Source:
Six Thousand Years of History, volume 5 (Famous Women), pages 239 to 240, by Edgar Sanderson et al., 1900; original at Pennsylvania State University
The biography:
She had hopes of being elected Queen of Poland, where she could reign as a Catholic, but failed in the negotiations. The Swedes neglected the payment of her annuity, notwithstanding the extreme care with which she had provided for her financial future before abdication. And though she was by this time quarreling with the Pope, she was forced to accept from him an annuity of only 1,200 scudi. In 1660, when the short reign of Charles Gustavus (Karl X) ended in his death, she hastened to Stockholm to claim the throne, for several reasons, the main ones being pecuniary. But the throne belonged to the son of Charles, Charles XI, a minor. Christina was a Catholic, and the Swedes had been horrified by the license and vulgarity of her career, which had brought ill-repute on their race. In order to assure herself of her income, she was compelled to sign a more binding deed of abdication, which, while it might wound her pride, materially advanced her condition at Rome, for we hear no more of financial embarrassments. It seems that the Prince who owed his throne to her was meaner in his payments than the son who succeeded on the throne. The next seven or eight years she spent in the cities of Europe, where, after many rebuffs, she learned that she could not be received as a visiting sovereign, nor could she be permitted the public practice of her religion in countries where Protestant bigotry ran high in revenge for Catholic fanaticism elsewhere. She would have visited Cromwell, but that hard-hearted Puritan would not welcome her. At last, after she was convinced that she could not be Queen of Poland, she returned to reside permanently at Rome, where the Holy Father, regarding her as a spoiled child, allowed her many indulgences. She abhorred the direction of father-confessors, who at that time directed domestic life. She entered gaily into the amusements of the carnival, concerts, dramatic entertainments, or whatever else would amuse her. Yet by degrees her character grew milder, and she entered on the last twenty years of her life in a manner and with tranquil habits that have reflected no ordinary luster on her name. She became well pleased with the life of the Romans, and, in her advancing years, reaped the honor and distinction due to her attainments. She took a constantly increasing part in the splendor, the life, and the business of the Roman Curia or court, and believed she could live happily nowhere else.
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Above: Kristina.
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