Francis William Bain on Kristina's first stay in Hamburg (1654)

Source:

Christina, Queen of Sweden, pages 247 to 248, by Francis William Bain, 1890; original at the University of Connecticut Library

https://archive.org/details/christinaqueenof00bain/page/246/mode/2up

The account:

We need not dwell on her journey through Denmark. On July 10, she arrived at Hamburgh, and resumed her own sex and personality. She stayed at the house of a Jew, named Texeira; this scandalized the Lutheran ministers, who inveighed against her in the pulpit for it. From subsequent letters it appears that she had bought or engaged this house from Texeira, who acted as her agent in various money matters. A story is told of her here, which may or may not be true. Being at a church of St. Peter's with the Landgrave of Hesse, the Rector pronounced a panegyric upon her, on the text of the Queen of Sheba, and was rewarded by the present of a gold chain, "though possibly she had not heard much of it"; for after she left the church, a book richly bound was found in her pew, which turned out to be a Virgil; it was taken to Christina, who received it with a smile.

She wrote to Charles X., reminding him to look after her revenues; and there was no harm in having a friend at Court, for a rumour that she was meditating a change of religion had got about, and the Swedish clergy were talking of cutting down her revenues. The Senate determined to send a remonstrance, adjuring her to remain steadfast in the faith of her fathers, as being the best.

Meanwhile, she was visited by numerous German princes, among others, the already mentioned Landgrave of Hesse, who gave her "a stately feast without the city", on July 30. After supper she returned home, resumed male attire, because the roads were dangerous by reason of the dispute with the city of Bremen, and accompanied only by Steinberg and four others, departed at midnight, bidding the rest of her retinue meet her by a certain date at Amsterdam. ...

Above: Kristina.

Note: The Jewish man Kristina stayed with during this first stay in Hamburg was not Diego Texeira (Abraham Senior; 1581-1666), but Jacob Curiel (Dom Duarte Nunes da Costa; 1587-1664), a Sephardi Jewish merchant, diplomat and nobleman. He and his family had been living in Hamburg since 1627, and the house was located at Krameramtsstuben in the city's Neustadt district.