page_title: Christina, Queen of Sweden
section_title: Thirty Years' War
hierarchical_section_title: Christina, Queen of Sweden / Personal rule / Thirty Years' War
caption_attribution_description: English: Between 1631 and 1648, during the Thirty Years’ War, Erfurt was occupied by Swedish forces, thus the effigy of Sweden’s Queen Christina appears on the 1645 Erfurt 10 Ducat (Portugaloser).
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: Her father, Gustavus Adolphus, had come to the aid of the German Protestants in the Thirty Years' War, to diminish Catholic influence and gain economic influence in the German states around the Baltic Sea. He won several battles, and in 1631, Cardinal Richelieu decided France would support Sweden with money and soldiers. But Gustavus was killed in 1632.
  Count Oxenstierna became regent and continued Sweden's part in the war. Defeated in the Battle of Nördlingen (1634), the Swedish army retreated from southern Germany to Pomerania. Though Sweden won some later battles, the war effort was exhausting.
  Christina reached her majority in 1644, and Chancellor Oxenstierna soon discovered that her political views differed from his own. In 1645 he sent his son, Johan Oxenstierna, to the Peace Congress in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster, to argue against peace. Christina, however, wanted peace at any cost and sent her own delegate, Johan Adler Salvius.
  The Peace of Westphalia was signed between May and October 1648, effectively ending the European wars of religion. Sweden received an indemnity of five million thalers, used primarily to pay its troops. Sweden further received Western Pomerania (henceforth Swedish Pomerania), Wismar, the Archbishopric of Bremen, and the Bishopric of Verden as hereditary fiefs, thus gaining a seat and vote in the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire and in the respective diets (Kreistag) of three Imperial Circles: the Upper Saxon Circle, Lower Saxon Circle, and Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle; the city of Bremen was disputed.
  Shortly before the conclusion of the peace settlement, she admitted Salvius into the council, against Chancellor Oxenstierna's wishes. Salvius was no aristocrat, but Christina wanted opposition to the aristocracy present.
caption: An image of Christina on a 1645 Erfurt 10 ducat coin. Between 1631 and 1648, during the Thirty Years' War, Erfurt was occupied by Swedish forces.[27][note 5]
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