Corrado Ricci on Kristina's life in Italy, part 2

Sources:

Cristina di Svezia in Italia, article written by Corrado Ricci for Nuova antologia di scienze, lettere ed arti, volume 41 (125), pages 25 to 29, published by the Direction of Nuova antologia, 1892; original at the Bavarian State Library

https://books.google.com/books?id=wr6lJEO7mjkC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=regina+cristina+di+svezia&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Roma, visioni e figure: con 29 illustrazioni, pages 137 to 142, by Corrado Ricci, 1925; original at Cornell University

https://books.google.com/books?id=j31oPsGNy5IC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=regina+cristina+di+svezia&source=gbs_navlinks_s

The article:

I preparativi in Roma erano proceduti con sollecitudine, essendosi lo stesso pontefice adoperato perchè tutto procedesse con attività ed ordine. Compiuta era la carrozza adorna di pitture e di statue dorate, secondo il disegno del Bernini.

Che importava se le spese crescevano e l'erario si esauriva e la peste tornava a serpeggiare? Cristina entrò in Roma per Porta Portese la sera del 20 dicembre, e, seguita da una lunga fiaccolata, andò nel quartiere d'Innocenzo VIII, alla Torre dei Venti. Infinita era la gente accorsa per assistere a quel modo veramente nuovo d'entrare in incognito!

Un agente di Savoia scriveva a Torino che dopo la visita al papa, Cristina si sarebbe ritirata al palazzo Farnese «dove sarà spesata con tutta la famiglia dalla Camera Apostolica per lo spazio di tre mesi che dice volersi trattenere in questa città, se però non le assegnerà a tale effetto, per detto tempo, mille scudi il giorno, come più comunemente si crede oltre il donativo fattole dalla S. S. di una carrozza (quella disegnata dal Bernini) con sei bellissimi corsieri, di una lettiga e di una sedia di velluto turchino, coperta di trine d'argento, con tutti i finimenti compagni».

Finalmente si presentò al papa, al quale dopo tre inchini, baciò il piede e le mani. Egli la sollevò garbatamente e la fece sedere in una sedia reale di velluto cremisi. Tutto ciò, ripetiamo, sempre in incognito, chè l'ingresso solenne in Roma, il trionfo, lo spettacolo coreografico fu solo il 26.

Mentre, di buon mattino, la cavalcata cominciava a mettersi in ordine alla villa Giulia, una pioggia dirotta cadde su Roma. Si pensava già a rimettere la festa quando un bel raggio di sole illuminò la città, e il cielo a poco a poco si schiarì. In breve le strade furono piene d'una folla curiosa, fitta, rumorosa. Cristina non si fece aspettare. «Elle parut comme une Impératrice victorieuse et une conquerante, marchant en triomphe d'une manière glorieuse et superbe.» Il Claretta raccoglie che «aveva una sottana ed un giustacuore di colore sul bigio ricamato d'oro. Una mantelletta nera le copriva gli omeri, forse per celare il difetto di una spalla. Aveva in testa un cappello a larghe falde attorniato da un cordone d'oro». L'inviato di Savoia dice che Cristina cavalcò su sella da donna, mentre l'Arckenholtz trovò ch'era vestita da Amazzone con piume diffuse al cappello e montava su cavallo bianco come un uomo.

Questo il Lilliecorna [sic], al seguito della regina in Fiandra e in Italia, conferma nel suo rapporto a Carlo Gustavo, aggiungendo che le dame romane «étoient surprises de voir la Reine assise à cheval comme un cavalier, portant des culottes chamarées» e si persuasero solo quando seppero ch'ella avea cuore ed abitudini d'eroina, e che sparava cannoni senza batter palpebra. Del resto, quello di cavalcare maschilmente era l'uso costante di Cristina e ne fanno fede gli scritti dei signori di Limiers e di Meiern, il quale ultimo aggiunse anzi che non c'era ragione a maravigliarsi perchè, a' suoi tempi, anche le dame inglesi facevano lo stesso. E la regina per giunta, in molte altre cose metteva tratti virili, e nemmeno facea grande stima delle donne. A Roma, infatti, non dimostrò loro troppo buona accoglienza; le trattò freddamente rispondendo appena al saluto, e passando.

Eppure Girolamo Graziani, già noto per aver pubblicato da un lustro La conquista di Granata, induceva la sua Musa a falsare, in un ritratto di Cristina, i caratteri fisici e morali, lodandola per bellissima e per femminilmente delicata e sentimentale. Alberto Bally, che la vide a Parigi, dettò: «Est fort petite, un peu boiteuse, mal faite de corps, et de visage fort brun... Elle marche à grands pas, s'arrête peu et a la voix fort grosse.» Pareva un maschio, e sapeva di parerlo, e lo diceva. Quando le dame francesi le furono intorno con certa sollecitudine per baciarla, esclamò: «Quelle fureur ont ces Dames à me baiser? Est-ce à cause que je ressemble à un homme?» — Nullameno la carne bruna, anzi fosca di lei, coperta d'una lieve ma fitta lanugine, il profilo risoluto, aspro quasi, di quel volto singolare, dalle sopracciglia troppo arcuate, dal naso troppo lungo, alla bocca larga e al mento sottile ed arguto; in fine, la sua voce baritonale e certe angolosità e durezze di gesto non distoglievano il letterato adulatore dallo scrivere:

«Nevi di Svezia in paragon cedeste

de la mano e del seno al bel candore,

e in paragon de l'aureo crin perdeste

miniere d'India il prezioso onore.

Voi porpore a' suoi labbri e voi men belle

ai suoi begli occhi impallidite, o stelle.»

Superbo quell'aureo crine! Una parrucca gialla sopra il capo spelato ch'ella faceva radere grottescamente! — Vere ciurmerie poetiche compensate in qualche guisa dal celebre e tardo epigramma:

«À sa jupe courte et légère

à son pourpoint, à son collet,

au chapeau chargé d'un plumet,

au ruban ponceau, qui pendoit

et par devant et par derrière,

à sa mine galante et fière

d'Amazone et Avanturière:

à ce né de Consul Romain;

à cette fierté d'héroine,

à ce grand œil tendre et hautain:

soudain je reconnus Christine.

Christine des arts le maintien,

Christine qui céda pour rien

et son roïaume et votre Eglise:

qui connut tout et crut rien;

que le saint Père canonise,

que damnent les Luthérien,

que la gloire immortalise!»

Discesa presso la gradinata di San Pietro salì alla funzione.

L'indomani il papa la trattenne a desinare, in un tavolino poco distante dal suo e un po' più basso, servita da don Antonio della Cueva, dal marchese Bentivoglio e dal conte Francesco Santinelli. Calata nel pomeriggio a visitare le reliquie di San Pietro, passò sul tardi fra le torcie, dalla Torre dei Venti al palazzo Farnese, dove si mostrò ammirata dell'appartamento che le era destinato.

Il papa aveva fatto provvedere a tutto. La cantina era fornita di vini prelibati, e la dispensa, di prosciutti, di cera, di zucchero e cose simili. Ma con lei entrò il disordine, chè alcuni de' suoi servi rubarono sino dei mobili e tagliaron pezzi d'arazzo e fregi e levarono rami dal tetto.

Cristina vi ricevette presto la visita del papa e di molti cardinali con cerimoniale che sarebbe troppo lungo descrivere. Ella certamente si teneva in contegno per quanto poteva, ma la sua natura bizzarra ad ora ad ora prorompeva in atti che, se non indispettivano, imbarazzavano però Sua Santità. Com'era doloroso per lui dover rinunciare alla speranza, nutrita da principio, ch'ella avrebbe vissuta una vita di riserbo, quasi monacale, e sarebbe stata esempio di sobrietà e di virtù in quella Roma dove purtroppo i religiosi erano i primi a fomentare e a nutrire gli scandali!

Non tardava infatti Cristina, scrivendo alla contessa di Sparre, a far un ben triste ritratto della città eterna: «O bella contessa, ci sono statue, obelischi, palazzi sontuosi; ma non ci sono uomini!» [sic]

In una visita a Castel Sant'Angelo lasciò un fondo ai trombettieri perchè suonassero sinfonie all'aurora di ogni dì. Era un uso comune in altre città e da lei forse ammirato in Bologna, come anche era un uso del tempo quello di visitare monasteri ed ospedali. Assai più di queste bazzecole, doveva dunque seccare al nuovo pontefice veder come la nuova cattolica s'abbandonasse spietatamente ai divertimenti del carnevale, che per ciò appunto fu detto il carnevale della regina, e, durante il quale, si corsero undici pallii e si fecero infinite feste da ballo.

Ma l'atto di cui allora più si parlò, fu l'istituzione della sua Accademia Reale, che poi divenne l'Arcadia, nel palazzo Riario, dove più di due secoli e mezzo prima avea subito Caterina Sforza.

All'antica principessa austera, risoluta, dal forte senno politico, subentrava ora la donna del seicento, bizzarra, incostante, solo in una cosa paragonabile all'altra, nel coraggio. — La nuova Accademia surse per tutta iniziativa di Cristina, la quale diede subito norme sane come quelle di bandire la satira personale e i panegirici a lei. Anche dovevano entrarvi uomini ragguardevoli soltanto; ma ella stessa v'introdusse i Santinelli spadroneggianti oramai — in ispecie Francesco — nella sua corte. Essi però sapevano ballare e vestivano elegantemente, due cose che molta parte della nobiltà, anche oggi, apprezza più dell'ingegno.

English translation (my own):

The preparations in Rome had proceeded with solicitude, with the Pontiff himself ensuring that everything progressed efficiently and in an orderly manner. The carriage, adorned with paintings and gilded statues, had been completed according to Bernini's design.

What did it matter if expenses were rising, the treasury was depleted, and the plague was spreading again? Kristina entered Rome through Porta Portese on the evening of December 20, and, followed by a long torchlight procession, went to the district of Innocent VIII, to the Tower of the Winds. An immense crowd had gathered to witness this truly novel way of entering incognito!

An agent from Savoy wrote to Turin that after her visit to the Pope, Kristina would retire to the Palazzo Farnese, "where she and her entire family will be provided for by the Apostolic Chamber for the three months she intends to stay in this city, unless, however, she is assigned a sum of one thousand scudi a day for that period, as is more commonly believed, in addition to the gift given to her by His Holiness of a carriage (the one designed by Bernini) with six beautiful horses, a litter, and a chair of deep blue velvet, covered with silver lace, with all the matching furnishings."

Finally, she presented herself to the Pope, to whom, after three bows, she kissed his foot and hands. He graciously lifted her up and had her sit in a royal chair of crimson velvet. All this, we repeat, was done incognito, since the solemn entry into Rome, the triumph, and the choreographed spectacle only took place on the 26th.

While, early in the morning, the cavalcade was beginning to assemble at Villa Giulia, a torrential rain fell on Rome. They were already considering postponing the festivities when a beautiful ray of sunshine illuminated the city, and the sky gradually cleared. Soon the streets were filled with a curious, dense, and noisy crowd. Kristina did not keep them waiting. "Elle parut comme une Impératrice victorieuse et une conquerante, marchant en triomphe d'une manière glorieuse et superbe." ["She appeared like a victorious Empress and a conqueress, marching in triumph in a glorious and superb manner."] Claretta notes that "she wore a skirt and a bodice of a greyish colour embroidered with gold. A black cape covered her shoulders, perhaps to conceal a defect in one shoulder. On her head she wore a wide-brimmed hat surrounded by a gold cord." The envoy from Savoy says that Kristina rode on a woman's saddle, while Arckenholtz found that she was dressed like an Amazon, with feathers on her hat, and rode a white horse like a man.

This is confirmed by Lilliecrona, who accompanied the Queen to Flanders and Italy in her suite, in his report to Karl Gustav, adding that the Roman ladies "étoient surprises de voir la Reine assise à cheval comme un cavalier, portant des culottes chamarées" ["were surprised to see the Queen sitting on horseback like a cavalier, wearing richly brocaded breeches"], and were only persuaded when they learned that she had the heart and habits of a heroine, and that she fired cannons without batting an eyelid. Moreover, riding in a masculine style was Kristina's constant practice, as evidenced by the writings of Messieurs Limiers and Meiern, the latter of whom added that there was no reason to be surprised because, in his time, even English ladies did the same. And the Queen, furthermore, displayed virile traits in many other things and did not even hold women in high esteem. In Rome, in fact, she did not show them much good reception; she treated them coldly, barely responding to their greetings, and passing them by.

Yet Girolamo Graziani, already known for having published La conquista di Granata five years earlier, induced his Muse to distort, in a portrait of Kristina, her physical and moral characteristics, praising her as beautiful and femininely delicate and sentimental. Albert Bailly, who saw her in Paris, wrote: "Est fort petite, un peu boiteuse, mal faite de corps, et de visage fort brun... Elle marche à grands pas, s'arrête peu et a la voix fort grosse." ["She is very short, slightly lame, poorly built in her body, and has a very brown face... She walks with long strides, rarely stops, and has a very deep voice."]

She looked like a man, and she knew she looked like one, and she said so. When the French ladies surrounded her with a certain eagerness to kiss her, she exclaimed: "Quelle fureur ont ces Dames à me baiser? Est-ce à cause que je ressemble à un homme?" ["What fury these ladies have to kiss me! Is it because I look like a man?"] —

Nevertheless, her dark, even swarthy complexion, covered with a light but thick down, the resolute, almost harsh profile of that singular face, with its overly arched eyebrows, overly long nose, wide mouth and thin, sharp chin; finally, her baritone voice and certain angularities and harshness of gesture did not deter the flattering literatus from writing:

"Nevi di Svezia in paragon cedeste

de la mano e del seno al bel candore,

e in paragon de l'aureo crin perdeste

miniere d'India il prezioso onore.

Voi porpore a' suoi labbri e voi men belle

ai suoi begli occhi impallidite, o stelle."

["Snows of Sweden, you yield in comparison

to the beautiful whiteness of her hand and breast,

and in comparison to her golden hair,

mines of India, you lose your precious honour.

You purples, pale before her lips, and you,

less beautiful stars, grow dim before her lovely eyes."]

That golden hair was superb! A yellow wig on her bald head, which she had grotesquely shaved! — True poetic trickery, compensated in some way by the famous and belated epigram:

"À sa jupe courte et légère

à son pourpoint, à son collet,

au chapeau chargé d'un plumet,

au ruban ponceau, qui pendoit

et par devant et par derrière,

à sa mine galante et fière

d'Amazone et Avanturière:

à ce né de Consul Romain;

à cette fierté d'héroine,

à ce grand œil tendre et hautain:

soudain je reconnus Christine.

Christine des arts le maintien,

Christine qui céda pour rien

et son roïaume et votre Eglise:

qui connut tout et crut rien;

que le saint Père canonise,

que damnent les Luthérien,

que la gloire immortalise!"

["By her short, light skirt,

by her pourpoint, by her collar,

by the hat adorned with a feather,

by the poppy-red ribbon that hung

both in front and behind,

by her gallant and proud bearing

of an Amazon and Adventuress;

by that face of a Roman Consul;

by that heroic pride,

by that large, tender, and haughty eye;

suddenly I recognised Kristina.

Kristina, the embodiment of the arts,

Kristina, who gave away for nothing

both her kingdom and your Church:

who knew everything and believed nothing;

whom the Holy Father canonises,

whom the Lutherans condemn,

whom glory immortalises!"]

She descended the steps of St. Peter's and proceeded to the function.

The next day, the Pope invited her to dine at a little table not far from his own and slightly lower, served by Don Antonio de la Cueva, the Marquis Bentivoglio, and Count Francesco Santinelli. In the afternoon, she went to visit the relics of Saint Peter, and later, by torchlight, she went from the Tower of the Winds to the Palazzo Farnese, where she showed her admiration for the apartment that had been destined for her.

The Pope had made sure everything was provided for. The cellar was stocked with fine wines, and the pantry with prosciutto hams, wax, sugar, and similar provisions. But with her arrival came disorder, as some of her servants stole even furniture, cut pieces from tapestries and friezes, and removed beams from the roof.

Kristina soon received a visit from the Pope and many cardinals, with a ceremonial that would be too long to describe. She certainly contained herself as best she could, but her bizarre nature occasionally burst forth in actions that, if not offended, at least embarrassed His Holiness. How painful it was for him to have to abandon the hope, which he had initially cherished, that she would live a life of restraint, almost monastic, and would be an example of sobriety and virtue in that Rome where, unfortunately, the religious were the first to foment and encourage scandals!

Indeed, Kristina did not hesitate to paint a very sad portrait of the Eternal City when writing to the Countess Sparre: "Oh, beautiful Countess, there are statues, obelisks, magnificent palazzi; but there are no men!" [sic]

During a visit to Castel Sant'Angelo, she left a sum of money for the trumpeters to play symphonies at dawn every day. This was a common custom in other cities and perhaps one she admired in Bologna, just as it was also customary at the time to visit monasteries and hospitals. Much more than these trifles, however, what must have annoyed the new Pope was seeing how the new Catholic convert ruthlessly indulged in the revelries of Carnevale, which for this very reason was called the Queen's Carnevale, and during which eleven horse races were held and countless balls took place.

But the act that was most talked about at the time was the establishment of her Royal Academy, which later became the Arcadia, in the Palazzo Riario, where Caterina Sforza had resided more than two and a half centuries earlier.

The austere, resolute, and politically astute princess of old was now replaced by the woman of the seventeenth century, bizarre and inconstant, comparable to the former only in her courage. — The new Academy arose entirely through Kristina's initiative, and she immediately established sound rules, such as banning personal satire and panegyrics addressed to herself. Only distinguished men were to be admitted; but she herself introduced the Santinelli brothers, who by then held sway in her court — especially Francesco. However, they knew how to dance and dressed elegantly, two things that a large part of the nobility, even today, values more than intelligence.

Above: Kristina.

Above: Corrado Ricci, painted by Ettore Tito in 1913.

Note: Palazzo Riario is the old name for the Palazzo Corsini alla Lungara.

Biography of Kristina in "The Town and Country Magazine", year 1774, part 8

Source:

The Town and Country Magazine, Or, Universal Repository of Knowledge, Instruction, and Entertainment, volume 6, page 639 (December, 1774), published by Archibald Hamilton, 1774; original at Harvard University

https://books.google.com/books?id=zlc3AAAAYAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=christina&source=gbs_navlinks_s

The biography:

She went afterwards to Rome, and her entry into that capital had all the air of a triumph. The pope was desirous that she should consider, what he called, her victory over error, as a more glorious conquest than had ever been gained over the most warlike nations. Several days were spent in feastings, after which she gave herself up entirely to her taste for the belles-lettres, the sciences, and the arts. One day as she admired a marble statue of the cavalier Bernin, representing Truth, a cardinal, and a lover of the concetti, coming up to her, said, "One may truly say, Madam, that never sovereign loved truth so well as you, in appearance." "Because", replied she, "all truths are not of marble."

Above: Kristina.

Above: Pope Alexander VII.

Faith Compton Mackenzie on Kristina's journey to Rome, her public conversion in Innsbruck, and her arrival in Rome

Source:

The Sibyl of the North: The Tale of Christina, Queen of Sweden, pages 124 to 136, by Faith Compton Mackenzie, 1931; original scan at the Universal Digital Library

https://archive.org/details/sibylofthenortht008021mbp/page/n133/mode/2up

Kristina's letter of October 25/November 4 (New Style), 1655 to Karl Gustav is here:

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2020/03/kristinas-letter-to-karl-gustav-dated.html

The account:

CHAPTER VIII

THE ROAD TO ROME

CHARLES GUSTAVUS had not only sent Count Tott to Brussels, but he had given him letters addressed to numerous kings and princes for Christina to present as she passed through their domains. In this he showed that he was not confident of her reception in her altered circumstances. It was a decent but tactless action, and Christina spurned these letters of introduction. Her own glory and fame were passports to the whole world, even, surely she was convinced, to heaven itself when the time came. Montecuculi was sent on ahead with a letter to the Archduke of Innsbrück announcing her intention of staying in that town on her way to Rome.

There was little incident on the journey from Brussels, except a visit from King Charles II of England and the Duke of Gloucester at Königstein. Christina was one of the many ladies Charles had wanted to marry. Whitelock had been shocked to hear herself confirm the rumour of his proposals, but until this moment she had not seen the exiled King. It was observed that when they conversed he uncovered, and remained so throughout the interview, "with great reverence." They talked for two hours.

Through historic Nördlingen she went, and would not stay for banquets offered her, but pressed on, through Frankfurt, Rottenburg, over the Danube to Augsburg. Here she was shown a table at which her father had dined after one of his victories. She shed a few tears for the memory of the great Gustavus Adolphus. But the Alps were in sight, and every day the call of the South became more insistent.

On the 26th of October the ascent of the mountains began, and at Zirla, a little village, she was met in state by the Archduke and Archduchess[,] who conducted her to Innsbrück. Here Monsignor Holstenius had everything prepared for the public reception of Christina into the Church. With him had come Père Malines, who had been one of the disguised visitors to the Court of Stockholm. He was sent to meet the Queen, and explain to her the details of the ceremony as desired by the Pope, and she expressed herself ready to obey the orders of His Holiness with great humility.

On the 3rd of November Innsbrück was en fête for one of the most remarkable ceremonies it had ever seen. Christina, clad in a severe black silk gown with no ornament save a wonderful cross composed of five large diamonds, walked through the carpeted streets to the Cathedral, where she renounced the faith of her fathers. She read her long profession in a clear, deep, emotional voice, kneeling, with the Archduke and Pimentelli beside her, and at the end a Jesuit preached a sermon on the text: "Hearken, O daughter, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people and thy father's house."

Great rejoicings followed this ceremony, and in the evening an Italian musical comedy was played before the Queen. This was considered inappropriate to the solemn occasion, and a sort of apology was offered to Christina for the want of taste of the organizer of the entertainment. Christina, who had thoroughly enjoyed it, replied:

"Gentlemen, it is most appropriate that you should entertain me with a comedy after the farce I played for you this morning."

This remark, so typical of Christina, was seized upon by her enemies and indignantly repudiated by her admirers. No doubt the atmosphere, in spite of the Italian comedy, was hanging rather heavily about her, and it was her pleasure to lighten it. She enjoyed a pageant while it lasted and her profession was sincere, but now that it was over[,] her spirits began to bubble over again. She could not be serious for long, and her reactions were swift, her temperament resilient.

Next day she wrote this letter to Charles Gustavus:

"SIR AND BROTHER, — I have arrived here safely, and I have received the permission and orders of His Holiness to declare myself what I have long been. It is a great happiness to me to obey him; and I prefer the glory of obeying him to ruling over the dominions which are now yours. You should be pleased with this resolution of mine, even though you disapprove of it, because it is so much to your advantage. I assure you that it does not alter my affection for you, nor the love I have for Sweden, which will never change.

Your affectionate sister and friend,

CHRISTINA.

November, 1655."

While the four replicas of her profession were being made, the days were spent in "virtuous recreations", according to her historian Gualdo. The documents were signed by Christina; one she kept herself, one was sent to the Pope, and the other two were placed in the archives of Innsbrück and the Vatican.

And now at last — Italy!

Perhaps the journey from Innsbrück to Rome was the happiest and least troubled period of Christina's life. There was all the joy of anticipation; there was the glorious satisfaction of being the most discussed figure in Europe — a crescendo of gossip was almost audible even as she crossed the Alps. What would the errant Queen do next? Anything was possible. The world was watching for new developments. And a soothing fact was the momentary absence of financial cares. A handsome present from Charles Gustavus towards the expenses of her journey and a huge loan effected in Antwerp solved all present problems. On the 8th of November the company set out, escorted for a few miles by the Archduke and all the nobles of Innsbrück. Over the Brenner pass to Stenzing [sic]; over the clear Adige river to Trent, where the Prince of Trent entertained her with great pomp. The Venetian Republic, having no wish to waste money on useless entertainments, and being engaged on its fifth war against the infidel Turk, had forbidden her and her company to enter the State of Venice, on the pretext of plague in the country they had passed through. They contented themselves with a present of fish, plenty of compliments and good wishes for her journey.

Then across the river Po to Rovere, where the Duke and Duchess of Mantua came to greet her; and here, it is sad to relate, she was also greeted by rain, which fell with tropical violence for two days. In spite of the mud, the usual ceremoney [sic] of descending from their coaches for a formal greeting was observed, the Duke standing bare-headed, and both parties entreating one another to get in out of the rain and mud.

A gorgeous banquet was held in Christina's honour at the Ducal Palace, from which Pimentelli was absent on account of ill-health, and then in pouring rain she set out across the fens for Ferrara. Half-way there she was met by the four nuncios sent from Rome with a Papal brief for her, and a special carriage and travelling-bed to bring her to Rome. Though she had renounced for the moment travelling en cavalier and went in her coach and six English black horses, she was dressed on this occasion in a black velvet cape of masculine cut, with wide collar and grey trimmings.

But what pleased her more than the Papal brief or the travelling-bed was the sight of the Marchese Girolamo Rossetti's wonderful bridge over the Po at Ponte del Largo. It was wide enough for four carriages to pass abreast, rested on forty-six great barcone, and was one of the most beautiful constructions in Europe. A luxurious barge decorated with the arms of the Pope and Christina had been prepared to take her across the river at this point, but she insisted upon going by the bridge, which was immediately lined with soldiery not only to salute the royal party, but to demonstrate the solidity of the structure.

Two days festa for Ferrara! Christina was now in the Papal State, and she sent Montecuculi to Rome with letters of humble thanks to the Pope for his graciousness. Don Luigi Pio di Savoia, brother of one of the nuncios, gave a great banquet for her at Ferrara. Music and painting were discussed. Music, she said, was the ornament of princes, and her favourite artists were Bernini and Pietro di Cortona. On the subject of architecture she declared that St. Peter's in Rome, the Duomo in Milan, and St. Paul's in London were surely the greatest cathedrals, but the latter had, alas, become a stable.

Another glass of wine!

Never had she drunk so much wine as since she came into Italy, but then, never had it tasted so good.

At this there was some respectful drollery. Cardinal Vescovo ventured that in his opinion she drank nothing but water. Two glasses of wine were nothing but due sorsi.

A really amusing banquet, and her first intimate encounter with members of the Sacred College.

Everywhere the same ceremonies greeted Christina. Salvos, fanfares, triumphal arches and fireworks — banquets and special Masses in all the churches. In deference to the great learning of the royal traveller, academies were organized for her amusement, long panegyrics were read by the leading local intellectual lights, and many ladies, no doubt radiant stars in their own ambient, were moved to recite poems in her honour. At Bologna there was a magnificent tournament by the principle nobles and gentlemen of the city in which more than a hundred and fifty lances were broken. This kind of entertainment Christina preferred to second-rate academies. At Faenza specially elaborate preparations had been made for a display of local talent. No fewer than thirty compositions, ecclesiastical and secular, in several languages, were to be recited as spiritual food for Her Majesty after the usual banquet. But no sooner was the banquet finished than Christina rose hurriedly, announcing that she was obliged to continue the journey immediately, though it was late in the evening and no preparations had been made. She had most decidedly not come to Italy to be bored. Whatever her taste may have been in human beings, in intellectual matters she was fastidious.

At Forli she had to endure an academy, but was consoled by the present of a wonderful white horse which she had admired. She set off in full panoply again, astride her horse, and was met by the Governor of Rimini, and it was twilight when the cavalcade entered the Piazza, which was gaily illuminated, and at the doors of the Palazzo Pubblico nobly dressed pages held torches as she passed. On the stairs she found a large company of ladies quaintly attired, who performed solemn and well-rehearsed dances for her before the inevitable academy began.

The next important place was Pesaro, and to Christina it was more important than she guessed. A great company came out to meet her, including the very eminent Cardinal Homodei, Legate of Urbino, with fifty of his Swiss Guards. But more notable even than Cardinal Homodei were two young gentlemen of what Gualdo calls nobiltà conspicua, the Counts Francesco and Ludovico Santinelli, sons of Count Alfonso Santinelli, the first knight of Pesaro.

This fascinating pair of brothers, if not conspicuous for their nobility, were conspicuous in the entertainments arranged for Christina. They first attracted her attention at the festa held in her apartments on the night of her arrival. They opened with a gagliarda, and because they were dancing with capes and swords, Christina begged them to remove both, so that she could see them better. They then danced another gagliarda, which so delighted Christina that she called for a canario. They executed this with delightful grace. Francesco Maria counted among his many accomplishments the making of a verse, and Christina had already been presented with a finely bound volume of his poems, consisting chiefly of praise of herself. After the dancing[,] she supped privately to the music of a violin and lute.

Next day, after hearing Mass in the monastery of St. Catherine, and spending some time with the nuns who were famous for their singing, she lunched publicly with the Cardinal. Here Francesco Santinelli had the honour of serving her. After lunch the Queen was again enchanted by the Santinelli dancing. This time it was a Spanish Cachuca and Ludovico[,] the agile performer. The academy which followed was naturally more sophisticated and amusing than those of the less important cities, the more so as the talents of the Santinellis were again in evidence; for Francesco was responsible for the whole programme, which Christina later declared to be the most diverting entertainment of all her travels. She cannot be blamed for falling a little bit in love with the Santinellis.

At the next point in her journey, Sinigaglia, a ridiculous comedietta[,] was performed by the brothers, which had been written by Francesco in a single night for her amusement.

And this was not the end of the table of their accomplishments. After the comedietta she was curious to see how these two young men sat a horse. There followed a splendid exhibition of horsemanship and swordsmanship before which all her defences fell, and they were, with very few formalities, attached to her suite as gentlemen of the chamber, which is no doubt what they had been playing for.

At Loreto, as soon as Christina saw the cupola of the sanctuary in the distance, she descended from her horse and knelt reverently. Later, she laid at the feet of Our Lady of Loreto a beautiful sceptre and crown set with diamonds and pearls, on one of which the face of the Virgin was clearly visible. This was obviously a symbolical act of homage, but next day when she was asked if she would like to see where the precious objects had been put, she said:

"No, such bagatelles aren't worth looking at."

The gesture was done and finished with.

The rest of the journey was a crescendo of fireworks, rejoicings, rain, mud, and sometimes snow. At Storta, a few miles out of Rome, two cardinals of royal blood headed a great procession that came out to greet her in the name of the Pope. One of the cardinals was Frederick of Hesse, whom Christina had tried to dissuade from joining the Church a few years ago. Though her entrance into Rome was strictly incognito, she was accompanied by an imposing company of cardinals, noblemen, coaches and cavaliers and Pope's Guard. She rode in a state coach and wore her usual grey dress, black cape and no jewellery[,] but a single ring. Rome was reached late in the evening. In spite of the hour[,] a huge crowd waited in the Vatican gardens, and had no compunction in following her into the Vatican itself.

"Is this how one enters Rome incognito?" she asked, laughing.

But the Pope was waiting for her, and soon she was walking between two cardinals through the vast torch-lit galleries of the Vatican, eager to see the only being on earth whom she considered worthy of her homage.

With her hands crossed on her breast[,] she knelt at his feet. For the first time in her life[,] she humbled herself — a new sensation, and for that not to be despised. The Pope, as enthusiastic as she at the meeting and all it implied, raised her and set her beside him under his canopy, a place of honour conceded to few. Thus they conversed for half an hour. This interview, and all subsequent private audiences, were conducted with open doors; Alexander was not going to risk a repetition of the scandal regarding the sainted Gregory VII and Mathilda of Tuscany.

Courtesy seemed to demand that Christina should be invited to spend at least her first night at the Vatican, as her arrival was so untimely and the weather so unpleasant. Fortunately there were the apartments built by Innocent VIII, so far away from His Holiness's own quarters that there was no fear of the slightest embarrassment. Alexander himself had supervised the preparation of the Queen's retreat, which looked upon the magnificent Belvedere gardens. With exquisite sensibility he ordered an inscription under the figure of Tramontano (North wind) to be erased from the Torre de' Venti, for fear she or her people should take it amiss. It was "Omne malum ab aquilone" ["All evil comes from the north."].

Christina was guest at the Vatican for a few days, and the first morning she was up at an early hour — she must have had no more than her usual allowance of three hours' sleep in spite of the physical and mental strain of yesterday. She wandered in the Belvedere gardens with Montecuculi and Monsignore Acarigi, Cup-bearer to His Holiness, conversing in French, and no doubt admiring with interest the incomparable statuary therein. The Rhodian Laocoon had pride of place in those gardens, and in niches to protect them from the weather were many of the glorious statues which are now to be seen only in museums. Fountains were playing[,] and perhaps the sun was shining while Christina walked in the Belvedere gardens with her companions. The "bel vedere" was of Rome, and her short-sighted eyes gazed out with wonder at the city of her desire.

The silver coach, litter and sedan chair designed for her state entry into Rome by Cavaliere Bernini — where could they be seen?

Her curiosity was immediately satisfied. Bernini was sent for. He was probably only just round the corner superintending the great work of his life, St. Peter's Colonnade. He was at any rate at hand, and took Christina to see the Pope's gifts, which were wonderfully designed with elaborate figures and many inventions of the great sculptor. Sky blue velvet and silver galloon were used for the hangings and upholstery, and for the six pure white Neapolitan horses that were to draw the coach there were draperies of the same and silver harness. Christina examined every detail with enthusiasm.

"Whatever is bad about it is my work", said Bernini with affected modesty.

"Then none of it can be yours", she declared.

Now she must see the white saddle-horse the Pope was also giving her. The beautiful animal was led out, and Christina mounted it at once. She proceeded to give a remarkable display of horsemanship, performing some feats bareback[,] to the amazement of the onlookers. A yearly tribute from Naples to the Pope was a chinea — a pure white horse, probably a small breed with an Arab strain, and it was one of these that Christina was finding so responsive, so quick to turn, so lively and mettlesome.

Silver coaches were all very well — anyone could ride in them....

The Vatican library was then explored, and Holstenius, who was librarian, must have shown her treasures she envied, most of all two parchment Virgils of a thousand years ago. Holstenius himself had a collection of rareties, one of the finest in Europe. So Christina's first day in Rome was after her own heart. Her public entry into the city was supposed to take place three days after her arrival, but the preparations were so vast that it had to be postponed. Instead, His Holiness visited Christina in her apartments, and they walked up and down conversing (with curtains and doors wide) in her private room. When he left her, it was observed that she accompanied him to his chair and shut the door of it with her own hands, with many other pretty acts of reverence.

The day of the State entry was a Roman holiday. Bombs and guns resounded from daybreak. But again the weather threatened to spoil everything. In a deluge Christina set out from the courtyard of the Belvedere in the Pope's carriage with her huge following, through the Porta Angelica and outside the gates to the villa built by Giulio III, and there for several hours the vast company waited for the rain to stop. Just when it had been decided to abandon the procession[,] the clouds broke, the sun burst through, everybody cheered up[,] and the great cavalcade started. At the Porta Flaminia, now the Porta del Popolo, the immense procession was met by the College of Cardinals on horseback, and here Cardinal Barberini welcomed her in the name of the community. The gate had been completed by Bernini in her honour after Michael Angelo's original design, to which had been added an inscription commemorating the "happy and joyous entry of Queen Christina" (Felici faustoque ingressi Christina Suecorum Reginæ) A. D. 1655. Over the gate the Papal arms, six hills surmounted by a star, were united with the Vasa sheaf of corn, which was not unlike the fascia of modern Italy.

Bernini's silver coach and litter were notable features of the procession, but they were empty. At the last moment Christina had decided to enter Rome on her white chinea. Bernini's own sentiments on the occasion are not recorded, but Rome was amazed to see the regal convert astride her steed, booted and spurred, as though for the chase instead of her solemn reception into the Catholic fold.

Alexander had impressed upon his cardinals and those about the Vatican that this Queen from the North was not likely to understand Latin ways. Decorum must be strictly observed. No chattering or spitting. Let them beware; the honour of the Church depended greatly upon their behaviour. The steps of St. Peter were lined with cardinals when Christina dismounted in the Piazza and strode up the steps to be received by them. She wore a mantle of black over her grey and gold just-au-corps, grey and gold breeches (some say white) and a huge cavalier's hat[,] heavily plumed.

Whatever the cardinals may have thought about decorum, whatever they may have expected to see, they did not flinch, not even the ancient Gian Carlo and Sforza, who[,] by reason of their years and position[,] were detailed to lead her to the Pope who stood at the High Altar. Here she was received, and the Piazza of St. Peter resounded with the deafening explosions of bombs great and small, while she kissed the toe of His Holiness, and he declared that her conversion was so precious that heaven itself must be en fête.

Two days later, on Christmas Day, she was confirmed, taking the name of Maria Alexander [sic], the latter in deference to the Pope and because Alexander the Great was one of her heroes. Her last day at the Vatican was signalized by an invitation to dine with His Holiness. As the rule forbade his eating at the same board as a woman, they had separate tables, the Pope's being a few inches higher than hers. Likewise[,] his chair of red velvet was slightly more exalted. But she had a royal seat specially made for her, surmounted by a canopy. Don Antonio de la Cueva, her Grand Equerry, and Francesco Santinelli were in attendance on her. Conversation was not necessary, because a sermon was preached by the Jesuit Father Oliva throughout the lengthy repast, during which Christina interpolated a few observations which everyone found brilliant and to the point, but which were not recorded. After dinner they were again in private conversation, and the evening concluded in Christina's apartments with a musical and dramatic entertainment.

Next day, with many regrets expressed on both sides, Christina exchanged the hospitality of the Vatican for Palazzo Farnese.

Life in Rome had begun at last.

Above: Kristina.

Above: Karl Gustav.

Above: Pope Alexander VII.

Biography of Kristina, by Edgar Sanderson et al., year 1900, part 3

Source:

Six Thousand Years of History, volume 5 (Famous Women), pages 234 to 236, by Edgar Sanderson et al., 1900; original at Pennsylvania State University

https://books.google.com/books?id=TJ0zAQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=macedo+christina&source=gbs_navlinks_s

The biography:

June 24 [sic], 1654, the last direct scion of the race of Vasa stood before her Senate. The aged Count Brahé refused to take the crown from her head which he had placed there a few years before. He considered the bond between Prince and subject to be indissoluble, and held the proceedings before him to be unlawful. It was in opposition to the will of God, to the common right of nations, and to the oath by which she was bound to the realm of Sweden and to her subjects — he was no honest man who had given her Majesty such counsel (Schlözer's Swedische Biographie, article Peter Brahé.). The Queen was on this account compelled to lift the crown from her own head, as this was the only way the aged statesman would receive it. With crown and scepter laid aside, in a plain white dress, Christina then received the last homage of her estates, or houses. The speaker of the House of Peasants knelt before her, shook her hand and kissed it repeatedly, burst into tears, and thus departed from the daughter of his adored Gustavus Adolphus. This was the very moving sentimental side of the scene, but the machinations of the Jesuits were known to at least a few, and the operations of Christina were carefully watched, so that she feared her plans might yet miscarry. A fleet awaited her, but while she intrusted her property to the ships, she did not intend to so intrust her person. She was by this time almost a foe of her country, and the Swedes did well to be careful. The blunt warriors of the Northland had made a jest of Christina's dead languages; her disputes about vortices, innate ideas, etc.; her taste for medals, statues, pictures; her payments to the makers of books, like Salmasius. In this way she had come to despise her fellow-countrymen as barbarians. She took everything curious or valuable out of the royal palace, put it on the ship, and then, giving everybody the slip, set out by carriage for Hamburg. When she came to a little brook that then separated Sweden from Denmark, she got out of her carriage, and, leaping to the other side, cried out: "At last I am free, and out of Sweden, whither, I hope, I shall never return." She dismissed her women and assumed the dress of a man, not an unusual thing to do when traveling in those times. "I would become a man", she said, "yet I do not love men because they are men, but because they are not women." She prepared to publicly embrace the ancient faith at Brussels, and solemnly renounced Lutheranism at Innspruck. Her act was the reigning sensation in France. At Brussels she met the great Condé, who made that city his asylum. "Cousin", said she, "who would have thought, ten years ago, that we should have met at this distance from our countries?" "How great is the magnanimity of a Princess", said he, "who could so easily give up that for which the rest of mankind are continually destroying each other, and pursue throughout their whole lives without attaining?" The venerable Pope Innocent, suspecting that a public reception at Rome would be expensive, saved his money and reserved the honor for his successor, Alexander VII, by suggesting delay. When Alexander invited her, promising his benediction, she hastened towards Rome, and offered her crown and scepter to the Virgin at Loretto. All the cities of the Roman states gave her a public reception, and the new Pope, whose ambition was gratified by this Catholic triumph over Protestantism, exhausted the apostolic treasury to celebrate with due solemnity the conversion of the learned daughter of the great heretic. It was at Rome, that, in honor of the Pope, she adopted the second name of Alexandra, which she afterward bore. She rode on horseback in Amazon costume[,] and the vast crowds that Rome turns out were astir with exultation. Triumphal arches, illuminations, feasts, flags, and processions celebrated her act of homage to the Pope.

Above: Kristina.

Above: Pope Alexander VII.

Anna Brownell Jameson's biography of Kristina, part 12

Source:

Memoirs of celebrated female sovereigns, volume 1, pages 69 to 71, by Anna Brownell Jameson, 1831; original at the University of Toronto

https://archive.org/details/memoirsofcelebra02jameuoft/page/68/mode/2up

Kristina's letter from Rome of January 6/16 (Old Style), 1656 to Ebba Sparre is here:

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2019/06/kristinas-letter-to-ebba-sparre-year_25.html

Her letter from Brussels in 1655 to Ebba Sparre is here:

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2019/06/kristinas-letter-to-ebba-sparre-year.html

The biography:

At Inspruck, she repeated more publicly her abjuration of the Protestant faith, and was solemnly received into the bosom of the Roman Catholic faith. Several of the archdukes and others of the German nobility, had assembled at Inspruck on this occasion. Here, as at Brussels, her conversion was solemnised by banquets, balls, illuminations, and comedies; and such was the pomp and magnificence with which she was surrounded, that Christina, a queen and a philosopheress, was dazzled and turned giddy. She was heard to repeat with evident and childish pleasure, "O, che bella! bella!" Meantime her own deportment was not more decorous than formerly. On the evening of the same day on which she had made a solemn profession of faith in the cathedral at Inspruck, she was taken to a comedy presented for her amusement: "'Tis but fair", said she to those around her, "that you should treat me to comedy, after I have treated you to a farce."

After a stay of eight days at Inspruck, she continued her journey, being everywhere received with the honours due to rank, and gazed on with wonder and curiosity. On the 19th of December [sic] 1655, she made her public entry into Rome, mounted on a white horse, à la cavalière, and surrounded by all the principal nobility and clergy: she was conducted amidst incessant discharges of artillery, and with every mark of honour and of triumph, to St. Peter's, where she was received and confirmed by the Pope, and had the honour of kissing his slipper. We are told that the Roman ladies were extremely astonished at the masculine attitude and dress of Christina, who entered Rome not as a convert and a penitent, but rather as a victorious empress, triumphing as the conquerors of old; but on being told that she had made war on the King of Denmark, they thought her Amazonian appearance perfectly natural. When the festivities with which her first arrival was celebrated left her at leisure, Christina took up her residence in the Palazzo Farnese, and spent some months in visiting the curiosities and antiquities of Rome, and in receiving the compliments of the learned men and the various academies.

It appears, that after the first sensations of excitement and interest were over, the Romans began to view their new visitor and proselyte with more wonder than approbation. Her extreme levity — not exactly of conduct, but of language and of manner — scandalized the people; and the haughty indifference, and even contempt, with which she treated the nobles and the women of the highest rank, gave great offence. Her tranquillity and her independence were daily troubled by the dissensions of her household, and the want of money. Her revenue from Sweden was not punctually paid; and instead of the learned leisure, the pleasures, and amusements in which she had expected to indulge, she found herself beset by vexation and difficulties, such as she had never anticipated, and which her proud, careless spirit was ill calculated to endure. She wrote from Rome to Ebba Sparre, and although she would not confess her mortification and disappointment, the melancholy tone of her letter forms a striking contrast with that which she had written from Brussels but a few months before. Soon afterwards, she was seized with a dangerous disorder, from which she recovered with difficulty.

Above: Kristina.

Above: Ebba Sparre.

Above: Anna Brownell Jameson.

Ada Harrison's biography of Kristina, part 12

Source:

Christina of Sweden, pages 45 to 49, by Ada Harrison, 1929

https://books.google.com/books?id=xJvrtq4DCv0C&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=memoires+concernant+christine+1760&source=gbs_navlinks_s

The biography:

She had already become a Roman Catholic in practice, but had desisted, perhaps for Sweden's sake, from making a public profession of faith. She appealed to the Pope, Alexander VII, to be allowed to continue as she was, but he, naturally wishing to have his prize declared to the world, refused to allow her in Papal territory until she should have made her profession public. The ceremony was fixed to take place at Innsbruck, and, having been a year at Brussels, she set off south.

Her travelling arrangements were characteristic. Her fortune, for a royal personage, was not great, she was a bad manager, and the shoe was already beginning to pinch. Yet for the journey she attached to herself and conveyed with her no less than two hundred persons, a retinue of many nationalities and innumerable varieties, all pushing southward in the amiable occupation of sponging on the queen. The number of women in the train was five.

The profession was made on October 26th, 1655, in the Cathedral at Innsbruck, before a brilliant company. From A Letter concerning the manner of the Queen of Sweden renouncing her religion and embracing the Popish: written by an eye-witness at Innsbruck in Tiroll, we learn that 'the Archduke of Tiroll resolved to give her an extraordinary entertainment. He sent letters to all the gentry and nobility in this country and to his friends in parts adjacent to wait upon him in their bravery at the court'. After the ceremony, 'there were trumpets and drums and loud musick very fine', and in the evening a comedy was played before the royal convert.

The comedy tempted one historian, Chevreau, to father a false witticism on to Christina. 'It is but reasonable', he reports her to have said, 'that they should entertain me with a comedy to-night when I have so highly entertained them with a farce this morning'. But this is slander. It would be a poor creature who could fail to be moved on the day of her conversion, and Christina, though worldly, was perfectly sincere in her adoption of the Roman Catholic faith. Nor was she fool enough to risk giving such dangerous offence. Her eyes at this moment were fixed upon Alexander and upon Rome, and the Pope, having won his point about her public avowal of faith, was acting irreproachably towards her. Lucas Holstenius, the legate sent to receive her into the church, was a converted Lutheran like herself, who should perfectly understand her feelings. The chief nuncio who met her at the boundary of the Papal states was likewise a convert; more, an accountant of the Apostolic Treasury was sent to 'supply money unsparingly and to settle all accounts'. The trumpets and loud music continued fortissimo all the way to Roma. From Ferrara and Bologna to Spoleto, Terni and Bracciano, every city on the queen's zig-zag route vied with its neighbours in offering masses, entertainments, triumphal arches and complimentary verses. The queen visited Assisi, vowed her crown and sceptre to the Virgin at Loreto, everywhere witnessed plays and spectacles, and at Rimini made a notable addition to her train in the persons of the brothers Santinelli. These two poor provincial gentlemen had been adopted on account of their dancing, not in itself a bad recommendation, but hardly one to fit them for the high positions to which the infatuated Christina later promoted them.

Four days before Christmas the queen was in the environs of Rome. From Innsbruck she had written to the Pope fully resolved to do her part. Out of compliment for him[,] she added the name Alessandra to her own; she was full of 'the glory of obeying your Holiness'. She was in tempestuous love with humility, and 'stripped of all greatness, together with her blood and life'[,] she offered to the Pope 'the blind obedience that is his due'. In this mood she hurried travel-stained and incognito to the Vatican, to fling herself at the Pope's feet.

Alexander met her more than half way. He received her with the utmost graciousness, raised her up immediately and had her sit at his right hand under the baldacchino on a velvet chair decorated with silver doves, designed by Bernini for this purpose. Finally, as the greatest concession in his power, he had her conducted after the interview to apartments in the Vatican itself, especially refurnished for the occasion. It was against all precedent, but the Belvedere, being just separate from the main Vatican, allowed of this exceptional courtesy being offered to the queen. For her regular use the Farnese Palace had been prepared and decorated with crimson and purple velvet, with green and scarlet damask and with new carpets and tapestries. To his compliments Alexander added the solid blessing of a pension of twelve thousand crowns.

The next day Christina made her formal entry into Rome. She came by the Ponte Molle, down the Via Flaminia, through the Flaminian gate redecorated with a Latin message of welcome from the Pope's pen, down the Corso and so across the river to St Peter's. The weather was terrible, but the occasion brilliant. The day had been declared a solemn festival, and the finest decorations were ordered out. Rome, adorned not with festoons of paper strips, but with brocade and damask and every brilliant stuff floating from the windows, was magnificent for the guest. The procession itself glowed with cardinals and princes, with uniforms and liveries, with coaches of silver and bridles of gold. It paused just outside the city at the Villa Giulia for the queen to receive the Pope's presents, a carriage with six horses, a litter with porters and a white horse superbly harnessed. She mounted the horse and rode on under the Porta Flaminia, a little figure in sober colours, wearing a grey skirt and bodice embroidered in gold, a black cloak, and a wide black hat with a gold cord. The flashing Roman ladies were presented to her. Their dresses did honour to the occasion, for we are told that one outfit cost 700,000 écus. They were, however, to learn at the outset how much Christina appreciated this kind of effort. She received them with a curt word, and drove immediately through the city to St Peter's, which was gorgeous in draperies from floor to ceiling and so thronged that there was hardly standing-room on the vast floor. Here she worshipped publicly, and the city was given over to festival. The whole occasion, when for the instant poetry, circumstance and principle were blended, was one of the pinnacles of her career. The next day Christina had a headache, but while she nursed it in the magnificent apartments of the Farnese Palace, she could reflect with satisfaction how a sovereign uncrowned was far more glorious than a sovereign enthroned. This was the end of the year 1655.

Above: Kristina.

Guglielmo Bilancioni on Kristina's virilism, part 4

Sources:

Una viragine regina: il virilismo di Cristina di Svezia, article written by Guglielmo Bilancioni for Rassegni di studi sessuali e di eugenica: anno IV, pages 318 to 324, published by Aldo Mieli, 1924

https://books.google.com/books?id=q8EtAQAAIAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=il+virilismo+di+cristina+di+svezia&source=gbs_navlinks_s

A plaine and easie introduction to practicall musicke, page 1, by Thomas Morley, 1597

https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1475-1640_a-plaine-and-easie-intro_morley-thomas_1597/page/n5/mode/2up

Aldo Mieli at WikiPink - L'Enciclopedia LGBT+ italiana

https://www.wikipink.org/index.php/Aldo_Mieli

Rassegni di studi sessuali at WikiPink - L'Enciclopedia LGBT+ italiana

https://www.wikipink.org/index.php/Rassegna_di_studi_sessuali

The article:

Partita dalla sua patria, dopo avere spedito a Roma le sue collezioni di quadri, di libri, di monete, di pietre preziose, di manoscritti, di libri rari, or con veste di donna, or con veste di uomo, or con un misto dell'una e dell'altra — mutava talora assise nella stessa carrozza da viaggio — mise a rumore molte città italiane, ove ebbe entusiastiche accoglienze.

L'8 aprile 1655 diveniva papa — Alessandro VII — il senese Fabio Chigi, fautore dell'arte e della scienza. Con quale avvenimento più fausto della regale conversione poteva iniziare il suo regno? Si preparò ad accogliere Cristina figlia del re che a Lützen, al momento dell'attacco, aveva tatto intuonare dal suo esercito il salmo di Lutero «Dio ci è asilo, rifugio, forza...», con lo splendore degno di un neofita che abbandonava patria, trono, religione avita. Ma neppure durante le prime feste la svedese seppe nascondere l'indole sua. Spesso le piaceva lanciare qualche esclamazione audace in momenti solenni, o una facezia piccante, o scoppiava a ridere al cospetto di un alto personaggio.

Un contemporanio osservava:

«Elle a des gouts fort dissipés, et passe son temps dans la société des hommes. Elle n'a aucun souci de la bienséance ni des moeurs. Les tableaux, les spectacles, les bouffonneriers sont ses uniques plaisirs; tout ce qui touche à la religion, elle le fuit et l'evite avec soin».

Cristina stessa confermava, certo amando di esagerare: «Mes occupations sont de bien manger et de bien dormir, étudier un peu, causer, rire et voir les comédies... et passer le temps agréablement».

La repubblica veneta, allegando le condizioni sanitarie pessime, la fece deviare e le rese omaggio a Dolo. La riceverà Bologna con tale magnificenza, da ricordare l'incontro, in quella città, di Clemente VII con Carlo V imperatore. Nell'Archivio petroniano si conservano delle miniature che illustrano i cortei di quei giorni: spari di artiglierie, fuochi d'artificio, funzioni a San Petronio, una visita al Santuario della Madonna di San Luca e al museo di storia naturale di Ulisse Aldovrandi, un pranzo con dame in maschera, una giostra. Al ballo Cristina portava la parrucca blonda, spalmata di manteca e cosparsa di cipria, un fazzoletto al collo di punto genovese con nastro aranciato, come il giubbetto guernito d'oro e d'argento. Uguale richezza di guarnizione copriva la sottana grigia.

Poi il viaggio in Romagna e nelle Marche: Rimini, Cattolica, Fano, Ancona; appena scorge il santuario di Loreto discende dalla carrozza e s'inginocchia. Lo stesso pontefice presiedeva ai preparativi in Roma: la berlina era adorna di pitture e di statue dorate.

L'avvenimento era oggetto della facondia di tutta la poesia seicentesca: il padre Giuseppe Silos ha un epigramma Christina Alexandra Suetiae Regina Romanam Religionem complectitur, et Romam petit e una iscrizione Pro Adventu Romam Sueciae Reginae. Il Filicaja canterà poi l'

«Alta Reina, i cui gran fatti egregi

Tacer fia colpa, e raccontar periglio.»

Cristina entrò la sera del 20 dicembre, seguita da una fiaccolata. La porta interna di Piazza del Popolo, le cui decorazioni furono condotte da Lorenzo Bernini per ordine di Alessandro VII (1655) ha sull'attico, come ricordo dell'avvenimento, la scritta Felici faustoque ingressui, A. D. MDCLVII.

Si presentò al papa, al quale, dopo tre inchini, baciò il piede e le mani. Egli la sollevò con garbo e la fece sedere. Tuttavia il suo contegno non fu troppo devoto, per lei specialmente che aveva scritto «La vita dedicata a Dio». Durante la messa chiacchierava con i cardinali i rideva rumorosamente, mentre poi sali ginocchioni la Scala Santa.

L'ingresso trionfale avvenne il 26. Secondo Claretta «portava una sottana e un giustacuore di colore bigio ricamato d'oro. Un mantelletto nero le copriva gli omeri, forse per celare il difetto di una spalla. Aveva in testa un cappello a larghe falde attorniato da un cordone d'oro». Per Arckenholtz era vestita da amazzone, con piume diffuse al cappello e montava un cavallo bianco al modo degli uomini. Ciò confermano molti cronisti e Lilliecorna [sic] in un rapporto a Carlo Gustavo, aggiunge che le dame romane «étoient surprises de voir la reine assise à cheval comme un cavalier, portant des culottes chamarées».

In molte cose metteva tratti virili; avendo avuto qualche disputa con il cardinale De Medici, se ne vendicò facendo appostare un cannone detto lo spinosa contro il suo palazzo e lanciò ella stessa qualche proiettile contro il portone, senza neppure ammiccare; e al tempo stesso era capace di ascoltare, piena di sereno contegno, un discorso d'omaggio al Collegio Romano.

Alberto Bally, che la vide a Parigi, scrive: «Elle est fort petite, un peu boiteuse, mal faite de corps, et de visage fort brun... Elle marche à grands pas, s'arrête peu et a la voix fort grosse».

Aveva infatti tutti i segni esteriori e psicologici di un virilismo morboso: la carnagione bruna e fosca, coperta da une fitta lanugine, il profilo risoluto e aspro, le sopracciglia arcuate, il naso lungo, la bocca larga e il mento sottile, la voce grave baritonale e certe angolosità e durezze di gesto. Quando le dame francesi le furono intorno per baciarla, esclamò freddamente e con mal celata ripugnanza: «Quelle fureur ont ces dames à me baiser? Est-ce à cause que je ressemble à un homme?».

E correva l'epigramma:

«À sa jupe courte et legère,

À son pourpoint, à son collet,

Au chapeau chargè [sic] d'un plumet,

Au ruban ponceau, qui pendoit

Et par devant et par derrière

À sa maine galante et fière

D'Amazone et aventurière:

À ce nez de Consul Romain,

A cette fierté d'héroine,

A ce grand oeil tendre et hautain;

Sudain je reconnus Christine.»

Il papa aveva fatto provvedere a che nulla mancasse nel suo palazzo e che le dispense fossero ben fornite. Ma con lei entrò il disordine; i servi rubarono persino le gronde di rame del letto, oltre mobili e arazzi!

Sebbene volesse darsi un contegno, la sua natura fantastica prevaleva e poneva in serio imbarazzo il protocollo della corte pontificia con il partecipare in modo sguaiato — fu detto il carnevale della regina per antonomasia — ai divertimenti e ai balli carnevaleschi.

Era un misto di degenerazione e di una certa genialità.

Così volle istituire una Accademia Reale, che divenne poi l'Arcadia, nel palazzo de' Riari (Corsini). Riunirsi ogni tanto a declamare e a improvvisare versi e prose e sdilinquire sulla cadenza di una strofa trillata da due labbra più rosse del necessario, tra personaggi austeri in volto e pettegoli nello sguardo, in mezzo a una collana di scollature rinomate e aristocratiche! Parrucche, guardinfanti, ciprie, frusciar di gonne rigonfie e brillar di sorrisi dietro i ventagli, graziosi ripari alla malizia: dolci versi e amori idilliaci, gorgogliar di ruscelli e piogge di petali, belati d'agnellette timorose e innamorate tra i cespugli fioriti e baciamani pieni di sussiego, di rispetto e di salace riservatezza. Canti, musiche, ritornelli carezzevoli!

Il gusto artistico era in Cristina dote ereditaria, essendo stato il padre buon poeta e oratore. Scrisse persino dei versi in italiano e nell'Endemione di Alessandro Guidi ve ne sono dei suoi, oltre la traccia del poema. Ella attrasse alla sua corte Descartes, H. Grotius, Salmasius, Bochart, Huet, Naudaeus, Vossius, Meibom, G. A. Borelli, Schoeffer, Freinsheim, Isaac, Loccenius, e tenne corrispondenza con un gran numero di scienziati e di artisti, mostrando — come cantò il Filicaia — che sapeva comprendere

«... tutte l'arti, e tutti

Gli studi e l'opre di natura, e quanto

Il ciel', la terra e i flutti

Chiudono in sè...»

S'era persino data a studiare il canto, come un baritono qualunque, con disappunto grande del pontefice; ma si deve riflettere che allora saper cantare a prima vista o sonar violino e liuto era condizione di perfetta coltura. Elisabetta d'Inghilterra, che leggeva più latino in un giorno che non un prelato in un mese, non si vantava di saper suonare il clavicembalo al punto che all'ambasciatore scozzese Melvil [sic], inviato da Maria Stuarda chiese, dopo essersi fatta sentire, se la rivale la superasse in quest'arte? E se dobbiamo credere a quanto il Morley narra, nell'introduzione alla «Musica», la corte e la nobiltà di Inghilterra erano, in quel tempo simile al nostro rinascimento, così smaniosi di musica, che «trovandosi un tale in casa di signori e sparecchiato e recati libri di musica secondo il costume, la padrona gli presentò una parte pregandolo di cantare». Avendo il malcapitato confessato candidamente la sua ignoranza, ognuno fece le più alte meraviglie, come mai «un tale zotico» si fosse insinuato in loro compagnia. Aneddoto che ricorda come Temistocle, invitato fra la gioia di un convito a suonare la lira, avendo opposto un rifiuto, fu tacciato da uomo rozzo e incolto.

A Cristina l'amore dell'arte del canto e della commedia fece commettere delle sconvenienze. Il pubblico, una sera, al teatro Barberini, dopo averla attesa a lungo, perchè la rappresentazione potesse cominciare, l'accolse poi con urla e fischi. Essa s'inchinò ringraziando con atto di sprezzante confidenza. Altra volta, a un simile dispetto del pubblico, per un nuovo indugio, rispose fischiando. La plebe cessò di rispettarla; al Corso le rivolse motti salaci, a cui ella rispose con risa scurrili.

E occorre pensare che, dato il divieto misogino e la presenza dei musici evirati sulla scena, il teatro non riusciva certo una scuola di moralità; il Gorani narra molti fatti, che mostrano quanta corrutela allignasse sulla scena e fra il pubblico. I lazzi sconci dovevano essere di comune reportorio; quando si pensi che i cantori castrati avevano raggiunta una tal perfezione nella imitazione delle donne — come nota l'Archenholtz — «che uno spettatore inesperto, trovandosi a una certa distanza, non può indovinare il loro sesso, e, poichè con la voce è vinta la maggiore difficoltà, essi si sforzano nel portamento, nei gesti, nelle movenze e nel tratto d'imitare le donne.....»

Cristina aveva scelto come confessore il cardinale Decio Azzolini di Fermo, ingegno vivace, parlatore brillante, bell'uomo favorito da molte dame. Egli presso il pontefice fu spesso il patrocinatore dalle benevoli attentuanti delle mancanze di tatto della sovrana.

«Mais Azolin dans Rome

Sceut charmer ses ennemis;

Elle eût sans ce grand homme

Passé des tristes nuits»

scriveva il Coulanges con sottile malizia.

Questo fu uno della lunga serie degli amici della regina. Godevano poi di sue relazioni intime tal Francesco Maria Santinelli, suo cameriere maggiore, ed il marchese Rinaldo Monaldeschi, grande scudiero; quest'ultimo fu da lei fatto uccidere durante il soggiorno al castello di Fontaineble[a]u, come già Caterina Sforza Riario aveva segnato la sentenza di morte di Jacopo Feo.

English translation (my own):

Having left her homeland, after having sent her collections of paintings, books, coins, precious stones, manuscripts, rare books to Rome, now in a woman's dress, now in a man's dress, now in a mixture of both — she sometimes changed seats in the same traveling carriage — caused a stir in many Italian cities, where she received enthusiastic welcomes.

On 8 April 1655, Fabio Chigi of Siena, a supporter of art and science, became Pope — Alexander VII. With what more auspicious event than the royal conversion could his reign begin? He prepared to welcome Kristina, daughter of the king who in Lützen, at the moment of the attack, had heard Luther's psalm "God is our shelter, refuge, strength..." from his army, with the splendour worthy of a neophyte who had abandoned her homeland, her throne and her ancestral religion. But not even during the first parties did the Swede manage to hide her nature. She often liked to utter some bold exclamation during solemn moments, or a piquant joke, or she burst out laughing in the presence of a high personage.

A contemporary observed:

"She has very dissipated tastes and spends her time in the society of men. She has no concern for decorum or morals. Paintings, spectacles and buffoonery are her only pleasures; everything that touches religion, she shuns and takes pains to avoid."

Kristina herself confirmed, certainly loving to exaggerate: "My occupations are to eat well and sleep well, study a little, chat, laugh and see comedies... and pass the time agreeably."

The Venetian Republic, alleging the terrible health conditions, diverted her and paid homage to her in Dolo. Bologna received her with such magnificence, to remember the meeting in that city of Clement VII with the Emperor Charles V. In the Petronian Archives there are miniatures that illustrate the processions of those days: artillery shots, fireworks, functions at San Petronio, a visit to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca and to the natural history museum of Ulisse Aldovrandi, a lunch with ladies in masks, a carousel. At the ball Kristina wore a blond wig, smeared with rouge and dusted with powder, a handkerchief around her neck in Genoese stitch with an orange ribbon, like the jacket trimmed with gold and silver. The same richness of trimmings covered her grey skirt.

Then the journey to Romagna and Marche: Rimini, Cattolica, Fano, Ancona; as soon as she sees the sanctuary of Loreto, she gets out of the carriage and kneels. The Pontiff himself presided over the preparations in Rome: the berlin was adorned with paintings and gilded statues.

The event was the subject of the eloquence of all seventeenth century poetry: Father Giuseppe Silos has an epigram, Christina Alexandra, Sueciæ regina romanam religionem complectitur, et Romam petit and an inscription, Pro adventu Romam Sueciæ reginæ. Filicaia will then sing of the

"High Queen, whose great deeds are egregious

Keeping silent will be a sin, and telling will be dangerous."

Kristina entered on the evening of December 20, followed by a torchlight procession. The internal gate of Piazza del Popolo, whose decorations were carried out by Lorenzo Bernini by order of Alexander VII (1655), has on the attic, as a reminder of the event, the inscription Felici faustoque ingressui, A. D. MDCLVII.

She presented herself to the Pope, whose foot and hands she kissed after bowing three times. He lifted her up gently and made her sit down. However, her behaviour was not very devout, especially for her who had written "A life dedicated to God". During the Mass, she chatted with the cardinals and laughed loudly, while then she climbed the Holy Stairs on her knees.

The triumphal entry took place on the 26th. According to Claretta, "she wore a skirt and a grey doublet embroidered with gold. A black cloak covered her shoulders, perhaps to hide the defect of one shoulder. She had on her head a wide-brimmed hat surrounded by a gold cord". According to Arckenholtz, she was dressed as an Amazon, with feathers scattered around her hat, and was riding a white horse in the manner of men. This is confirmed by many chroniclers, and Lilliecrona, in a report to Karl Gustav, adds that the Roman ladies "were surprised to see the Queen sitting on horseback like a cavalier, wearing colourful breeches."

In many things she displayed virile traits; having had some dispute with Cardinal de' Medici, she took revenge by placing a cannon called the spinosa against his palazzo, and she herself launched some projectiles against the door, without even blinking; and at the same time she was capable of listening, full of serene demeanour, to a speech of homage to the Roman College.

Albert Bally, who saw her in Paris, writes: "She is very small, a little lame, badly formed in her body, and has a very brown face... She walks with great strides, stops rarely and has a very deep voice".

She had, in fact, all the external and psychological signs of a morbid virilism: the dark and swarthy complexion, covered with a thick down, the resolute and harsh profile, the arched eyebrows, the long nose, the wide mouth and the thin chin, the deep baritone voice and certain angularities and hardnesses of gesture. When the French ladies gathered around her to kiss her, she exclaimed coldly and with ill-concealed repugnance: "What a fury these ladies have to kiss me! Is it because I look like a man?".

And the epigram ran:

"By her short and light skirt,

By her justaucorps, by her collar,

By her hat loaded with a plume,

By her ponceau ribbon, which hung

Both in front and behind

By her gallant and proud hand

Of an Amazon and adventuress:

By this nose of a Roman Consul,

By this pride of a heroine,

By this big tender and haughty eye;

Suddenly I recognised Kristina."

The Pope had made sure that nothing was missing in her palazzo and that the pantries were well-stocked. But with her came disorder. The servants even stole the copper eaves of the bed, as well as furniture and tapestries!

Although she wanted to put on a show, her fantastic nature prevailed, and she seriously embarrassed the protocol of the papal court by participating in a vulgar way — it was called the Queen's Carnevale par excellence — in the Carnevale amusements and balls.

It was a mixture of degeneration and a certain geniality.

So she wanted to establish a Royal Academy, which later became the Arcadia, in the Palazzo Riario (Corsini). To gather every now and then to declaim and improvise verses and prose and to ramble on to the cadence of a stanza trilled by two lips redder than necessary, among characters with austere faces and gossipy eyes, in the midst of a necklace of renowned and aristocratic necklines! Wigs, farthingales, face powders, the rustling of billowing skirts and the shining of smiles behind fans, graceful shelters from malice: sweet verses and idyllic loves, the gurgling of streams and showers of petals, the bleating of fearful and enamoured lambs among the flowering bushes and hand-kisses full of haughtiness, respect and salacious reserve. Songs, music, caressing refrains!

Artistic taste was a hereditary gift in Kristina, her father having been a good poet and orator. She even wrote verses in Italian, and in Alessandro Guidi's Endymion there are some of her own, in addition to the outline of the poem. She attracted to her court Descartes, H. Grotius, Saumaise, Bochart, Huet, Naudé, Vossius, Meibomius, G. A. Borelli, Schoeffer, Freinsheim, Isaac, Loccenius, and corresponded with a large number of scientists and artists, showing — as Filicaia sang — that she knew how to understand

"... all the arts, and all

The studies and works of nature, and how

The sky, the earth and the waves

Enclose in themselves..."

She had even taken up the study of singing, like any baritone, to the great annoyance of the Pope; but one must consider that at that time, being able to sing at first sight or play the violin and lute was a condition of perfect culture. Elizabeth of England, who read more Latin in a day than a prelate in a month, did not boast of being able to play the harpsichord to the point that she asked the Scottish ambassador Melville, sent by Mary Stuart, after having made herself heard, if her rival surpassed her in this art?

And if we are to believe what Morley narrates in the introduction to his "Music", the court and the nobility of England were, in that time similar to our Renaissance, so eager for music that, "a certain man being in the house of some gentlemen and having cleared the table and brought in music books according to the custom, the mistress presented him with a part, earnestly requesting him to sing". The unfortunate man having candidly confessed his ignorance, everyone was amazed at how "such a boor" had insinuated himself into their company.

An anecdote recalls how Themistocles, invited amid the joy of a banquet to play the lyre, having refused, was branded a rude and uncultured man.

Kristina's love of the art of singing and comedy caused her to commit some indecencies. One evening, at the Barberini theater, the audience, after having waited a long time for the performance to begin, greeted her with shouts and whistles. She bowed in thanks with an act of contemptuous confidence. Another time, to a similar annoyance from the audience, for a new delay, she responded by whistling. The plebs ceased to respect her; on the Corso they addressed vulgar jokes to her, to which she responded with scurrilous laughter.

And one must consider that, given the misogynistic prohibition and the presence of evirated musicians on stage, the theater was certainly not a school of morality; Gorani narrates many facts, which show how much corruption was taking root on stage and among the audience. The obscene jokes must have been commonplace; when one considers that the castrati singers had reached such perfection in the imitation of women — as Arckenholtz notes — "that an inexperienced spectator, finding himself at a certain distance, cannot guess their sex, and, because the greatest difficulty is overcome with the voice, they strive in their bearing, gestures, movements and manner to imitate women....."

Kristina had chosen as her confessor Cardinal Decio Azzolino of Fermo, a lively genius, a brilliant talker, a handsome man favoured by many ladies. He was often the advocate to the Pope, with benevolent excuses for the sovereign's lack of tact.

«But Azzolino in Rome

Knew how to charm her enemies;

Without this great man she would have

Passed sad nights»,

wrote Coulanges with subtle malice.

This was one of the long series of the Queen's friends. Others who enjoyed her intimate relations were Francesco Maria Santinelli, her grand chamberlain, and the Marquis Rinaldo Monaldeschi, her grand equerry; the latter was killed by her during her stay at the castle of Fontainebleau, just like Caterina Sforza Riario had already signed the death sentence of Jacopo [Giacomo] Feo.

Above: Kristina.

Above: Cardinal Decio Azzolino.

Note: The addition of the study of the evil "science" of eugenics to the title of this magazine is suggested to be a result of the gradual and direct interference with it of the newly-arisen fascism in Italy at the time. From 1924 to 1926 "Rassegni di studi sessuali" (founded in 1921) actually gave many forward-thinking and modern contributions to the topic of homosexuality, but the aforementioned interference froze its founder Aldo Mieli's attempts to use the scientific method to address the topic of sexuality. From 1924 the magazine's contributions on homosexuality began to decrease and disappeared completely by 1928, the same year that Mieli, who was Jewish and himself gay, quit the magazine, left Italy and headed to France for his own safety.