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CHRISTINA (1626–1689)

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 292 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CHRISTINA (1626–1689) , See also:queen of See also:Sweden, daughter of Gustavus See also:Adolphus and Maria Eleonora of See also:Brandenburg, was See also:born at See also:Stockholm on the 8th of See also:December 1626. Her See also:father died when she was only six years old. She was educated, principally, by the learned Johannes See also:Matthiae, in as masculine a way as possible, while the See also:great See also:Oxenstjerna himself instructed her in politics. Christina assumed the See also:sceptre in her eighteenth See also:year (Dec. 8, 1644). From the moment when she took her seat at the See also:head of the See also:council See also:board she impressed her See also:veteran counsellors with the conviction of her See also:superior See also:genius. Axel Oxenstjerna himself said of her, . when she was only fifteen: " Her See also:majesty is not like See also:women-folk, but is stout-hearted and of a See also:good understanding, so that, if she be not corrupted, we have good hopes of her." Unfortunately her brilliant and commanding qualities were vitiated by an inordinate See also:pride and See also:egoism, which exhibited themselves in an utter contempt for public See also:opinion, and a prodigality utterly regardless of the necessities of the See also:state. She seemed to consider See also:Swedish affairs as far too See also:petty to occupy her full See also:attention; while her unworthy treatment of the great See also:chancellor was mainly due to her See also:jealousy of his extra-See also:ordinary reputation and to the uneasy conviction that, so See also:long as he was alive, his See also:influence must at least be equal to her own. Recognizing that he would be indispensable so long as the See also:Thirty Years' See also:War lasted, she used every effort to bring it to an end; and her impulsive interference seriously hampered the See also:diplomacy of the chancellor, and materially reduced the ultimate gains of Sweden. The See also:general See also:peace See also:congress was not opened till See also:April 1645. The Swedish plenipotentiaries were Johan Oxenstjerna, the chancellor's son, and See also:Adler Salvius. From the first the relations between them were strained.

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Young Oxenstjerna, haughty and violent, claimed, by right of See also:birth and See also:rank, to be ca put legationis. The chancellor, at See also:home, took his son's See also:part, while Salvius was warmly supported-by Christina, who privately assured him of her exclusive favour and encouraged him to hold his own. So acute did the See also:quarrel become that there was a violent See also:scene in full See also:senate between the queen and the chancellor; and she urged Salvius to accelerate the negotiations, against the better See also:judgment of the chancellor, who hoped to get more by holding out longer. The longer Christina ruled, the more anxious for the future See also:fate of her See also:empire See also:grew the men who had helped to build it up. Yet she gave fresh privileges to the towns; she encouraged See also:trade and manufactures, especially the See also:mining See also:industries of the Dales; in 1649 she issued the first school See also:ordinance for the whole See also:kingdom; she encouraged See also:foreign scholars to See also:settle in Sweden; and native See also:science and literature, under her liberal encouragement, flourished as they had never flourished before. In one respect, too, she showed herself wiser than her wisest counsellors. The senate and the estates, naturally anxious about the See also:succession to the See also:throne, had repeatedly urged her majesty to marry, and had indicated her See also:cousin, See also:Charles Gustavus, as her most befitting See also:consort. Wearied of their importunities, yet revolting at the See also:idea of submission to any member of the opposite See also:sex, Christina settled the difficulty by appointing Charles her successor, and at the Riksdag of 165o the Swedish See also:crown was declared hereditary in Charles and his heirs male. In the summer of 1651 Christina was, with difficulty, persuaded to reconsider her See also:resolution to abdicate, but three years later the nation had become convinced that her See also:abdication was highly desirable, and the See also:solemn See also:act took See also:place on the 6th of See also:July 16 J4 at the See also:castle of See also:Upsala, in the presence of the estates and the great dignitaries of the See also:realm. Many were the causes which predisposed her to what was, after all, anything but an act of self-renunciation. First of all she could not fail to remark the increasing discontent with her arbitrary and wasteful ways. Within ten years she had created 17 See also:counts, 46 barons and 428 lesser nobles; and, to provide these new peers with adequate appanages, she had sold or mortgaged crown See also:property representing an See also:annual income of 1,200,000 See also:rix-dollars.

Signs are also not wanting that Christina was growing weary of the cares of See also:

government; while the importunity of the senate and Riksdag on the question of her See also:marriage was a See also:constant source of irritation. In retirement she could devote herself wholly to See also:art and science, and the opportunity of astonishing the See also:world by the unique spectacle of a great queen, in the See also:prime of See also:life, voluntarily resigning her crown, strongly appealed to her vivid See also:imagination. Anyhow, it is certain that, towards the end of her reign, she behaved as, if she were determined to do everything in her See also:power to make herself as little missed as possible. From 1651 there was a notable See also:change in her behaviour. She See also:cast away every regard for the feelings and prejudices of her See also:people. She ostentatiously exhibited her contempt for the See also:Protestant See also:religion. Her foreign policy was flighty to the See also:verge of foolishness. She contemplated an See also:alliance with See also:Spain, a state quite outside the See also:orbit of Sweden's influence, the firstfruits of which were to have been an invasion of See also:Portugal. She utterly neglected affairs in See also:order to plunge into awhirl of dissipation with her foreign favourites. The situation be-came impossible, and it was with an intense feeling of See also:relief that the Swedes saw her depart, in masculine attire, under the name of See also:Count Dohna. At See also:Innsbruck she openly joined the See also:Catholic See also:Church, and was rechristened Alexandra. In 1656, and again in 1657, she visited See also:France, on the second occasion ordering the assassination of her See also:major-domo Monaldischi, a See also:crime still unexplained.

Twice she returned to Sweden (166o and 1667) in the vain See also:

hope of recovering the succession, finally settling in See also:Rome, where she died on the 19th of April 1689, poor, neglected and forgotten. See See also:Francis See also:William See also:Bain, Queen Christina of Sweden (See also:London, 1890) ; See also:Robert Nisbet Bain, Scandinavia (See also:Cambridge, 1905) ; Christina de Suede et le See also:Cardinal Azzolino (See also:Paris, 1899) ; Claretta Gaudenzio, La See also:Regina Christina de Suezia in Italia (See also:Turin, 1892); Hans Emil See also:Friis, Dronning Christina (See also:Copenhagen, 1896) ; C. N. D. Bildt, Christina de Suede et le See also:conclave de See also:Clement X (Paris, 1906); Drottning Kristinas sista dagar (Stockholm, 1897) ; and J. A. See also:Taylor, Christina of Sweden (1909). (K. N.

End of Article: CHRISTINA (1626–1689)

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