Source:
Eccentric Personages: Memoirs of the Lives and Actions of Remarkable Characters, volume 2, pages 44 to 53, by William Russell, 1864; original at the Wellcome Library
The biography:
Christina of Sweden.
THE readers of the "Legends of Montrose" — and who has not read them? — will remember the enthusiastic eulogies of Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, Lion of the North, Bulwark of the Protestant Faith, &c., unctuously enunciated, in season and out of season, by Dugald Dalgetty. It would seem that he never heard of Christina, the only offspring of the Northern Lion, but for whom the victories of Gustavus Adolphus would have been fruitless, the cause of scriptural truth itself lost, and been mortally stricken down with its metaphorical immortal champion at the battle of Lutzen in Upper Saxony. The sun of England has, we know, set for ever, very many times, — a phenomenon which the British people rather enjoy than otherwise; perhaps because custom or habit becomes a second nature. Be that as it may, Sweden felt itself doomed, given over to perdition, when, in the year of grace 1632, news reached Stockholm that the great King and Lion of the North had fallen in victorious battle.
Amidst the general dismay, Chancellor Oxenstiern, the reputed original author of the saying — though a truth so trite must have been uttered a thousand and a thousand times before Sweden was a nation — "Behold, my son, with what little wisdom the world is governed", — gave a striking illustration of his theory or platitude by reminding the hastily assembled States that the glorious King had left a daughter, who, though but about seven years of age [sic], might, if immediately recognised as Queen of Sweden, save the vessel of the State from foundering. He concluded by introducing the child, who was immediately acknowledged to be the picture in little of the Gustavus Adolphus. "Behold", exclaimed a leading peasant deputy. "Behold the very features of the grand Gustavus. We will have her for our sovereign. Seat her on the throne, and at once proclaim her King." This was done, and Sweden ipso facto saved.
Christina herself was no less enchanted than the nation to whom she was the herald and sign of salvation. The enthroned girl, many years afterwards, when she had developed into a Brummell-Brummagem royal celebrity, thus wrote of herself and the occasion: "I was so young that I knew not either my own worth or my great fortune; but I remember how delighted I was to see all those men kneeling at my feet and kissing my hand." She adds, with touching modesty: "It was Thou, O God, that didst render the child admirable to her people, who were amazed at the grand manner in which I enacted the part of Queen upon that first occasion. I was little, but upon the throne displayed an air and countenance that inspired the beholders with respect and fear. It was Thou, O Lord, that caused a girl to appear thus who had not yet arrived at the full use of her reason. Thou hadst impressed upon my brow a mark of grandeur not always bestowed by Thee upon those Thou hast destined, like me, to glory, and to be Thy lieutenant over men."
This innate greatness of Christina had been foreseen, predicted by the astrologers, whom Gustavus Adolphus, Bulwark of the Protestant Faith, had consulted with respect to the child with which Maria Eleonora, his queen, was in travail. Both their majesties imparted their dreams to the wise men, who, having interpreted them by the light of the signs in heaven, — the Sun, Mars, Mercury, Venus, being in conjunction, — declared the coming child would be a boy, and that if he outlived the first twenty-four hours, which that mischievous Mercury rendered doubtful, he would attain as great celebrity as his father. The sex of the child was a sad stumbling-block to the soothsayers at first, but soon removed, as easily as John Cumming, D. D., will explain in 1867, that his prediction of the end of all sublunary things in 1866 was a figure of speech, having reference to the extinguishment [sic] of the Maori tribes, and the passing away, as a heathen country, of New Zealand from the map of the world. The mistake of the Swedish soothsayers was, after all, a merely verbal one; the girl, Christina, "having been born with the head of a Machiavelli, the heart of a Titus, the courage of an Alexander, and the eloquence of a Tully." Who would not be entitled, speaking of an incarnation of such heroic qualities, to exclaim, "This is a man!"
Gustavus Adolphus, though ardently desirous of a son, bore the disappointment with greater equanimity than at first did the astrologers. His sister, the Princess Catherine, was the first to announce that the expected boy was, in sad truth, a girl. "Sister", said the King, "let us return thanks to God. I trust this daughter will prove as valuable to us as a son; and may the Almighty, who has vouchsafed her to us, graciously preserve her. She will be an arch girl", the King added, "who begins to play tricks upon us so soon." This was an allusion to the announcement of the attendants at the birth, who, momentarily misled by the thick hair which encased the child's head, the thick down upon her face [sic], and the harsh, loud cry with which she greeted the world, proclaimed that a man child was born.
The Lion of the North promised his very promising child, when she could but have dimly, if she did dimly, comprehend his meaning, that she should one day be a partner of his in real glories; — the slaughter — scientific slaughter of impious people who declined acquiescence, or were coerced by their rulers into resisting, vi et armis, the Gospel of Peace, as interpreted by the great Gustavus. "To my irreparable misfortune", sighingly simpers this once much-belauded lady, — "to my irreparable misfortune, Death (a terrible promise-breaker in a vicarious sense is Death) prevented him from keeping his word, and me from serving an apprenticeship in the art of war to so complete a master."
Concurrently with a taste for the glories of war, the great Gustavus was very desirous that his daughter should be thoroughly grounded in the Lutheran Faith, and, especially, should be versed in Holy Scripture, the ground of all true knowledge. An odd mélange.
In subsidiary matters the masculine, military propensities of Christina were developed by the system of instruction devised by Gustavus Adolphus, who sought from her cradle to mould the infant Queen of Sweden into a reflex of himself. He was so far successful that in a very few years she had acquired, and loudly expressed, illimitable contempt for women — her own mother compassionately exempted [sic] — and was constantly regretting she was not a man; not that she cared much for men — but they had this advantage, they were not women. Her own portrait has been given by a graphic hand. A more accurate pen-and-ink sketch has seldom been drawn: —
"By her petticoat so slight,
And her legs too much in sight, —
By her doublet, cap, and dress,
To a masculine excess, —
Hat and plume, and ribands tied
Fore and aft in careless pride, —
By her gallant, martial mien,
Like an Amazonian queen, —
Nose from Roman consul sprung,
And a fierce virago's tongue, —
Large eyes, now sweet, anon severe,
Tell us 'tis Christina clear."
This mentally unsexed girl was not unattractive as to personal charms. Her figure was petite, but well enough formed. She had fine hazel eyes [sic], and a profusion of bright-brown hair; her teeth were fine and regular, which a more constant use of a tooth-brush would have improved. Her mouth was large, her lips coarse as the boisterous laughter and frequent oaths in which the girl-queen lavishly indulged. Christina was devoured by a restless energy, which made her the torment of all about her. "The men and women", she wrote, "who waited upon me were in despair, for I gave them no rest night or day. They had the audacity to propose retiring from their posts. They should have known that I would not permit them to escape the bondage in which I held them. Incensed by the application, I made their yoke more galling. I did so upon principle, and no one ever afterwards dared propose to quit the Sovereign's service [sic]." Queen Christina was indefatigably studious, at least she herself says so, and it is certain she rapidly acquired a showy, superficial knowledge of the Greek, Latin, two or three [sic] modern languages, geography, astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, and divinity [theology]. Her theological studies did not, however, include the only commandment with direct promise — Honour thy father and thy mother — for so intolerable a life did she lead the Dowager Queen, that, that lady fled secretly to Denmark, leaving a note upon her toilet table declarative of her intention rather to beg her bread elsewhere than live with all the appliances, the outward show of royalty, at her daughter's court! The two Queens were, however, ultimately reconciled, and Maria Eleonora returned to Stockholm.
It has been truly said that the possession of absolute, irresponsible power would corrupt and debase an angel. Christina, though no angel, affords a striking illustration of that truth. The prime article of her political creed was the divinity of monarchs. They were the gods of the earth, to whom all sublunary power had been delegated by the Eternal. She remorselessly exercised that absolute power when but a mere child. "Those", she writes, "who believe that childhood is the season when a princess that will one day wield the sceptre hears wholesome truths, are mistaken, for in the cradle they are feared and flattered. Men fear the memories of royal children as much as their power, and handle them as gently as they do young lions, who can only draw blood now, but hereafter will have strength to tear and devour."
Christina as child-queen proved herself quite equal to the representation of the royal rôle. She had scarcely passed her seventh year when, seated upon a lofty silver throne, she received ambassadors from Muscovy in great state. Chancellor Oxenstiern and others sought to fortify the mind of Christina, in order that she might acquit herself creditably at the audience. "Why", said the self-confident child, "why should I be afraid or timid before men with long beards? You also have long beards, and am I afraid or timid before you?" There could be but one answer to that question.
At fifteen Christina openly presided in the senate, "and became at once", wrote home the French ambassador, "incredibly powerful therein. She adds to her quality as sovereign, the graces of honour, courtesy, and the art of persuasion, so that the senators are astonished at the influence she gains over their sentiments." A very shallow gentleman this French ambassador: Christina herself could have whispered in his ear the true secret of her influence over the sentiments of the senators. The daughter of Gustavus had reached an age when, if so willed, she "could tear and devour." A fact, we may be sure, never for one moment absent from the minds of the grave and reverend Swedish senators.
Above: Kristina.
Above: Gustav Adolf and Maria Eleonora.
Note: ribands = ribbons (archaic form of the word).
anon = at another time; then; again.
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