Christina

Christina (born Dec. 8, 1626, Stockholm, Swed.—died April 19, 1689, Rome [Italy]) queen of Sweden (1644–54) who stunned all Europe by abdicating her throne. She subsequently attempted, without success, to gain the crowns of Naples and of Poland. One of the wittiest and most learned women of her age, Christina is best remembered for her lavish sponsorship of the arts and her influence on European culture.

Christina was the daughter of King Gustav II Adolf and Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg. After her father died in the Battle of Lützen, Christina, his only heir, became queen-elect before the age of six. By his orders she was educated as a prince, with the learned theologian Johannes Matthiae as her tutor. Five regents headed by the chancellor Axel Oxenstierna governed the country. Her brilliance and strong will were evident even in her childhood. Oxenstierna himself instructed her in politics and first admitted her to council meetings when she was 14.

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An assiduous politician, Christina was able to keep the bitter class rivalries that broke out after the Thirty Years’ War from lapsing into civil war but was unable to solve the desperate financial problems caused by the long years of fighting.

Highly cultured and passionately interested in learning, she rose at five in the morning to read and invited eminent foreign writers, musicians, and scholars to her court. The French philosopher René Descartes himself taught her philosophy and died at her court. For her wit and learning, all Europe called her the Minerva of the North; she was, however, extravagant, too free in giving away crown lands, and intent on a luxurious court in a country that could not support it and did not want it. Her reign was, nevertheless, beneficent: it saw the first Swedish newspaper (1645) and the first countrywide school ordinance; science and literature were encouraged, and new privileges were given to the towns; trade, manufactures, and mining also made great strides.

Christina’s abdication after 10 years of rule shocked and confused the Christian world. She pleaded that she was ill and that the burden of ruling was too heavy for a woman. The real reasons, however, are unclear and still disputed. Among those that are often cited are her aversion to marriage, her secret conversion to Roman Catholicism, and her discomfort (after spending most of her life in the company of men) with her own femininity. She chose her cousin Charles X Gustav as her successor, and, when he was crowned on June 6, 1654, the day of her abdication, Christina left Sweden immediately.

In December 1655 Pope Alexander VII received Christina in splendour at Rome. He was, however, soon disillusioned with his famous convert, who opposed public displays of piety. Although she was far from beautiful (short and pockmarked, with a humped right shoulder), Christina, by her manners and personality, created a sensation in Rome. Missing the activity of ruling, she entered into negotiations with the French chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin, and with the Duke di Modena to seize Naples (then under the Spanish crown), intending to become queen of Naples and to leave the throne to a French prince at her death. This scheme collapsed in 1657, during a visit by Christina to France. While staying at the palace of Fontainebleau, she ordered the summary execution of her equerry, Marchese Gian Rinaldo Monaldeschi, alleging that he had betrayed her plans to the Holy See. Her refusal to give reasons for this action, beyond insisting on her royal authority, shocked the French court, nor did the pope welcome her return to Rome.

In spite of this scandal, Christina lived to become one of the most influential figures of her time, the friend of four popes, and a munificent patroness of the arts. Always extravagant, she had financial difficulties most of her life: the revenues due from Sweden came slowly or not at all. She visited Sweden in 1660 and in 1667. On the second journey, while staying in Hamburg, she had Pope Clement IX’s support in an attempt to gain another crown, that of her second cousin John II Casimir Vasa, who had abdicated the throne of Poland; but her failure seemed to please her since this meant that she could return to her beloved Rome. There she had formed a strong friendship with Cardinal Decio Azzolino, a clever, charming, prudent man, leader of a group of cardinals active in church politics. It was generally believed in Rome that he was her lover, a view sustained by her letters, which were decoded in the 19th century. With him, she, too, became active in church politics, insisting for years on the pursuance of the Christian war against the Turks. Pope Innocent XI, who pushed this war to its victorious conclusion, stopped her pension at her own urgent request in order to add it to the war treasury. In 1681, having secured a trustworthy administrator for her lands in Sweden, Christina at last became financially secure.

Christina’s extraordinary taste in the arts has influenced European culture since her time. Her palace, the Riario (now the Corsini, on the Lungara in Rome), contained the greatest collection of paintings of the Venetian school ever assembled, as well as other notable paintings, sculpture, and medallions. It became the meeting place of men of letters and musicians. The Arcadia Academy (Accademia dell’Arcadia) for philosophy and literature, which she founded, still exists in Rome. It was at her instigation that the Tordinona, the first public opera house in Rome, was opened, and it was she who recognized the genius of and sponsored the composer Alessandro Scarlatti, who became her choirmaster, and Arcangelo Corelli, who directed her orchestra. The sculptor and architect Giovanni Bernini, her friend, considered her his saviour when she commissioned the art historian Filippo Baldinucci to write his biography while he was being discredited in 1680. Her enormous collection of books and manuscripts is now in the Vatican library. She was renowned, too, for her militant protection of personal freedoms, for her charities, and as protectress of the Jews in Rome.

Christina died in 1689. Her tomb is in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.