Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantès's biography of Kristina in "Les Femmes célèbres de tous les pays: leurs vies et leurs portraits", year 1834, part 1

Sources:

Les Femmes célèbres de tous les pays: leurs vies et leurs portraits, views 80 to 81, by Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantès, and Joseph Straszewicz, 1834; original at the National Library of France (Bibliothèque nationale de France)

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5489241k/f109.item

Memoirs of Celebrated Women of All Countries. With Portraits by the Most Eminent Masters, pages 227 to 229, by Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantès, and Joseph Straszewicz, translator anonymous, 1834; original at The British Library

https://books.google.com/books?id=Yq5VAAAAcAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Memoirs+of+Celebrated+Women+of+All+Countries.+With+Portraits+by+the+Most+Eminent+Masters+1834&source=gbs_navlinks_s

The biography:

CHRISTINE,

REINE DE SUÈDE.

—

C'est une grande tâche à remplir que celle de tracer l'histoire d'une femme que, jusqu'à présent, la majorité de l'opinion a, pour ainsi dire, décorée des noms de grande et d'illustre, et que vous-même ne voyez que sous un jour tellement différent dans sa lueur, qu'elle ne vous apparaît, au contraire, que comme une de ces créatures insensées qui, toujours mécontentes du sort qui leur fut départi, ne cessent de faire des reproches au ciel du lot qu'il leur avait marqué, et avec lequel elles eussent été heureuses sans doute, si elles avaient su prendre la conduite sage et raisonnable de leur vie, au lieu de la vouloir changer, et donner à leur destinée une autre direction, à leur existence une autre âme.

C'est ce que fit Christine.... La faute ne doit pas, au reste, lui en être entièrement attribuée. L'éducation de ses premières années décida peut-être du reste de sa vie; et son père, voyant en elle des lueurs d'une intelligence extraordinaire, voulut trouver dans sa fille un grand homme; et trompant la nature, il lui donna une première éducation guerrière, qui ne produisit qu'un de ces phénomènes bizarres dans leur apparition au milieu du monde, qu'ils étonnent sans lui plaire, et dont ils sont plutôt repoussés qu'accueillis.

Christine de Suède est née le 18 décembre 1626. Sa mère était Éléonore-Marie [sic] de Brandebourg; et son père, l'un des plus grands capitaines des temps modernes, était Gustave-Adolphe, celui que ses bandes victorieuses avaient surnommé le Lion du Nord!... Il mourut au milieu de ses triomphes, jeune encore, et plein de cette volonté, victorieuse de tout obstacle, qui lui aurait fait conquérir l'Europe; il laissait la couronne de Suède à une enfant, mais avec l'espoir que cette enfant illustrerait le sceptre dont elle héritait.

Christine avait à peine deux ans, que son père, ayant remarqué en elle une volonté forte, une humeur presque guerrière, la prit avec lui, et la mena dans presque tous les camps et les forteresses qu'il allait visiter. Un jour, il fut à Colmar [sic]. Au moment de tirer le canon, le gouverneur craignit que la jeune princesse eût peur, et le dit au roi son père. Gustave fut au moment de défendre qu'en effet on tirât; puis il dit en souriant:

— C'est la fille d'un soldat.... Tirez, monsieur le gouverneur, il faut qu'elle s'accoutume à ce bruit! Mais aussitôt que Christine entendit l'explosion, elle se mit à rire, frappa ses petites mains l'une contre l'autre, et semblait demander que l'on continuât, Gustave-Adolphe devait aimer une enfant qui annonçait un tel courage, et devait lui succéder.... Depuis ce moment, il conduisait toujours Christine avec lui dans les camps, dans les revues, partout enfin où se trouvait un appareil militaire; et comme il voyait alors le plaisir briller dans les yeux de l'enfant:

— Soyez en paix, disait-il en souriant, je vous mènerai quelque jour en des lieux où vous aurez contentement.

Gustave-Adolphe est un homme que la postérité n'a pas jugé aussi grand qu'il l'était en effet. On admire comment des essaims d'hommes, venus jadis du Nord, conquirent l'Empire romain; mais qu'on examine ce que Gustave fit en une année contre des peuples et des généraux bien autrement habiles et bien autrement policés que ce qui se trouvait devant les Scythes et les Goths, et l'on sera moins étonné!

Le héros mourut sur le champ de bataille, et ne put donner lui-même à l'éducation de sa fille tous les soins qu'il lui promettait; mais ses instructions furent religieusement suivies, et Christine fut élevée d'une façon bizarre, qui ne devait produire qu'un résultat peu satisfaisant pour elle-même. On rendit seulement sa constitution physique aussi robuste que celle de l'homme le plus fort. Elle mangeait peu, dormait encore moins, et en était venue au point de ne redouter aucune fatigue. Souvent elle demeurait deux jours sans boire, parce que l'eau lui faisait mal [sic], et qu'on ne voulait pas qu'elle bût de l'eau pure; elle ne pouvait se résoudre à boire du vin ou quelque liqueur fermentée que ce fût. Se mortifiant par sa propre volonté, elle souffrait le froid, le chaud, la faim et la soif avec une égale constance. En général, elle tâchait de faire disparaître en elle tout ce qu'elle avait de son sexe, pour prendre celui de l'homme. Elle ressentait pour les femmes une aversion et un mépris portés à un degré d'autant plus singulier, que rien, dans sa vie, n'avait dû lui inspirer de tels sentimens.

— J'aime mieux les hommes que les femmes, disait-elle, non pas parce qu'ils sont hommes, mais parce qu'ils ne sont pas femmes.

Le fameux Oxenstiern, serviteur de son père, et l'un des hommes d'Etat les plus habiles et les plus intègres que le monde politique ait vus, Gustave lui-même, le cardinal de Richelieu, Olivarès, Cromwell, Mazarin, le grand Condé, et cette foule de beaux génies que la littérature de tous les pays était alors en droit de réclamer, pouvaient bien, en effet, lui donner le désir de partager la gloire des hommes; mais les femmes en avaient une aussi; et en repoussant les avantages de son sexe, Christine demeura toujours femme, mais dépouillée de tout charme et de toute vertu, tandis qu'il lui fut impossible de rien prendre à ces hommes, qui ne voulurent reconnaître en elle qu'une femme cruelle et vindictive, impétueuse, tyrannique, et susceptible de tous les excès produits par une ambition d'autant plus effrénée, qu'elle voulait la cacher. Christine convenait, au reste, elle-même, qu'elle était un composé de défauts et de qualités. Peut-être faut-il attribuer à cette singulière manière d'être la diversité des jugemens portée sur elle-même par ses contemporains. ... 

English translation (by anonymous translator):

CHRISTINA,

QUEEN OF SWEDEN.

IT is a difficult task to write the life of a woman to whom the world, by almost common consent, has given the names of great and illustrious, but who appears, from the anomalies in her character, to have been rather one of those insensate beings, ever restless and dissatisfied, who vainly endeavour to struggle against the dispensations of Providence, and thereby fail in attaining that happiness which might and ought to have been their lot.

Thus it was with Christina; though the fault is not entirely to be attributed to herself. Her early education had, no doubt, a powerful influence over the remainder of her life: her father, finding in her a precocity of extraordinary talents, wished to make her great; and, violating the laws of nature, he gave her the education of a warrior. The consequence of this was, the apparition of one of those singular phenomena which astonish but disgust mankind, and excite but little of human sympathy.

Christina, Queen of Sweden, was born on the 18th December 1626. Her mother was Eleanora Maria [sic] of Brandenburg; her father Gustavus Adolphus, one of the greatest captains of modern times, and surnamed by his victorious legions the "Lion of the North." He died young, amid his career of victory, whilst he was yet animated with that resolute daring which had made him surmount every obstacle, and would ultimately have led him to the conquest of all Europe. He left the crown of Sweden to a child; but he cherished the hope that his child would render illustrious the throne of his ancestors.

Christina was scarcely two years old when her father, having already discerned in her a decided will, and an almost martial temper, took her with him to all the camps and fortresses which he visited. One day at Colmar [sic], when the guns were about to be fired, the governor, fearful that the infant princess might be alarmed at the report, mentioned it to the king. Gustavus hesitated at first, but he soon said with a smile, "She is the daughter of a soldier; let the guns be fired, — she must accustom herself to the report." When Christina heard the noise, she laughed aloud, and striking her little hands together, seemed to ask for a repetition of the firing. Gustavus Adolphus could not but love a child who gave such early indications of courage, and was one day to succeed him. From that moment he always took Christina with him to camps and reviews, whenever there was any military display; and he observed with delight the pleasure she evinced on such occasions.

"I will one day", he used to say to her, "take you to places where you shall be fully satisfied."

Gustavus Adolphus is a man to whom posterity has not done justice. We often admire the deeds of those Northern hosts who overthrew the Roman empire; but if we consider attentively what Gustavus Adolphus achieved in the space of a single year, opposed as he was to nations and generals of a much higher order of civilization and capacity than those with whom the Scythians and Goths had to contend, we shall feel less surprise at the victorious incursions of the latter.

The hero of Sweden died in the midst of his triumphs, and before he had time to bestow upon his child the education he had traced out for her. But his last injunctions were religiously observed, and Christina was brought up in that extraordinary manner which could only lead to an unsatisfactory result for herself. Particular care was taken to render her constitution as robust as that of the strongest man: she ate little, slept still less, and was inured to every species of privation and hardship. She frequently passed two whole days without drinking, because[,] water not agreeing with her [sic], she was not allowed to drink it, and she could not reconcile herself to wine, or any fermented liquor. Mortifying herself of her own free will, she endured cold, heat, hunger, and thirst with equal resolution. She endeavoured to throw off everything belonging to her sex, and adopt the habits and ideas of a man. She entertained a deeply-rooted aversion and contempt for women; and this feeling was the more extraordinary because nothing had occurred to herself likely to inspire her with this hatred.

"I prefer men to women", she used to say, "not because they are men, but because they are not women."

The celebrated Oxenstiern, her father's minister, and one of the greatest and most virtuous statesmen the world has produced — the great Gustavus himself, Cardinal Richelieu, Olivarès, Cromwell, Mazarin, the great Condé, and that host of fine geniuses of which the literature of every country at that time boasted, might indeed have inspired her with the desire of sharing the glory of men. But women had also their glory, and in repudiating the advantages of her sex, Christina still remained a woman, — but a woman deprived of the charms and fascinations of her nature, without being able to acquire any of the qualities of men, who looked upon her in no other light than a cruel and vindictive female, impetuous, tyrannical, and capable of every excess to which an inordinate ambition that she in vain endeavoured to conceal, could lead her. She herself admitted that she was a compound of good and bad qualities. Perhaps we must attribute to these causes the contradictory judgments passed upon her by her contemporaries. ...

Above: Kristina.

Above: Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantès.

Note: report = the sharp, loud sound from a gun or explosion.

Article on Elis Essen-Möller's opinion of Kristina, in "Björneborgs Tidning" newspaper, year 1937

Source:

Drottning Christina: man eller kvinna?, article written for Björneborgs Tidning, issue 67, page 4, issue of Friday, August 20, 1937; original at the Finnish National Library (Kansalliskirjasto/Nationalbiblioteket)

https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1960384?term=Drottning&term=Christina&term=drottning&term=Christinas&term=drottningen&term=drottningens&page=4

Björneborgs Tidning, 20.08.1937 no 67, s. 4 https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1960384 Kansalliskirjaston Digitaaliset Aineistot

The article:

Drottning Christina.

—

MAN ELLER KVINNA?

Den högt ansedde gynekologen, professor Elis Essen-Möller har i dagarna utgivit ett arbete ”Drottning Christina” med underrubriken ”En människostudie ur läkaresynpunkt”. Han lämnar däri ett synnerligen intressant bidrag till förståelsen av drottning Christinas omstridda personlighet.

Det har sina sidor att försöka komma under fund med de människors egenart, vilka spelat en roll i det historiska händelseförloppet. Man har deras egna uttalanden i den mån dessa äro bevarade i oförvanskad form, deras anteckningar och brev att lita till som kommentarer till deras handlingar. Människor giva sig emellertid aldrig oförbehållsamt i tal eller skrift. Deras ord stå alltid i någon mån under inflytande av tanken på den eller dem, om skola taga del av orden. Ingen dödlig är fullt på det klara med de drivkrafter, som bestämma hans handlingar eller det krafternas samspel i det undermedvetna vars resultat utkristalliserar sig hans åsikter. Om man ur en persons skrifter och brev försöker rekonstruera hans personlighet, inlåter man sig på ett företag vanskligare än det att rekonstruera de urtidsdjur, om vilkas benstomme förstenade rester därav lämna besked. Den levande organismen är alltid något mera än den stomme, som uppbär den. I ännu högre grad än om det yttre händelseförloppet gäller om de människor vilka varit medspelande däri Goethes ord:

”Die Zeiten der Vergangenheit

Sind uns ein Buch mit sieben Siegeln.”

Drottning Christina utgör minst av allt ett undantag från denna regel. Hon faller utanför det vardagligas ram både våd levnadsöde och personlighet angår. Hon har bedömts olika, allt efter bedömarens egna förutsättningar. Varje porträtt vittnar om konstnärens såväl som om modellens egenart. De flesta som tecknat drottningens bild skulle kanske i självrannsakningens stund kunna säga: »så jag målat, ty så roat mig att måla.»

Elis Essen-Möller har betraktat Christina ur gynekologens synpunkt. Hans tes är att drottningen tillhört de inters*xuellas skara. Hennes könskaraktär har varit vacklande. Han stöder sin tes på uttalanden av samtida, vilka framhållit hennes karlavulna väsen, hennes grova röst och hennes förkärlek för karlkläder och karlmaner. Granskningen av hennes porträtt röjer också, menar förf., en inters*xuell typ. Några av dem giva intryck av den förgrämdhet, vars byte dessa abnorma människor [sic] gärna bliva. Andra, särskilt den ofta reproducerade koppargravyren från Nürnberg 1662, visa den skeva gestalt som också är karakteristisk för de inters*xuella.

Det viktigaste argumentet hämtar förf. från drottningens egna anteckningar. Hon omförmäler att de vid hennes moders förlossning deltagande barnmorskorna togo fel på hennes kön och meddelade konungen att hans drottning nedkommit med ett gossebarn. Misstaget vill Christina förklara därmed att hon vid födelsen var starkt hårbevuxen och skrek med grov röst. Att fruntimmerna skulle ha rättat sig bara efter detta, när de alla hade klart för sig, vilken ofantlig vikt som lades vid det nyfödda barnets kön, är uteslutet. Någon missbildning måste ha förelegat och vilselett dem. Häremot strider icke att när misstaget skulle rättas, bar konungens syster barnet till honom på så sätt att han med egna ögon kunde övertyga sig om huru saken förhöll sig. Den närmast till hands liggande förklaringen på detta prinsessan Catharinas tillvägagångssätt synes vara den, att hon ville låta konungen se att misstaget var förklarligt. Och man har mycket svårt att komma ifrån att det måste ha så varit. ”Utan att vara absolut bevisande, talar alltså beskrivningen”, säger förf., ”i den riktning, att de delar av Christinas kropp, som här ifrågakomma, vid födelsen erbjudit en avvikelse från det normala [sic] av sådan art, att den givit anledning till förväxling av könet.”

Härmed sammanställer förf. de bekanta orden i Christinas dagbok, där hon tackar Gud för att ingen av hennes köns svagheter ”fått inrymme i min själ, som Du genom Din Nåd gjort alldeles manlig, äfven som det öfriga af min kropp”.

Man kan icke undandraga sig det intrycket att Essen-Möller bevisar sin tes i den mån den kan bevisas. Att Christina vid mogen ålder verkligen förälskade sig i en man, kardinal Azzolino, strider icke däremot. Hur detta kärleksförhållande utgestaltat sig, är icke känt. Det lär ju icke tillhöra sällsyntheterna att än den ena än den andra könskaraktären betonas starkare hos dessa blandningstyper.

Om man antager att den tes, Essen-Möller förfäktar, är riktig, får onekligen mycket i Christinas handlingssätt sin förklaring. Hennes tronavsägelse framstår som en direkt följd av hennes oförmåga att ingå äktenskap och skänka landet tronarvingar. Hennes övergång till katolicismen blir en följd av nödtvånget att leva i länder, där den romerska kyrkan härskade. Delvis kunna kastningarna i hennes lynne kanske härledas av dubbelheten i hennes natur.

Författaren har också ägnat drottningens personlighet en moralisk värdering, vars utslag väcker en del gensagor. Jämförelsen mellan Christinas och La Rochefoucaulds aforismer utfaller icke till hennes nackdel. Där de påminna om varandra, röjer sig i hennes ord lejonklon på ett annat sätt än i hans. De uttalanden, som förf. i övrigt lägger henne till last göra ett helt annat intryck. Det är en inre myndighet, en suveränitet i hennes ord, som äro kungliga alltigenom. Det är en fråga om tycke och smak, men det förefaller som om Essen-Möller mätte Christina med en måttstock, som icke räcker till. Att välvist mästra den människan har sina vådor.

Författaren har i varje fall lämnat ett bidrag till diskussionen om Christinas personlighet, som icke torde kunna förbigås. Vad historikerna av facket komma att säga om hans argumentering, är en annan fråga.

English translation (my own):

Queen Christina.

—

MAN OR WOMAN?

The highly regarded gynecologist, Professor Elis Essen-Möller, has recently published a work, "Drottning Christina", with the subtitle "En människostudie ur läkaresynpunkt". In it, he makes a particularly interesting contribution to the understanding of Queen Kristina's controversial personality.

There are advantages to trying to understand the character of the people who have played a role in the course of historical events. We have their own statements, insofar as they have been preserved in unadulterated form, and their notes and letters to rely on as comments on their actions. However, people never show themselves unreservedly in speech or writing. Their words are always, to some extent, influenced by the thoughts of the person or people who will hear them. No mortal is fully aware of the driving forces that determine his actions or the interaction of forces in the subconscious, the result of which is the crystallisation of his opinions. If we try to reconstruct a person's personality from his writings and letters, we are embarking on an undertaking more difficult than that of reconstructing the prehistoric animals about whose skeletons fossilised remains provide information. The living organism is always something more than the skeleton that supports it. To an even greater extent than the external course of events, Goethe's words apply to the people who were involved in it:

"Die Zeiten der Vergangenheit

Sind uns ein Buch mit sieben Siegeln."

["The times of the past

Are a closed book to us."]

Queen Kristina is the least of all an exception to this rule. She falls outside the framework of the everyday, both in terms of her life and her personality. She has been judged differently, depending on the judge's own circumstances. Each portrait testifies to the artist's as well as the model's unique character. Most of those who have drawn the Queen's portrait could perhaps say in a moment of self-examination: "so I painted, because I enjoyed painting so much."

Elis Essen-Möller has considered Kristina from the point of view of a gynecologist. His thesis is that the Queen belonged to the inters*xual group. Her s*xual character was wavering. He supports his thesis on statements by contemporaries, who have emphasised her masculine nature, her coarse voice and her preference for men's clothing and men. The author believes that an examination of her portraits also reveals an inters*xual type. Some of them give the impression of the embitteredness to which these abnormal people [sic] gladly become the prey. Others, especially the often reproduced copper engraving from Nuremberg in 1662, show the crooked figure that is also characteristic of inters*xuals.

The author draws the most important argument from the Queen's own notes. She recounts that the midwives who attended her mother's delivery made a mistake about her sex and informed the King that his Queen had given birth to a boy-child. Kristina thus explains the mistake by saying that, at the time of her birth, she was heavily covered in hair and screamed in a coarse voice. It is impossible that the ladies would have corrected themselves only after this when they were all aware of the enormous importance attached to the sex of the newborn child. Some deformity must have been present and misled them. This does not contradict the fact that when the mistake was to be corrected, the King's sister carried the child to him in such a way that he could see with his own eyes how the matter was. The most obvious explanation for Princess Katarina's approach seems to be that she wanted to show the King that the mistake was understandable. And it is very difficult to avoid the fact that this must have been the case. "Without being absolutely conclusive, the description thus suggests", says the author, "that the parts of Kristina's body in question at her birth exhibited a deviation from normality [sic], of such a nature that it gave rise to confusion over her sex."

The author hereby compiles the familiar words in Kristina's diary, where she thanks God that none of the weaknesses of her sex "have been allowed to enter my soul, which You have made completely masculine, through Your grace, even like the rest of my body".

One cannot help but get the impression that Essen-Möller proves his thesis to the extent that it can be proven. The fact that Kristina really fell in love with a man, Cardinal Azzolino, at a mature age does not contradict this. How this love affair developed is not known. It is not uncommon for one sex [gender?] characteristic to be emphasized more strongly in these mixed types.

If one assumes that the thesis advocated by Essen-Möller is correct, much in Kristina's actions is undoubtedly explained. Her abdication appears to be a direct consequence of her inability to marry and provide the country with heirs to the throne. Her conversion to Catholicism is a consequence of the necessity of living in countries where the Roman Church ruled. The shifts in her disposition can perhaps be partly derived from the duality of her nature.

The author has also given the Queen's personality a moral assessment, the results of which arouse some controversy. The comparison between Kristina's and la Rochefoucauld's aphorisms does not turn out to her disadvantage. Where they resemble each other, her words reveal a lion's claw in a different way than in his. The statements that the author otherwise accuses her of making give a completely different impression. There is an inner authority, a sovereignty in her words, which are royal throughout. It is a matter of opinion and taste, but it seems as if Essen-Möller measured Kristina with a yardstick that is not sufficient. To master that person well has its dangers.

The author has, in any case, made a contribution to the discussion of Kristina's personality, which should not be ignored. What the historians of the profession will say about his argument is another question.

Note: Björneborg is the Swedish name for the Finnish city of Pori. It is the regional capital of Satakunta and is located on the west coast of the country, on the Gulf of Bothnia.

Article on the 300th anniversary of Kristina's birth, in "Hufvudstadsbladet" newspaper, year 1926

Source:

Drottning Kristinas födelse: Ett trehundraårsminne, article written for Hufvudstadsbladet, issue 332, page 8, issue of Wednesday, December 8, 1926; original at the Finnish National Library (Kansalliskirjasto/Nationalbiblioteket)

https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1534425?term=Drottning&term=Kristinas&term=Kristina&term=drottningens&term=drottningen&page=8

Hufvudstadsbladet, 08.12.1926 no 332, s. 8 https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1534425 Kansalliskirjaston Digitaaliset Aineistot

The article:

Drottning Kristinas

—

födelse.

—

Ett trehundraårsminne.

I senaste nummer av Nya Dagligt Allehanda ger Nanna Lundh Eriksson följande skildring av stämningarna i Stockholm vid det tillfälle då drottning Kristina kom till världen:

Man skrev anno 1626.

Året hade skridit ett långt stycke fram på sin bana, och man hade hunnit in i december månad. En bister kyla rådde och snön låg hög ute i bygderna. I Svea rikes huvudstad härskade det dessa dagar oro och spänning i sinnena. Rättrogna borgare, som hade sina vägar förbi Tre Kronors mäktiga borg, blickade undrande upp mot de små fönstren, och övriga promenerade eller i ärenden stadda stadsbor spejade nyfiket efter varje grann ryttare eller utstyrd slottstjänare, som från slottsporten över vindbron viktig och självsäker banade sig väg genom de vandrandes led.

Uppe på slottet var oron och spänningen ej mindre. „Hovfruntimber” och tjänstepigor möttes i gemensam oro i gemak och gångar, adelsfruar med stort följe kommo dragande i sina granna och klumpiga vagnar genom porten och in på borggården, där de stego av och blevo installerade i ett eller annat smårum i väntan på det, som upptog allas sinnen, kungen själv lämnade ogärna sin borg, och skrivare och brevdragare uppehöllo sig i så stor närhet av brevkammaren som möjligt för att, när det stora ögonblicket nalkades, vara redo och visa sin undersåtliga glädje.

Så hade man nu, hög som låg, i flera veckor väntat på den stora händelsen, den glädjande tilldragelsen, som skulle åt konung och rike skänka den så efterlängtade tronarvingen. Det var inte just att undra på att lite var kände sig ängslig och orolig. Gustaf Adolf och Maria Eleonora hade ju vunnit sitt folks varma tillgivenhet, han genom sin älda [sic] karaktär, hon genom sin skönhet, sin mildhet och sin gränslösa kärlek till maken. Två små döttrar hade Maria Eleonora under de föregående åren fött till världen, men de hade båda dött späda. Skulle nu även denna gång ett spätt liv slockna när det nätt och jämt tänts, så kunde det ju rentav se ut som skulle kung Göstas ätt alldeles slockna ut.

Förebåden till den stora händelsen voro ej heller av glädjande art. Stjärntydarna, som vid den tiden alltid tillfrågades om stundande händelser, hade visserligen bestämt förklarat, att det väntade barnet skulle bli en gosse. Men de hade också förutsagt, att tronarvingens födelse skulle förorsaka antingen konungens, drottningens eller barnets egen död. Som nu drottningen var klen och bräcklig och kungen under det polska fälttåget ådragit sig „tredjedagsfrossan”, så hade man ju alla skäl att frukta det värsta.

Emellertid gingo dagarna och på kvällen den 7 december spred sig i staden ryktet att den stora stunden vore nära förestående. Nyfikna och intresserade undersåtar strömmade i hast genom gator och gränder upp mot Tre Kronor och samlade sig i större och mindre grupper på de öppna platserna kring slottet. En och annan lykta upplyste sparsamt brinkarna och de öppna platserna, annars var det överallt svart som i en säck. Stjärnorna glimmade på den nattsvarta himlen, men deras sken trängde inte ner till de trånga, mörka gränderna, där vandrarna törnade mot varandra i mörkret.

Emellertid gick allt väl.

Inemot halvniotiden spred sig bland de församlade underrättelsen, att en tronarvinge blivit född, en flicka. Klockan åtta hade den lilla gjort sitt inträde i världen, och om oron och spänningen vittnar bäst den omständigheten att man i början tog henne för en gosse.

I sina självbekännelser skriver Kristina själv härom:

„Jag föddes betäckt med hår från huvudet ända till knäna, så att endast ansikte, armar och ben voro fria, och hade en grov och stark röst. Allt detta kom kvinnorna, som mottogo mig, att tro, att jag var en gosse. De fyllde hela slottet med en falsk glädje, som t. o. m. för några ögonblick bedrog kungen själv, men det blev en stor uppståndelse bland kvinnorna, när de sågo sig besvikna. De råkade i stort bekymmer, hur de skulle kunna taga konungen ur hans villfarelse.”

Inne i brevkammaren framlade stjärntydarna de himmelska tecknen för kungen och förutsade det väntade barnets framtida öden.

„Denna natt förer Jupiter regementet med så stor makt som sällan förut, och detta betyder ogement stora gåvor. Men bakom honom står Saturnus, som ingen tilltro har, och han plägar draga till undergång det som annars är förutbestämt till ära. Många farligheter förestå, dock mest i sinnets omskiftelse. I dessa dagar går ock solen ur Skyttens tecken in i Stenbockens. Skyttens barn äro godartade, men Stenbockens barn hava en sött talande tunga, lova mycket och hålla litet, berömma sig övermåttan och söka mer människors pris än Guds. Korteligen: de barn, som födas i denna natt, varda stora i gåvor och skina som ljus, men råka i mycken frestelse och kunna slockna i mörker.”

Men Gustaf Adolf bekymrade sig inte mycket om spåmän och tecknatydare och deras horoskop. För honom var det en övermåttan stor glädje, att den svåra stunden var över, att en son var född och att tronföljden var tryggad. Men då klappade det på dörren, och en page anmälde, att Hans Majestäts syster, pfalzgrevinnan, vore på väg till brevkammaren, och där kom hon själv i pagens fotspår, bärande den lilla nyfödda telningen.

Det var ingen, som hade vågat att för konungen tala om att ett misstag blivit begånget. Lotten föll på pfalzgrevinnan att underrätta konungen härom.

Kristina skriver själv:

„Prinsessan Katarina, konungens syster, bar mig på sina armar till konungen för att låta honom själv se, vad hon ej vågade säga. Den store fursten visade ingen förvåning, utan slöt mig i sina armar och var så vänlig, som om han icke blivit bedragen i sin väntan. Han sade till prinsessan: Låtom oss tacka Gud, min syster! Jag hoppas, att denna flicka en gång skall bliva mig så duktig som någon gosse. Jag ber Gud, att han måtte bevara henne, eftersom han har givit mig henne. Därefter skickade han mig åter med sin välsignelse och såg så förnöjd ut, att han förvånade alla.”

Kungen var alltså den, som tog det hela lugnast. Leende sade han till sin uppvaktning: „Det blir en slug flicka, ty hon har lurat oss alla”. Och så lät han kanonerna hälsa den nyfödda med salut som om en prins blivit född och befallde att ett högtidligt „Te Deum” skulle hållas i Bykyrkan.

Men drottningen, som matt och blek låg i den stora plymagerade himmelssängen, var otröstlig över besvikelsen, och det skulle dröja flera dagar, innan hon ville se den lilla fula och bruna ungen.

Dock — om allt detta, som tilldrog sig innanför Tre Kronors murar, hade folket på de öppna platserna där utanför ingen aning. De hörde blott förmälas att en prinsessa blivit född, och att varken far eller mor eller den lilla dött, alla spåmän till trots, och när salutskotten gingo och glädjeeldarna tändes på vallarna och speglade sig i Strömmens rörliga vatten, höjdes från den månghundrahövdade skaran glädjerop och fröjdesorl. Hade de kunnat skåda in i framtiden och se det lilla nyfödda barnets öden, hade de säkerligen av fullaste hjärta instämt i den fromme teckentydarens önskan, då han tecknade den nyföddas horoskop:

Herre, vaka över de barn, som födas denna natt!

English translation (my own):

Queen Kristina's

—

birth.

—

A tercentenary commemoration.

In the latest issue of Nya Dagligt Allehanda, Nanna Lundh Eriksson gives the following description of the atmosphere in Stockholm on the occasion when Queen Kristina was born:

It was written in 1626.

The year had advanced a long way on its course, and the month of December had been reached. A bitter cold prevailed, and the snow lay deep in the countryside. In the capital city of the Kingdom of Sweden, anxiety and tension reigned in the minds these days. Faithful citizens, who had their way past the mighty fortress of Tre Kronor, looked up in wonder at the small windows, and other townspeople who were walking or on business were curiously watching for every nearby horseman or well-dressed castle servant who, from the castle gate over the drawbridge, made his way importantly and self-confidently through the ranks of the travellers.

Up in the castle, the anxiety and tension were no less. "Court ladies" and servant girls met in mutual anxiety in the rooms and corridors; noblewomen with large suites came pulling their narrow and clumsy carriages through the gate and into the courtyard, where they dismounted and were installed in one or another small room while waiting for what occupied everyone's minds; the King himself reluctantly left his fortress, and scribes and letter carriers stayed as close to the letter room as possible so that, when the great moment approached, they would be ready and show their joy as subjects.

So, high and low, people had been waiting for several weeks for the great event, the joyful event, which would give the King and kingdom the long-awaited heir to the throne. It was not surprising that some felt anxious and worried. Gustav Adolf and Maria Eleonora had won the warm affection of their people, he through his noble character, she through her beauty, her kindness and her boundless love for her husband. Maria Eleonora had given birth to two little daughters during the previous years, but they had both died in infancy. If this time too a tender life were to be extinguished when it had barely been lit, it could even look as if King Gösta's family would be extinguished altogether.

The omens of the great event were not of a happy nature either. The astrologers, who at that time were always consulted about impending events, had certainly declared with certainty that the awaited child would be a boy. But they had also predicted that the birth of the heir to the throne would cause the death of either the King, the Queen, or the child itself. As the Queen was weak and frail and the King had contracted the "tertian fever" during the Polish campaign, there was every reason to fear the worst.

However, the days passed, and on the evening of December 7, the rumour spread in the city that the great moment was imminent. Curious and interested subjects streamed in a hurry through the streets and alleys up towards Tre Kronor and gathered in larger and smaller groups in the open spaces around the castle. An occasional lantern sparsely illuminated the banks and the open spaces; otherwise it was pitch black everywhere. The stars glittered in the night-black sky, but their light did not penetrate down to the narrow, dark alleys, where the wanderers bumped into each other in the darkness.

However, everything went well.

Towards half past eight the news spread among the assembled people that an heir to the throne had been born, a girl. At eight o'clock the little one had made her entrance into the world, and the anxiety and excitement are best testified to by the fact that at first she was taken for a boy.

In her autobiography, Kristina herself writes about this:

"I was born covered with hair from head to knees, so that only my face, arms and legs were free, and had a rough and strong voice. All this made the women who received me believe that I was a boy. They filled the entire castle with a false joy, which even deceived the King himself for a few moments, but there was a great commotion among the women when they saw themselves disappointed. They were in great worry as to how they could bring the King out of his error."

Inside the letter chamber, the astrologers presented the heavenly signs to the King and predicted the future fate of the awaited child.

"This night Jupiter leads the regiment with such great power as rarely before, and this means enormously great gifts. But behind him stands Saturn, who has no faith, and he tends to drag to ruin what is otherwise destined for glory. Many dangers lie ahead, but mostly in the change of mind. During these days the sun also passes from the sign of Sagittarius into that of Capricorn. The children of Sagittarius are benign, but the children of Capricorn have a sweet-talking tongue, promise much and keep little, boast excessively and seek more human praise than God's. In short: the children who are born on this night will be great in gifts and shine like lights, but will fall into great temptation and may be extinguished in darkness."

But Gustav Adolf did not worry much about fortunetellers and sign interpreters and their horoscopes. For him it was an immense joy that the difficult time was over, that a son had been born, and that the succession to the throne was secure. But then there was a knock on the door, and a page announced that His Majesty's sister, the Countess Palatine, was on her way to the letter chamber, and there she herself followed in the page's footsteps, carrying the little newborn child.

No one had dared to tell the King that a mistake had been made. The Countess Palatine was to inform the King of this.

Kristina herself writes:

"Princess Katarina, the King's sister, carried me in her arms to the King to let him see for himself what she did not dare to say. The great prince showed no surprise, but embraced me in his arms and was as friendly as if he had not been deceived in his expectation. He said to the Princess: 'Let us thank God, my sister! I hope that this girl will one day become as good as any boy. I pray God that He may preserve her, since He has given her to me.' Then he sent me back with his blessing and looked so pleased that he surprised everyone."

The King was the one who took the whole thing most calmly. Smiling, he said to his courtiers: "She will be a clever girl, for she has deceived us all." And so he had the canons greet the newborn with a salute, as if a prince had been born, and ordered that a solemn "Te Deum" should be held in Bykyrkan.

But the Queen, who lay exhausted and pale in the large, feathered canopy bed, was inconsolable over the disappointment, and it would be several days before she wanted to see the little, ugly, brown child.

However, the people in the open spaces outside had no idea of all this that was happening within the walls of Tre Kronor. They only heard the news that a princess had been born, and that neither father nor mother nor the little one had died, in spite of all the fortunetellers, and when the salutes were fired and the bonfires were lit on the embankments and reflected in the moving water of the Stream, shouts of joy and gladness were raised from the crowd of many hundreds. If they had been able to look into the future and see the fate of the little newborn child, they would certainly have agreed wholeheartedly with the wish of the pious fortuneteller when he drew the newborn's horoscope:

Lord, watch over the children who are born this night!

William Russell's biography of Kristina's childhood and early years, year 1857, part 1

Source:

Extraordinary Women: Their Girlhood and Early Life, pages 54 to 61, by William Russell, 1857; original at the New York Public Library

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433067388508&seq=72

Russell wrote a further biography of Kristina in 1864 (please excuse the month in the permalinks, I have been posting for previous dates to catch up on everything and didn't yet think to set the intended date before posting!):

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2025/09/william-russell-on-kristina-year-1864.html

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2025/09/william-russell-on-kristina-full-of.html

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2025/09/william-russell-on-kristina-year-1864_4.html

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2025/09/william-russell-on-kristina-year-1864_60.html

The biography:

CHRISTINA, QUEEN OF SWEDEN.

IT was this Queen's Chancellor, Axel Oxensteirn [sic], who bade his son observe how slight an amount of wisdom was required for the governance of nations, — a reflection possibly suggested by the Chancellor's estimate of Christina's capacity, and her fame as a sovereign: and quite as surprising and providential as the fact enunciated by Oxensteirn, is that of how slight a remedial agency suffices to save the foundering vessel of the State when most hopelessly emperilled, and restore realms, apparently undone, to pristine prosperity and power. The sun of England, as everybody knows, has been time out of mind on the very point of setting; but ever some fortunate chance — a brilliant speech, or triumphant division in either House, — nay, the final state of the poll at a city or county election — has saved us, at the last moment, from being plunged in outer darkness. It may be doubted, however, judging from contemporary chronicles, that the great interests of humanity were at any time in such imminent and mortal peril as in the year 1632, or saved from ruin by such seemingly inadequate means. Gustavus-Adolphus, King of Sweden, Lion of the North, and Bulwark of the Protestant Faith, had fallen at the victory of Lutzen, in Upper Saxony; and not only was Sweden thought to have been thereby hurled from her place of pride and power, but the cause of Scriptural truth itself struck down in the person of its valiant champion, when, amidst the general consternation, Chancellor Oxensteirn reminded the assembled States that the slain hero had left a daughter, and only child, then about six years of age, and that there might be still hope for the country in her immediate recognition as Queen of Sweden; which sentiment or prophecy was applauded to the echo, the instant Christina was introduced and seen to be the very image in miniature of her great father. "Behold", exclaimed one Larson, a peasant-deputy, giving voice to the general feeling, — "Behold the very features of Gustavus-Adolphus! We will have her for our sovereign. Let her be seated on the throne and proclaimed king!" This was done, and the salvation of Sweden was an accomplished fact.

The child herself was only less delighted than the rescued nation. "I was so young", she wrote many years afterwards, "that I know not either my own worth, or my great fortune; but I remember how delighted I was to see all those men kneeling at my feet and kissing my hand;" adding, with as much piety as modesty, in the fragment of autobiography entitled, 'The Life of the Queen Christina, written by herself and dedicated to God', 'It was Thou, O Lord, that didst render the child admirable to her people, who were amazed at the grand manner in which I enacted the part of Queen upon that first occasion. I was little, but upon the throne I displayed an air and countenance that inspired the beholders with respect and fear. It was Thou, O Lord, that caused a girl to appear thus who had not yet arrived at the full use of her reason. Thou hadst impressed upon my brow a mark of grandeur not always bestowed by Thee upon those Thou hadst destined, like me, to glory and to be Thy lieutenant over men."

Christina, drawn by other though flattering hands, does not quite accord with this splendid self-portraiture, except in its aspect of masculine imperiousness, which was very early developed, and seemed natural to a child born, as she herself exultingly boasted, amidst shouts of triumph, and cradled amidst palms and laurels, in the arms of her playmates, Victory and Fortune. In truth, the attendants at her birth, misled by the hair-helmet, so to speak, which encased her head, the thick down upon her face, and the rough, harsh cry with which she greeted the world, exclaimed that a man-child was born, in fulfilment of the unanimous predictions of the astrologers consulted by Gustavus-Adolphus and his Queen, the beauteous Maria-Eleonora, daughter of John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburgh; which star-interpreters, moreover, not only so prophesied, but explained the dreams disclosed to them by the royal parents, to predict, as read by the light of the signs in the heavens — the Sun, Mars, Mercury, and Venus, in conjunction, as at the birth of Gustavus-Adolphus himself — that the boy, supposing him to outlive the first twenty-four hours, which Mercury made doubtful, would attain to as great celebrity as his father; a perplexing blunder on the part of the soothsayers, but subsequently shown to be merely a verbal one, Christina having been, it was soon discovered, "born with the head of a Machiavel, the heart of a Titus, the courage of an Alexander, and the eloquence of a Tully!"

Gustavus-Adolphus bore the disappointment better than the, for a time, discomfited astrologers. "Sister", said the King, addressing the Princess Catherine, who with some trepidation informed him that the supposed boy was in sad verity a girl, — "Sister, let us return thanks to God. I trust this daughter will prove as valuable to us as a son; and may the Almighty, who has vouchsafed her to us, graciously preserve her! She will be an arch girl", added Gustavus, "who begins to play tricks upon us so soon." And he forthwith ordered a Te Deum to be sung.

Gustavus was not the less determined that his successor on the throne of Sweden, though a queen by sex, should be a king, as he comprehended kingship, by education, tastes, and habit; a resolution to which, it will be seen, his daughter was chiefly indebted for her meteoric celebrity, and its premature disastrous eclipse. Very early was his child inoculated with a taste for the pomp and circumstance of war; "and, as a soldier's daughter should", remarked the delighted father, "crowed and clapped her tiny hands at the blare of trumpets and roar of cannon;" and was yet teething, when promised by the Lion of the North that she should thereafter accompany him to a field where she should behold much finer sights — meaning by finer sights, the scientific carnage of impious wretches who declined accepting, or were coerced into withstanding the propagation of the gospel of peace as interpreted by the great Gustavus. "But, to my misfortune", laments speedily-unwomanised Christina, "death prevented him from keeping his word, and me from serving an apprenticeship under so complete a master." Concurrently with a liking and aptitude for war, and all masculine accomplishments and sports, Gustavus was anxious that Christina should be well and early grounded in the Lutheran faith and Holy Scripture, the basis of all knowledge. The tares germinated far more vigorously than the wheat upon the virgin volcanic soil where they were both indiscriminately sown; and a vivid commentary upon the wisdom of the great King of Sweden's educational precepts is presented by the fact, that whilst his daughter's predilection for violence and contemptuous disregard of the sanctity of human life became — as witness the deliberate assassination, late in her career, of the Chamberlain Monaldeschi — an arbitrary principle of her moral creed, an indefensible right to slay being hers, she maintained, by divine inheritance, about all of divinity she ultimately believed in, Christina at an early age exchanged Lutheranism for Philosophism; and when Philosophism had lost its hold upon her mind, she finally, and whilst still under thirty, formally professed herself a Roman Catholic! — "The greatest scandal she could afflict us with", remarked the most sagacious of the Popes, with whom she was perpetually quarrelling, "unless the idea of writing a book in defence of the Faith should unhappily seize her."

In minor points, the masculine and military propensities of Christina were assiduously cultivated — grew with and much faster than her growth; so that long before she attained the maturity of her teens, she felt and avowed illimitable contempt for women, their duties, accomplishments — save dancing — tastes, conversation, manners, dress, — vehemently regretting she was not a man — not because she liked men overmuch, but that they were not women. Her own appearance has been thus rhymingly depicted: —

"By her petticoat so slight,

And her legs too much in sight;

By her doublet, cap, and dress,

To a masculine excess, —

Hat and plume, and ribands tied

Fore and aft in careless pride;

By her gallant, martial mien,

Like an Amazonian queen, —

Nose from Roman consul sprung,

And a fierce virago's tongue —

Large eyes, now sweet and now severe, —

Tell us 'tis Christina clear."

Personally, Christina was by no means unattractive. She was short, but well formed[,] with the exception of a slight deformity of one shoulder, caused by the falling of a beam of wood thereon when she was a child [sic]. She had large, bright-hazel [sic], expressive eyes; a profusion of light-brown hair, which would have been more ornamental had she permitted her attendants to comb and dress it oftener than about once a month; and had fine, regular teeth, that might easily have been white. But her mouth was large, and not, it was thought, agreeable "in repose"; neither, one would imagine, could it have been so in activity of boisterous, immoderate laughter, or of swearing, to which masculine habit the young and royal lady appears to have been incurably addicted. She was distinguished for remorseless industry withal; — so much so, "that the men and women that waited upon me were quite in despair, for I gave them no rest night or day." This incessant mental activity acquired for her the reality or reputation of immense learning; and she is said to have rapidly and thoroughly mastered Greek, Latin, most of the modern languages, history, philosophy, mathematics, geography, astronomy, and divinity and moral duties as interpreted by John Mathias, a pious, earnest man, from Luther's Catechism, and the best authors; the duty of reverencing her mother, the tender, loving wife and faithful widow of the great Gustavus, not, it would seem, included, — for so pained, offended at last, became the disconsolate lady with Christina's conduct [sic], that she fled secretly to Denmark, declaring she preferred begging her bread elsewhere, to the state of Queen-Mother at her daughter's Court [sic]! Maria-Eleonora's indignation did not, however, endure, and after the lapse of a few years she and Christina were outwardly reconciled.

Combined with the pernicious effect of the education prescribed by Gustavus-Adolphus, in pursuance of his resolution to be even in the grave the governor of his child and moulder of her character, was the hardening, debasing influence which must ever surround the heir to an absolute crown, and this upon the unimpeachable testimony of Christina herself — a firm believer in the divinity of despotism. "Those", she writes, "who believe that childhood is the season when princes hear truth are mistaken, for even in the cradle they are feared and flattered. Men fear the memories of princes as much as their power, and handle them gently as they do young lions, who can only draw blood now, but hereafter will have strength to tear and devour." Unquestionably true; and a curious commentary upon another dictum of hers, that an heir-apparent to a (despotic) throne is a universal blessing, — the glory of the State, and the happiness of individuals depending upon it!

Christina, as queen, especially when arrayed and prepared for the public representation of the part, shows to much greater advantage than as girl or woman. When scarcely seven years old, she received the Muscovite ambassadors, serenely sated upon her lofty silver throne, and was not, her historiographers admiringly relate, in the least frightened by their long beards. "Why should I be afraid of their beards?" she asked her apprehensive councillors: "have you not also long beards? and yet I am not afraid of you!" At sixteen she openly presided in the Senate, and became at once, says the courtly French ambassador, "incredibly powerful therein.[" "]She adds", he goes on to say, "to her quality of sovereign those of grace, honour, courtesy, and the art of persuasion; so that the senators, when they assemble, are astonished at the influence she gains over their sentiments." ...

Note: ribands = ribbons (archaic form of the word).

Anonymous biography of Kristina in "Eccentric Biography; or, Memoirs of Remarkable Female Characters, Ancient and Modern", year 1803, part 1

Source:

Eccentric Biography; or, Memoirs of Remarkable Female Characters, Ancient and Modern, pages 85 to 88, by anonymous author, 1803; original at The British Library

https://books.google.com/books?id=znNZAAAAcAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Eccentric+Biography%3B+or,+Memoirs+of+Remarkable+Female+Characters,+Ancient+and+Modern+1803&source=gbs_navlinks_s

The biography:

CHRISTINA (QUEEN OF SWEDEN)

WAS the daughter of the great Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, and Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg. She was born on the 18th of December, 1626: during the queen's pregnancy, the astrologers, whose art was then much in fashion, predicted that the child would be a son, who was destined to maintain all the glory that his father had acquired. The prejudice which these predictions produced, joined to some false appearances, at first deceived the women, and they deceived the king into an opinion that the child was a boy; but his sister Catherine discovered and told him the truth. 'Let us still be thankful to God', said Gustavus, 'I trust this girl will be as good as a boy'; adding, with a smile, 'she must certainly be clever, for she has deceived us all already.'

Gustavus took great pleasure in carrying her about with him, when he went on a journey; and, when she was about two years old, he took her to Calmar. The Governor had the precaution to ask whether he should give his majesty the usual salute, by firing the cannon, fearing that the noise might possibly fright the child: the king hesitated a little at first, but, after a moment's pause, 'Fire', said he, 'for the girl is a soldier's daughter, and she should be accustomed to it betimes.' They fired, and the child, so far from being frighted, laughed, clapped her hands, and in her broken language cried, 'More, more.' This natural intrepidity greatly pleased Gustavus, and he afterwards caused her to be present at a review. Perceiving the delight she took in this military shew, he cried, 'Very well, I'll warrant I'll take you where you shall have enough of this diversion.' But he died too soon to keep his word; and Christina lamented that she was not permitted to learn the art of war under so great a master; she regretted also, during her whole life, that she never marched at the head of an army, nor so much as saw a battle. The tears which she shed, when he set out for his German expedition, were regarded as a bad omen, and she betrayed the hero himself into tears, by an act of childish simplicity, which was, however, characteristic of the childhood of Christina. She took leave of her father by a little compliment which had been made for her, and which she had learnt by heart. When she repeated it, Gustavus being ruminating and abstracted in thought, did not hear what she said; the child, not content with having said her lesson, and performed the task that had been assigned her, pulled him by his sleeve to excite attention, and began to repeat her little speech again; at this the father, bursting into tears, caught her in his arms, and, after pressing her to his breast for some minutes, gave her to an attendant, without speaking; an incident which put some of the spectators in mind of the parting of Hector with Astyanax. The States of Sweden being assembled, after the death of Gustavus, the Marshal of the Diet proposed the crowning of Christina, by virtue of a decree which had declared the daughters of Charles IX.[,] the father of Gustavus, capable of succeeding to the throne. A member of the order of peasants, whose name was Larssen, when he heard this proposal, cried out, 'Who is this Christina, the daughter of Gustavus? Let us see her; let her be brought out to us.' The marshal immediately went out, and returned with Christina, whom he brought in his arms into the midst of the assembly. The peasant came up to her, and, having considered her very attentively, cried out, 'Yes, this is she herself; she has the nose, the eyes, and the forehead of Gustavus Adolphus, and we will have her for our sovereign.' She was immediately seated upon the throne, and proclaimed queen; and from this time she shewed great pleasure in appearing in her regal capacity. — Russia having sent ambassadors, soon after her accession, to ratify its alliance with Sweden, the people about Christina were apprehensive that the rude appearance of these strangers, their great number, their long beards, their uncouth habits, and singular address, and the ferocity even of their politeness would fright her; but she, who had been delighted with the apparatus of war, was not likely to be terrified by the ministers of peace. She not only received them without the least appearance of discomposure, but assumed an air of importance, and a look which seemed intended to strike them with awe, and which was not without its effect, for it impressed them with a sense of her dignity, as the daughter of a hero and a prince. Christina discovered, even in her infancy, an invincible antipathy for the employments and conversation of women; and she had the natural awkwardness of a man, with respect to all the little works that generally fall to their share. She was, on the contrary, fond of violent exercises, and such amusements as consisted in feats of strength and activity; she had also both ability and taste for abstracted speculations, and amused herself with language and the sciences, particularly that of legislature and government. She derived her knowledge of ancient history from its source; and Polybius and Thucidides [sic] were her favourite authors. While she was thus improving her infancy, by studying the arts of peace, the generals Weimar, Banier, Torstenson, and Wrangel, sustained the glory of the Swedish arms in the thirty years wars, which rendered Germany at once desolate and illustrious. ...

Above: Kristina.

Above: Gustav Adolf and Maria Eleonora.

Above: Princess Katarina.

Notes: fright = to frighten.

betimes = early.

frighted = frightened.

abstracted [in thought] = inattentive to surrounding objects; absent in mind.

Gurli Sevón-Rosenbröijer's review of Princesse Murat's biography of Kristina, in "Astra" magazine, year 1930

Source:

Ännu en bok om drottning Kristina: Princesse Murat: La vie Amoureuse de Christine de Suède, review written by Gurli Sevón-Rosenbröijer for Astra: årgång XII, pages 345 to 346, issue of August 1, 1930; original at the Finnish National Library (Kansalliskirjasto/Nationalbiblioteket)

https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/aikakausi/binding/732506?term=Kristina&term=drottning&term=Drottningens&term=drottningens&term=Kristinas&term=drottnings&page=3

Astra, 01.08.1930 no 16, s. 345-346 https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/aikakausi/binding/732506 Kansalliskirjaston Digitaaliset Aineistot

The review:

Ännu en bok om drottning Kristina:

Princesse Murat: La vie Amoureuse de Christine de Suède

Förlaget Flammarions omtyckta serie »Leurs amours» har utökats med ett nytt verk av prinsessan Murat, författarinna till det talangfulla arbetet om la Grande Catherine. Framgång uppmuntrar och prinsessan Murat har inte varit rädd för att den här gången ta itu med en av de mest omskrivna, mest gåtfulla kvinnor, som väckt uppseende på historiens jättescen. Boken är rolig även om den inte kommer med några häpnadsväckande nyheter. Ämnet är för övrigt så saftigt att knappast ens den torraste läroboksförfattare skulle lyckas förvanska det.

Tillsammans med konung Gustav Adolf och hans bildsköna gemål, Maria Eleonora, gick hela Sverige under hösten 1626 och väntade på att en arvprins skulle födas. Den 8 december var den stora stunden inne och barnet drog in i kungaborgen under pomp och ståt och i övrigt under samma plåga och möda som alla andra barn. Angelägen om att vara Hans Majestät till behag rusade man så snart det bruna och ludna byltet upphävt sitt första starka skrik, till konungen och lyckönskade honom till hans sons födelse. Det undersåtliga nitet hade slarvat i väg. Konungen tog dock det fatala misstaget med gott humör. »Hon får ett gott huvud», sade hon, »hon lurade oss allesammans». Den förutsägelsen skulle slå in till en grad som den höge fadern aldrig kunnat drömma om. På ett alldeles annat sätt reagerade modern, som i barnet endast sett ett uppfyllande av den avgudade makens önskan om en arvtagare. I Maria Eleonoras hjärta flammade en enda lidelse, så stark att den förbrände alla andra känslor, det var kärleken till Gustaf Adolf. Moderskärlek var för henne ett okänt begrepp, hon ville helst inte se för sina ögon denna fula varelse, vars blotta ankomst till världen måste ha varit en missräkning för hennes älskare.

Konungen, som kände sin hustru och älskade sin dotter, tog själv hennes uppfostran om hand och föreskrev att hon i allt skulle handledas som en pojke. Denne förutseende man ville rätta naturens misstag och skydda Sveriges rike för följderna därav. Han tog den lilla ungen med på sina resor, förtjustes när hon klappade i händerna åt kanonernas salut och kunde icke återhålla strömmande tårar när han för sista gången lyfte sin tvååriga dotter [sic] i sina armar före avresan till Tyskland. Under kriget hinner han följa med hennes studier och ännu aftonen före Lützen [sic] skriver han till sin bästa vän Axel Oxenstierna och ber denne undandraga prinsessan moderns inflytande i händelse av en olycka. Denna uppmaning var sannerligen nödvändig, ty i sin vansinniga sorg över makens död hade Maria Eleonora kommit ihåg att hon hade ett levande minne av honom i Kristina, och hon hade tvingat det arma barnet att stänga in sig tillsammans med henne i den med svarta draperier förtäckta våning där hon sörjde Gustaf Adolf. Från sitt sjunde till sitt tionde år levde flickan i denna mörka atmosfär, som uppfylldes blott av änkedrottningens snyftningar och klagan. Man kan icke förvåna sig om hennes karaktär rönte inflytande av en sådan uppfostran.

Kristinas enda glädje var studierna. Sällan har ett vetgirigare, mer begåvat barn vuxit upp i någon kungaborg. Det dröjde inte länge förrän hon citerades som ett underverk av lärdom i hela Europa. Enligt sin egen uppgift tillbringade hon ända till tolv timmar om dagen med ansträngande studier och sov — tre timmar. Mat, dryck och kläder intresserade henne knappast alls, vilda ritter så mycket mera. De vördnadsvärda riksråden, som ansvarade för hennes uppfostran, hade inte lätta dagar och snart nog lät hon dem känna av att hon var drottningen. Den unga flickan hade auktoritet och lärde sig tidigt att befalla.

Den vilda flickan, som älskade att klä sig som en pojke, hade till lekkamrat sin kusin, Karl Gustaf, och mellan de båda barnen rådde en vänskap, som från gossens sida snart övergick till en varmare känsla. Han påminde henne ideligen om ett gammalt löfte att hon skulle bli hans hustru, men ju äldre hon blev desto mindre hågad var hon att inlösa ett sådant barnsligt löfte. Tvärtom visade hon en allt starkare motvilja mot äktenskapet. Underordna sig en man, aldrig! Prinsessan Murat uppehåller sig rätt länge vid Kristinas passionerade vänskap för den vackra Ebba Sparre och citerar de ord drottningen vid denna tid lancerade: »Själen har intet kön.»

I alla fall blev Ebba snart en smula åsidosatt för en man, den lysande Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie, som till och med under en vistelse vid franska hovet fått rykte om sig att vara en av den tidens mest fulländade kavaljerer. Huru bortskämd Kristina än var genom umgänget med de intelligenta och lärda män hon förstått att samla omkring sig och vilka Magnus Gabriel var betydligt underlägsen, blev hon dock alldeles förtrollad av hans bildsköna yttre och hans spirituella konversation. Han lyckades roa henne och huru lärd hon än var, tyckte hon om att bli road. Han fick henne att skratta högt med sin löjliga imitation av riksråd och andra vördnadsbjudande herrar och han var bedårande att se på. Kristina flirtade med honom och slösade oförtjänta gunstbevis på honom precis som förälskade män och kvinnor gjort i alla tider. Den blonde Magnus Gabriel fjädrade sig och hoppades på mera än flirt. Men hans hopp kom på skam, Kristina behöll huvudet kallt, om också med svårighet, och troligen för att undvika ett nederlag i manliga armar sände hon gunstlingen i spetsen för en beskickning till Frankrike. Denna seger kostade henne själv bittra tårar och först när hon var säker på att ha övervunnit frestelsen att kyssa hans röda läppar kallade hon honom tillbaka och gifte bort honom med sin kusin Maria Euphrosyne.

Ständigt och jämt pinade riksråden Kristina med äktenskapsfrågan. Till och med hennes gamla religionslärare Johannes Matthiae sändes till henne för att förehålla henne den skyldighet hon hade att sätta barn i världen. Kristina blev slutligen otålig och förklarade på det bestämdaste, att hon aldrig skulle gifta sig. »Skälet härför förtiger jag och vill endast säga eder, att mitt sinne ej är sådant.« För att lösa barnfrågan föreslog hon att Karl Gustaf skulle bli tronföljare och genomdrev med sin kända energi detta impopulära förslag.

Allt detta bråk, den omöjliga ekonomiska situationen — Kristina var en slöserska av kungliga mått — de sociala stridigheterna, det kalla landet, som Kristina egentligen aldrig älskat, allt gjorde att hon började längta efter att slippa hela eländet och bli en »fri människa». Prinsessan Murat har naturligt nog icke ingått på någon analys av drottningens förhållande till sitt folk, detta folk som dottern aldrig lärde sig förstå på samma sätt som hennes store fader gjort det. För Kristina tedde sig de kärva svenskarna som okunniga bönder och jämförelsen mellan dem och de lärda utlänningar hon inkallade utföll alltid till de senares fördel. Kristina älskade glans och prakt. Redan som barn avskydde hon de torra predikningarna i de nakna kyrkorna och bragte den stackars Matthiae till förtvivlan med sina fyndigt formulerade frågor. De män hon mest beundrade voro katoliker. Till och med Descartes, tvivlaren, var en rättrogen kyrkans son. På det hållet gavs det svar, där fanns stämning, prakt och lärdom. Och Rom dröjde icke att sända sina bästa jägare för att fånga sådant högvilt. Visserligen ställde Kristina också till jesuiterna så snärjande frågor att kyrkan ofta förtvivlade om detta får, men hennes beslut var fattat fastän hon roade sig med att leka. Hon visste mycket väl vad hennes religionsförändring betydde för hela den katolska världen.

Drottningens avsägelse av kronan skedde under pomp och ståt. Kristina var icke den, som ställde sitt ljus under ena skäppo. Hennes sista tal till ständerna var så lysande att tårarna trillade utför böndernas barkade kinder. Hon var också upprörd själv, den 28 åriga furstinnan [sic], som avsade sig ett helt rike för att bli en fri människa. Men mycket snart glömde hon sin rörelse för njutningen att kunna följa alla sina infall. Under resan från Sverige lät hon klippa sitt praktfulla hår, klädde sig som en man, sjöng skabrösa visor, tog in på illa beryktade vårdshus och gjorde sin kur för en massa vackra flickor. Överallt väckte hon ett ofantligt uppseende och efter hennes offentliga övergång till katolicismen liknade hennes resa till Rom mest ett glänsande triumftåg. Hela Europa sysselsatte sig med hennes göranden och låtanden, vilket var alldeles i Kristinas smak. Prinsessan Murat berättar rätt utförligt om hennes kända äventyr i Frankrike och påpekar kanske onödigt mycket hennes lidelsefulla känslor för flere vackra kvinnor hon mötte på sin väg. Till och med blev hon förtjust i Ninon. Inför Kristinas privatliv under dessa år vill man inte gärna tänka på vad hennes fader, den ädle Gustav Adolf, skulle tänkt därom.

Monaldeschi-dramat i Fontainebleau behandlas utförligt och kommer författarinnan att fälla följande omdöme: »Dessa perversa kvinnor, lockade av artificiella paradis, äro oftare blodtörstiga än andra kvinnor. Sällan mottagliga för medlidande ha de mindre känslighet och söka ofta en njutning i hämnden.»

I en bok, som heter La vie Amoureuse de Christine de Suède, måste naturligtvis det egendomliga kärleksäventyret med kardinal Azzolino inta en betydande plats. Att Kristina verkligen var hans älskarinna har prinsessan Murat lika litet som någon annan av de oräkneliga biograferna kunnat bevisa, men tydligt är att hon tror det. I alla händelser hade Kristina funnit sin herre och i hennes dyrkan finner man något av moderns allt uppslukande lidelse för Gustaf Adolf. Denna själviska och kalla kvinna, som aldrig kunnat göra något för andra, hon glömmer helt sitt jag för denne man. »Jag vill leva och dö som Er slav» skriver hon till honom. Och försvunnen är hennes orimliga stolthet då hon skriver: »I förhållande till mig är Ni allsmäktig, och huru Ni än finner för gott att behandla mig skall jag aldrig klaga.» Det finnes tusen bevis på Kristinas ytlighet och obeständighet, men nitton år efter sin bekantskap med Azzolino skriver hon: »Han är mig kärare än mitt liv; han förmår allt hos mig.» Genom livets stormiga bränningar har drottning Kristina seglat sin farkost mot kärlekens och ödmjukhetens hamn. Vilket sublimt slut på ett så stort människoöde. Enligt mitt anspråkslösa omdöme har prinsessan Murat icke förstått att ge slutet av sin bok den glans som ämnet är värt. Kristina, äventyrens drottning, den stolta självkära ärelystna Kristina — lugn och stilla på dödsbädden med blicken följande den älskade, som natt och dag vakar över henne, finnes det en bild, mer värd en stor författares penna? I denna drottnings själsutveckling har kärleken ännu en gång visat sin underbara makt över människorna.

Gurli Sevón-Rosenbröijer.

English translation (my own):

Yet another book about Queen Kristina:

Princesse Murat: La vie Amoureuse de Christine de Suède

The publisher Flammarion's popular series "Leurs amours" has been expanded with a new work by Princesse Murat, author of the talented work on la Grande Catherine. Success is encouraging and Princesse Murat has not been afraid to tackle this time one of the most talked about, most enigmatic women who has caused a stir on the giant stage of history. The book is amusing, even if it does not come with any astonishing news. The subject is, moreover, so juicy that even the driest textbook author would hardly manage to distort it.

Together with King Gustav Adolf and his beautiful wife, Maria Eleonora, all of Sweden went through the autumn of 1626, waiting for a hereditary prince to be born. On December 8 the great moment arrived, and the child entered the royal castle amidst pomp and circumstance, and otherwise under the same pain and toil as all other children. Eager to please His Majesty, as soon as the brown and hairy bundle had stopped its first loud cry, people rushed to the King and congratulated him on the birth of his son. The submissive zeal had gone astray. However, the King took the fatal mistake in good humour. "She will have a good head", she said, "she has fooled us all". That prediction would come true to a degree that the noble father could never have dreamed of.

The mother, who saw in the child only a fulfillment of her idolised husband's wish for an heir, reacted in a completely different way. In Maria Eleonora's heart burned one single passion, so strong that it burned away all other feelings: it was her love for Gustav Adolf. Motherly love was an unknown concept to her, she would rather not see before her eyes this ugly creature whose mere arrival into the world must have been a misfortune for her lover.

The King, who knew his wife and loved his daughter, took charge of her upbringing himself and prescribed that she should be taught in everything like a boy. This farsighted man wanted to correct nature's mistake and protect the kingdom of Sweden from its consequences. He took the little child with him on his travels, was delighted when she clapped her hands at the cannon salute, and could not hold back tears when he lifted his two year old daughter [sic] in his arms for the last time before leaving for Germany. During the war he managed to follow her studies, and the evening before Lützen [sic] he wrote to his best friend Axel Oxenstierna and asked him to remove the influence of the princess's mother in the event of a misfortune. This request was truly necessary, because in her insane grief over her husband's death, Maria Eleonora had remembered that she had a living memory of him in Kristina, and she had forced the poor child to sequester herself together with her in the black-draped room where she mourned Gustav Adolf. From her seventh to her tenth year the girl lived in this dark atmosphere, which was filled only by the sobs and lamentations of the Dowager Queen. It is not surprising if her character was influenced by such an upbringing.

Kristina's only joy was her studies. Seldom has a more inquisitive, more gifted child grown up in any royal castle. It was not long before she was cited as a miracle of learning throughout Europe. According to her own account, she spent up to twelve hours a day in strenuous studies and slept — three hours. Food, drink and clothing hardly interested her at all, wild rides much more. The venerable councilmen of the realm, who were responsible for her upbringing, did not have easy days, and soon enough she let them know that she was the Queen. The young girl had authority and learned early to command.

The wild girl, who loved to dress like a boy, had as a playmate her cousin, Karl Gustav, and between the two children there was a friendship which, on the boy's part, soon turned into a warmer feeling. He constantly reminded her of an old promise that she would become his wife, but the older she became, the less she was willing to fulfill such a childish promise. On the contrary, she showed an increasingly strong aversion to marriage. Submit herself to a man, never! Princesse Murat dwells at length on Kristina's passionate friendship for the beautiful Ebba Sparre and quotes the words the Queen uttered at this time: "The soul is not of any sex."

In any case, Ebba soon became somewhat supplanted by a man, the brilliant Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie, who, even during a stay at the French court, gained a reputation as one of the most accomplished cavaliers of the time. However spoiled Kristina was by the association with the intelligent and learned men she had managed to gather around her and whom Magnus Gabriel was considerably inferior to, she was nevertheless completely enchanted by his picturesque appearance and his witty conversation. He managed to amuse her, and however learned she was, she liked to be amused. He made her laugh out loud at his ridiculous imitation of councilmen and other awe-inspiring gentlemen, and he was adorable to look at. Kristina flirted with him and lavished undeserved favours on him just as men and women in love have done in all times. The blond Magnus Gabriel was showing off and hoping for more than flirtation. But his hopes were dashed, Kristina kept her cool, if with difficulty, and, probably to avoid defeat in male arms, she sent her favourite at the head of an embassy to France. This victory cost her bitter tears, and only when she was sure she had overcome the temptation to kiss his red lips did she call him back and marry him to her cousin Marie Euphrosyne.

The councilmen constantly tormented Kristina with the question of marriage. Even her old religious teacher, Johannes Matthiæ, was sent to her to remind her of her obligation to bring children into the world. Kristina finally became impatient and declared most firmly that she would never marry. "I will not give the reason for this and only want to tell you that my mind is not of that nature." To solve the question of children, she proposed that Karl Gustav should become heir to the throne, and with her well-known energy she pushed through this unpopular proposal.

All this trouble, the impossible financial situation — Kristina was a spendthrift of royal proportions — the social strife, the cold country, which Kristina never really loved, all made her begin to long to escape all the misery and become a "free person". Princess Murat has naturally not entered into any analysis of the Queen's relationship to her people, this people whom her daughter never learned to understand in the same way that her great father had done. To Kristina, the harsh Swedes seemed like ignorant peasants, and the comparison between them and the learned foreigners she summoned always turned out in the latter's favour. Kristina loved splendour. Even as a child, she detested the dry sermons in the bare churches and drove poor Matthiæ to despair with her ingeniously formulated questions.

The men she admired most were Catholics. Even Descartes, the doubter, was a staunch son of the Church. That was where the answers were given, there was atmosphere, splendour and learning. And Rome did not hesitate to send its best hunters to capture such high game. It is true that Kristina also asked the Jesuits such enticing questions that the Church often despaired of this sheep, but her decision was made, although she amused herself by playing. She knew very well what her change of religion meant for the entire Catholic world.

The Queen's abdication of the crown took place with pomp and circumstance. Kristina was not the one who put her light under a bushel. Her last speech to the Estates was so brilliant that tears rolled down the ruddy cheeks of the peasants. She was also upset herself, the 28 year old princess [sic], who renounced an entire kingdom to become a free person. But very soon she forgot her emotion for the pleasure of being able to follow her every whim. During the journey from Sweden she had her magnificent hair cut, dressed like a man, sang scabrous songs, entered ill-reputed inns, and courted a lot of beautiful girls. She caused an immense sensation everywhere, and after her public conversion to Catholicism her journey to Rome resembled more than a glittering triumphal procession. All of Europe was occupied with her doings and sayings, which was entirely to Kristina's taste. Princesse Murat tells quite extensively about her famous adventures in France and perhaps unnecessarily points out her passionate feelings for several beautiful women she met on her way. She even became fond of Ninon. In view of Kristina's private life during these years, one does not like to think about what her father, the noble Gustav Adolf, would have thought about it.

The Monaldeschi drama at Fontainebleau is discussed in detail, and the author makes the following judgement: "These perverse women, attracted by artificial paradises, are more often bloodthirsty than other women. Rarely susceptible to pity, they have less sensitivity and often seek pleasure in revenge."

In a book called La vie Amoureuse de Christine de Suède, the strange love affair with Cardinal Azzolino must of course occupy a prominent place. That Kristina was really his lover has been proved by Princesse Murat as little as by any other of the countless biographers, but it is clear that she believes it. In any case, Kristina had found her master, and in her adoration one finds something of her mother's all-consuming passion for Gustav Adolf. This selfish and cold woman, who has never been able to do anything for others, completely forgets her ego for this man. "I want to live and die as your slave", she writes to him. And her unreasonable pride has disappeared when she writes: "In relation to me you are omnipotent, and however you see fit to treat me, I shall never complain."

There are a thousand proofs of Kristina's superficiality and inconstancy, but nineteen years after her acquaintance with Azzolino, she writes: "He is dearer to me than my life; he can do anything with me."

Through the stormy waves of life, Queen Kristina has sailed her vessel towards the harbour of love and humility. What a sublime end to such a great human destiny. In my humble opinion, Princesse Murat has not understood how to give the end of her book the brilliance that the subject deserves. Kristina, the queen of adventures, the proud, self-loving, ambitious Kristina — calm and quiet on her deathbed with her gaze following the beloved man who watches over her night and day, is there a picture more worthy of the pen of a great writer? In the development of this Queen's soul, love has once again shown its wonderful power over human beings.

Gurli Sevón-Rosenbröijer.

Carl Grimberg on Kristina's birth, infancy, childhood, personality, education, and upbringing

Source:

Svenska folkets underbara öden, III: Gustav II Adolfs, Kristinas och Karl X Gustavs tid, pages 447 to 454, by Carl Grimberg, 1924

https://runeberg.org/sfubon/3/0449.html

https://runeberg.org/sfubon/3/0451.html

The account:

KRISTINA, SVERIGES REGERANDE DROTTNING

—

Gustav Adolfs och Maria Eleonoras dotter.

KRISTINAS födelse hade långt i förväg sysselsatt astrologerna, och de hade profeterat, att det skulle bli en gosse. När så den lilla brunhylta ungen — »brun som en liten morian och luden över hela kroppen», säger Kristina själv — med den starka rösten kom till världen, trodde också de närstående först, att föräldrarnas önskan gått i fullbordan och en son blivit född åt Gustav Adolf.

Fadern var, egendomligt nog, den som tog missräkningen lättast. »Hon får nog ett gott huvud», anmärkte han; »hon lurade oss allesamman.» Gustav Adolf hade emellertid föresatt sig att söka bota naturens misstag genom uppfostran och föreskrev, att den blivande härskarinnan över Sverige skulle uppfostras alldeles som en pojke, »undantagandes i dygd och blygsamhet». Det var för resten icke svårt att få Kristina själv med på en dylik utbildning, ty hon hade, såsom hon berättar i den självbiografi hon på äldre dagar nedskrev, »en oövervinnelig motvilja mot allt vad kvinnor göra och säga»; och den motviljan varade hela livet igenom. »Jag var till den grad fumlig i alla kvinnliga handarbeten», säger hon, »att det var alldeles omöjligt att lära mig något av dem. Men i gengäld hade jag märkvärdigt lätt för att lära språk och läxor av alla slag.» Så ofta hon hade tillfälle, sökte hon manligt sällskap; men det som drog henne till männen var, efter hennes egen förklaring, icke så mycket att de voro män som det, att de icke voro kvinnor.

Gustav Adolf var förtjust över varje tecken till pojkaktighet hos sin lilla flicka. När hon som tvååring följde honom på en resa till Kalmar, visste fästningens kommendant icke, om han med hänsyn till det lilla barnet skulle våga hälsa Hans Maj:t med den övliga kanonsaluten, och lät därför fråga konungen, hur han skulle handla. Efter ett ögonblicks tvekan sade Gustav Adolf: »Skjut! Hon är en krigares dotter och måste vänja sig vid kanondundret.» Nu dånade salutskotten. Men i stället för att bli förskräckt skrattade den lilla, klappade händerna av förtjusning och lät förstå, att man borde skjuta mera. »Efter denna lilla episod blev min faders ömhet för mig ännu större än förut», skriver Kristina, som själv berättat händelsen.

Men blott två år därefter måste konungen skiljas från sitt barn, och det blev en skilsmässa för livet. När han skulle till att resa, var han så upptagen av sina bestyr, att den lilla måste gripa tag i hans kyller för att få honom att hejda sig och höra på det avskedstal, hennes vårdarinna lärt henne. Då slöt fadern henne i sina armar och kysste henne, ur stånd att återhålla sina tårar. Lilla Kristina grät med; hon grät i hela tre dagar så bittert, att hon höll på att förstöra sin syn, som förut, liksom faderns, var mycket svag.

Av modern fick den lilla flickan ingen tröst, ty Maria Eleonora kunde icke tåla sitt barn, därför att det blivit en flicka. Kristina påstår själv, med en misstänksamhet som verkar hemsk, att hennes vårdarinnor släppt henne i golvet för att kunna glädja hennes moder med att barnet dött av en olyckshändelse. Hur det nu må vara med den saken, så fick Kristina ett minne därav för livet, i det att den ena axeln blev högre än den andra, ett lyte, som hon dock förstod att dölja genom att låta sy sina klänningar på ett särskilt sätt.

Det var inget lätthanterligt barn, den lilla, som nu växte upp i Sveriges kungaborg. Än ville hon inte alls sova, än hade hon fått för sig, att hon inte skulle äta, eller också fick hon den idén att äta vax, och så blev hon sjuk.

Stundom var hennes envishet av den art, att självaste de höga riksämbetsmännen funno sig föranlåtna att ingripa. Man riktigt ser dem framför sig, de vördnadsvärda herrarne i regeringen: riksdrotsen, riksmarsken, riksamiralen och rikskanslern samt ett par andra riksråd, när de på utsatt tid träda inför den elvaåriga drottningen, som väntar dem, omgiven av hela sitt hov. Högtidligt och allvarligt är uttrycket i deras av ålder och arbete fårade drag. Vördnadsbjudande verka de i sitt långa och breda skägg, sina mörka dräkter och vita spetskragar. De hälsa högtidligt på drottningen, som ser dem lugnt och säkert an.

Så börjar den ärevördige rikskansleren ett långt tal till sin höga myndling. Han förmanar henne först och främst till att frukta Gud, sedan till att älska och ära sin fru moder samt lyda henne i allt, som är rätt och billigt, överse och skyla hennes fel, liksom Sem och Jafet gjorde, och inte därav göra spe såsom Cham, vilken på sådant sätt drog förbannelse över sig och sina efterkommande, under det de andra undfingo välsignelse.

Men ett område av Kristinas uppfostran, där tvång aldrig behövde förekomma, var hennes studier. Med sina stora, vetgiriga ögon riktigt sög hon till sig allt slags kunskaper. Att lära sig ett nytt språk, såsom grekiska, kallade hon en förströelse på lediga stunder, ungefär såsom att spela schack. Roligast av allt voro dock lektionerna för Axel Oxenstierna. Från hennes tionde år kom rikskanslern dagligen till hennes skolrum och talade med henne om samtidens historia och politik. Och vilket åskådningsmaterial: det var hela det trettioåriga krigets drama, som den store statsmannen lät upprulla inför barnets ögon. Ja, den lilla fick en känsla av, att hon själv spelade med, ty hon fick lära sig tala om »min» armé, »mina» segrar, »min» politik. Låt oss höra Kristinas eget omdöme om dessa enastående lektioner! »Jag hade», skriver hon, »ingen annan lektion och ingen lek eller annan förströelse, som jag icke med glädje lämnade för att få lyssna till hans ord. Vi tillbringade ofta tre, fyra eller flera timmar med varandra.»

Ett brådmoget, ovanligt begåvat barn, som vet vad det vill — det är det intryck man får av Sveriges blivande härskarinna. Den förut citerade franske ambassadören d'Avaux kände sig rent av imponerad av den åttaåriga drottningen, vilken ådagalade »en säkerhet i sitt uppträdande och en fast beslutsamhet i ansiktsuttrycket, som erinrade om fadern». En mängd senare omdömen gå i samma riktning. Axel Oxenstierna yttrar om henne som ungmö, att hon var begåvad vida över sitt kön, hade en fast vilja och en förvånansvärd omdömeskraft och torde med tiden bliva en »heroina» [»hjältinna»].

Men Kristina var icke blott den rikt begåvade, viljestarke Gustav Adolfs dotter — hon bar också på arv från sin stackars nyckfulla, excentriska moder. Tillsammans med henne genomgick den lilla flickan en farlig själskris. När Maria Eleonora efter Gustav Adolfs död kom hem från Tyskland, tog hon Kristina till sig, och nu blev barnets själ fylld med outplånliga intryck av en moder, som levde blott för den döde — men ej för hans minne, ej för hans barn, utan för hans multnande kropp. Hur måste ej en dylik förvänd, vansinnig åtrå jaga upp fantasien hos ett livligt och tänkande barn, även om den lilla flickan till sin egen lycka var tillräckligt kritisk för att ibland se det komiska i tragedien!

Maria Eleonora hade förälskat sig i sorgen — sorg och veklagan hade för den överspända kvinnan blivit ett livsbehov, och i detta egoistiska frossande i sina känslor tvingade hon in även sitt barn, sedan hon väl fått för sig, att hon i den lilla ägde en levande påminnelse om den hädangångne fadern. Kristina berättar, hur modern stängde in sig med henne i sina rum, »som voro draperade med svarta förhängen från taket till golvet. Framför fönstren hängde gardiner av samma dystra material. Vi kunde knappast se i rummen; och vaxljusen, som brunno om dagen likaväl som om natten, blott förstärkte intrycket av hennes sorg. Varken dag eller natt upphörde hon att gråta. Hon älskade mig ömt och sade, att jag var den avlidne konungens levande avbild. Men själva styrkan av hennes kärlek bragte mig till förtvivlan. Hon lät mig sova hos sig och lämnade mig aldrig ur sikte. Endast med största svårighet kunde hon förmås att låta mig få ett rum för min egen del för att i detta läsa över mina läxor.»

I en sådan atmosfär av självplågeri, snyftningar och kvidan levde barnet natt och dag från sitt sjunde till sitt tionde år. Grunden till ett nervöst temperament kunde icke läggas säkrare, även om icke anlagen redan funnits där genom arv från modern.

Obehaglig kände sig Kristina också till mods inför andra drag hos sin moder. »Min moder drottningen tyckte om att omgiva sig med narrar och dvärgar, såsom vanligt var i Tyskland», berättar dottern. »För mig var detta alldeles outhärdligt. Jag har nämligen alltid haft en riktig fasa för dessa löjliga nycker.»

För barnet fanns endast en utväg att komma loss från denna odrägliga tillvaro. Det var att fly till studerkammaren. På sådant sätt växte hennes lust att läsa ytterligare. »Jag gick till mina lektioner med oblandad glädje, till och med före den bestämda tiden, studerade sex timmar på morgonen samt ytterligare sex timmar på aftonen och tog mig ledigt endast om sön- och helgdagar», skriver hon.

Sådant var det hem, i vilket Kristina tillbragte några av de år, då barnet erhåller sina grundläggande intryck för livet, ett osunt hem, från vilket hon flydde — för att studera. Hon kastas mellan själsskakningar och jäktande tankearbete, varmed hon påstår sig syssla tolv timmar om dagen. Ett sådant liv kunde ej annat än bringa barnets ömtåliga nervsystem ur jämvikt för hela livet.

English translation (my own):

KRISTINA, REIGNING QUEEN OF SWEDEN

—

The daughter of Gustav Adolf and Maria Eleonora.

KRISTINA'S birth had preoccupied the astrologers long in advance, and they had prophesied that it would be a boy. When the little brown-skinned child — "brown as a little Moor and hairy all over its body", Kristina herself says — with the strong voice came into the world, even those close to her at first believed that the parents' wish had been fulfilled and a son had been born to Gustav Adolf.

The father, strangely enough, was the one who took the disappointment the easiest. "She's sure to have a good head", he remarked; "she fooled us all."

Gustav Adolf, however, had resolved to try to remedy nature's mistakes through upbringing and prescribed that the future ruler of Sweden should be raised just like a boy, "except in virtue and modesty". It was not difficult, moreover, to get Kristina herself to join in such an education, for she had, as she relates in the autobiography she wrote in her later years, "an invincible aversion to everything that women do and say"; and this aversion lasted throughout her life.

"I was so clumsy in all women's needlework", she says, "that it was quite impossible to learn any of them. But in return I had a remarkable ease in learning languages and lessons of all kinds."

As often as she had the opportunity, she sought male company; but what attracted her to the men was, according to her own explanation, not so much that they were men as that they were not women.

Gustav Adolf was delighted with every sign of boyishness in his little girl. When she accompanied him on a journey to Kalmar at the age of two, the fortress commandant did not know whether, out of consideration for the little child, he would dare to greet His Majesty with the customary cannon salute, and therefore had the King asked what he should do. After a moment's hesitation, Gustav Adolf said: "Shoot! She is the daughter of a warrior and must get used to the thunder of cannon."

Now the salute thundered. But instead of being frightened, the little girl laughed, clapped her hands in delight and gave the impression that they should shoot more.

"After this little episode, my father's tenderness for me became even greater than before", writes Kristina, who herself recounted the event.

But only two years later the King had to part with his child, and it was a separation that lasted for life. When he was about to leave, he was so busy with his affairs that the little girl had to grab hold of his collar to make him stop and listen to the farewell speech her nurse had taught her. Then her father took her in his arms and kissed her, unable to hold back his tears. Little Kristina cried too; she cried for three whole days so bitterly that she almost destroyed her eyesight, which before, like her father's, was very weak.

The little girl received no comfort from her mother, for Maria Eleonora could not stand her child because it had been born a girl. Kristina herself claims, with a suspicion that seems terrible, that her nurses dropped her to the floor in order to be able to please her mother with the fact that the child had died in an accident. Whatever the case may be, Kristina was given a memory of it for life, in that one shoulder became higher than the other, a defect which she, however, knew how to hide by having her dresses sewn in a particular way.

She was not an easy child to handle, the little girl who was now growing up in the Swedish royal castle. She did not want to sleep at all, she had decided that she did not want to eat, or she had the idea of eating wax, and so she got sick.

At times her stubbornness was such that even the high officials of the kingdom found themselves compelled to intervene. One can truly picture them before one's eyes, the venerable gentlemen of the regency: the Grand Steward, the Grand Constable, the Grand Admiral and the Grand Chancellor, as well as a couple of other councilmen, when at the appointed time they appear before the eleven year old Queen, who is waiting for them, surrounded by her entire court. The expression on their features, lined by age and work, is solemn and serious. They look imposing in their long and broad beards, their dark clothes and white lace collars. They greet the Queen solemnly, who looks at them calmly and confidently.

The venerable Grand Chancellor thus begins a long speech to his high charge. He exhorts her first and foremost to fear God, then to love and honour her lady mother, and to obey her in all that is right and just, to overlook and hide her faults, as Shem and Japheth did, and not to make a fuss of them like Ham, who thus brought a curse upon himself and his descendants while the others received a blessing.

But one area of Kristina's upbringing where coercion never had to be applied was her studies. With her large, inquisitive eyes, she really absorbed all kinds of knowledge. She called learning a new language, such as Greek, a pastime in her free time, much like playing chess.

The most fun of all, however, were the lessons for Axel Oxenstierna. From the age of ten, the Grand Chancellor came to her schoolroom daily and spoke to her about contemporary history and politics. And what a spectacle: it was the entire drama of the Thirty Years' War that the great statesman had unrolled before the child's eyes. Yes, the little girl got the feeling that she herself was playing along, for she was taught to talk about "my" army, "my" victories, "my" policies.

Let us hear Kristina's own opinion of these outstanding lessons!

"I had", she writes, "no other lesson and no game or other pastime that I did not gladly leave to listen to his words. We often spent three, four or more hours together."

A precocious, unusually gifted child who knows what she wants — that is the impression one gets of Sweden's future ruler. The previously quoted French ambassador d'Avaux felt quite impressed by the eight year old Queen, who displayed "a confidence in her demeanour and a firm determination in her facial expression that reminded one of her father".

Many later judgements go in the same direction. Axel Oxenstierna says of her as a young maiden that she was gifted far beyond her sex, had a firm will and a surprising power of judgement and would probably become a "heroine" in time.

But Kristina was not only the daughter of the richly gifted, strong-willed Gustav Adolf — she also inherited from her poor capricious, eccentric mother. Together with her, the little girl went through a dangerous crisis of soul. When Maria Eleonora returned from Germany after Gustav Adolf's death, she took Kristina to her, and now the child's soul was filled with indelible impressions of a mother who lived only for the dead man — but not for his memory, not for his children, but for his decaying body. How such a perverse, insane desire must have excited the imagination of a lively and pensive child, even if the little girl, fortunately for her own sake, was critical enough to sometimes see the comical things in the tragedy!

Maria Eleonora had fallen in love with grief — grief and lamentation had become a necessity of life for the overexcited woman, and in this egotistical revelry in her feelings, she forced her child into it too, once she had realised that in the little girl she possessed a living reminder of the deceased father. Kristina tells how her mother shut herself up with her in her rooms, "which were draped with black curtains from ceiling to floor. Curtains of the same gloomy material hung in front of the windows. We could hardly see in the rooms; and the wax candles, which burned by day as well as by night, only intensified the impression of her grief. She never stopped weeping, day or night. She loved me tenderly and said that I was the living image of the deceased King. But the very strength of her love drove me to despair. She made me sleep with her and never let me out of her sight. Only with the greatest difficulty could she be persuaded to let me have a room to myself in which to read over my lessons."

In such an atmosphere of self-torment, sobbing and anxiety the child lived night and day from the age of seven to ten years old. The foundation of a nervous temperament could not have been laid more securely, even if the predisposition had not already been there through inheritance from the mother.

Kristina also felt uncomfortable with her mother's other traits. "My mother, the Queen, liked to surround herself with buffoons and dwarfs, as was customary in Germany", the daughter says. "For me, this was completely unbearable. I have always had a great horror of these ridiculous freaks."

For the child, there was only one way out of this unbearable existence. It was to escape to the study room. In this way, her desire to read grew even more. "I went to my lessons with pure joy, even before the appointed time, studied six hours in the morning and another six hours in the evening, and took time off only on Sundays and holidays", she writes.

Such was the home in which Kristina spent some of the years when the child receives its fundamental impressions for life, an unhealthy home from which she fled — to study. She is thrown between turmoil of the soul and hectic mental work, with which she claims to be occupied twelve hours a day. Such a life could not but throw the child's delicate nervous system out of balance for the rest of her life.

Above: Kristina.

Above: Gustav Adolf and Maria Eleonora.

Above: Carl Grimberg.