Source:
Memoirs of Christina, Queen of Sweden, volume 1, pages 240 to 241, by Henry Woodhead, 1863; original at the University of Michigan
The account:
In 1645, when the Congress first began to sit, Sweden demanded Silesia, Pomerania, Wismar, Bremen, and Verden, and twenty millions of rix-dollars. In the autumn of 1646, Christina instructed her ministers to give up, if necessary, a part of Pomerania, but to keep this permission secret. It must be confessed that this permission transpired through her own indiscretion. She had not conquered the weakness of her sex with regard to keeping secrets [sic]. Chanut tried first to find out from Oxenstiern if Sweden would accept anything less than she demanded. The old statesman was impenetrable. He scouted the idea of being satisfied with part of Pomerania, and told Chanut that Upper Pomerania was nothing; that it was hardly worth the acceptance of a little German Duke. Sweden must have the whole of Pomerania. He would rather die than advise Her Majesty to be satisfied with such paltry acquisitions as Upper Pomerania, Wismar, and Bremen.
Chanut then went to the Queen, and after several interviews gathered from her that she would give up some part of her claims for the sake of peace. From this time the French plenipotentiaries gave only a languid support to the demand of Sweden for the whole of Pomerania.
Above: Kristina.
Above: Axel Oxenstierna.
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