Christina

Christina, queen of Sweden, only child of the great Gustavus Adolphus, was born 17th December 1626, and succeeded her father in 1632, when only six years old. Distinguished equally by beauty and the possession of a lively imagination, a good memory, and uncommon intelligence, she received a man's rather than a woman's education, and to this may partly be attributed the many eccentricities of her life. During her minority the kingdom was governed by the five highest officers of state, the principal being Chancellor Oxenstiern. In 1644 she assumed the reins of power, and in 1650 was crowned with the title of king. She had previously declared her cousin, Charles Gustavus, her successor. For four years thereafter she ruled the kingdom with vigour, and was remarkable for her patronage of learned men, such as Grotius, Salmasius, and Descartes. In 1654, however, at the age of twenty-eight, weary of the personal restraint which royalty imposed on her, she abdicated in favour of her cousin, reserving to herself sufficient revenues, entire independence, and supreme authority over her suite and household. Leaving Sweden, she proceeded to Brussels, where she embraced the Roman Catholic religion. She next went to Rome, which she entered on horseback, in the costume of an Amazon, with great pomp. Confirmed by Pope Alexander VII., she adopted the surname of Alessandra. She next visited Paris; and there in 1657 she caused her grand equerry, Monaldeschi, who had enjoyed her entire confidence, to be executed in her own household for treason. The death of the king in 1660 caused her to hasten from Rome to Sweden; but, failing in her attempt to be reinstated on the throne, she again left the country. In 1666 she aspired to the crown of Poland. The remainder of her life was spent at Rome in artistic and scientific pursuits. Here she died April 19, 1689. See a monograph by F. W. Bain (1889).