Source:
Christina, Queen of Sweden, pages v to xix, by Francis William Bain, 1890; original at the University of Connecticut Library
The account:
With the exception of the interesting, but somewhat slipshod 'Memoirs of Christina', by Henry Woodhead (2 vols, 1863), now out of print and hard to get, there is nothing like a complete or trustworthy account of Christina in English. In addition to some very old translations of foreign lives (French and German libels), and various more or less unsatisfactory notices in encyclopædias and biographical dictionaries, those worth naming are, that by Mrs. Jameson in her now antiquated 'Celebrated Female Sovereigns;' the section devoted to her in Ranke's 'History of the Popes;' and an essay by Hardinge, the Lothian Prize Essay for 1880. Occasional allusions in historical and other literature show that little or nothing is commonly known about her.
And yet she was, to say the least, one of the most original and extraordinary women in her own or any age. It is indeed not an easy thing to write a short life of Christina, and this not merely because her country, her father, her precocious political genius, the strength of her character, her learning, her court, her abdication, her conversion, her travels, her connection, more or less direct, with the most celebrated names of her time, tempt one to be continually turning aside to dwell on subsidiary points; but also because the manner in which her history has hitherto been written necessarily compels her would-be biographer to adopt a half-polemical tone. Never has any historical character been more hardly dealt with than Christina. It has been her lot to meet either with the most outrageous calumny, or more rarely with extravagant panegyric, seldom or never with her due meed of justice. Her conversion made all Protestants her violent enemies, and some Catholics her equally violent admirers; her abdication destroyed the hopes of all kinds of interested persons, offended sober people, and insulted her own subjects, who have never forgiven her; it has been persistently misrepresented accordingly. The political complications and jealousies between the French, the Spaniards, and the Pope, drew her into their quarrels, and each party hated and libelled her according as it suspected her of growing favourable to the other. Lastly, her own peculiar character, and her neglect of conventionalities, offered an appropriate subject for scandal. She is still viewed through the distorting medium of French and Protestant seventeenth-century gossip and slander, and measured by commonplace standards; though it is with genius as with crime, which, says a great Russian, cannot be judged correctly if we come to it with ready-made opinions.
The chief authorities for her life, used for the present work, are first, the 'Mémoires de Christine, Reine de Suède', by Arckenholtz, in four volumes, quarto (1751-1770) [sic]. The large collection of her letters and writings, and laborious reference to a multitude of authorities, make these 'Mémoires' of primary importance for any life of Christina; but they must be very carefully used and searchingly criticised, for the author is a rampant Swede and Protestant, entirely devoid of impartiality, though he supplies the means of correcting his bias. Roman Catholicism is synonymous in his eyes with "depraved morality", and he never loses a chance of blackguarding the French and proving his Swedes to be in the right. Later writers, as will presently be seen, trust quite unsuspectingly to his judgment. Next come the 'Mémoires de Chanut', French Resident at the Court of Sweden (edited by Linage de Vauciennes, 1674 [sic]). These are of great value in the early part, as long as Chanut was in Sweden; after he left, and was succeeded by Picques, they are almost worthless, the French being then spitefully jealous of Christina: she complains herself of the insult to Chanut's memory in publishing such libels under his name (see page 329). Whitelocke's 'Journal of the Swedish Embassy', in 1653-4, is of great value, and very amusing into the bargain; only it is to be carefully recollected he has the orthodox Puritan horror of pleasure, which most of Christina's biographers have forgotten. Count Galeazzo Gualdo's 'Istoria di Christina', 1656 (in English by Burbery [sic], 1658), gives her travels and conversion at inordinate length, but the author is an enthusiastic Catholic. Puffendorf's 'De Rebus Suecicis' gives the history of her reign. There are various short lives, as those of Lacombe, Catteau Calleville (a very excellent one). Other special authorities are Burmann's 'Collection of Letters of Learned Men' (Sylloge Epistolarum); the 'Mémoires' of Richelieu, Madame de Motteville, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, and the works of other French writers of that age, named in the text. To modern authors, Geijer, Ranke, and Fryxell ('Berättelse[r] ur Svenska Historien' [sic], vols, 9, 10), I am indebted for many special particulars and extracts from state records. Grauert's 'Christina und ihr Hof', the best of all lives of Christina, has been of great service. Other minor sources are named as they occur. A large quantity of so-called lives, mostly in French, or translations from that language (of which a list may be found in Arckenholtz, vol. 1), have been read through to no purpose; they are all nothing but baseless libels, from which come the imputations on Christina's good fame. Those who care for a specimen may consult the 'Histoire de la Vie de la Reyne Christine de Suède' (Stockholm: chez Jean, Pleyn de Courage, 77 [1677]), a collection of ten anonymous pamphlets on her; nothing will be learned from it but a lesson in the language of abuse, as well as in the way in which Christina's character has been handled by this sort of person. It may be stated here, once for all, that there is not the shadow of a basis for the multitudinous imputations on her morality; they all sprang from the union of French jealousy and French prurience.
Lord Bolingbroke once observed that it had been his lot to suffer more from his friends than his enemies. Such has also been the lot of Christina. Her worst enemies have been her apparent friends, or those who had no reason to depreciate her. To deal fully with all of them would require a volume, but it is necessary to examine some.
The French writers of the eighteenth century are principally answerable for the prevalent impression that her conversion was merely a means to other ends. Voltaire, above all, goes and leads astray in this matter; his eye saw what it brought the power of seeing. He will have it that she was a philosophe, that she "quitted the throne for the fine arts." This will be shown hereafter to be entirely wrong. When he asserts, however, that "if she had reigned in Italy, she would never have abdicated", he is certainly right, but only accidentally. It was not the fine arts, but religion, which drew Christina from her throne.
Fryxell, again, stumbles in this respect and others. Nothing, he asserts, can be proved about Christina's conversion; he himself believes she was indifferent, if not atheistical: "at the beginning of her reign Christina spoke of God; later, of Providence; last, of Fate:" this represents, in his view, the course of development and the final result. Now, it may be positively asserted, in opposition to this, that there is nothing more certain in all history than that Christina's conversion was sincere. The pages of this book will prove it irrefutably. Elsewhere Fryxell suggests she was insane. Nothing is harder to refute than such a charge, for it is almost impossible to define insanity. There was certainly in her some of that madness which is akin to genius; but the madness which Fryxell means is not that. His charge will be found entirely without foundation, but what it is important to notice is how he came to make it. The fact is, that Fryxell has woven up into one unified narrative all the preserved evidences, whether sound, baseless, or contradictory, and presented them to his readers as all standing on the same level. This is to place the story of the apple on a level with the theory of gravitation, to adapt all the statements of Victor Hugo about the third Napoleon, and so on. Why, certainly, in this way Christina will strike us as insane, insane to a degree that throws all Bedlam into the shade. To give but a single instance, Fryxell incorporates in his account of Monaldeschi's execution the remark attributed to Christina: "Give him a stab, and make him confess." What a cold-blooded cruelty does not this suggest! Now this is strange, for there is ample evidence of Christina's large-hearted humanity. The fact is, the words quoted do not occur in the authentic accounts of the scene; they are nothing but a libellous invention of her enemies. This is merely one instance out of scores. Fryxell shows a complete incapacity, or unwillingness, to discriminate between good and bad evidence; and mixes things up in the most absurd way. Thus, in his account of her religious views he confuses a philosophical dictum with a religious opinion, and attributes a religious meaning to Christina's remark (à-propos of philosophies old and new), that "the ancient follies were as good as the new ones." And so on continually.
Both Fryxell and Geijer give an entirely erroneous impression of the last years of her reign. Their pictures are highly coloured with the misrepresentations of the ousted savans, the recitals of Puritans and rancorous Lutherans; they tell of "the decay of morality", "youth showing no respect to its superiors", and so on. All this is simply ridiculous. There was no other difference between the beginning and end of Christina's reign than is amply explained by the state of her own health, which required her to abstain from the excessive labour she indulged in, and the comparative cessation of business after 1648 and 1650; there is not a particle of evidence justifying Geijer's assertion that "from this period dates the ruin of pure and decorous morality", which is based upon Whitelocke's puritanical criticisms, and an old prejudiced Swedidh-Lutheran extract he ought to have known better than to accept. As to the general discontent of the country, Geijer is equally short-sighted. Christina deserves all blame for her reckless alienation of Crown lands; but this was not the cause of the distress: that had been accumulating for fifty years, and was due to the war and the nobles, as will be shown. It was against them, and not Christina, that the popular odium was directed. Geijer's whole portrait of Christina is falsely coloured; every line betrays the dark influence of her enemies. The following instance taken at random will show the way this is done. He refers to her "atheism and frivolity", and then adds, "representations from her mother were ill received." This gives the impression that her excellent mother made expostulations on her evil courses, and she persisted in them. Now, any one who will refer to page 183 of this book will open his eyes wide, when he sees these "expostulations" there presented in their true light. The fact is, Maria Eleanora was the mouthpiece of the insolence of the Lutheran clergy, who suspected Christina of lukewarmness in the Swedish faith, fixed upon Bourdelot as the cause, and had the impertinence to send in a petition for his dismissal, which they did not dare to present to the Queen themselves!
Even Ranke himself, to whom, let me say, this book is indebted on every page, must nevertheless stand convicted of careless acceptance of baseless charges against her. Here, again, it would require a pamphlet to expose fully all his errors. Some instances must stand for the rest. In his examination of her conversion, he says, "she repeatedly (oft) declared that she had not discovered any essential errors in Protestantism, but, &c." Now, first, this "repeatedly" is Ranke's own addition to the original charge, which only says she did so once. But, secondly, Grauert shows [vol. ii, p. 62] that the whole statement is false, and rests on a mere mistranslation of a Latin passage in Wagenseil! What a basis for an important statement damaging Christina's sincerity! Again, speaking of her secrecy in the negotiations for her conversion, Ranke says, "the charm of this affair to Christina was principally in the certainty that no one had the slightest suspicion of her proceedings." But there are absolutely no grounds for attributing such a small-minded love for hide-and-seek to Christina, whose character was not of that kind. She had the best of all reasons for preserving absolute secrecy; her abdication and her revenues, nay, her crown and life itself, would have been seriously endangered, had there leaked out the slightest inkling that she was meditating becoming a Catholic.
That Ranke was not writing carefully, or at first hand, in this part of his book, is proved by a thing in itself of small moment. At the conclusion of the ceremony of her abdication, he states that the Peasants' deputy returned to his seat, without having said one word. Now, in fact, he made a long and very peculiar speech, which is fully reported in the very passage in Whitelocke's journal, to which Ranke refers.
Mr. Hardinge, again, while he recognizes the sincerity of Christina's conversion, has based his view of her character far too readily on the statements of her enemies, on whom he permits himself to improve. For instance, Montpensier asserts that Christina "used to swear by God" at Paris. Other observers deny that they ever heard her swear. Still, Christina herself admits that she used to swear, adding that she learned the habit in Sweden, where at that time all, both men and women, were accustomed to do so in conversation; but she adds that she had since entirely broken herself of that bad habit. Hence she certainly swore, if at all, very little. That is all the evidence as to her swearing. But see how Mr. Hardinge improves this. "Cromwell", he says, "did not wish to have Christina in England. Christina, let loose among the Pharisees of Whitehall, swearing like one of Rupert's troopers, jesting profanely at the expense of the elect .... would have shocked feelings which, &c." (The Italics are ours.)
In this way do casual hints and unfounded misrepresentations grow into definite charges. The process of time does it all. Christina's last biographer, Gustafson, in his 'Bidrag till Historien om Drottning Kristina's afsägelse och Riksdagen', 1654, speaks as follows, on page 66: "It has been asserted that Christina determined to quit the Swedish throne in consequence of her inclination to the Catholic faith. But she had, at the end of her reign, principally through Bourdelot's influence, arrived at such a view of life that it was all the same to her to which religion she belonged. That she subsequently adopted the Catholic faith rests on this, that it appealed more to her love of display, and was more convenient for her residence in foreign Catholic countries. We must not overlook the sensation that would be aroused by such a conversion, nor that it was just Christina's highest wish to excite remark, and get herself talked about. For the rest, she herself considered her solemn conversion as a farce."
Any one who will read the following pages through, will not only convince himself that all this is entirely false, but will even wonder how any man professing familiarity with the subject, could ever make statements in such glaring contradiction with all the facts. It shows, at any rate, that the Swedes have never forgiven her for turning her back upon them. What, however, is worth noticing about it is, the evidence he adduces in proof of accusations so sweeping. For confirmation of all, we are referred to Arckenholtz, in his account of her conversion, which happens to be exactly that part of his work which is worth nothing at all. The story of her calling her conversion a farce is a foolish libel due to Chevreau, who is entirely unworthy of credit. But the world believes what it likes; the amusing always gets in before the true. In Christina we have the best possible illustration of the aphorism — interdum fucata falsitas in multis est probabilior et sæpe rationibus vincit nudam veritatem.
With regard to the present little book, its aim is to present facts instead of fiction. It lays claim to no beauties of style; its only merit, if any, lies here — that whereas the received method of dealing with Christina is to abstract her from her relations, and compile her history in the light of mere tittle-tattle and hostile on-dits, the method attempted here is to view her in the concrete, replace her in her circumstances, and then see how the charges brought against her agree with the facts. One absurd charge will then be found to disappear — the perpetual charge of "inconsistency and fickleness", which in nine cases out of ten proves nothing but the laziness of those who make it. Time, place, and "circumstances, which with some gentlemen pass for nothing", are the important matters. "The time, the time", cries Michelet, "let us replace our man in his time; laissez là vos systèmes."
It is quite possible for different persons to take different views of Christina when they are acquainted with the facts. But what is not to be allowed is, that people should go on abusing her, without knowing anything about her. And a biographer is not called upon to paint imaginary portraits, or say what character he might or might not possibly admire or dislike; it is better to praise people for what they are than abuse them for what they are not.
No space could be given to Gustavus Adolphus; as to relate his life after 1626, the period of his most important activity, would be to write his history as well as Christina's. Military events, unless unless [sic] fully detailed, have only been considered in so far as they had influence on politics.
While every effort has been made to be at once full and succinct, the book does not profess to be a complete history of Sweden or any other country. Of its manifold shortcomings I am deeply conscious, and would fain have seen some more redoubtable champion coming forward on behalf of the truth and of Christina; but none such has appeared. I can only venture to hope that in this instance too the old Greek axiom may be verified, that the half is more than the whole.
My best thanks are due to the kind friend by whose encouragement the book was written.
OXFORD, 1889.
Above: Kristina.
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