Christina of Sweden

Infobox Swedish Royalty|monarch
name = Christina
full name = Christina Augusta "or" Christina Alexandra
title = Queen of Sweden


caption =
reign = 6 November 1632 – 6 June 1654
coronation = 20 October 1650
full name =
predecessor = Gustav II Adolf
successor = Charles X Gustav
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
date of birth = OldStyleDate|18 December|1626|8 December
place of birth = Stockholm
date of death = Death date and age|1689|4|19|1626|12|18|df=yes
place of death = Rome
date of burial = 22 June 1689
place of burial = St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City

Christina ( _sv. Kristina Augusta) (OldStyleDate|18 December|1626|8 December – 19 April 1689), later known as Christina Alexandra [Alexandra was a confirmation name, chosen in honour of the reigning pope, Alexander VII. He had urged her to also add "Maria" in honour of the Virgin Mary, but she did not want it, and signed her name only "Christina Alexandra", although Catholic chroniclers have assigned "Maria" to her - Buckley, p.250.] and sometimes Countess Dohna, was Queen regnant of Sweden from 1632 to 1654. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolf 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 having converted to Catholicism and abdicated 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. [http://www.sweden.se/templates/cs/BasicFactsheet____4403.aspx] 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!" [Elisabeth Aasen: "Barokke damer", edited by Pax, Oslo 2003, ISBN 82-530-2817-2] Christinna 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. [CathEncy|wstitle=Christina Alexandra] She was educated in the manner typical of men, and frequently wore men's clothes.

Christina's 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, albeit 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 appartment 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 government 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. [Elisabeth Aasen: "Barokke damer"]

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. [Elisabeth Aasen: "Barokke damer"]

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 teenager 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 then, Christina never paid. Instead she handed it back in 1652. Her mother died in 1655, the year following Christina's abdication.

Visit by 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 already in 1662, after four years of widowhood. Christina kept in touch through letters and always expressed great devotion to her friend.

The Crown of Sweden was hereditary in the family of Vasa, and from Karl IX's time excluding those Vasa princes who had been traitors or descended from deposed monarchs. Gustav Adolf's younger brother had died years earlier, and therefore there were only females left. Despite the fact that there were living female lines descended from elder sons of Gustav I Vasa, Christina was the heiress presumptive. Although she is often called "queen", her father brought her up as a prince and her official title was King.

National policy was directed during the first half of Christina's reign by her guardian, regent and adviser Axel Oxenstierna, chancellor to her father and until her majority in 1644 the principal member of the governing regency council.

As ruler, Christina resisted demands from the other estates (clergy, burgesses and peasants) in the Riksdag of the Estates (= national council) of 1650 for the reduction of tax-exempt noble landholdings. Several princes of Europe aspired to her hand; but she rejected them all.

To prevent a renewal of applications on this subject, in 1649 she appointed her cousin Charles X Gustav of Sweden (also called Karl) her successor, but without the smallest participation in the rights of the crown during her own life.

It was under Christina that Sweden undertook its short-lived effort at North American colonization, known as "New Sweden". Fort Christina, the first European settlement in the environs of what is now Wilmington, Delaware (and the first permanent settlement in the Delaware Valley as a whole) was named for the Queen.

Christina was interested in theatre and ballet; a French ballet-troup under Antoine de Beaulieu was employed by the court from 1638, and there were also an Italian and a French Orchestra at court, which all inspired her much. She invited foreign companies to play at Bollhuset, such as an Italian Opera troupe in 1652 and a Dutch theatre troupe in 1653; she was also herself an amateur-actor, and amateur-theatre was very popular at court in her days. Her court poet Georg Stiernheilm wrote her several plays in the Swedish language, such as "Den fångne Cupido eller Laviancu de Diane" performed at court with Christina in the main part of the goddess Diana. She founded the dance order Amaranterordern in 1653.

Religion

Christina remained all her life very tolerant towards the beliefs of others. Her tutor, Johannes Matthiae, stood for a gentler attitude than most Lutherans. In 1644 he suggested a new church order, but was voted down, as this was interpreted as Calvinism. Christina who by then had become queen, defended him against the advice of chancellor Oxenstierna, but 3 years later the proposal had to be withdrawn. In 1647 the clergy wanted to introduce "Konkordieboken", a book defining correct Lutheranism versus heresy, making free theological thinking an impossibility. Matthiae was strongly opposed to this, and again was backed by Christina. "Konkordieboken" was not introduced.

When Louis XIV withdrew the 1598 edict of Nantes, so that French Protestants again became victims of persecution, she wrote an indignant letter, dated February 2nd 1686, directed at the French ambassador. The Sun King did not approve of this, but Christina was not to be silenced.

In Rome she made pope Clement X prohibit the custom of chasing Jews through the streets during the carnival. On August 15th 1686 she issued a declaration that Roman Jews were under her protection, signed "la Regina" - the queen.

As a young queen, she herself had been under enormous pressure, reigning a Protestant country while she herself was a secret Catholic. In August 1651 she asked the Council permission to abdicate, but gave in to their pleas for her continuation. She had long conversations with Antonio Macedo, interpreter for Portugal's ambassador. He was a Jesuit, and in August 1651 smuggled with him a letter from Christina to the Jesuit general in Rome. In reply to her letter, two Jesuits came to Sweden on a secret mission in the spring of 1652, disguised as gentry and wearing false names. She had more conversations with them, being interested in the Catholic views on rationality and free will.

All this secrecy wore her out so much that she turned ill. In February 1652 the French doctor Pierre Bourdelot arrived in Sweden. Unlike most doctors of that time he held no faith in blood-letting; instead he ordered sufficient sleep, warm baths and healthy meals, as opposed to Christina's hitherto ascetic way of life. She was only 25 and should take pleasure in life. Plays had always interested her, especially Corneille with his emphasize on heroism. Bourdelot attached artists to the Swedish court, which gradually became a centre of culture.

Abdication

Christina abdicated her throne on 5 June 1654 in favour of her cousin Charles Gustavus in order to either practice openly her previously secret Catholicism, or to accept the same publicly so as to be at the centre of a scientific and artistic renaissance. The sincerity of her conversion has been questioned. In 1651, the Jesuit Paolo Casati had been sent on a mission to Stockholm in order to gauge the sincerity of her intention to become Catholic.

Her conversion was however not the only reason for her abdication, as there was increasing discontent with, in the words of her critics, her arbitrary and wasteful ways. Within ten years she had created 17 counts, 46 barons and 428 lesser nobles; to provide these new peers with adequate appanages, she had sold or mortgaged crown property representing an annual income of 1,200,000 riksdaler. There were clear signs that Christina was growing weary of the cares of what remained a provincial government in spite of a large conquered territory.

During the abdication ceremony at Uppsala castle, Christina wore her regalia, which was removed from her, one by one; but Per Brahe, who was supposed to remove the crown, did not move, so she had to take the crown off herself. Dressed in a simple white taffeta gown she held her farewell speech with a faltering voice, thanked everyone and left the throne to Charles X, who was dressed in black. Per Brahe felt that she "stood there as pretty as an angel".

Financially she was secured through revenue from Norrköping town, the isles of Gotland and Ösel, estates in Pomerania as well as other places. She left Sweden in the summer of 1654, changed to a man's clothes on the Danish border, and rode as a man through Denmark. Relations between the two countries were still so tense that a former Swedish queen could not have travelled safely in Denmark.

In August she arrived in Antwerp, which at that time was under Spain. In her honour parties were held; ambassador Chanut came, as well as the former governor of Norway, Hannibal Sehested. On December 24th 1654 she converted to Catholic faith in archduke Leopold's chapel in Brussels. She dared not state this in public though, in case the Swedish council might then refuse to pay her alimony. On top of this, Sweden was preparing war against Pomerania, which meant that her income from there was considerably reduced. The pope and Philip IV of Spain could not support her openly either, as she was not publicly a Catholic yet. Instead she succeeded in arranging a major loan, so that she could travel to Italy with her entourage of 255 persons and 247 horses. The duke of Tyrol was almost ruined by her visit.

The pope's messenger, the librarian Lucas Holstenius, met her in Innsbruck. He himself had converted. On November 3rd 1655 Christina converted in the church at Innsbruck castle, and wrote pope Alexander VII and her cousin Charles X about it. Now there was no going back.

Political contributions

The importunity of the senate and Riksdag on the question of her marriage was a constant source of irritation. In retirement she could devote herself wholly to art and science, and the opportunity of astonishing the world by the unique spectacle of a great king, in the prime of life, voluntarily resigning her crown, strongly appealed to her vivid imagination. It is certain that towards the end of her reign she behaved as if she were determined to do everything in her power to make herself as little missed as possible. From 1651 there was a notable change in her behavior. She cast away every regard for the feelings and prejudices of her people. She ostentatiously exhibited her contempt for the Protestant religion. Her foreign policy was flighty to the verge of foolishness. She contemplated an alliance with Spain, a state quite outside the orbit of Sweden's influence, the first fruits of which were to have been an invasion of Portugal. She utterly neglected affairs in order to plunge into a whirl of dissipation with her foreign favorites. The situation became impossible, and it was with an intense feeling of relief that the Swedes saw her depart, in masculine attire, under the name of Count DohnaFact|date=January 2008.

etting off to Rome

Upon conversion she took a new name, "Maria Christina Alexandra" - Alexandra not only after the pope, but also in honour of her great hero, Alexander the great, and moved to Rome, where her wealth and former position made her a centre of society. Her status as the most notable convert to Catholicism of the age, and as the most famous woman at the time, made it possible for her to ignore or flout the most common requirements of obeisance to the Catholic faith. She herself remarked that her Catholic faith was not of the common order; indeed, before converting she had asked church officials how strictly she would be expected to obey the church's common observances, and received reassurances. Christina's visit to Rome was the triumph of Pope Alexander VII and the occasion for splendid Baroque festivities. For several months she was the only preoccupation of the Pope and his court. The nobles vied for her attention and treated her to a never-ending round of fireworks, jousts, fake duels, acrobatics, and operas. At the Palazzo Aldobrandini, where she was welcomed by a crowd of 6,000 spectators, she watched in amazement at the procession of camels and elephants in Oriental garb, bearing towers on their backs.

Having run out of money and surfeited with an excess of pageantry, Christina resolved, in the space of two years, to visit France. Here she was treated with respect by Louis XIV, but the ladies were shocked with her masculine appearance and demeanor and the unguarded freedom of her conversation. When visiting the ballet with la Grande Mademoiselle, she, as the latter recalls, "surprised me very much - applauding the parts which pleased her, taking God to witness, throwing herself back in her chair, crossing her legs, resting them on the arms of her chair, and assuming other postures, such as I had never seen taken but by Travelin and Jodelet, two famous buffoons... She was in all respects a most extraordinary creature". ["Memoirs of Mademoiselle de Montpensier". H. Colburn, 1848. Page 48.]

In 1656, Christina planned to become Queen of Naples. Her plans involved the help of French military. She had made an agreement with Cardinal Mazarin. Apartments were assigned to her at Fontainebleau, where she committed an action which has indelibly stained her memory and for which in other countries (says her biographer) she would have paid the forfeit of her own life. This was the execution of marchese Gian Rinaldo Monaldeschi, her master of the horse, who had betrayed Christina's plans in the autumn of 1657. He was summoned into a gallery in the palace; letters were then shown to him, at the sight of which he turned pale and entreated for mercy; but he was instantly stabbed by two of her own domestics in an apartment adjoining that in which she herself was. The killing of Monaldeschi was legal since Christina had judicial rights over the members of her court. It was however seen as murder. The French court was offended by this deed; yet it met with vindicators, Gottfried Leibniz among them. Christina sensed that she was now regarded with horror in France, and would gladly have visited England, but she received no encouragement from Cromwell. She returned to Rome and resumed her amusements in the arts and sciences.

After the death of Charles Gustav in 1660, she took a journey to Sweden to recover her crown, but her estranged subjects rejected her claims. She submitted to a second renunciation of the throne and returned to Rome. Some differences with the Pope made her resolve in 1662 once more to return to Sweden; but the conditions annexed by the senate to her residence there were now so mortifying that she proceeded no farther than Hamburg. She went back to Rome and cultivated a correspondence with the learned men there, and in other parts of Europe, as well as acting as patron to musicians such as Arcangelo Corelli and Alessandro Scarlatti.

She died on 19 April 1689, leaving her large and important library, originally amassed as war booty by her father Gustav Adolf from throughout his European campaign, to the Papacy. Among other paintings, Titian's "Venus Anadyomene" originally was in the possession of Queen Christina.

She is one of only three women to be given the honor of being buried in the grottoes of St. Peter's Basilica, alongside the remains of the popes. A monument to her was carved later on and adorns a column close to the permanent display of Michelangelo's "Pietà". At the opposite pillar across the nave is the "Monument to the Royal Stuarts", commemorating the other 17th century monarchs who lost their thrones due to their Catholicism.

Personal relationships

Christina resolutely refused to marry, even though her counsellors reminded her of her duty to give Sweden an heir. One of her aphorisms reads 'Marriage is as good as incompatible with love'. One of the explanations for the contemporary rumours that Christina sexually preferred women to men may be her critical opinion of marriage in general. The fact she cross-dressed was widely noted, her clothing was a mix between masculine and feminine styles, and she wore men's shoes for reasons of convenience. Rumour had it that she might have been a hermaphrodite - and perhaps that is how she herself understood her own sex. This has led to her posthumously becoming an icon of the modern transgendered community. Some historians have tried to prove that Christina was physically a mixture of a man and woman, and in 1965 this led to an investigation of her mortal remains which showed she had a normal female body. [Christina", Queen of Sweden: The Restless Life of a European Eccentric" by Veronica Buckley, London, Oct 2004] . Dr Carl-Herman Hjortsjö read the autopsy report on her, written the day after her death, and it mentions nothing about genital abnormities, so the rumours seem to have had no other foundation than her deep voice, her wearing men's shoes for the sake of convenience, and her lack of interest in marriage.

Christina sat, talked, walked and moved in her way her contemporaries described as masculine. She preferred men's company to women's unless the women were very beautiful, in which case she courted them. Likewise she enjoyed the company of other educated women, regardless of their looks. The passion of Christina's youth was a woman, Ebba Sparre. Christina spent most of her spare time - including the nights - with 'la belle comtesse' - often calling attention to her beauty. She even introduced her to the English ambassador Whitelocke as her 'bed-fellow', assuring him that Sparre's intellect was as striking as her body. In those days, sharing bed with someone your own gender was common, and aristocratic women often entertained other ladies in their bedroom. When Christina left Sweden she wrote passionate love-letters to Sparre, in which she told her that she would always love her. Such emotional letters were the fashion in those days; Christina used the same style when writing to women she had never met, but whose writings she admired. [Elisabeth Aasen: "Barokke damer"]

Christina also had relationships with men. The strongest evidence of a lasting platonic love-affair from afar surfaced as encrypted letters she had sent to Cardinal Decio Azzolino. These were decrypted in the 19th century. They speak of intense but sublimated erotic desire. She later named him as her sole heir. Azzolino was the leader of the free thinking "Flying Squad" (Squadrone Volante) movement within the Catholic Church.

Legacy

The complex character of Christina has inspired numerous plays, books, and operatic works. August Strindberg's 1901 "Kristina" depicts her as a protean, impulsive creature. "Each one gets the Christina he deserves" she remarks.

The most famous fictional treatment is the classic feature film "Queen Christina" from 1933 starring Greta Garbo. This film, while entertaining, had almost nothing to do with the real Christina. Another feature film, "The Abdication", starred the Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann, and was based on a play by Ruth Wolff.

The Finnish author Zacharias Topelius' historical allegory "Tähtien Turvatit" also portrays her, like her father, as having a mercurial temperament, quick to anger, quicker to forgive. Kaari Utrio has also portrayed her tormented passions and thirst for love.

Christina has become an icon for the lesbian and feminist communities (and inspired comedian Jade Esteban Estrada to portray her in the solo musical "ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World" (Vol. 2).

Ancestors

Christina's ancestors in three generationsahnentafel4
Christina of Sweden (Vasa)
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (Vasa)
Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg
Charles IX of Sweden (Vasa)
Christina of Holstein-Gottorp
John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg
Anna, Duchess of Prussia
Gustav I of Sweden (Vasa)
Margaret Leijonhufvud
Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
Christine of Hesse
Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg
Catherine, Princess of Brandenburg-Küstrin
Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia
Marie Eleonore of Cleves

ee also

* Queen Christina (film)
* Fort Christina
* History of Sweden
* New Sweden
* Alessandro Scarlatti
* Swedish Empire
* List of Swedish monarchs
* List of Swedish queens
* Coenraad van Beuningen
* Isaac Vossius

###@@@KEY@@@###

References

Bibliography

* cite web
url = http://www.sweden.se/templates/cs/BasicFactsheet____4403.aspx
title = Christine of Sweden
work = Sweden.se
accessdate = 1998-01-01
* cite web
url = http://womenshistory.about.com/od/rulerspre20th/p/queen_christina.htm
title = Queen Christina of Sweden
work = About: Women's History
accessdate = 2007-01-20
* cite book
last = Åkerman
first = S.
title = Queen Christina of Sweden and her circle : the transformation of a seventeenth century philosophical libertine
location = New York
publisher = E.J. Brill
year = 1991
id = ISBN 90-04-09310-9
* cite book
last = Buckley
first = Veronica
title = Christina; Queen of Sweden
location = London
publisher = Harper Perennial
year = 2005
id = ISBN 1-84115-736-8
* cite book
last = Meyer
first = Carolyn
title = Kristina, the Girl King: Sweden, 1638
* cite book
last = Essen-Möller
first = E.
title = Drottning Christina. En människostudieur läkaresynpunkt
location = Lund
publisher = C.W.K. Gleerup
year = 1937
* cite book
last = Goldsmith
first = Margaret L.
title = Christina of Sweden; a psychological biography
location = London
publisher = A. Barker Ltd
year = 1935
* cite book
last = Hjortsjö
first = Carl-Herman
title = The Opening of Queen Christina's Sarcophagus in Rome
location = Stockholm
publisher = Norstedts
year = 1966
* cite book
last = Hjortsjö
first = Carl-Herman
title = Queen Christina of Sweden: A medical/anthropological investigation of her remains in Rome (Acta Universitatis Lundensis)
location = Lund
publisher = C.W.K. Gleerup
year = 1966
* cite book
last = Mender
first = Mona
title = Extraordinary women in support of music
location = Lanham, Maryland
publisher = Scarecrow Press
pages = pp. 29-35
year = 1997
is = ISBN 0-8108-3278-X
* cite book
last = von Platen
first = Magnus
title = Christina of Sweden: Documents and Studies
location = Stockholm
publisher = National Museum
year = 1966
* cite book
last = Stolpe
first = Sven
title = Drottning Kristina
location = Stockholm
publisher = Aldus/Bonnier
year = 1996
* Lars Löfgren, "Svensk teater", ("Swedish Theatre").