Francis William Bain on the Messenius incident

Sources:

Christina, Queen of Sweden, pages 210 to 213, by Francis William Bain, 1890; original at the University of Connecticut Library

https://archive.org/details/christinaqueenof00bain/page/210/mode/2up

Berättelser ur svenska historien, nionde delen: Drottning Kristina, första afdelningen, page 153, by Anders Fryxell, 1841

https://runeberg.org/svhistfry/9/0165.html

The account:

An equally great danger of a different kind threatened her in the conspiracy of the Messenii. The discontent, suppressed in 1650, continued to burn the keener on that account in certain democratic breasts. One of these was Arnold Messenius, son of the old John Messenius, who[,] after an imprisonment of twenty years in the icy Uleaborg, during which time he still worked unweariedly at his 'Scandia illustrata', died in 1636. Of him Oxenstiern said, that natures such as his should be treated like fire, which we must furnish with material to feed upon, to prevent it from turning to do evil. His son Arnold, fourteen years in prison with his father, had been released by Christina, who made him her historiographer and raised him to the nobility with a pension. The loss of a lawsuit against his sister, in which Christina compelled him to make restitution, turned him into an enemy, and he swore to plot the ruin of the Queen; building upon the popular discontent and the ambition of Charles Gustavus. The imprudence of his son, a youth of twenty [sic], who had been page to the Prince, caused the design to be discovered in the following manner: In December, 1651, Charles, who continued to reside at Oeland, received an anonymous seditious pamphlet, afterwards traced to the young Messenius, in which the Queen was accused of ruining the kingdom by her extravagant expenses, feasts, and donations to foreigners; of being wholly under the influence of the Chancellor, the High Constable, and Count Magnus, who aimed at excluding the Prince from the government, and wishing to poison him. He was summoned to take arms, murder the Queen and her advisers, and possess himself of the throne; the people of Stockholm, of the country, and the lesser nobility would rise in his favour. The Prince sent the pamphlet to the Queen, with a letter expressing his uneasiness. In the meantime news of the conspiracy had reached her from other sources. "She heard of it in the evening just as she was about to go to bed. Shortly after appeared Governor Fleming, bringing the intelligence she had already heard, through some one who had betrayed the conspirators. The Queen, who was a very fearless and discreet princess, stood and looked very quietly at Fleming, and after considering a short time, replied, 'What you say, Lord Herman, is well judged, but what say you of the hereditary prince? For I know maybe more than you, I know that they have communicated their damnatory projects to the Prince. You who are in his confidence, what think you of it?' Lord Herman answered, 'It is very possible: but what I know for certain is, that his Royal Highness does not bite the hook.' Then the Queen said to Lord Herman, 'In order to get exact knowledge of all the conspirators, we must let the matter come to a rising, and have them all together on the stage, before we drop the curtain, and have them all in the trap. We may well see a fray of it, but I with my people fear the issue not a jot.' Lord Herman had enough to do to draw the Queen from this daring and bloody idea, assuring her that all would yet come to her knowledge, and the matter be quashed without noise. The most notable circumstances was that just so much time as an express takes to go to Oeland and return at the utmost speed, elapsed between the Queen's conversations with Governor Fleming and the arrival of the Prince's letter to the Queen informing her of the audacious designs of the Messenii." It is perhaps still more notable that "subsequently the Queen changed her mind and did not wish to know all." The Messenii were executed. Their confessions implicated many other persons, but it was found unadvisable to push things too far, as the revelations pointed to things that it was better not to know, and persons whose punishment would not have been easy. Among others, Terserus, Nils Nilson, Burgomaster of Stockholm, Benedict Skytté, senator, son of the John Skytté, the leader of the democratic party in the preceding reign, and the great enemy of Oxenstiern, were accused, but acquitted. The records of the trial were destroyed by the Queen's orders [sic].

Above: Kristina.

Above: Karl Gustav.

Notes: Uleåborg is the Swedish name for the Finnish city of Oulu, in the North Ostrobothnia region.

Arnold Messenius, the son, was 22 years old, not 20 (born 1629). He and his father were executed on December 22, 1651/January 1, 1652 (Old Style).

Fryxell's comment:

"Hvad i ofvanstående stycke är berättadt, om drottningens samtal med Herman Fleming och om tiden emellan detsamma och ankomsten af prinsens bref, grundar sig på en blott sägen, hvilken dessutom gått genom många munnar, innan den upptecknades; och torde derföre i ett och annat vara mindre pålitlig."

"What is told in the above paragraph, about the Queen's conversation with Herman Fleming and about the time between the same and the arrival of the Prince's letter, is based on a mere legend, which, moreover, passed through many mouths before it was recorded; and it is therefore likely to be less reliable in some respects."

Francis William Bain on Kristina's resentment of Axel Oxenstierna burning out, on Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie's jealousy of her other favourites, and on his fall from her grace

Source:

Christina, Queen of Sweden, pages 198 to 209, by Francis William Bain, 1890; original at the University of Connecticut Library

https://archive.org/details/christinaqueenof00bain/page/198/mode/2up

Kristina's famous letter of December 5/15 (Old Style) to Magnus de la Gardie is here:

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2022/05/kristinas-letter-to-magnus-de-la-gardie.html

Magnus's letter of November 28/December 8 (Old Style), 1653 to Axel Oxenstierna, is here:

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2023/03/magnus-de-la-gardies-letter-to-axel.html

Kristina's letter to Axel Oxenstierna, written sometime in early or mid-December 1653, is here:

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2022/02/kristinas-letter-to-axel-oxenstierna.html

Oxenstierna's reply to her, of December 22, 1653/January 1, 1654 (Old Style), is here:

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2021/07/axel-oxenstiernas-letter-to-kristina-on.html

His letter of December 24, 1653/January 3, 1654 (Old Style), to his son Erik Oxenstierna is here:

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2021/07/excerpt-from-axel-oxenstiernas-letter_17.html

The account:

The opposition between Christina and the Chancellor had arisen from, and depended upon, their antagonistic view of the proper policy to be followed in settling the affairs of Germany. Having gained her object in the Peace of Westphalia, this cause of difference ceased to exist, especially as she had now long since established her independent position. In view, too, of her resignation, she was desirous of standing well with all parties in the State; and hence, as the factitious party formed by her for a special end, to oppose that of the Chancellor, began to fall to pieces, being no longer required, the influence of Oxenstiern and the aristocracy began once more to regain its old position. This was agreeable to the nobles, who therefore strongly opposed any scheme of abdication in favour of Prince Charles, carefully though he paid his court to all; he himself, on the other hand, and then the generals of the army, who looked forward to a war, were prepared to support it. To these belonged Count Magnus, who depended either on the Queen or on the Prince, and was hated by the nobles for his connection with France. His position was now becoming ambiguous. Christina's new relations with Pimentelli, and the comparative shelving of himself and the French, as he thought, gave him cause for great uneasiness. He began to suspect his favour was declining, and sought to remedy this by expostulating with her, accusing her of allowing herself to be influenced against him by backbiters. His petulant suspicions irritated her to an extreme degree, partly because they assumed her capable of such meanness, partly because they seemed to imply he had claims upon her. In spite of all that has been said to her disadvantage, there is not the shadow of a proof that she ever regarded him from any other point of view than that of a patron, and the summary way she dismissed him, as one of her biographers has said, is clear evidence that she never was anything else to him. The base character of De la Gardie, who never lost a chance of damaging her afterwards, would have caught at any straw in his power to blacken her reputation in order to save his own. During the whole time he was in favour, he was not two years in all at Court; and the facts now to be related will show that Christina saw through him long before the crash came, through his own folly.

Already, as has been noticed, the Count fixed his suspicions on Bourdelot as the author of his declining influence; he complained to the Queen of him, who told him she did not believe him; and Bourdelot himself happening to come by, "told her Majesty that he knew well he had many enemies at Court, who endeavoured to ruin him in the opinion of the great, but that no one would ever be able to prove that he had spoken to any one's detriment." The Count produced two witnesses; but in the presence of the Queen they did not dare to charge Bourdelot to his face with their accusations, and the Queen declared they were impostors. She forbade them to appear again in her sight, saying "they were all French, and creatures of the Count."

Finding that he had only done himself harm by this attempt, De la Gardie demanded permission to retire from Stockholm to his country house, which the Queen refused, telling him that his presence was necessary on business (he was Grand Treasurer at the time). Soon after this the Count finally ruined himself by a somewhat similar endeavour.

Having to speak to the Queen, on matters connected with the state of the finances, one day after a meeting of the Senate she retained him alone with her. The Count immediately began to harangue her on her present misinterpretation of his sentiments, and regretted that she should have complained of him, saying "that he had acted treacherously towards her, but that she would not punish him for his bad faith herself, but leave it to the Prince to do so; yet would not be displeased should others affront him;" this he said he had learned from some one very near her Majesty's person, who told him he had it from her Majesty's own mouth. The Queen, much surprised, told him he ought to know her better than to suppose her capable of such a thing, ... and she bade him tell her who was his informant. He said it was Steinberg, her chief Equerry. "I cannot believe it", said the Queen, "he is a man of too much honour to tell such lies." She averred that if Steinberg allowed he had said it, she would admit having made the complaint. Accordingly, Steinberg and some senators were summoned from the antechamber by the Queen herself, who told him what the Count had said, and bade him say whether he acknowledged it. Steinberg replied he was astonished that Count Magnus, for whom he had always had respect and affection, should calumniate him to the Queen and seek his ruin in this way; he solemnly swore he had never heard her Majesty say any such thing. ... The Queen, satisfied with Steinberg's disavowal, and feeling pity for the Count, did not wish to proceed any further in the matter; but Steinberg considered it concerned his own honour to know who had told this to the Count, and the Queen approved his judgment, not sorry to see that he wished to sift the matter, as she was beginning to get tired of the Count's repeated attempts to prejudice her against others. Accordingly Steinberg went to the Count's house, and begged him to give him the name of the person who had slandered him; the Count, with profuse apologies, said he was quite willing to take his word for it, that his informant was a rascal. This did not satisfy Steinberg, but as he could not induce De la Gardie to disclose his authority, he went to the Queen to beg her to interfere. Christina sent Prince Adolphus to require the Count to give his informant's name; but the latter begged to decline to do so, as he had promised to keep his name a secret. The Queen sent the Prince to him again, telling him that he must; she had taken upon her to defend Steinberg's honour. Count Magnus thereupon declared, after deprecating any disgrace for him, that it was Schlippenbach, Colonel and Grand Seneschal at Stockholm. The Queen bade him write to him, as she would herself, to come to Upsala. "The Count wrote him a rigmarole which no one could understand." Schlippenbach came immediately; the day after[,] the Count sent him four friends to ask him whether he would not maintain that Steinberg had said the thing. He said positively, "No; he saw well that they were trying to ruin him; but he would speak the truth to her Majesty, and show himself a man of honour." On December 18, the Queen summoned Schlippenbach, Count Magnus, Steinberg, the senators, and the other chief men in the Court, who had been present before. She made a speech on the whole question, and told the Count to restate the matter alleged to have come from Schlippenbach; she then took the latter by the button of his doublet, and said to him, "Understand that I am prepared to own it, if Steinberg says I said it." Schlippenbach answered, that he did not know what Count Magnus meant; that he had never told him what he alleged; that Steinberg had never spoken to him of it, nor he himself to the Count, of Steinberg: except that once, dining with the Count, he had said to him, that it was obvious the Queen no longer had the same esteem for him as formerly, and that Steinberg was in great favour; on which point the Count had often spoken to him, as a thing he could not bear. The Count thereupon told him he was a rascal, and lied like a Schelm. Schlippenbach answered he was himself a man of honour, but as to the Count, he was not acting like an honourable man. The Count said it was true there were no witnesses, because the affair had taken place in private: Schlippenbach protested he had never spoken to him tête-à-tête, on which the Count fell into great confusion. The Queen, taking pity on him, said this was a matter which did not concern her, and withdrew. The Count sent to beg permission to bring Schlippenbach to justice: the Queen replied, such a course would only end in his own confusion. After dinner on the same day, the Count, through Prince Adolphus, begged her to let him go into the country to settle his domestic affairs, not to suffer Schlippenbach at the Court, and not to speak of the matter to his disadvantage. The Queen, astonished at these demands, sent to him to say, she not only permitted but ordered him to leave town, and go wherever he chose, except to her Court, to which he was not to return till he had cleared himself to his honour; as for Schlippenbach, she could not think of it; as to his third demand, he might console himself in his disgrace by the thought that, had she not retained some goodwill towards him, severer measures would have been used; all she could do for him was to pity his self-inflicted misfortune. The Count, though he ought to have gone that evening, waited till the next day, in hopes she might relent; finding she did not, he sent her a letter by Prince Adolphus, which she read twice, saying each time, "Poor Count!" She sent no answer, and the Count departed on the following day to a country house ten leagues from Stockholm. He was dissuaded from challenging Schlippenbach by the representations of the nobles, that being the fifth man in the Senate, the inequality of rank forbade it. Subsequently he wrote to the Queen, and received the following crushing reply: —

"SIR,

"As you express a wish to see me again after your disgrace, I am obliged to tell you how opposed this wish is to your advantage; and I write this letter to remind you of the reasons which prevent me from listening to it, and which ought to convince you, too, that the interview is useless to your repose. It is not for me to bring remedies for your misfortune: it is to yourself you must look for the reparation of your honour. What can you hope from me? or what can I do, except pity you and blame you? The friendship I had for you compels me to do both; and whatever indulgence I have had for you, I cannot, without giving myself the lie, pardon you the crime you have committed against yourself. Do not imagine I am angry with you — I assure you I am not. I am henceforth incapable of feeling any other sentiment for you than that of pity, which can do you no good, since you have yourself rendered useless the sentiments of goodwill I had for you. You are unworthy by your own confession, and you have yourself pronounced the decree of your banishment in the sight of several persons of rank who were present. I have confirmed this decree because I found it just, and I am not ready to undo it, as you are given to suppose. After what you have done and suffered, dare you show yourself to me? You make me feel ashamed when I think how many base actions you have stooped to, how often you have submitted to those whom you have so grievously injured. In this unfortunate affair, no spark of magnanimity or generosity has appeared in your conduct. Were I capable of repenting, I should regret having ever contracted a friendship with a soul so feeble as yours; but this weakness is unworthy of me, and, having always acted as reason dictated, I ought not to blame the veil I have thrown over the course of events. I would have preserved this all my life had not your imprudence compelled me to declare myself against you. Honour compels me to do it openly, and justice forces it upon me. I have done too much for you these nine years, in that I have always blindly taken your part against all. But now that you abandon your dearest interests, I am released from all further care of them. You have yourself betrayed a secret which I had resolved to keep all my life, by showing that you were unworthy of the fortune I built for you. If you are determined to hear my reproaches, you can come to me; I consent on this condition. But do not hope that tears or submission will ever force me to yield a hair's-breadth. The only favour I can do for you is to remember you but little, and speak of you less; being determined never to mention you except to blame you. For I ought to show you that you are unworthy of my esteem after a fault like yours. That is all I had to do for you. Remember, however, that you are yourself to blame for what has occurred to your disgrace, and that I am just towards you as I always will be for all the world.

"CHRISTINA.

"Upsala, Dec. 5, 1653."

Throughout the whole of this narration the native baseness of the Count is clearly seen. And when we remember that the Count's household were nearly all French, and that he was especially connected with the French interests, we have the solution of many a slander directed against the Queen in later years. Even he did not venture to apply again to Christina directly, but great efforts were made by his friends to revoke her decision. Prince Charles wrote in his behalf, but Christina sent him an account of the transaction, and remained inflexible. Count Magnus actually applied to his old enemy the Chancellor, to get him to use his reviving influence with Christina; to which appeal Oxenstiern retorted, it is said, by quoting the words De la Gardie had in his sunny days used of the Chancellor, "that he doted, being already in his second childhood, and no longer capable of giving counsel", at the same time bidding him observe that he could now do nothing for him but bewail his misfortune. To the Queen, who wrote to appeal to his judgment, Oxenstiern replied that he approved her action, yet was inclined to mercy; to his son Eric he described the Count as having brought it upon himself, and as little capable of supporting bad as good fortune. Although the Senate interceded for him, Christina refused to alter her resolution; saying that on his accession the Prince might do what he liked, but that she did not wish to hear of him again. Count Magnus took the mean revenge of testifying his joy when he heard of her resolution to resign, and expected that Charles would restore him to favour as soon as he came to the throne; but the latter declared that his gratitude to Christina would never permit him to let any person approach him who had been in her bad graces. Notwithstanding, the Count did return, and was foremost in thwarting all Christina's wishes and projects in later years, as will be seen. He lived to display his baseness on a grander stage by taking bribes from Louis XIV., as Chancellor of Sweden, and contributing largely to the downfall and degradation of his country; but Nemesis overtook him under Charles IX. The state in which he closed his contemptible and consistent career is an ironical commentary on its brilliant outset, and furnishes an edifying instance of retributive justice such as history does not often afford.

Above: Kristina.

Above: Axel Oxenstierna.

Above: Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie.

Notes: Schelm = rogue (skälm).

"The Italics are ours." - Bain

Francis William Bain on Kristina surviving the 1647 assassination attempt and the 1652 near-drowning incident, and on her calm, fearless, joking or trivialising reactions and strong presence of mind during them

Source:

Christina, Queen of Sweden, pages 209 to 210, by Francis William Bain, 1890; original at the University of Connecticut Library

https://archive.org/details/christinaqueenof00bain/page/208/mode/2up

The account:

On more than one occasion Christina's life was in danger, and in every case she displayed the same cool courage and presence of mind. In 1647, in the Castle Church, a lunatic seized the moment when the congregation was kneeling after the sermon was over, to rush into the elevated gallery, where she was, and got within two steps of her; quite unmoved, she rose, and pushed her Captain of the Guards, who seized him by the hair. It was doubtful what the man's intentions were; two knives were found on him; however that may be, the incident showed the steadiness of the Queen's nerves. In June, 1652, she went at four in the morning to inspect the fleet which was being fitted up at Stockholm. While Admiral Herman Fleming was showing her a new ship, they were standing together on a plank; it suddenly tilted up, and the Admiral fell into the sea, in very deep water, dragging the Queen after him; fortunately her Equerry, Steinberg, being close by, jumped in just in time to seize her by the skirt of her dress, only just visible, as the Admiral, who had sunk, was clutching hold of her petticoats. Several people hurried up, and succeeded in getting her on board. Though she had fallen in head first and swallowed a lot of water, she was no sooner pulled out than she bade them save the Admiral, who was still grasping her clothes. So far from blaming him for this, she praised him, as he would certainly have drowned if he had not. She was moreover, she said, used to drinking cold water, only not salt and dirty; but the Admiral, she maliciously added, must have found the change from beer and wine unpleasant. She made no fuss about it, and dined in public as if nothing had happened.

Above: Kristina.

Notes: The man who tried to assassinate Kristina was Christoffer Presbeckius.

The incident where Kristina and Herman Fleming almost drowned happened in May 1652, not June.

salt = salty.

Francis William Bain on Kristina's behaviour and policy in relation to foreign countries towards the end of her reign

Source:

Christina, Queen of Sweden, pages 195 to 198, by Francis William Bain, 1890; original at the University of Connecticut Library

https://archive.org/details/christinaqueenof00bain/page/194/mode/2up

The account:

There is no more truth in the allegations respecting her neglect of affairs with Spain, or the dark surmisings of her enemies as to this power. There are no signs of any inclination on her part to a treaty between Spain, England, and Sweden; Pimentelli indeed spoke to Whitelocke on the subject, but such a treaty was to the taste of neither Christina nor Cromwell, and the idea was not entertained. The Queen confined herself to sending an ambassador to Spain, to make overtures as to a commercial treaty with Sweden; this was the status quo when she abdicated. She showed no appearance of hostility to France, but assured Picques of her continued good will to that country.

It is the same when we examine her dealings with the Imperial Court. Christina showed favour to its ambassador Montecuculi, and endeavoured, indeed, to conciliate Frederick III. by supporting the claims of his son to be elected King of Rome, writing for that purpose to the electors in April, 1653. But the motive of this was purely political, and had nothing to do with Pimentelli or Montecuculi. She aimed at settling the difficulties that had arisen about Bremen. Sweden had, it will be remembered, acquired the bishopric of Bremen by the treaty of Westphalia; the present disputes turned upon the respective rights of the town and those Sweden had gained over it. There were also differences with Brandenburg and Pomerania. It is not necessary here to examine details; the settlement of both questions took place in the next reign, but the point to be noticed is that in order to a settlement it was necessary to gain the goodwill of the Emperor, to which accordingly Christina applied herself, as usual, with diplomatic skill. She had not time to accomplish it, but she prepared the way.

With Holland, in spite of certain vexatious actions tending to injure and interfere with Swedish commerce, she confined herself to sharp remonstrances, which had their effect; she took no part in the war of 1652–3, in which the Dutch were beaten by Cromwell, and here maintained her usual peace policy. As to the old enemies, Denmark and Poland, the prospect looked darker; the jealousy and fear of the former country, and the irritating claims of the latter, were respectively complicated by Ulfeld and Radziejowski, each anxious to forestall the other in attacking his own country and enforcing his rights by the help of Sweden. A war with these countries was merely a question of time; Christina pointed to this, when, in answer to the protestation of Poland against the election of Charles Gustavus, she replied that her cousin would "prove which had the best right to the throne by the testimony of thirty thousand men:" a prediction verified by the "New Pyrrhus", as soon as he came to the throne. For the wars of Sweden with Poland and Denmark, however, not Christina was responsible, but the old national animosities and the fiery character of Charles X.

Above: Kristina.

Francis William Bain on Kristina's friendship with Bulstrode Whitelocke

Source:

Christina, Queen of Sweden, pages 191 to 195, by Francis William Bain, 1890; original at the University of Connecticut Library

https://archive.org/details/christinaqueenof00bain/page/190/mode/2up

The account:

... Christina was at no time more closely allied with Pimentelli than other ambassadors whom she thought it necessary to conciliate for political reasons. The insinuations against him are due to his country and his religion, and were never directed against another ambassador to whom she showed equal if not greater favour, Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke, who was sent by Cromwell to Sweden in 1653 to negotiate a commercial treaty with England and establish friendly relations between the two countries. His first interview with Christina took place on December 23, 1653:

"He perceived the Queen sitting, at the upper end of the room, upon her chair of state of crimson velvet... he put off his cap, and then the Queen put off her cap, after the fashion of men, and came two or three steps forward upon the foot carpet. This, and her being covered and rising from her seat, caused Whitelocke to know her to be the Queen, which otherwise had not been easy to be discerned, her habit being of plain grey stuff, her petticoat reaching to the ground, over that a jacket such as men wear, of the same stuff, reaching to her knees; on her left side, tied with crimson ribbons, she wore the jewel of the order of Amaranta; her cuffs ruffled à la mode, no gorget or band, but a black scarf about her neck, tied before with a black ribbon as soldiers and mariners sometimes use to wear; her hair was braided and hung loose upon her head: she wore a black velvet cap lined with sables and turned up after the fashion of the country, which she used to put on and off as men do their hats. Her countenance was sprightly, but somewhat pale; she has much of majesty in her demeanour, and though her person were of the smaller size, yet her mien and carriage were very noble."

Christina took great delight in Whitelocke's company and humour; she would frequently have him to her palace, and after "calling for stools" in deference to his lameness, she would sit hours at a time discussing English and foreign affairs, not unmixed with what he calls "drollery." The accounts he has left us show what tact she would bring to bear on her negotiations with foreign powers. To oblige him, she ceased to hold balls on Sunday, as was customary in Sweden, which he considered a profanation of the Sabbath. She always expressed a great admiration of Cromwell, whom she compared to Gustavus Vasa. She would sometimes ride with him, and on one such occasion tried his pistols and her own to see which were the best. On February 20th, Valentine's Eve according to the old style, she gave him leave to be her Valentine, and wear her name in his hat; he sent her as a present "a great looking-glass." It was just such instances of graceful humour that in cases other than Whitelocke's were twisted into scandals by malevolent calumniators.

He describes for us the balls and festivals given by the Queen: "The Queen and her ladies would first dance the brawls, then French dances; ... she took great delight in English country dances, and herself danced with more life and spirit than the rest of the ladies, or any he had seen;" as well as masquerades and ballets, such as that in January, 1651, called the "triumphant Parnassus;" sometimes the national costumes of Europe, past and present, would be represented, Christina appearing now as a Dutch maidservant, now a Moorish lady, or citizen's wife. At a "Banquet of the Gods" in 1651 [sic], in which Ulfeld, Radziejowski, Pimentelli, and Count Magnus appeared as Jupiter, Bacchus, Mars, and Apollo, she instituted her "Order of Amaranta." The origin of the name is obscure; perhaps from the Greek "never fading;" or a pastoral in which Christina was a shepherdess, Amarantha. The badge was a gold medal on which was engraved a double A, interlaced, with the motto "Dolce nella memoria." There were thirty members in addition to the Queen; they swore to follow Virtue and Honour, and had the privilege of feasting with her on Saturdays at a country house near Stockholm. One condition was that the candidate must be unmarried; this must have been abrogated in the case of Whitelocke, who was made a member; he had been married three times. "Pardieu, vous êtes incorrigible!" said the Queen, when he told her.

Her enemies fastened on this "Order", trying to connect it scandalously with Pimentelli, whose Christian name was Antonio; a thing refuted by the date, when he had not as yet come to Sweden [sic]. They saw further evidence in the diamond ring she gave him, at one of these masques, to hold for her till she asked for it, when she went to change her dress; when he offered it back to her, she said she had not asked for it yet, nor would; he was to keep it in memory of her. But Whitelocke, who relates it, speaks of the whole thing as taking place "genteelly, and without the least offence or scandal."

Not only are charges of this pitiful kind absolutely without foundation, but neither is there anything in the assertion that at this time she abandoned politics for frivolous amusements. A typical illustration is furnished by the innumerable discussions between Whitelocke and herself respecting his mission, in which her careful consideration of all details is obvious. Certainly, there was considerable delay in settling and concluding it, of which Whitelocke complains. But he does not notice the reason for this delay; his own pages furnish continual evidence that Christina and the Chancellor were waiting to see whether Cromwell could establish his power on a sure basis. In the meantime Balandine, Charles II.'s envoy, came to Sweden to ask assistance. Christina wrote an answer with her own hand, "regretting her inability to provide any remedy for the incurable evils of the age, and[,] hoping that time[,] which cures all things[,] might put an end to his evil fortune, and furnish her with opportunities to assist him without detriment to her own interests and obligations." But after Cromwell became Protector, in December, 1653, the treaty of commerce progressed better: it was finally signed in April, 1654. On his departure, Christina made Whitelocke a present of raw copper worth £2500.

Above: Kristina.

Above: Bulstrode Whitelocke.

Francis William Bain on Kristina's friendships with Antonio Pimentel, Corfitz Ulfeldt and Hieronim Radziejowski

Source:

Christina, Queen of Sweden, pages 187 to 191, by Francis William Bain, 1890; original at the University of Connecticut Library

https://archive.org/details/christinaqueenof00bain/page/186/mode/2up

Kristina's letter of August 14/24 (Old Style), 1652 to Axel Oxenstierna is here:

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2019/05/kristinas-letter-to-chancellor-axel.html

The account:

Among her more intimate associates in the latter year of her reign was the Spanish ambassador, Don Antonio Pimentelli. On his arrival in 1652, Christina wrote to the Chancellor, bidding him pay special attention to his reception and see that nothing was wanting to make his lodging comfortable. Pimentelli speedily became a very great favourite with the Queen. It is said that at his first audience he made her a profound bow, and retired immediately, without a word. The next day he presented himself again, and addressed to her a studied and flattering discourse. Thereupon Christina asked him the meaning of his withdrawing on the previous day: he replied, that he had been so much struck with Her Majesty's presence, that the interval had been necessary to him in order to collect himself. Whatever truth there may be in this story, the Spanish ambassador was certainly a man of great courtliness of demeanor and captivating address. Whitelocke calls him "a man of great parts and ingenuity, and of a very civil deportment." When he came to see Whitelocke, "he fell into a commendation of the Queen, her singular parts and abilities for government and public affairs, excelling all women, and scarce giving place therein to any man he had ever met with; and that she was of an admirable spirit and courage beyond her sex, well skilled for military affairs, and as fit as possibly a woman could be to lead an army." He was a prominent figure at her receptions, and possessed much of her confidence; being one of the few to whom she communicated her design of becoming a Catholic.

Two other men are worthy of notice, both of whom had influence at a later time on Swedish politics. These were Count Corfiz Ulfeld, a native of Denmark, and Radziejowski, a Pole, both political refugees. The former, the favourite of Christian IV., had married a daughter of that king by a second marriage, had been Viceroy of Norway, and Grand Master of the Danish Court; after Christina's death [sic] his abilities and great influence aroused the jealousy of Frederick III., who sought to ruin him by bringing various false accusations against him; in 1651 he fled with his wife in the disguise of a page to Sweden, and claimed the protection of Christina, which she afforded him. To the remonstrances of Denmark she pleaded a clause in the Treaty of Stettin in 1570, by which political refugees of the various states concerned were allowed to claim shelter in the others; precedents were also adduced of Swedish refugees in Denmark in the time of Sigismund. Ulfeld was accused by Charles II., then in exile, of appropriating to his own use 24,000 dollars, which ought to have been paid to himself; it turned out, however, that so far from this being the case, Ulfeld had even increased that sum with half as much again of his own. He remained at Stockholm, and endeavoured to induce Christina to make war on his own country for the purpose of restoring him, giving her all the information he could about its resources; the war, however, did not come in her time.

Similar appeals were made to her by the other fugitive, Radziejowski, a resolute and daring intriguer, who had been Vice-Chancellor of Poland. Suspecting an intrigue between his wife and John Casimir, he had attempted to rouse ill-feeling against the king; his wife during his absence from home took refuge in a convent, whereupon Radziejowski collected a band of men and endeavoured to storm it; failing in this, and feeling himself in danger, he fled the country, going to the Courts of Transylvania, and the Emperor, and lastly to Sweden, in 1652. Here he busied himself in trying to arouse the Cossacks against the King of Poland, and also to excite a war between that country and Sweden, for which purpose he betrayed to Denmark the designs of Ulfeld, to prevent his plans from getting a start. He got what he wanted as soon as Charles X. came to the throne.

The national hatred of Roman Catholics and the Imperialist and Spanish party, the distrust of foreign influence, and the rancour of the envious French have succeeded in presenting Christina's relations with these four men in an entirely erroneous light. They are supposed to have corrupted her morals and perverted her policy; it was hinted that Bourdelot and Pimentelli were strenuously working to alienate her mind from her old allies, the French, and substitute Spain in her good graces, by working on her admiration of Condé (in whose service Bourdelot had formerly been, and who was at this time in the Spanish interests), by commending the advantages of a commercial treaty with Spain, and depreciating the salt trade with Portugal. Pimentelli, we are told, was inducing her to form an alliance with Spain and England against Holland, and drawing her near to the Emperor; rumours were whispered of a marriage between her and the King of Hungary; still darker "there-be-an-if-they-mights", "we-would-an-if-we-coulds", were thrown out about her and the fascinating Spanish ambassador. All this figments are, however, in flagrant contradiction with the facts.

To begin with, Christina was at no time more closely allied with Pimentelli than other ambassadors whom she thought it necessary to conciliate for political reasons. The insinuations against him are due to his country and his religion, and were never directed against another ambassador to whom she showed equal if not greater favour, Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke, who was sent by Cromwell to Sweden in 1653 to negotiate a commercial treaty with England and establish friendly relations between the two countries. ...

Above: Kristina.

Above: Antonio Pimentel.

Above: Corfitz Ulfeldt.

Above: Hieronim Radziejowski.

Note: Stettin is the German name for the city of Szczecin in what is now the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland.

Francis William Bain on Kristina beginning to tire of ruling; the effects of her overexertion, overwork and external pressures on her mental and physical health; her friendship with Pierre Bourdelot and his influence on her; and refutations of the accusations against him and her

Source:

Christina, Queen of Sweden, pages 172 to 187, by Francis William Bain, 1890; original at the University of Connecticut Library

https://archive.org/details/christinaqueenof00bain/page/172/mode/2up

The account:

CHAPTER V.

WHILE the rumour of Christina's strange character and political genius, her profuse liberalities and patronage of learning and art, her power in the Senate, and her prospective resignation of her crown at so early an age, was turning the eyes of Europe curiously towards this "tenth Muse" and "Sibyl of the North", she was herself a prey to profound dissatisfaction. She began to find that her position involved too great a strain upon her. It is not wonderful [surprising] that under such a weight of cares and occupations she should be on the point of breaking down. Frederick the Great was not more anxious to do everything in person than Christina; she felt with her favourite historian that the necessities of empire demanded that all affairs should be referred to one head. But already in 1648 she had written to Salvius, reminding him "how arduous and subject to fortune was the burden of ruling all." The entire business of State passed through her hands; ambassadors transacted their affairs with her personally; internal discords and domestic affairs demanded her continual attention, and she would master all the smallest details; yet for all this she studied hard in private, and kept up her intercourse with the philosophers and men of learning at her court; for this purpose she hardly allowed herself sufficient sleep. In addition to actual business[,] the care of providing for the succession weighed upon her mind. The burden of affairs, in itself too great, was increased tenfold by her growing dislike to them; she felt herself to be on a treadmill; she had nothing to satisfy the longings of her soul; only by the severest sense of duty could she bring herself to perform her task. "She found no pleasure in it, neither did she love her country: she had no sympathies with its customs, its pleasures, its constitution, whether civil or ecclesiastical, or even its past history. The ceremonies of State, the long harangues to which she was bound to listen, the official duties which compelled her to take personal share in some great ceremonial observance were abhorrent to her: the range of cultivation and learning within which her countrymen were content to confine themselves, appeared to her contemptible." Financial difficulties were pressing; her continuous study had begun to arouse a natural reaction; the vanity and petty disputes of some of the pedants who surrounded her awoke her disgust; she was heartily tired of the throne; like Severus, she felt that she "had been all things, and all was of no avail;" yet she could look no higher, she had nothing further to hope; and, finally, she stood alone. The only man to whom in any degree she opened herself, Chanut, had been replaced by another.

To the disquiet of her soul met be added the dangerous state of her health, at once its cause and its effect. Christina had always been delicate from a child; she was often dangerously ill, as in 1642, 1645; in 1648, the year of the peace, she was three times seized with fever; in 1650, she had a violent fever, twice, with symptoms of inflammation of the lungs; in 1651, being on a visit to her mother at Nycöping, she was seized with a syncope at supper, and remained an hour unconscious; these fainting fits became frequent; on one occasion she remained unconscious for some hours, her pulses stopped; on reviving she told the physician that she had never expected to hear his voice again. Overwork and mental worry, aided by the ignorance of her doctors, who knew no remedy but bleeding, would soon have been fatal. But just at this moment she made the acquaintance of Bourdelot.

The importance of this man's subsequent relations with Christina makes it necessary to dwell upon them, all the more as they have been completely misrepresented and distorted by his enemies and Christina's biographers. His real name was Michon, the son of a barber at Sens, who became an apothecary. Young Michon adopted the name of his uncle, Bourdelot, as well as his profession, that of a doctor; he went to Italy, and on his return asserted that he had been physician to Urban VIII., who would have made him a cardinal if he had stayed in Italy. (We are not able to judge of the truth of this story, but it must be recollected that in the seventeenth century all things were possible to adventurers at Rome; and it is not intrinsically improbable, since Bourdelot was certainly a better doctor than most of those of his age, and, as will be seen, capable of gaining the good graces of princes.) He was introduced to the Queen by Salmasius, who, it is said, wished to have a friend at Court after he had gone. Bourdelot at once made many enemies the moment he arrived by banishing the former doctors and forbidding the Queen to have any further intercourse with the savans: to these beneficial preliminaries, he added a careful regulation of her diet and regimen. But he was not a mere curator of the body; he possessed the most invaluable quality of a doctor, tact; and he saw that Christina's temper and mind had given way under the strain of work and distasteful associations, and required tonics no less than her body; he accordingly applied himself to curing by amusing her, which he was well qualified to do, having a great command of the smaller social accomplishments; he had a very ready and satirical wit, could sing, play the guitar, was a connoisseur in perfumes (a neglected department of medicine); gifted, moreover, with a positive genius for investing amusements; fertile in expedients to make the time go; in short, exactly the man suited for rescuing Christina from her gloomy situation. And he succeeded so well in his treatment that Christina was soon restored to health; she frequently says in her letters that next to God she owed her life to Bourdelot; and she preserved a lifelong gratitude towards him.

He speedily acquired a great influence at the Court, and at the same time a numerous band of enemies. Chief among these were the learned men. And it must certainly be admitted that he contributed not a little to this hatred by the tricks which he played to some of the fraternity. A certain Meibomius had written a treatise on the music of the ancients; and Naudé, one upon their art of dancing. Bourdelot persuaded the Queen to make them give practical illustrations of their theories: Naudé was to dance to the singing of Meibomius, who had no voice, and did not know a note of music; the scene was ludicrous in the extreme; those of the Court who were looking on were convulsed with laughter; so that Meibomius, losing his temper not unnaturally, struck Bourdelot in the face, for which he was banished from Court. Another time, when Bochart was to read his 'Phaleg', a work on sacred geography, and expecting the applause of the Queen, Bourdelot would not allow her to be present, saying that she had been bled, and must keep her room; the mortified author had to read his treatise to an audience ungraced by the presence of Christina. Certainly such jests as these prove Bourdelot to have had no special reverence for some of the learned pedants who bore him malice. But for all that the heavy accusations which have been brought against him can all be traced to jealousy and spite, and will not stand examination. It was asserted by the doctors that Bourdelot knew nothing of medicine, and that all the senators he had treated died. But not to mention that no instances are given, and that this statement was refuted by the case of Christina — not to mention the incompetence of those who brought the charge, and their envy — there is still extant a statement by Bourdelot of the Queen's case, and a prescription for its treatment, which has been pronounced by modern physicians to be not without merit. It may be added that another assertion, adduced as proof of his medical ignorance, namely, that he was of opinion that enthusiasts ought to be cured by exorcism, really establishes his insight into the nature of mental disease and its cure by the means of mental expectancy. It was asserted by the learned, that though he gave himself out for learned, he was very ignorant. This charge is completely refuted by the testimony of Naudé himself, who mentions Bourdelot with approval as taking part in studies with himself and other savans; by the fact that Salmasius had a high opinion of him; and by the fact that he was the means of introducing to Christina Pascal and Gassendi, although it is quite possible that he had not the same claims to the title of learned as such men as Vossius, Heinsius, and others, which is no disgrace. He was, moreover, much of the mind of Lord Bolingbroke, and considered it no sign of a contempt for true learning to despise those who spend their whole life in collecting all the learned lumber that fills the head of an antiquary. They further asserted that, for instance in the case of Bochart and his 'Phaleg', he tried to prevent Christina from showing favour to learned men. But so far was Bourdelot from cherishing a grudge against Bochart that he procured him some Arabic MSS. to assist him in composing the very book in question. And what would a modern doctor say if, when treating an analogous case of nervous exhaustion, he found his patient besieged by a crowd of pedants ready to bring on a relapse by plaguing her with inopportune treatises on sacred geography?

But these were not Bourdelot's only enemies. The Queen, having Chanut no longer by her, and not caring for the new resident, Picques, was now showing much favour to Pimentelli, the Spanish ambassador, a point to which we shall return; this aroused the keen jealousy of all the French at Court, who promptly accused her of deserting France and going over to Spain, a charge utterly without foundation; hinc illæ lacrimæ when they accused Bourdelot of intriguing against France. They further asserted that Bourdelot was the cause of the disgrace of Count Magnus de la Gardie; this is simply ridiculous, as will soon appear. The nobles, moreover, all hated him for his influence, as a foreigner and a Frenchman, and lent a ready ear to all accusations against him.

The source of most of these accusations against him is the letters of the discarded savans, and the last part of Chanut's 'Mémoires', which are not to be ascribed to Chanut, but to the French, who were furious at being neglected, and caught at every scandal that might enable them to vent their malice. Certainly Bourdelot was not a man of solid character; on this point Christina's own judgment is final; she calls him a man consumed with vanity (a description which would suit also most of the learned men); though she never forgot he had saved her life, she did not admire his character; if she considered him a marvellously clever man, that was no more than the truth. But the baseless assertion that he had great influence over her mind — a thing quite absurd to any one who is familiar with her astonishing independence of spirit — renders it necessary to show the futility of the attacks upon him. The last charge is principally due to the worst of all his enemies, the bigoted Lutheran clergy. He was supposed to make a jest of all religion, and to have inspired Christina with his own sentiments. He was called by some an atheist, by others a deist — words in the mouth of a bigoted Protestant applied to all beliefs somewhat higher than his own. "They think a man believes not at all in God because he believes little in Luther", said a Catholic of that time. The chief authority for calling Bourdelot an atheist is Vossius, who was himself suspected of the very same thing; in a letter to Heinsius he says, "Ait enim nullos esse Deos, cælum inane, et mera esse verba virtutem, lucum ligna;" ["For he says that there are no gods, that Heaven is empty, and that virtue is mere words, and that the grove is wood"] a charge probably made in order to enable Vossius to quote Horace. How much the charge was worth is shown by this, that Christina herself was accused of atheism; and, finally, whatever Bourdelot's own religious views might be, it will be proved in a subsequent chapter that he had absolutely nothing to do with Christina's change of faith.

The true reason of the general hatred of Bourdelot is that, for the various reasons given above, he had enemies in all parties at the court: the doctors, the savans, the French, the nobles, and the clergy. When[,] after her abdication[,] their doubts were changed to violent animosity by her conversion, they were only too eager to try and fasten on some one whom they could accuse of "perverting the mind of their Queen, and all the good dispositions she had for the Protestant religion", and Bourdelot became their scapegoat. Among other things they abhorred were the festivals and masquerades, which Bourdelot was active in promoting, and it has been the traditional habit of biographers to frame their views of the sinful doings of her last years upon the accounts of the hostile French, the sour-visaged Swedes, and the Puritan Whitelocke, who[,] though an admirable witness in all other matters, is not to be trusted here. The simplest pleasures were a crime in their eyes, and evidence of a desperate downfall: Whitelocke expelled two young men from his suite, and would hardly be persuaded to take them back, because they would go "forth to take the air" on Sunday, instead of going to church.

The jealousy and hatred of Bourdelot took effect in repeated attempts to expel him. Count Magnus accused him to the Queen of trying to influence her against himself and other nobles: Bourdelot denied this to his face, and the affair dropped; but a similar mean trick against another honourable man ended, as will be seen, in Count Magnus being disgraced. The nobles laid their hands together with the French resident Picques, to contrive some way of getting rid of him. Meanwhile the clergy determined to act. They had observed signs on the part of the Queen, showing disapproval of the national religion. For the clergy Christina had always shown friendliness; Oxenstiern accused her of favouring them too much. But various circumstances had recently changed their attitude. They were mortally offended when the learned Jew before mentioned dedicated to her his work entitled "Conciliador", aimed at reconciling conflicting passages in the Bible. Further, Matthiæ had published his 'Idea Boni Ordinis', an exposition of his favourite scheme of reconciling differences in the churches, and Christina was not only very intimate with him, but it was even rumoured that she intended to establish a theological college in Germany to realize this ideal. "The bishops called on the Council of State to keep watch over the national religion; the Grand Chancellor repaired to the Queen with representations which drew tears into her eyes." Such criticism was not likely to improve her temper. Moreover, "the prolixity of those discourses, to which she was compelled by the national ordinances to listen, had long been most wearisome to her; they now became intolerable. She frequently betrayed her impatience by moving her chair, or playing with her little dog; but the merciless preachers were but the more firmly resolved to continue their lectures, and detain her all the longer for these marks of weariness."

Hence the relations between Queen and Clergy became daily more strained. Not guessing what was passing in her mind, they ascribed all to the bad influence of Bourdelot. They therefore drew up a remonstrance against him; but now the question arose, who was to present it? None of them daring to approach the Queen with their instrument, the Queen-mother Maria Eleanora, undertook to do so. Under cover of asking permission to retire to Nyköping, she intimated to her daughter her distress at the complaints made by clergy and people against Bourdelot, and her apprehension of his bad influence on her; she took courage from Christina's silence, and was going on, when the Queen interrupted her by saying "she was much obliged for her good advice; but these matters were too hard for them, and must be left to the priests." Maria Eleanora attempting to reply, Christina answered sharply, that she knew well who had instigated her to this, and that she would teach them who she was, and cause them to repent their imprudence. She then quitted the room, and left her mother alone, who burst into tears as usual. Two hours afterwards Christina was informed that she would let no one come near her, and was still crying. "She brought this unpleasant satisfaction on herself", answered Christina, with a fine touch of criticism on Maria Eleanora's character. However, five or six hours afterwards, Christina went to see her, without talking afterwards of what had occurred: Maria Eleanora subsequently departed for Nyköping.

And this impertinent interference and small-minded criticism of her motives has often been quoted as an instance of Christina's want of filial respect!

Nevertheless[,] the odium against Bourdelot was so great that Christina found herself soon afterwards obliged to dismiss him, though he gave out that it was not a dismissal, but that he was sent on an embassy to the Court of France, to treat for Christina on a subject of great importance. And it is indeed stated by Gualdo that she sent him, being privy to her design of going over to Rome, and abdicating, to see whether she could come to France after resigning the crown. However that may be, Bourdelot departed, retaining to the last the confidence of Christina, who gave him letters of recommendation to the Court of France, as well as 10,000 rix dollars, and a draft for 20,000 more, payable in six months. Prince Charles Gustavus gave him likewise a gold chain and his portrait in a box covered with diamonds; and Prince Adolphus did the same to please the Queen, "though they both had a mortal aversion for him." Cardinal Mazarin preferred him afterwards to the Abbey of Massay in Berry, where he did not get on well with the monks. The foolish story that the Queen, shortly afterwards receiving a letter from him, threw it aside, exclaiming, "Ha! it smells of medicine", is sufficiently refuted by its authority, and by the fact that she continued to correspond with him for the rest of her life. But it is remarkable that Guy Patin, the scandal-monger to whom we are indebted to much that is said against him, makes the following statement about Bourdelot towards the end of his life: "He says that everybody is ignorant, that there never was a philosopher equal to Descartes, that all the doctors of to-day are pedants, with their Greek and Latin, and that they have not the insight to try and discover any remedies other than the popular ones." This is the secret of the abuse of Bourdelot; it is merely what Molière said in other words.

We have anticipated a little in order to clear up Bourdelot's affairs. In the meantime the state of Christina's health and her distaste of business, arising from over-application, led her to employ more of her time in relaxation than formerly, and to vary the monotony by balls, masquerades, and amusements of that kind. But the accusations made against her, that in this last period she completely neglected State affairs, wasted her time in frivolous amusements, and showed a complete change in her personal and political behaviour, due to the influence of Bourdelot, Pimentelli, and others, and still more scandalous charges than these, are not only untrue, but in such glaring contradiction with facts that it is hard to understand how they can ever have been made. Though Christina did not study so hard, for her health's sake, and avoided the gang of pedants, she did not break off her intercourse with learned men of real worth; she was moreover engaged in meditating over her change of faith, and the necessary negotiations with Rome; and the pages of Chanut, Whitelocke, and the historical annals of those years furnish ample evidence that[,] so far from neglecting business, she devoted long hours daily to the careful ordering of affairs, both foreign and domestic, and the consideration of necessary political questions with ambassadors. And even Whitelocke admits that her entertainments and amusements were altogether seemly and decorous, nor is there a particle of evidence to the contrary.

Above: Kristina.

Above: Pierre Bourdelot.

Above: Maria Eleonora.

Henry Woodhead on Kristina and Karl Gustav and his vain hopes of marrying her

Source:

Memoirs of Christina, Queen of Sweden, volume 1, pages 199 to 212, by Henry Woodhead, 1863; original at the University of Michigan

https://books.google.com/books?id=XI02AAAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=maria+euphrosyne&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Kristina's letter to Karl Gustav, of January 5/15 (Old Style), 1644, is here:

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2019/07/kristinas-letter-to-karl-gustav-year.html

Her letter to him, of October 13/23 (Old Style), 1646, is here:

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2022/08/kristinas-letter-to-karl-gustav-dated.html

Her letter to him, which is undated but probably written on January 25/February 4 (Old Style), 1647, is here:

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2022/08/kristinas-letter-to-karl-gustav-year.html

Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie's letter to Karl Gustav, of July 24/August 3 (Old Style), 1647, is here:

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2022/08/magnus-de-la-gardies-letter-to-karl_18.html

Karl Gustav's diary entries of August 10 and 11/20 and 21 (Old Style), 1647 are here:

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2021/09/karl-gustavs-diary-entries-and-meeting.html

Karl Gustav's diary entry of June 15/25 (Old Style), 1648 is here:

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2020/08/karl-gustavs-protocol-on-marriage-with.html

The account:

The only one of her suitors who ever appeared to have had a chance of succeeding, was her cousin, Charles Gustavus. He, as well as Catharine's other children, was brought up with Christina, and he resembled her the most in talents and disposition. They continually talked, danced, and played together, and they were called, in joke, the little bride and bridegroom. The Princess Catharine naturally favoured an intercourse which might lead to her son becoming King of Sweden. Charles Gustavus was sent to the University of Upsala when he was fifteen years old, after which he travelled in Holland, Germany, France, and England. He returned to Sweden in 1640, and as the children grew up, play was changed to earnest, and for some time an engagement existed between them. The Prince joined the Swedish army in 1642, where he greatly distinguished himself. Christina wrote several letters to him in 1643 and 1644, which have only very lately been published. They all contain assurances of unchanging truth and affection.

One of them, of which the original is still preserved, is soiled and crumpled, and is supposed to have been carried in his bosom by the young lover. It is dated the 5th of January, 1644: —

"BELOVED COUSIN, —

"I see by your letter that you do not venture to trust your thoughts to the pen. We may, however, correspond with all freedom, if you send me the key to a cipher, and compose your letters according to it, and change the seals as I do with mine. Then the letters may be sent to your sister, the Princess Maria. You must take every precaution, for never were people here so much against us as now, but they shall never succeed, so long as you remain firm. They talk a great deal of the Elector of Brandenburg, but neither he, nor any one in the world, however rich they may be, shall ever alienate my heart from you. My love is so strong that it can only be overcome by death, and if, which God forbid, you should die before me, my heart shall remain dead for every other, my mind and affection shall follow you to eternity, there to dwell with you.

"Perhaps some will advise you to demand my hand openly, but I beseech you, by all that is holy, to have patience for some time, until you have acquired some reputation in the war, and until I have the crown on my head. I entreat you not to consider this time long, but to think of the old saying, 'He does not wait too long, who waits for something good.' I hope, by God's blessing, that it is a good we both wait for."

The opposition hinted at here arose from the clergy, who for some reasons of their own wished to prevent the match. They, of course, represented their own interests as the cause of Heaven, and grounded their opposition on the relationship between the royal personages. Their hypocrisy was proved by the fact that when an archbishop, who was devoted to Charles Gustavus, was installed at Upsala, the opposition of the clergy ceased at once. By that time it was too late, for it must be confessed that in the interval Christina had changed her mind. She assumed the Government in 1644, and for nearly two years few traces are discovered of her correspondence with the Prince. At the beginning of this interval Magnus de la Gardie came to court, at the end of it the Prince returned from Germany, and a great change then appeared in Christina's sentiments towards him.

She says to him, in October, 1646: — "Do not take it ill that I owe it to myself not to let anything in the world disturb my peace."

Another time she says: "Do not fear that the expression of your feelings will displease me: as a proof of your regard they are pleasing to me, so long as you keep them within the bounds which are prescribed by your cousin and friend, Christina."

The change in her feelings must have taken place about 1645. Was it caused by the development of her absolute, independent spirit; by a suspicion of the Prince's inconstancy; or by a stronger passion for Magnus de la Gardie?

Charles Gustavus professed to take his disappointment very much to heart. He expressed to Christina herself, and to his friends, his determination to leave Sweden for ever if she rejected him, yet it appears he was more comforted than he would allow, by her promise to get him nominated her successor if she did not marry him.

There is some evidence to show that, when only nineteen years old, she had already begun to consider the appointment of a successor, and her own abdication. Some documents lately published, however, give curious information on the matter, from which it would appear that the subject of a successor was urged upon her. One of these documents, which recommends that her successor should be of the royal family, is sealed with Gyllenhielm's seal, and has a memorandum upon it, that it was written for Prince Charles Gustavus's approval.

In 1647 Magnus de la Gardie was married to her cousin, and Christina then seemed a little more favourable to the Prince.

She invited him to Court to attend his sister's wedding. She told him, however, that she had no longer any attachment for him, and that, if she consented to the marriage, it would be for the sake of the country, not for his sake or her own. Lenœus, a warm partisan of the Prince's, became archbishop about this time, and the clergy were soon as much in favour of the union of the cousins as they had hitherto been opposed to it, but with Christina's ideas about marriage it was much easier to set her against such a step than it was to make her change her mind again. The States once more addressed her on the subject, and humbly prayed her to choose a husband.

She thanked them for their affection, and asked whether, if she chose the Prince, he would be acceptable to the representatives of the nation. The deputies answered, that if Her Majesty should be pleased to choose the Prince, Sweden would gladly accept him.

It was now believed by many that she was about to marry Charles Gustavus, but as Chanut sagaciously observed, "No one can give a decided opinion in these sort of affairs until the event has actually taken place." Christina had by this time determined not to marry, and probably only asked the opinion of the States about the Prince that she might shift the onus upon them, in case, as appeared very likely, they should object to him. Her behaviour to Charles Gustavus was now very uncertain. She made him large grants of the towns of Torshälla and Eskilstunda [sic], and the castles of Käfsnäs [sic] and Ulfsunda.

Oxenstiern's opinion was asked about these gifts. He remained a whole hour silent, and at the end of that time replied, "I wish my opinion had never been asked on so weighty a matter, for I do not know Her Majesty's intentions towards the Prince. If the Queen marries him, these grants are by no means too large; in any other case, I entirely dissent from so important an alienation of Crown property."

Magnus de la Gardie wrote to the Prince in July, 1647: "The opposer, Oxenstiern, is now absent; now or never push your courtship, for I perceive favourable sentiments in the Queen. Audaces fortuna juvat. You must drive away all fear and go to work boldly. There are hearts that will be won, but will not give themselves away. Many defend themselves valiantly who wish nothing better than to be conquered; in such an important affair everything is to be risked."

Charles Gustavus followed his brother-in-law's advice, and endeavoured to press his suit; but Christina told him she could give him no more hope than before; she endeavoured to console him, however, by telling him that she would make him Generalissimo of the army in Germany the following year. The Prince answered that it was herself he sought, and that, if she refused him, he should prefer to join the army at once. She took offence at this, and told him that, if he persisted in such a course, he would have nothing but his colonelcy, and that their engagement would be irretrievably broken off. The Prince was obstinate, and she ended by wishing him sharply a pleasant journey.

It was with difficulty that Brahe, De la Gardie, and Matthiæ persuaded her to receive his apologies, and to grant him another interview.

In the meeting which ensued, the Prince made a final attempt to urge her to consent, and reminded her of the engagement which had existed between them from childhood. The Queen refused to admit the plea, and said she would not be bound by a promise made when she was so young. She told him that she would not determine finally until she was 25 years of age, and until after her coronation, but that, if she did not marry him, she would never marry any other, and that she would endeavour to get him appointed her successor. The Prince replied that if he could not be her husband[,] he did not wish ever to return to Sweden. Christina told him that his ideas were too romantic, and so the interview ended, but the Prince was permitted to correspond with her through Matthiæ.

She hardly knew her own mind about him at this time, but everything shows that she felt an interest in him, bordering, at least, on affection. Her gifts to him were munificent; she was already taking measures to secure him the crown of Sweden, and she appointed him Generalissimo of her army. As the Prince sailed from Stockholm to take his command, she watched him from a terrace overlooking the sea, to the last moment.

It seems evident that Christina was, at one time, in love with Charles Gustavus, and it is, at least, probable, that she was afterwards attached to Magnus de la Gardie. So far from this justifying the attacks which have been made on her fame, it appears that she sacrificed her own inclinations with a degree of generosity and self-control very little in accordance with the opinions usually entertained of her. She could not help the change in her feelings. The Prince did not grow up an attractive man; his figure was short and thick-set, his features plain and rather coarse, so that Christina used, in joke, to call him the little Burgomaster; his talents, although considerable, were not of an elegant or interesting kind. His failure may be attributed, in a greater degree, to his own fault than to Christina's fickleness. His letters, which are preserved, speak of his duty and obedience, but not of his love.

During his courtship of Christina he did not even take the trouble to conceal his intrigues with other ladies. At the very time that he was presenting his suit the most urgently, he had a son by the daughter of a merchant at Stockholm.

It was natural that Christina should be disgusted with such a lover, and that she should be fascinated by the handsome and polished De la Gardie.

The great master of human nature has several times described a similar transition from love to indifference, and in each case the cause has been the same: —

"As one nail by strength drives out another,

So the remembrance of a former love

Is by a newer object quite forgotten."

Magnus possessed all the qualities in which Charles Gustavus was deficient. Gay [cheerful], handsome, and accomplished, he was just intellectual enough to make his conversation agreeable with the assistance of his other advantages.

Whatever preference she felt for him, Christina had too much regard for her own dignity to marry him.

Magnus was engaged to Charles Gustavus's sister. Christina had been warmly attached to their mother, and her marriage with the young Count would have inflicted a deep wound on both brother and sister. Christina behaved like a high-minded woman; she encouraged the marriage of De la Gardie with her cousin, and loaded him with benefits; but she gave him appointments which took him from Sweden.

She gave Charles Gustavus a solemn promise never to marry any other, to atone for the wrong she did when she withdrew her plighted faith from him. This promise had a more important object than merely to soothe his vanity or appease his jealousy; it was intended to show that his chance of succeeding to the throne would not be weakened by her marriage with another.

Her efforts to get him named her successor were not confined to negative acts. She used every exertion to gain this object, and only held her own authority until it was accomplished.

Charles Gustavus was much piqued at his rejection, and he probably preferred a divided crown at once, to the distant prospect of having it on his own head. He talked in the most romantic strain to his friend Lorenzo Linde [sic], of turning all his property into ready money, of assuming a feigned name, and of seeking his fortune in some foreign war.

Christina said at a later period that De la Gardie treacherously set her against the Prince, while pretending to advocate his cause; and Whitelock, when ambassador at Stockholm, heard a similar account from the senator Vandelin [sic].

According to De la Gardie's letters and those of his wife, it appears that he did his best to promote the marriage, and after his own union with Maria Euphrosyne, it is difficult to see what motive he could have had for betraying his friend and brother-in-law.

Above: Kristina.

Above: Karl Gustav.

Above: Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie.

Above: Marie Euphrosyne.

Notes: truth = fidelity.

plighted = pledged, promised.

faith = faithfulness, fidelity.

Henry Woodhead on Kristina's hatred of marriage and refusal to marry, on her interest in celibacy, and on her many foreign suitors

Source:

Memoirs of Christina, Queen of Sweden, volume 1, pages 192 to 199, by Henry Woodhead, 1863; original at the University of Michigan

https://books.google.com/books?id=XI02AAAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=maria+euphrosyne&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Kristina's letter to King Charles II of England, written sometime in the early 1650s, is here:

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2020/05/kristinas-letter-to-king-charles-ii-of.html

The account:

... She undoubtedly overrated De la Gardie's abilities, although they were by no means contemptible; and his descent from two of the greatest families in Sweden naturally gave him considerable importance. It was commonly believed that her judgment was blinded by love. However this might be, De la Gardie's marriage with her cousin took place when he returned to Sweden, after an absence of about a year.

Various stories were told which were more or less improbable, but they all hinted at love conquered by duty in the breast of Christina.

It was said that she would have married Magnus herself, if the Chancellor had not secretly traduced poor Ebba Brahe, and whispered that the young Count was really the son of Gustavus Adolphus. It is most unlikely that Oxenstiern should have told a dishonourable falsehood which cast a slur on his own order, and it is still more improbable that the report should have been true of the high-minded lady who refused to marry a king when she found that his moral conduct was not so spotless as the rest of his character. It was also reported that, at the celebration of the marriage, Christina said to her cousin, "I give you one I may not take myself."

There were[,] of course[,] numerous suitors who endeavoured to win the great heiress of the north, and her subjects were naturally anxious that she should marry to secure the succession.

In 1647, the order of ecclesiastics sent her an address, informing her that celibacy was an inconvenient and dangerous thing, and recommending her to marry.

Although at one time she appeared to waver, her disinclination for matrimony increased after she had begun to taste the sweets of undivided power.

When she was only nine years old, she heard for the first time the doctrine of the Catholic Church, that the unmarried state was the most meritorious. "Ah", remarked the child, "how fine that is! I will be of that religion."

When she was twenty-two years old, she performed in one of the masks which were then fashionable. She chose the part of Diana, and broke Cupid's bow and arrows to pieces. She continued proud of her independence, or affected to be so, to the end of her life, for one of her last medals, struck at Rome, represented a Phœnix, with the inscription, "I was born, lived, and died free."

In her life of herself, or, as it may rather be called, her confession, she says, "I was born in such a rank, that I might have chosen any man most to my taste, for there was no one in the world who would not have thought himself happy if I had chosen to give him my hand. If I had felt any weakness I should have married like so many others. I would not have had that invincible aversion to marriage, of which I have given such remarkable proofs, if it had been necessary for me."

When it was represented to her that it was dangerous for the kingdom to be left without a recognized successor after her death, and she was urged on that account to marry, she told her advisers that it was as likely she might be the mother of a Nero as of an Augustus.

Two of her suitors were the two sons of the King of Denmark. Ulrick was killed in the Thirty Years' War, and his brother Frederick succeeded to his pretensions. These pretensions were worth very little, as Christina did not listen to them, and the Swedish aristocracy would never have permitted such an alliance. In this case, as in several others, the hope of winning her hand was the means of deferring war.

The Danes did not wish to lose a chance of reuniting the Northern Crowns, and therefore refrained from joining the Imperialists at a critical time. The hope of obtaining the young heiress also made the policy of Frederick William of Brandenburg more favourable to Sweden.

He had been encouraged by Gustavus Adolphus to aspire to his daughter's hand, and he was formally proposed by the Council when she was fourteen years old. The Oxenstierns were not in favour of an alliance which might have revived the influence of the Queen Dowager, and they also feared that Christina might remain in Germany, and treat Sweden as an appendage. Many thought that the couple were too high-spirited to agree, but Frederick William cherished hopes until Christina attained her majority, when he was definitively refused, and an end thus put to the design of Gustavus Adolphus for the command of the Baltic.

Germany furnished several other visitors. The Archduke Leopold of Austria proposed to end the long strife between the two countries by a matrimonial alliance.

The Elector Palatine, Charles Louis, hoped that his house might regain by love what it had lost by war. A prince of Saxony wished to renew an alliance which his family had violated so treacherously, and to receive the hand of Christina as the reward. Ferdinand, King of Hungary, also tried his chance, but met with no encouragement. Her three Polish cousins all proposed for Christina, and although their father, Sigismund, still called himself King of Sweden, they were not the least ardent of her lovers. Their names were Uladislaus, John Casimir, and Casimir Sigismund. The second of these was a Jesuit and a Cardinal, but he undertook to get the necessary dispensation from Rome.

He afterwards became King of Poland, and his career, in one respect, resembled that of Christina, for he also abdicated his throne. Neither of them would probably have done so if they had been united, and the bloody war between Sweden and Poland, which occupied their successors, might have been averted.

Philip IV., of Spain, must be added to the list of wooers. Unlike his ancestor of the same name, he showed no jealousy of his son. He even offered the hand of Don John, in case Christina should prefer a younger man than himself. Such avowed indifference for her person, so long as her inheritance could be secured, was not a likely way to win the young Queen. It was suspected at the time that the Spanish proposals were not sincere, but were merely intended to raise some differences between Sweden and France. Rosenhaue [sic], the Swedish envoy at Madrid, viewed them in this light, and said, jocosely, the first condition was that the King of Spain must become a good Lutheran.

Charles II., at that time a fugitive, with little hope of mounting the English throne, was anxious to gain a share of the Northern crown. He sent the Chevalier Balandin to ascertain if his proposals would have any chance of success. By way of introducing the subject, and in the hope of captivating Christina, Charles sent her his portrait; but the result was so little satisfactory, that he wisely avoided the mortification of a direct refusal by abstaining from making a positive offer. Christina wrote a letter to Charles, in which she mentioned an application from him, which had been handed to her by Balandin, but it does not appear to refer to the offer of marriage. It mentions some request he had made, probably an application for assistance, which she politely declines to grant.

Above: Kristina.

Above: Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie and Marie Euphrosyne.

Above: Prince Ulrik of Denmark. Photo of portrait courtesy of Orf3us on Wikimedia Commons.

Above: Prince Frederik of Denmark, future King Frederik III.

Above: Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg.

Above: Archduke Leopold of Austria, future Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I.

Above: Karl Ludwig, Elector of the Palatinate.

Above: Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary.

Above: Władysław IV Waza, King of Poland.

Above: Prince Jan Kazimierz Waza of Poland, future King Jan II Kazimierz Waza.

Above: Prince Zygmunt Kazimierz Waza of Poland.

Above: King Felipe (Philip) IV of Spain.

Above: Don Juan of Austria.

Above: King Charles II of England.