Source:
Monarchs Retired from Business, volume 2, pages 260 to 267, by Dr. John Doran, 1857 (1902 edition)
The account:
The fact of the conversion could no longer be concealed from anxious Sweden. The ex-Queen accordingly addressed a note to Charles Gustavus, in which she said, "Having received the permission and the command of his Holiness to declare myself what I have been for a long time, I was too happy to obey; and I prefer this glory to that of reigning over the powerful states which you now possess."
Shortly after the ceremony of public confession, Christina resumed her journey to Rome. The value of the neophyte was testified by the homage which everywhere awaited her. Had she been an angel from Heaven, the Cardinals who met her, and defrayed all her expenses from the time she entered the states of the Church, could not have shown her greater reverence. Had she been the greatest of warriors, she could not have passed beneath more splendid triumphal arches; and the acclaiming thousands who beheld her pass along, could not have exhibited more grateful emotion, had she been the benefactress of all mankind.
Then, how admirably did she support her new character, or how deeply did she feel the worthlessness of symbols of worldly power! No sooner did her eyes fall on the house of Our Lady, at Loretto, when Christina descended from her litter, walked in the vicinity of the mansion of the Madonna, and entering the building with a humble look, deposited there a crown and sceptre, — signs of a majesty she had for ever abandoned. Previous to her performance of this ceremony, she had treated a report of her intention to fulfil it with unmitigated contempt. Arkenholtz relates, that a person who paid his court to her at Frankfort, heard her say, "So, people will have it that I shall go to Loretto, and deposit my crown and sceptre at the feet of the Virgin Mary. I gave up those symbols of royalty in Sweden, and if I had any other to dispose of, I would present them to the poor King of England." A stander-by ventured to intimate that perhaps there was more truth in the report that her Majesty was about to enter a cloister. To which, it is said that she replied by smiling, and pointing to Pimentelli, remarking the while, "Il saura apparemment quelle chaire de cloître j'ai."
The account of her act of abnegation at Loretto preceded her, and when she privately entered Rome on the 19th December, at seven in the evening, and by the light of hundreds of thousands of flambeaux, she remarked to the two Cardinals who accompanied her, that it was the drollest sort of incognito she had ever witnessed.
It would be difficult to say whether she was carried up the staircase of the Vatican to the Pope, more tenderly or triumphantly. It was her own cue, perhaps her feeling, to be humble; it was the desire of the Pontiff to treat her as a reigning Queen. When she came into his presence, she bent to kiss his hand, then stooped and pressed her lips to his slipper. Alexander raised her, embraced her heartily, and then placed her on a right-royal throne, extemporaneously built for the occasion.
When the Queen had recovered from the fatigues of her journey and the private entry, the ceremony of her public entry followed. Its magnificence may be more easily conceived than described. To repeat the details, — troops, priests, nobles, people, incense, flowers, music, artillery, flags, tapestry, ribbons, finery, songs, psalms, shouts and welcomings, — to narrate how all were employed in the reception of Christina, would render the reader as weary as if he had stood all day to witness the wondrous sight. Most wonderful of all to the Roman ladies was the spectacle of Christina herself, in a short riding-habit, on horseback. They were lost in admiration, only interrupted by the pretty witticisms that were fired off in honour of the trousers worn by her. This fashion stupefied maids and matrons in the streets of Rome. It was only when they were informed that Christina was a hero, and had made war against the King of Denmark, that they could comprehend the meaning of an Amazon in frilled trousers!
Within St Peter's, the magnificence of the festival was greater than it was without. Christina flung herself at the Pontiff's feet, and murmured something about being in Heaven. The Pope however graciously informed her that he had assurance by which he knew that the festivity which at that moment was going on in Heaven on her account, rendered all the sublime grandeur of the Roman celebrations mean and beggarly. The religious ceremonies in St Peter's ended by the ex-Queen being confirmed, after which she took the sacrament with the Cardinal Deacons, having previously received an addition to her baptismal appellations, in the name of Alexandra, conferred on her by the Pontiff.
Perhaps the grandest spectacle connected with the conversion of Christina, was the dinner given in her honour by the Pope. M. Soyer alone would have patience to read the half-hundred pages necessary for its detail. The most characteristic incident thereat, was of course afforded by the ex-Queen herself. During the repast a Jesuit preached a sermon. The preacher made an assertion to which Christina boldly objected. The company looked petrified; but the Pope gallantly gave decision in favour of the new convert. All Rome was perplexed by the Pope's prodigality in honour of the Queen, but wise people saw therein a lure, by which it was hoped that other noble heretics might be persuaded to embrace orthodoxy.
There was not a sight in Rome which she did not see; and she was never wearied, not even at the College of the Propaganda, where the students addressed speeches to her in twenty-two different languages. She kept joyous house, too, in the Palace Farnese, varying the gaiety by monthly meetings of the members of all the Academies, — elegant soirées, at which there was abundant wisdom, with charming nonsense, admirable music, and harmonious poetry.
And while the ex-Queen was thus enjoying herself, the world was at issue touching the causes of her conversion. Epigrams were pointed at her; casuists rushed to her defence; and the entire universe directed its indignation at poor Bishop Matthiæ, her Swedish religious instructor, a good man, whose heart would have been comforted to behold all men united, but who was buffeted by the Romanists because he had not taught the Queen Catholicity, and by the Protestants, because he had taught her a superabundance of it. Some averred that she had gone to Rome in order to conclude a "marriage of conscience" with the Pontiff himself. That some of the Cardinals were too warm in their admiration for her, is certain. Colonna was ordered to leave Rome for awhile, on account of scandal arising therefrom. That others did not treat her with gallantry enough, may be seen in the fact of her making the door of the Medici villa a mark for gun practice. Alexander VII. comforted himself with the thought that he had gained a lamb. The wits told him that while boasting of his lamb from Sweden, he had lost a whole flock in Poland. The latter country had fallen into the temporary power of Charles Gustavus, to escape whom John Casimir had fled the country. The newly-caught lamb, too, was rather difficult to manage. She would talk at Mass. She laughed herself, and made the Cardinals laugh. The Pope sent her a rosary, and intimated that she might so employ it as to find occupation for her mind at Divine service. Christina received it with a jest, and flung it aside with a sneer.
But, if she troubled her spiritual godfather, the Pontiff, she was not without troubles of her own. Whether through economy or weariness, she dismissed some of her Spanish Counts and Countesses in waiting. To revenge themselves, they set half Europe talking, by their scandalous tales. Christina was angry, and as she did not meet with the sympathy she expected from the Roman nobility, she made them and their pretensions the subjects of her brilliant jokes and most poignant sarcasms. These were weapons at which the Roman nobles were mightily cunning of fence, and they so stung the ex-Queen with their satire, so pierced her by their epigrams, that in June, 1656, she was glad to make the sickly season in Rome, an excuse for her paying a visit to the Court of France. The Pope was delighted to give her his blessing.
Her revenue was irregularly paid — the revenues of all uncrowned monarchs are irregularly paid. Nevertheless she was received at Marseilles, by the Duke de Guise, with great distinction. Of all the numerous honours she received on her way to Marseilles, the only one which especially annoyed her was a long sermon, addressed to her at Vienna, by the then famous Boissart. Christina repaid his zeal by sarcastically expressing her conviction that he was not the renowned preacher of that name. The keys of all the fortified towns were presented to her, and, finally, on the 4th September, 1656, she arrived at Fontainebleau. In her half-male attired, she appeared to some of the ladies there like a pretty little boy, — a rather forward boy, who was addicted to swearing, flung himself all of a heap into an arm-chair, and disposed of his legs in a way which shocked the not very scrupulous dames of the Court.
These ladies however rendered Christina the very warmest homage, crowded round her, and smothered her with kisses. "What a rage they have for kissing!" said the ex-Queen; "I verily believe they take me for a gentleman!"
It was not yet that she could compare her condition to that of a Divinity without a temple, for a thousand cavaliers escorted her from Fontainebleau to Paris, on the 8th of September. At the capital, she was received with a world of splendid ceremony, which gratified her far more than the details would gratify the reader of them. The bearing of the new convert at Notre-Dame was not however considered edifying. She was inattentive, would talk with the Bishops, and remained standing during the whole service. She confessed to the Bishop of Amiens, confused him by looking straight in his face the whole time, and edified him, as he remarked, more by her matter than her manner.
She astonished the noble people amongst whom she found herself, by the knowledge she possessed of all the piquant anecdotes connected with their histories; and she was altogether so delighted with living amongst them, that it was clear to all, Paris was the Paradise of her choice. She went thence to Chantilly, where the young Louis XIV, and his brother entered the room unobserved amid a crowd of courtiers. Mazarin presented them as two gentlemen of the first quality, but the ex-Queen recognized them immediately and observed that both the gentlemen were worthy of wearing crowns. On this much mirth ensued.
Her own train was of the very simplest. She was principally served by men, for the couple of ladies attached to her were so poor and looked so miserable that she kept them out of sight. She herself was spectacle enough, especially to the Queen of France, who could not believe that her visitor was really made as she seemed to be. The crowd round the two Queens was so great that they were compelled to retire; and the criticism passed upon Christina as she went by, in her strange dress and uncurled wig, was, that she looked very like a half-tipsy g*psy. Her coat was the garment neither of man nor woman, and it fitted so ill, that her higher shoulder appeared above the neck of the dress. The chemise was made according to the fashion of a man's shirt. Mesdames de Montpensier and de Motteville describe this shirt as appearing and disappearing through, under, or over other parts of the royal costume, in a very puzzling way; but what most astonished ladies who wore trains from the moment they rose in bed, were the short petticoats worn by Christina, which left her ankles exposed to the sight and criticism of all who chose to look at them.
In spite of these offences against good taste and fashion, the fine and brilliant qualities of Christina made her, for a time at least, a general favourite. Some persons described her as being like Fontainebleau, — the separate parts of which are striking but void of symmetry. She startled the stately ladies of the Court there by "lolling" over the table, with her arms, while conversing with the Queen of France. She shocked still more the courtiers generally, by another of her free and easy habits. "In presence of the King, Queen, and the whole Court", says Madame de Motteville, "she flung her legs up on a chair, as high as that on which she was seated; and she altogether exhibited them a great deal too freely."
Then, she was ever as ready, when conversing with gentlemen, to discuss improper subjects as any other; and the only woman on whom she bestowed any marks of respect was the celebrated "Ninon" — a lady famous for her beauty, wit, and learning; but infamous, in spite of the eulogy of St Evremond, who ascribes to Ninon "la vertu de Caton." The good philosopher must have meant Catin.
It is a curious trait of the times, that Louis XIV. caused Christina to take precedence of every person at Court, — even of the Queen of France; and that, subsequently, he could neither forgive himself for having done so, nor his consort for having permitted it. The thought made the Grand Monarque occasionally uneasy, to the end of his life.
The Duke de Guise averred that Christina had more learning than the Academy and the Sorbonne put together; — but there never was a Duke of Guise whose opinion on such a subject was worth accepting; and least of all the opinions of the frivolous Duke of this period. "She hated marriage", says another courtier, "as heartily as Pope Calixtus hated priests." And in this epigrammatic way was Christina spoken of in France. She was more severely criticized by the women than by the men; but all united in acknowledging that, setting aside her eccentricities, she was in every way worthy of being a Frenchwoman.
Above: Kristina.
Above: Dr. John Doran.
Note: G*psy is a commonplace but derogatory and erroneous term and exonym for the Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group of Rajasthani origin living mostly throughout Europe (particularly in the Balkan countries in the southeast of the continent) but also in the Middle East, the Americas, Africa and Australia, traditionally nomadic and itinerant with an endogamous clan-based society with different subgroups in different regions. They are unfortunately stereotyped as fortune-tellers, thieves, criminals and con artists even today and have suffered terrible persecutions throughout their history and are consequently and rightfully wary of non-Roma people, who they call gadji. The Europeans assumed they came from Egypt, which resulted in the word g*psy and its equivalent words in some other languages commonly being used for the Roma.
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