she called Belle. She hosted Ebba's wedding with Jacob de la Gardie in 1653, but the marriage would last only five years. Ebba visited her husband in Elsinore when he was shot down and killed, and their 3 children all died when small. Ebba herself died in 1662, after four years of widowhood. Christina kept in touch through letters and always expressed great devotion to her friend.