Source:
Some Historic Women; or, Biographical Studies of Women Who Have Made History, pages 290 to 292, by William Henry Davenport Adams, 1890-1899; original at the University of Toronto - Robarts Library
Kristina's letter of October 25/November 4 (New Style), 1655 to Karl Gustav is here:
Above: Kristina.
The biography:
II.
Five days afterwards she was on the road to Copenhagen, assuming a man's disguise as soon as she had crossed the frontier, and calling herself Count Dohna. At Hamburg she resumed her own dress and name so long as she remained there; but donned her black wig, hat, boots, breeches, sword, and carbine, when she set out for Antwerp. Thence she voyaged to Brussels along the great canal, her barge fitted up gloriously, and carrying twelve pieces of cannon. She was received at Brussels with royal honours; the houses were all illuminated, — soldiers lined the streets — and a magnificent display of fireworks turned night into day. It was here that the self-willed ex-Queen chose to make public abjuration of the Lutheran faith [sic], and thus to dishonour the memory of her father who had died as its champion. At Innsbruck she made public confession of her new religion, and thence she wrote a brief explanation to the new King of Sweden (November 4th, 1655).
"My Brother", she wrote, "I have arrived here safely, and have received permission from his Holiness to declare openly what has long been a secret.
"I am happy to obey him, and consider this a greater glory than that of reigning over the powerful states which are now yours.
"You ought to be pleased at this step of mine, even if you believe it to be mistaken, since it is so useful and so glorious to you.
"I declare, nevertheless, that the sentiments of friendship I have always felt for you remain undiminished.
"My love for Sweden is also unchanged; and will continue so while I live."
It would be a weariness to the reader, and would convert this chapter into an itinerary, if I followed the ex-Queen in her erratic course from city to city, and land to land. Two motives impelled her — her innate restlessness and thirst for novelty, and her desire to experience some of the honours paid to royalty, and to feel that[,] though she had laid aside her crown[,] she was still a Queen. When she entered Rome, on the 19th of December, she was welcomed with all the picturesque pomp the authorities could devise. Triumphal arches spanned the streets — flags and flowers added to the beauty of the spectacle; musicians at suitable points discoursed lively music; the Papal regiments were all under arms; the Roman ladies in their richest dress blazed in balcony and window like constellations of coloured stars, and along the resounding way rode Christina, in masculine fashion, on a snow-white horse. At St. Peter's she was met by the purple-robed dignitaries of the Church, who conducted her, still in her Amazonian attire, to the high altar, where she received the sacrament of Confirmation, and took the name of Alexandra, — in compliment, I suppose, to the Pope, Alexander VII.
She spent several months at Rome, patronizing artists and men of letters, and restlessly examining the works of art and treasures of antiquity which to this day are the glory of the ancient capital of the civilised world. Some characteristic anecdotes are told of her sayings and doings. At church she frequently scandalised the congregation by the freedom of her behaviour, and she loved to engage the Cardinals in lively conversation. As a delicate hint, the Pope sent her a rosary, with a recommendation to use it in prayer-time to prevent her attention from wandering. Christina pettishly replied, that she did not mean to be a Catholic according to the rosary.
A statue of Truth, by Bernini, elicited her cordial admiration. "Heaven be praised", said a Cardinal, "that your Majesty loves Truth, which persons of your exalted rank seldom appreciate." "That is very likely", answered the Queen, "for the truth is not always of marble."
When she inspected the College "de Propaganda Fide", the printing-presses were at work in two-and-twenty languages. Eight of them, in a few minutes, presented her with a printed welcome, — "May Christina live for ever!" And a group of scholars addressed to her some words of homage and congratulation in each of the twenty-two tongues, the polyglot compliments being afterwards printed with the title of "The Concordance of Languages in Praise of Christina."
She founded an Accademia, to which all the most distinguished men in Rome belonged. She received them once a week in her apartments, and presided over their discussions of things old and new with a surprising vivacity and intelligence.
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