page_title: Christina, Queen of Sweden
section_title: Regency
hierarchical_section_title: Christina, Queen of Sweden / Regency
caption_attribution_description: English: King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and Queen Mary Eleanor
context_page_description: Christina became Queen of Sweden at the age of almost six. As a member of the House of Vasa, she succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death at the Battle of Lützen, but began ruling the Swedish Empire when she reached the age of 18.
  Christina argued for peace in the Thirty Years' War, which was achieved in 1648. She is remembered as one of the most learned women of the 17th century. She was fond of books, manuscripts, paintings, and sculptures. With her interest in religion, philosophy, mathematics and alchemy, she attracted many scientists to Stockholm, wanting the city to become the "Athens of the North". She caused a scandal when she decided not to marry, and in 1654 when she abdicated her throne and converted to Catholicism.
  Christina's financial extravagance brought the state to the verge of bankruptcy, and the financial difficulties caused public unrest after ten years of ruling. At the age of 28, the "Minerva of the North" relinquished the throne to her cousin and moved to Rome. Pope Alexander VII described Christina as "a queen without a realm, a Christian without faith, and a woman without shame."
context_section_description: Before Gustav Adolf left for Germany to defend Protestantism in the Thirty Years' War, he secured his daughter's right to inherit the throne, in case he never returned, and gave orders to Axel Gustafsson Banér, his marshal, that Christina should receive an education of the type normally only afforded to boys.
  Her mother, of the House of Hohenzollern, was a woman of volatile temperament. It is possible she was insane. After the king died on 6 November 1632 on the battlefield, his corpse was brought home in a coffin, with his heart in a separate box. Maria Eleonora ordered that the king should not be buried until she could be buried with him. She also demanded that the coffin be kept open, and went to see it regularly, patting it and taking no notice of the putrefaction. Eventually, the embarrassed chancellor, Axel Oxenstierna, saw no other solution than to have a guard posted at the room to prevent further episodes. As a result, he was not buried until 22 June 1634, more than eighteen months later.
  In 1634, the Instrument of Government, a new constitution, was introduced by Oxenstierna. The constitution stipulated that the "King" must have a Privy Council, which was headed by Oxenstierna himself.
  Maria Eleanora had been indifferent to her daughter but now, belatedly, Christina became the center of her mother's attention. Gustav Adolf had decided that in the event of his death, his daughter should be cared for by his half-sister, Catherine of Sweden  and half-brother Carl Gyllenhielm as regent. This solution did not suit Maria Eleonora, who had her sister-in-law banned from the castle. In 1636, Chancellor Oxenstierna saw no other solution than to exile the widow to Gripsholm castle, while the governing regency council would decide when she was allowed to meet her nine-year-old daughter. For the subsequent three years, Christina thrived in the company of her aunt Catherine and her family.
  In 1638, after the death of her aunt and foster mother Catherine of Sweden, the Royal Regency Council under Axel Oxenstierna saw a need to appoint a new foster mother to the underage monarch (her mother being exiled), which resulted in a reorganization of the queen's household.   In order to avoid the young queen from being dependent upon a single individual and favorite mother figure, the Royal Council decided to split the office of head lady-in-waiting (responsible for the queen's female courtiers) and the office royal governess (or foster mother) in four, with two women appointed to share each office. Accordingly, Ebba Leijonhufvud and Christina Natt och Dag were appointed to share the position of royal governess and foster mother with the title Upptuktelse-Förestånderska ('Castigation Mistress'), while Beata Oxenstierna and Ebba Ryning were appointed to share the position of head lady-in-waiting, all four with the formal rank and title of Hovmästarinna.
  The Royal Council's method of giving Queen Christina several foster mothers to avoid her forming an attachment to a single person appears to have been effective, as Christina did not mention her foster mothers directly in her memoirs and did not seem to have formed any attachment to any of them; in fact, with only a few exceptions, such as Ebba Sparre, Lady Jane Ruthven and Louise van der Nooth, Christina did not show any interest in any of her female courtiers, and she generally mentions them in her memoirs only to compare herself favorably toward them by referring to herself as more masculine than they.
  Christina was educated as a royal male would have been. The theologian Johannes Matthiae Gothus became her tutor; he gave her lessons in religion, philosophy, Greek and Latin. Chancellor Oxenstierna taught her politics and discussed Tacitus with her. Oxenstierna wrote proudly of the 14-year-old girl that, "She is not at all like a female" and that she had "a bright intelligence". Christina seemed happy to study ten hours a day. Besides Swedish she learned at least seven other languages: German, Dutch, Danish, French, Italian, Arabic and Hebrew.
  In 1636–1637, Peter Minuit and Samuel Blo
caption: Christina's parents ca 1632
exif: {"Image DateTime": "2013:10:31 09:43:33", "Image Copyright": "Foto.Peter Segemark\u00a9Nordiska museet"}