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.

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.

Ellen Creathorne Clayton on Kristina and her love of martial and military culture and settings, year 1879

Source:

Female Warriors: Memorials of Female Valour and Heroism, from the Mythological Ages to the Present Era, volume 1, pages 195 to 197, by Ellen Creathorne Clayton, 1879; original at the California Digital Library

https://archive.org/details/femalewarriorsme01clayiala/page/194/mode/2up

The biography:

Christina of Sweden, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, the great Protestant hero of the Thirty Years' War, inherited her father's native love for battles, soldiers, even the smell of powder — all, in fact, that pertains to a warrior's life. When she was about two years old, her father took her to Calmar. The governor did not know whether to give the customary salute, afraid lest the child might be frightened by the noise of the cannon. But Gustavus, whom he consulted, replied, after a moment's hesitation: —

"Fire! The girl is the daughter of a soldier, and should be accustomed to it early."

The salute was therefore given. Christina clapped her hands in delight.

"More! More!" she cried.

Pleased to see her evident predilection for the taste of gunpowder, Gustavus Adolphus took his daughter, soon after, to see a grand review. She displayed even greater delight than before, and Gustavus said, with a smile: —

"Very well; you shall go, I am resolved, where you shall have enough of this."

However, the early death of Gustavus Adolphus hindered him from ever fulfilling this promise; and Christina, in her memoirs, regrets that she was not permitted to learn the art of war under so illustrious a master.

In 1647 [sic], at the age of twenty-nine [sic], Christina resigned the crown of Sweden. Passing through Denmark and Germany, she proceeded to Belgium; and from Innspruck she went to Rome, which she entered in state, attired in the costume of an Amazon, and mounted on a war-horse.

Above: Kristina as a baby with her parents. Drawing by Willem Hendrik Schmidt.

Kristina's memories of her father

Sources:

Mémoires concernant Christine, volume 3 (La vie de la Reine Christine faite par elle-meme; dediée a Dieu, chapter 5), Johan Arckenholtz, 1759; original at the National Library of the Czech Republic (Národní knihovna České republiky)

https://books.google.com/books?id=j7xfAAAAcAAJ&dq=johan+arckenholtz&source=gbs_book_similarbooks

Drotning Christinas Arbeten och Märkwärdigheter, volume 1, page 35, translated by Carl Christoffer Gjörwell, 1760; courtesy of the Swedish Royal Library (Kungliga biblioteket) via Litteraturbanken.se

https://litteraturbanken.se/författare/Kristina/titlar/ChristinasArbeten1/sida/35/faksimil

Kristina: Brev och skrifter, edited by Marie Louise Renata Rodén, translated by Cecilia Huldt and Viveca Melander, published by Svenska Akademien, 2006

https://www.svenskaakademien.se/sites/default/files/kristina.pdf

Drottning Christina: en biografi, page 50, by Marie-Louise Rodén, 2008

Although she was not yet six when Gustav Adolf was killed, Kristina still had some memories of him, and years later in her unfinished autobiography, and with supplemental details from the adults that were told to her growing up, she wrote down these few memories of the father she barely knew. Uploaded in honour of Father's Day 2020.

Kristina's memories:

Les prèmieres années de mon enfance n'eurent rien de remarquable, sinon une maladie mortelle, qui me vint pendant un voyage que le Roi fit aux Mines. On lui expédia un Courier pour lui apprendre mon mal. Il fit une diligence si extraordinaire pour se rendre auprès de moi, qu'il arriva en vingt-quatre heures; ce qu'un Courier n'a jamais fait. Il me trouva aux abois, et en parut inconsolable; mais enfin je guéris, et il en témoigna une joye proportionnée à sa douleur. Il en fit chanter le Te Deum.

Depuis, le Roi me mena dans son voyage avec lui jusques à Calmar, où il arriver, et me mit à une petite épreuve, qui augmenta fort son amitié pour moi. Je n'avois pas encore deux ans quand il arriva à Calmar. On douta s'il falloit faire les salves de la garnison et des canons de la Forteresse pour le saluer selon la coutume, à cause que l'on craignoit de faire peur à un Enfant de l'importance dont j'étois; et pour ne manquer en rien, le Gouverneur de la Place lui demanda l'ordre. Le Roi, après avoir balancé un peu, dit faites, tirez; elle est fille d'un soldat, il faut qu'elle s'y accoutume. Cela fut fait, on fit la salve dans les formes. J'étois avec la Reine dans son carosse, et au-lieu d'un être épouvantée, comme sont les autres enfans à un âge si tendre, je riois et battois des mains; et ne sachant pas encore parler, je témoignois, comme je pouvois, ma joye par toutes les marques que pouvoit donner un enfant de mon âge, ordonnant à ma mode qu'on tirât encore davantage. Cette petite rencontre augmenta beaucoup la tendresse du Roi pour moi; car il espéra que j'étois née intrépide comme lui.

Depuis, il me menoit toujours avec lui pour voir ses revues quand il les faisoit de ses troupes, et par-tout je lui donnois des marques de courage, telles qu'en un âge si tendre il pouvoit exiger d'un Enfant qui ne parloit encore qu'avec peine. Il prenoit plaisir à badiner avec moi, il me disoit: Allez, laissez-moi faire: je vous menerai un jour en des lieux où vous aurez contentement. Mais pour mon malheur la mort l'empêcha de me tenir parole, et je n'eus pas le bonheur de faire mon apprentissage sous un si bon Maître.

Quand il partit, j'étois un peu plus grande, et on m'avoit appris un petit compliment qui je devois lui réciter; mais comme il étoit si occupé qu'il ne pouvoit s'amuser à moi, voyant qu'il ne me donnoit pas audience, je le tirai par son buffle et le fis tourner vers moi. Quand il m'apperçut, il me prit entre ses bras et m'embrassa, et ne put retenir ses larmes, à ce que m'ont dit les personnes qui s'y trouverent présentes. Ils m'ont assuré aussi que lorsqu'il partit, je pleurai si fort durant trois jours entiers sans interruption, que cela me causa un si grand mal d'yeux, que je faillis d'en perdre la vue que j'avois extrêmement foible, aussi-bien que le Roi mon Pere. On prit mes larmes pour de mauvais augures, d'autant plus que naturellement je pleurois peu et rarement.

Swedish translation (by Gjörwell):

De första åren af min barndom woro af intet märkwärdiga, om ej en dödelig sjukdom, som jag fick under det, Konungen gjorde en resa til Bergslagen. Man affärdade genast härom en enspännare til Konungen, som med en så owanlig skyndsamhet for tilbaka, för at råka mig, at han återkom inom et dygn, hwilket en enspännare aldrig gjort. Han fant mig på det yttersta och syntes deröfwer otröstelig; men änteligen så frisknade jag igen, och han betygade då en glädje, som war lika så stor, som hans nyß föregående sorg. Han lät ock sjunga derföre: O GUD! wi lofwe Dig. Sedan tog Konungen mig med sig på en resa ända til Calmar, dit han ankom och satte mig på et litet prof, som förökade mycket hans wänskap för mig. Jag hade ej ännu fyllt mina twå år, då han kom til Calmar, och man war i owißhet, huruwida man borde låta besätningen gifwa salfwor utur handgewären och loßa styckeskott från Slottet, för at efter wanligheten lyckönska Konungens ankomst, efter man befarade, at skräma et barn af den angelägenhet, som jag war. För at intet begå något fel härutinnan, begärde Ståthållaren at få befallning, hwad han skulle gjöra. Konungen, sedan han litet betänkt sig, sade: Låt skjuta, hon är en Soldats Dotter, hon måste wänja sig derwid. Det skedde, och man skjöt på wanligit sätt. Jag war hos Drotningen i hennes wagn, och i stället för at blifwa rädd, som andra barn wid den späda ålder, skrattade jag och slog ihop händerna; och, kunnande ännu intet tala, betygade jag min glädje med alla de tekn, som et barn wid mina år kunde gifwa, och befalte på mit lilla sätt, at man skulle skjuta om igen. Denna lilla händelsen ökade mycket Konungens kärlek för mig, ty han hoppades, at jag war född så oförskräkt, som han. Ifrån den tiden tog han mig altid med sig på sina mönstringar, och allestädes wiste jag de tekn til mod och hurtighet, som han kunde begära af et barn, som ej ännu talade utan swårighet. Det roade honom at leka med mig, och sade han: Låt mig få råda, jag skal wäl en gång föra Dig på de ställen, hwarest Du skal blifwa förnögd. Men til min olycka hindrade döden honom, at hålla ord, och jag hade ej den lyckan, at lära krigskonsten af en så stor Mästare. När han reste bort, hade jag blifwit något större, och man hade lärt mig några ord, hwarmed jag skulle taga afsked utaf honom; men som han war så syßelsatt, at han ej hade tid med mig, och jag såg, at han intet wille höra på mig, tog jag honom i köllerten och wände honom om til mig. Då han blef mig warse, tog han mig up i famnen och kunde intet hålla sig ifrån tårar, såsom de personer berättat mig, hwilka då woro tilstädes. De hafwa också försäkrat mig, at när han reste bort, gret jag så häftigt i tre hela dagar, och fick derutaf så ondt i ögonen, at jag så när förlorat synen, hwilken jag, äfwen som Konungen, min Fader, hade ganska swag. Man ansåg mina tårar så mycket mera för elaka tekn, som jag af mig sjelf gret litet och sällan.

Swedish translations (by Celia Huldt):

Under de första åren av min barndom inträffade ingenting anmärkningsvärt förutom att jag drabbades av en dödlig sjukdom medan kungen var på resa i Bergslagen. Man sände ett särskilt bud efter kungen för att underrätta honom om min sjukdom. Han fick så bråttom tillbaka att han var framme på ett dygn, vilket någon kurir aldrig har klarat. Där fann han mig på mitt yttersta och syntes otröstlig. Men jag tillfrisknade till slut, och då var hans glädje lika stor som sorgen hade varit. Som tack lät han framföra Te Deum.

Därefter tog kungen mig med på sin resa till Kalmar. Vid ankomsten utsatte han mig för ett litet prov som mycket stärkte hans kärlek till mig. Jag hade ännu inte fyllt två år när han anlände till Kalmar. Man tvekade om det lämpliga i att skjuta salut från garnisonen och från kanonerna på slottet för att hälsa honom på sedvanligt vis, eftersom man var rädd att skrämma ett barn som var så betydelsefullt som jag. För att inte begå något misstag bad landshövdingen om order. Kungen svarade efter att ha funderat: »Gör så, skjut. Hon är dotter till en soldat, hon måste vänja sig.« Så skedde också, man sköt regelrätt salut. Jag satt med drottningen i hennes vagn. I stället för att bli skrämd som andra barn i så späd ålder skrattade jag och klappade i händerna, och eftersom jag ännu inte kunde tala visade jag min glädje efter förmåga, med alla de medel som ett barn i min ålder har tillgång till, och befallde på mitt eget sätt att skjutandet skulle fortsätta. Denna lilla händelse ökade mycket kungens ömhet för mig, ty han hoppades att jag var född orädd som han.

Därefter tog han mig alltid med sig när han inspekterade sina trupper, och överallt visade jag så mycket mod som han kunde kräva av ett litet barn som ännu knappt kunde tala. Han brukade skämta med mig och säga: »Seså, kom nu, en dag skall jag ta dig med till ställen som du kommer att tycka om.« Men till min olycka hindrade döden honom från att hålla sitt ord till mig, och jag fick inte lyckan att gå i lära hos en så stor mästare.

När han reste var jag något äldre. Jag hade övat in ett litet tal som jag skulle framföra, men eftersom han var så upptagen att han inte hade tid att leka med mig och jag såg att han inte ägnade mig någon uppmärksamhet, ryckte jag honom i vapenrocken så att han måste vända sig mot mig. När han upptäckte mig tog han mig i famnen och kysste mig utan att kunna hålla tårarna tillbaka, enligt vad som har berättats mig av personer som var med. De har också försäkrat att jag, när han hade rest, oavbrutet grät så häftigt i tre hela dagar utan avbrott att jag fick svåra problem med ögonen och höll på att förlora synen. Jag hade redan mycket dålig syn, precis som min far kungen. Man uppfattade mina tårar som ett dåligt förebud, i synnerhet som jag vanligtvis grät litet och sällan.

English translations (my own):

The first years of my childhood were nothing remarkable except a deadly illness that came to me during a trip the King made to see the mines. A courier was sent to him to tell him of my illness. He was so diligent in coming to see me that he arrived within a day, which a courier has never done. He found me at my last hour, and seemed inconsolable; but at last I recovered, and he showed a joy equal in proportion to his pain. He had a Te Deum sung.

Then the King took me with him on his trip to Kalmar. Upon arrival, he subjected me to a little test which greatly strengthened his love for me. I was not yet two years old when we went to Kalmar. One man was hesitant about shooting the salute from the garrison and from the cannons at the castle to greet him in the usual way, as he was afraid of frightenimg a child as important as I was. To make no mistake, the governor asked for the orders. After thinking, the King answered: "Go on, shoot. She is the daughter of a soldier and she must get used to it." I was with the Queen in her carriage, and instead of being frightened like any other child, I laughed and clapped my hands; not being able as yet to speak, I expressed my joy as well as I could in my fashion, gesturing that they should fire again. This little event increased the King's tenderness for me; he hoped I was born as intrepid as himself.

Since then, he always took me with him to review the troops, and everywhere I gave him marks of courage, such that at such a tender age he could expect from a child who did not yet speak and still with difficulty. He took pleasure in playing with me, he said to me: "Someday I will take you to places that will delight you." But, to my misfortune, death prevented him from keeping his word, and I never had the good fortune to study under such a good master.

When he left, I was a little older, and I was taught a little compliment to recite to him; but he was so busy that he did not notice me. Seeing that he was not giving me his attention, I pulled on his buffcoat and made him turn towards me. When he saw me, he took me in his arms and kissed me, and could not restrain his tears, as I was told by the people who were present. They also told me that when he left, I cried so hard for three whole days without stopping that it caused me problems with my eyes, and I almost lost my eyesight, which was very weak as well as that of the King, my father. My tears were taken as a bad omen, especially since I usually cried little and rarely.

Above: Kristina as a toddler with Gustav Adolf, painted together by Jakob Heinrich Elbfas in circa 1632.