Source:
Female Warriors: Memorials of Female Valour and Heroism, from the Mythological Ages to the Present Era, volume 1, pages 195 to 197, by Ellen Creathorne Clayton, 1879; original at the California Digital Library
The biography:
Christina of Sweden, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, the great Protestant hero of the Thirty Years' War, inherited her father's native love for battles, soldiers, even the smell of powder — all, in fact, that pertains to a warrior's life. When she was about two years old, her father took her to Calmar. The governor did not know whether to give the customary salute, afraid lest the child might be frightened by the noise of the cannon. But Gustavus, whom he consulted, replied, after a moment's hesitation: —
"Fire! The girl is the daughter of a soldier, and should be accustomed to it early."
The salute was therefore given. Christina clapped her hands in delight.
"More! More!" she cried.
Pleased to see her evident predilection for the taste of gunpowder, Gustavus Adolphus took his daughter, soon after, to see a grand review. She displayed even greater delight than before, and Gustavus said, with a smile: —
"Very well; you shall go, I am resolved, where you shall have enough of this."
However, the early death of Gustavus Adolphus hindered him from ever fulfilling this promise; and Christina, in her memoirs, regrets that she was not permitted to learn the art of war under so illustrious a master.
In 1647 [sic], at the age of twenty-nine [sic], Christina resigned the crown of Sweden. Passing through Denmark and Germany, she proceeded to Belgium; and from Innspruck she went to Rome, which she entered in state, attired in the costume of an Amazon, and mounted on a war-horse.
Above: Kristina as a baby with her parents. Drawing by Willem Hendrik Schmidt.
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