Christian Stieff on Kristina refusing to marry and instead making Karl Gustav her heir and successor

Source:

Leben der Weltberühmten Königin Christina von Schweden nach denen geheimesten intrigven und merckwürdigsten umständen mit möglichstem fleiße entworffen, pages 30 to 34, by Christian Stieff, 1705; original at the University of Michigan

https://books.google.com/books?id=I402AAAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gbs_navlinks_s

The 1,100th post of 2025 to this blog!

The account:

Massen den unter andern Churfürst George Wilhelm von Brandenburg vor seinen Chur-Printz / Friedrich Wilhelmen / um sie geworben. Es möchte auch diese heyrath vielleicht den fortgang erreichet haben / wofern König Gustavus Adolphus hätte leben sollen / als welcher auff diese alliantze bey seinem leben grosse reflexion gemacht hatte / um sich dadurch in Teutschland und wider Polen desto fester zu setzen. Allein / nach dessen tode bezeugte nicht allein die Königin schlechte lust darzu / sondern auch der Cantzler Oxenstirn / so sich hoffnung gemacht / daß sie vielleicht zu seinem sohn Graf Erich Oxenstirn mit der zeit incliniren möchte / verhinderte solche nach äuserstem vermögen. Nicht bessern success hat König Christian der IV gehabt / da er für seinen zweyten sohn Hertzog Friedrichen um sie anhielte; ingleichen Pfaltz-Graf Carl Gustav / wiewohl doch viele meynen / daß die Königin / diesen letztern zu ehlichen / noch wohl dürffte resolviret haben / wenn nicht Graf Magnus de la Gardie, so damahls bey der Königin in sonderlichen gnaden stunde / ihr allerhand widrige impressiones beygebracht / und sie dadurch von dieser meynung abgewendet hätte. Doch hat er nicht verhindern können / daß nicht die Königin den Pfaltzgrafen 1650 auff öffentlichem Reichs-tage zum erben und Successorn der Cron / daferne sie ohne leibes-erben mit tode abgehen solte / erklären lassen / dargegen aber er folgende assecuration ausgestellet:

"Wir Carl Gustav / der Schweden / Gothen und Vandeln erwehlter Erb-Printz / Pfaltzgraf am Rhein / Hertzog zu Bayern / etc. thun kund / daß / nachdem die Königin von Schweden Christina / und die Reichs-Räthe und Stände selbigen Königsreichs uns und unsern kindern männlichen geschlechts / die anwartung und erb-recht an besagtem Königreich Schweden durch einen öffentlichen schluß auffgetragen / wir hingegen vor nöthig befunden / uns folgender massen zu erklären: Erstlich sagen wir ihr / der Königin / so wohl vor diese als alle andre wohlthaten / so wir zeit unsers lebens von ihr genossen / gebührenden danck / erkennen auch selbige vor unsere Königin und gnädige Frau / welcher alle regierung / uns aber ihr zu gehorsamen / zustehe / und versprechen ihr demnach alle schuldige treue / gehorsam und respect jederzeit zu leisten. Und gleichwie sie / die Königin / uns zugesagt und verheißen / daß sie bey der regierung und dem / was davon dependiret / nichts / so unserm stande nicht gemäß / oder wider unsern willen / uns aufdringen wolle / also versprechen wir hinwiederum / daß wir / so lange sie am leben und an der regierung / nichts von allem / was des Reichs wohlstand betrifft / als krieg zu führen / frieden zu schliessen / bündniß zu machen / und dergleichen wichtige dinge / uns unterfangen wollen / es geschehe denn solches mit vorwissen und willen der Königin / vorgehendem rath der Reichs-Senatorn und von jener hierzu ertheilten vollmacht und gewalt. Dieweil auch die Königin samt denen Reichs-Räthen vor gut befunden / daß das Reich hinführo nicht zertheilet / sondern jederzeit unzertrennet beysammen bleiben solle / so wollen weder wir noch unsere Kinder ein Hertzogthum erblich vor uns fordern / sondern mit demjenigen / was die Königin zusamt denen Reichs-Ständen zu unserer und unserer zukünfftigen Gemahlin und kinder unterhalt aus der kammer uns verordnen werden / zu frieden seyn. Dafern aber mit der zeit wir oder unsere kinder einige land-güter rechtmäßiger weise an uns bringen solten / so sollen und wollen wir dieselbigen mit eben denen rechten und freyheiten / wie andere von Adel / besitzen / und dasjenige / was selbige von dergleichen der Cron zu geben und leisten pflegen / auch unseres orts unweigerlich abstatten. Jedoch behalten wir uns dabey die gerichtebarkeit über unsere hof-statt / wie solche die vormahligen Erb-Printzen über die ihrigen gebraucht / zuvor. Wofern auch nach der Königin tode uns etwan ein land ausser dem Reiche zufallen solte / wollen wir dasselbe nicht anders annehmen / als mit der bedingung / daß wir aus dem Königreich Schweden / und derenthalber uns mit wesentlicher wohnung zu wenden nicht schuldig seyn sollen. Wenn wir etwan dermaleinst uns zu verehlichen entschliessen möchten / so wollen wir zuförderst die Königin und Reichs-Räthe darüber vernehmen / und keine heyrath schliessen / so jener oder dem Reiche schädlich seyn und einiges nachtheil zuziehen könne. Wir wollen auch keine andere person zu unserer Gemahlin annehmen / als die der unveränderten Augspurgischen Confeßion zugethan / in welcher wir auch unsere kinder erziehen zu lassen versprechen. Wenn wir nach GOttes willen zur regierung gelangen solten / so wollen wir selbige mit zuziehung der Reichs-Räthe nach denen rechten des Königreichs und Reichs-constitutionibus gemäß führen. Alle des Reichs Stände und unterthanen wollen wir bey dem reinen und klaren worte GOttes / wie solches in der Propheten und Aposteln schrifften enthalten und in der unveränderten Augspurgischen Confession und Concilio zu Upsal weitläufftiger erkläret worden / handhaben und schützen: auch alle Stände und unterthanen bey ihren habenden rechten / gerechtigkeiten und freyheiten ungekränckt lassen / und möglichst verhüten / daß keinem / wes standes und würden er auch sey / an leib und leben / ehr und gut einiger schaden zugefüget werde. Wir wollen der verwittibten Königin / Frauen Marien Eleonoren / jederzeit mit liebe und ehrerbietung begegnen / und sie bey demjenigen / was ihr von der regierenden Königin zu ihrer und ihrer hofstaat unterhalt geordnet worden / geruhig lassen. Endlich so wollen wir alle dasjenige / was in Königs Gustavi letztem willen und der erb-vereinigung von denen Erb-Printzen dem Reich zum besten verordnet wird / wie auch / was die vorigen Könige in Schweden inhalts ihres geleisteten eydes und ausgestellter reversalien zu leisten schuldig gewesen / ausser demjenigen / was auf gegenwärtigem Reichs-tage geändert worden / ebenfalls steiff und unverbrüchlich halten. Es sollen auch letzlich nicht weniger unsere männlichen erben und successoren allem / was wir hierinnen zugesagt / nachzuleben verbunden seyn."

With modernised spelling:

Maßen den unter andern Kurfürst, Georg Wilhelm von Brandenburg, vor seinen Kurprinz, Friedrich Wilhelmen, um sie geworben. Es möchte auch diese Heirat vielleicht den Fortgang erreicht haben, wofern König Gustavus Adolphus hätte leben sollen, als welcher auf diese Allianze bei seinem Leben große Reflexion gemacht hatte, um sich dadurch in Deutschland und wider Polen desto fester zu setzen. Allein, nach dessen Tode bezeugte nicht allein die Königin schlechte Lust dazu, sondern auch der Kanzler Oxenstiern, so sich Hoffnung gemacht, dass sie vielleicht zu seinem Sohn Graf Erich Oxenstiern mit der Zeit inklinieren möchte, verhinderte solche nach äußerstem Vermögen.

Nicht bessern Sukzess hat König Christian der IV gehabt, da er für seinen zweiten Sohn, Herzog Friedrichen, um sie anhielte; ingleichen Pfalzgraf Karl Gustav, wiewohl doch viele meinen, dass die Königin diesen Letztern zu ehelichen, noch wohl dürfte resolviert haben, wenn nicht Graf Magnus de la Gardie, so damals bei der Königin in sonderlichen Gnaden stunde, ihr allerhand widrige impressiones beigebracht, und sie dadurch von dieser Meinung abgewendet hätte.

Doch hat er nicht verhindern können, dass nicht die Königin den Pfalzgrafen 1650 auf öffentlichem Reichstage zum Erben und Sukzessorn der Kron, dafern sie ohne Leibeserben mit Tode abgehen sollte, erklären lassen, dagegen aber er folgende Assekuration ausgestellt:

"Wir Karl Gustav, der Schweden, Gothen und Vandeln erwählter Erbprinz, Pfalzgraf am Rhein, Herzog zu Bayern, etc., tun kund, dass, nachdem die Königin von Schweden, Christina, und die Reichsräte und Stände selbigen Königsreichs Uns und Unsern Kindern männlichen Geschlechts, die Anwartung und Erbrecht an besagtem Königreich Schweden durch einen öffentlichen Schluß aufgetragen, Wir hingegen vor nötig befunden, Uns folgendermaßen zu erklären:

Erstlich sagen Wir ihr, der Königin, so wohl vor diese als alle andere Wohltaten, so Wir Zeit Unsers Lebens von ihr genossen, gebührenden Dank, erkennen auch selbige vor Unsere Königin und gnädige Frau, welcher alle Regierung, Uns aber ihr zu gehorsamen, zustehe, und versprechen ihr demnach alle schuldige Treue, Gehorsam und Respekt jederzeit zu leisten.

Und gleichwie sie, die Königin, Uns zugesagt und verheißen, dass sie bei der Regierung und dem, was davon dependiert, nichts, so Unserm Stande nicht gemäß, oder wider Unsern Willen, Uns aufdringen wolle, also versprechen Wir hinwiederum, dass Wir, so lange sie am Leben und an der Regierung, nichts von allem was des Reichs Wohlstand betrifft, als Krieg zu führen, Frieden zu schließen, Bündnis zu machen, und dergleichen wichtige Dinge uns unterfangen wollen, es geschehe denn solches mit Vorwissen und Willen der Königin, vorgehendem Rat der Reichssenatoren und von jener hiezu erteilten Vollmacht und Gewalt.

Dieweil auch die Königin samt denen Reichsräten vor gut befunden, dass das Reich hinfüro nicht zerteilt, sondern jederzeit unzertrennt beisammen bleiben solle, so wollen weder Wir noch Unsere Kinder ein Herzogtum erblich vor Uns fordern, sondern mit demjenigen, was die Königin zusamt denen Reichsständen zu Unserer und Unserer zukünftigen Gemahlin und Kinder unterhalt aus der Kammer Uns verordnen werden, zufrieden sein.

Dafern aber mit der Zeit Wir oder Unsere Kinder einige Landgüter rechtmäßigerweise an Uns bringen sollten, so sollen und wollen Wir dieselbigen mit eben denen Rechten und Freiheiten, wie andere von Adel, besitzen, und dasjenige was selbige von dergleichen der Kron zu geben und leisten pflegen, auch Unseres Orts unweigerlich abstatten. Jedoch behalten wir Uns dabei die Gerichtbarkeit über Unsere Hofstaat, wie solche die vormaligen Erbprinzen über die ihrigen gebraucht, zuvor.

Wofern auch nach der Königin Tode Uns etwan ein Land außerdem Reiche zufallen sollte, wollen Wir dasselbe nicht anders annehmen, als mit der Bedingung, dass Wir aus dem Königreich Schweden, und derenthalber Uns mit wesentlicher Wohnung zu wenden nicht schuldig sein sollen. Wenn Wir etwan dermaleinst Uns zu verehelichen entschließen möchten, so wollen Wir zuförderst die Königin und Reichsräte darüber vernehmen, und keine Heirat schließen, so jener oder dem Reiche schädlich sein und einiges Nachteil zuziehen könne.

Wir wollen auch keine andere Person zu Unserer Gemahlin annehmen, als die der unveränderten augsburgischen Konfession zugetan, in welcher Wir auch Unsere Kinder erziehen zu lassen versprechen. Wenn Wir nach Gottes Willen zur Regierung gelangen sollten, so wollen Wir selbige mit Zuziehung der Reichsräte nach denen Rechten des Königreichs und Reichsconstitutionibus gemäß führen.

Alle des Reichs Stände und Untertanen wollen Wir bei dem reinen und klaren Worte Gottes, wie solches in der Propheten und Aposteln Schriften enthalten und in der unveränderten augsburgischen Konfession und concilio zu Uppsal weitläuftiger erklärt worden, handhaben und schützen; auch alle Stände und Untertanen bei ihren habenden Rechten, Gerechtigkeiten und Freiheiten ungekränkt lassen, und möglichst verhüten, dass keinem, wes Standes und Würden er auch sei, an Leib und Leben, Ehr und Gut einiger Schaden zugefügt werde.

Wir wollen der verwittibten Königin, Frauen Marien Eleonoren, jederzeit mit Liebe und Ehrerbietung begegnen, und sie bei demjenigen, was ihr von der regierenden Königin zu ihrer und ihrer Hofstaat Unterhalt geordnet worden, geruhig lassen.

Endlich so wollen Wir alle dasjenige, was in Königs Gustavi letztem Willen und der Erbvereinigung von denen Erbprinzen dem Reich zum besten verordnet wird, wie auch, was die vorigen Könige in Schweden Inhalts ihres geleisteten Eides und ausgestellter Reversalien zu leisten schuldig gewesen, außerdemjenigen, was auf gegenwärtigem Reichstage geändert worden, ebenfalls steif und unverbrüchlich halten. Es sollen auch letztlich nicht weniger Unsere männlichen Erben und Sukzessoren allem, was Wir hierinnen zugesagt, nachzuleben verbunden sein."

English translation (my own):

Among others, Elector Georg Wilhelm of Brandenburg courted her, before his Electoral Prince Friedrich Wilhelm. This marriage might also have come to fruition had King Gustav Adolf lived, as he had devoted considerable thought to such alliances during his lifetime, hoping to consolidate his power in Germany and against Poland. However, after his death, not only did the Queen show little interest, but Chancellor Oxenstierna, who had hoped that she might eventually align herself with his son, Count Erik Oxenstierna, prevented it to the best of his ability.

King Christian IV had no better success when he sought her hand in marriage for his second son, Duke Frederik; likewise, Count Palatine Karl Gustav, although many believe that the Queen might well have resolved to marry the latter had not Count Magnus de la Gardie, who then stood in the Queen's particular favour, conveyed all sorts of adverse impressions to her and thereby turned her away from this opinion.

However, he could not prevent the Queen from having the Count Palatine declared heir and successor to the Crown in 1650 at a public Riksdag, should she die without a male heir of her body, but he issued the following assurance in return:

"We Karl Gustav, elected Hereditary Prince of the Swedes, Goths and Vandals, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, etc., declare that, after the Queen of Sweden, Kristina, and the Council and Estates of the same Realm, by a public decree, have granted to Us and Our male children the expectancy and right of inheritance to the said Kingdom of Sweden, We, however, have found it necessary to declare Ourself as follows:

Firstly, We express Our sincere gratitude to her, the Queen, for this as well as all other benefits We have enjoyed from her throughout Our life; we also acknowledge her as Our Queen and gracious Lady, to whom all government belongs, and We are obliged to obey her; and We therefore promise to render her all due fealty, obedience and respect at all times.

And whereas she, the Queen, has promised and assured Us that she will impose nothing upon Us in the government and in all that depends upon it that is not in accordance with Our station or against Our will, so We promise in return that, as long as she is alive and in government, We will undertake nothing concerning the prosperity of the Realm except to wage war, to make peace, to form alliances, and to undertake such important things, unless it is done with the prior knowledge and consent of the Queen, the preceding Council of the senators of the Realm, and by the authority and power granted to her for this purpose.

Since the Queen and the Council have also found it good that the Realm should henceforth not be divided, but should remain together inseparably at all times, neither We nor Our children wish to demand a hereditary duchy, but rather be content with what the Queen and the Estates of the Realm will ordain from the Chamber for Our support and that of Our future consort and children.

Should We or Our children, in time, rightfully acquire some estates, We shall and will possess them with the same rights and freedoms as other nobles, and will inevitably pay to Our lands what they are accustomed to give and do to the Crown. However, We reserve for Ourself the jurisdiction over Our court state, just as the former hereditary princes exercised over theirs.

Should any land fall to Us after the Queen's death, We will accept it only on the condition that We leave the Kingdom of Sweden and are not obliged to establish a substantial residence there. If We should ever decide to marry, We will first consult the Queen and the Council, and will not enter into any marriage that could be harmful to either party or to the Kingdom and cause any disadvantage.

We will not take any other person as Our consort than one who adheres to the unaltered Augsburg Confession, in which We also promise to raise Our children. Should we, in accordance with God's will, come to power, We shall govern it with the participation of the Council, in accordance with the laws of the Kingdom and the constitutions of the Realm.

We will uphold and protect all the Estates and subjects of the Realm according to the pure and clear word of God, as it is contained in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles and further explained in the unaltered Augsburg Confession and the Council of Uppsala; We will also leave all Estates and subjects uninfringed in their existing rights and freedoms, and prevent as far as possible any harm being done to anyone, whatever their rank or dignity, in body, life, honour or property.

We wish to treat the widowed Queen, Lady Maria Eleonora, with love and respect at all times, and to leave her in peace with what the reigning Queen has arranged for her and her court state's maintenance.

Finally, We wish to uphold firmly and inviolably everything which is ordained for the good of the Realm in King Gustav's last will and testament and the Union of Inheritance for the hereditary princes, as well as what the previous kings of Sweden were obliged to do according to their oaths and issued reversions, and also that which has been amended at the present Riksdag. Ultimately, no less shall Our heirs and successors male be bound to uphold all that We hereinafter pledge."

Above: Kristina.

Above: Karl Gustav.

Above: Christian Stieff.

Francis William Bain on Kristina revealing her final decision to abdicate and the negotiations for her future maintenance

Source:

Christina, Queen of Sweden, pages 233 to 237, by Francis William Bain, 1890; original at the University of Connecticut Library

https://archive.org/details/christinaqueenof00bain/page/232/mode/2up

The account:

In Feb. 1654 she wrote her letter to Chanut; on the eleventh of the same month she had already communicated her intentions to the Senate; she told them that she had summoned them to hear what she was going to lay before the Diet at the next meeting, namely, her abdication. Though three years ago she had yielded to their dissuasions, she had now determined to carry it out; for her successor they had Charles Gustavus, already nominated, and well able to supply her place. She did not fear criticism, her resolution was taken: she did not apply to them now for advice, but assistance in furthering the matter. The Senate, astonished and dismayed, made every effort to alter her mind, but unsuccessfully; she said her purpose was fixed, and left them. On a subsequent meeting, four days later, she placed it before them again. Count Brahé opposed her with great vehemence, asserting it to be a desertion of duty, and that they who counselled her in the matter were rascals. Christina said he was going too far; there were many who would see her abdicate with great pleasure: she was not able to discover to them the true reason for the course she took, which, however, they would learn ere long. The matter was adjourned to the meeting of the Diet in the following May. In the interval Christina treated with Charles respecting the revenues she wished to retain in her private condition. The ambitious Prince saw the dawn of his reign with secret joy, nevertheless he made decent but ineffectual attempts to turn her from her purpose. Christina at first demanded the absolute sovereignty and revenues of many important towns and districts; this, however, she had to forego, and content herself with a fixed revenue, to be submitted to the Diet. She also endeavoured to make further regulations for the succession, seeing Charles Gustavus was as yet unmarried, and might die without heirs; but here, too, she had to give way. She is said to have cast her eyes for that purpose on the young Count Tott, whom she viewed with favour at the time, a descendant of Eric XIV.; she wished to make him a duke, along with Brahé and Oxenstiern; but by the representations of the two latter she relinquished her design.

On May 12 [sic] the Diet was held at Upsala. Among others, Whitelocke has left us an account of it, "being in an upper room or gallery, where he sat privately, not taken notice of by any, yet had the full view of the great hall where the Ricksdag met, and heard what was said." He describes the splendid appearance of this great hall and the entry of the four Orders. "About nine o'clock there entered at the lower end a plain lusty man in his boor's habit, with a staff in his hand, followed by about eighty boors;" after them the citizen Order, then the nobility, and clergy. "All being sat", came in the Queen's guard, the senators, the Court, and the Queen herself, who walked up the lane they made for her and took her seat "in the chair of state, all of massy silver, a rich cushion in it, and a canopy of crimson velvet richly embroidered over it." The Chancellor should have made the opening speech, but he remained silent. The Queen beckoned to him, and after a little speaking together he returned to his place; he would take no part in removing the crown from the head of a descendant of the house of Vasa. "The Queen sat down again a little time; then[,] rising up with mettle, she came forward, and with a good grace and confidence spake to the assembly." She told them that they would doubtless be astonished at the reason why they had been summoned, being a thing without precedent: but if they reflected upon it, they would see that it was no new resolve, but a thing of long premeditation. She reminded them of the succession assured to her cousin, and his eminent qualities, whom they would doubtless joyfully welcome to the throne; she recalled her unwearied diligence and service of the state during the ten years of her reign, demanding nothing in return but that they would consent to her resolution, which was firm and ineradicable: and concluded with her wishes for the future good of the country. Her speech was answered by others from the Archbishop and the Grand Marshal, setting forth their gratitude and approbation of her reign, and praying her to give up her determination to abdicate. "In the last place stepped forward the Marshal of the Boors, a plain country fellow, in his clouted shoon, and all other habits answerable;" "without any congées or ceremony at all, he spake to her Majesty:

"'O Lord God, Madam, what do you mean to do? It troubles us to hear you speak of forsaking those that love you so well as we do. Can you be better than you are? You are Queen of all these countries, and if you leave this large kingdom, where will you get such another? ... Continue in your gears, good Madam, and be the forehorse as long as you live, and we will help you the best we can to bear your burden.' ... When the boor had ended his speech, he waddled up to the Queen without any ceremony, took her by the hand and shook it heartily, and kissed it two or three times; then[,] turning his back to her, he pulled out of his pocket a foul handkerchief, and wiped the tears from his eyes."

Schering Rosenhane then read a paper in which the Queen reviewed her political and domestic relations, and invited the Estates to consider the allowances to be paid her. And then the Estates left the hall as they had come in.

After attempting to shake her resolution once again, the Diet agreed to her abdication; yet would not, as has been said, grant the lands demanded, but only the revenues accruing from them: namely, from the isles of Œland, Gothland, and Œsel, Wollin, Usedom, the town and castle of Wolgast, and some lands in Pomerania. There were some who wished to compel her to live in Sweden, and not spend these revenues out of the country. But Charles Gustavus opposed himself to this, not only to oblige Christina, but because he had no wish to see her remain in the kingdom on his own account.

Above: Kristina.

Notes: The famous speech by the peasant to Kristina is a fabrication by Whitelocke.

Ösel is the old German and Swedish name for the Estonian island of Saaremaa.

Wollin is the German name for the Polish island of Wolin and a town on it, in the Baltic Sea.

Usedom is the German name for the Polish island of Uznam in the Baltic Sea.

Summary of Coenraad van Beuningen's letter to the government of the United Provinces in The Hague, dated January 8/18 (New Style), 1653

Source:

Handlingar rörande Sverges historia, volume 4, page 282, published by Anders Fryxell, 1843

https://runeberg.org/afhandlsve/4/0290.html

The letter summary:

... [Stockholm] d. 18 Jan. 1653. — Drottningen hade gifvit en stor fest på trettondedagen. Hollands segrar mot England och andra vigtiga skäl skulle troligen omintetgöra förslaget mot Danmark. Kejsarn och romerska riksdagen vägrade Sverge investitur på Pommern och Bremen, tills Brandenburg blifvit tillfredsställdt. — De på riksdagen beviljade pengarna troddes långsamt inflyta. — Man talte om att öka hofstaten. — Sverge påstod, att Groot Johan, som bekommit rekommendationsbref från Kristina, icke utan förakt för henne kunnat kastas och hållas i fängelse.

With modernised spelling:

... [Stockholm] den 18 januari 1653. — Drottningen hade givit en stor fest på trettondedagen. Hollands segrar mot England och andra viktiga skäl skulle troligen omintetgöra förslaget mot Danmark. Kejsaren och romerska riksdagen vägrade Sverige investitur på Pommern och Bremen tills Brandenburg blivit tillfredsställt. — De på Riksdagen beviljade pengarna troddes långsamt inflyta. — Man talte om att öka hovstaten. — Sverige påstod, att Grote Johann, som bekommit rekommendationsbrev från Kristina, icke utan förakt för henne kunnat kastas och hållas i fängelse.

English translation (my own):

... [Stockholm], January 18, 1653. — The Queen had given a great feast on Epiphany. Holland's victories against England and other important reasons would probably defeat the proposal against Denmark. The Emperor and the Roman Reichstag refused Sweden investiture in Pomerania and Bremen until Brandenburg was satisfied. — The money granted by the Riksdag was believed to have a slow effect. — There was talk of increasing the court state. — Sweden claimed that Grote Johann, who received a letter of recommendation from Kristina, could not be thrown and kept in prison without contempt for her.

Above: Kristina.

Above: Coenraad van Beuningen.

Summary of Coenraad van Beuningen's letter to the government of the United Provinces in The Hague, dated December 30, 1652/January 9, 1653 (New Style)

Source:

Handlingar rörande Sverges historia, volume 4, pages 281 to 282, published by Anders Fryxell, 1843

https://runeberg.org/afhandlsve/4/0289.html

The letter summary:

... [Stockholm] d. 9 Jan. 1653. — Riksdagen var i går slutad. Planen mot Danmark blef nu allmänt känd. Flere riksråd och de höga ministrarne hade talt deremot; äfven Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie, som frisknat efter en lång sjukdom och besökt Rumpf, samt lofvat befordra freden.

With modernised spelling:

... [Stockholm] den 9 januari 1653. — Riksdagen var igår slutad. Planen mot Danmark blev nu allmänt känd. Flera riksråd och de höga ministrarna hade talt däremot; även Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie, som frisknat efter en lång sjukdom och besökt Rumpf, samt lovat befordra freden.

English translation (my own):

... Stockholm, January 9, 1653. — The Riksdag was adjourned yesterday. The plan against Denmark was now widely known. Several members of the Riksdag and the high ministers had spoken on the contrary; also Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie, who has recovered from a long illness and visited Rumpf and promised to promote peace.

Francis William Bain on Kristina, the 1650 Riksdag, and her first attempt to abdicate (1651)

Source:

Christina, Queen of Sweden, pages 124 to 143, by Francis William Bain, 1890; original at the University of Connecticut Library

https://archive.org/details/christinaqueenof00bain/page/124/mode/2up

The account:

CHAPTER IV.

TO the well-known theory of Bolingbroke, and those attempted revivals of his principles in modern times which may be briefly described as the "monarch and multitude" constitutional ideal, hostile critics have objected that, apart from the abstract value of the remedy proposed, it did not fit the facts it sought to meet. But were it possible for such a patriot king as Bolingbroke dreamed of to exist in flesh and blood, of all times and places[,] that which would have suited him best was Sweden in 1650, when a middle class did not practically exist, and only a close and oppressive Venetian oligarchy stood between the monarch and a down-trodden people.

As we have seen, Christina's confirmation, on her accession in 1644, on all the acts of the Regents, and her refusal to resume the alienated Crown lands, had aroused great discontent; this burst forth with violence, as soon as the termination of the war threw the Swedes back upon themselves. The centre of the question lay in this alienation of the Crown lands; with this is intimately connected the general social condition and the mutual relations of nobles and commons; all evils being greatly enhanced by the extreme exhaustion of the country and the finances owing to the long war.

To appreciate the situation[,] it is necessary to glance at the internal condition of Sweden, and the causes which led to the bad state of affairs. It must be carefully observed, however, that the prevailing aristocratic tendency was by no means peculiar to Sweden, but formed a part of that which was going on at the time throughout Europe. "There has never", says Ranke, "been a time more favourable to the aristocracy than the middle of the seventeenth century, when throughout the whole extent of the Spanish monarchy that power, which preceding kings had withdrawn from the high nobility, had again fallen into their hands; when the constitution of England acquired, amidst the most perilous conflicts and struggles, that aristocratic character which it retains even to our own times; when the French parliaments persuaded themselves that they could perform a part similar to that taken by the English Houses; when the nobility acquired a decided predominance through all the German territories — one here and there excepted, where some courageous prince overpowered all efforts for independence; when the Estates of Sweden attempted to impose insufferable restraints on the sovereign authority, and the Polish nobility attained to unfettered autonomy. The same spirit was now becoming prevalent in Rome."

This universal tendency was not unnoticed by the statesmen of that age; the troubles in France and England were marked with apprehension by Christina, who knew the state of her own country, and feared the influence of example. Already in February, 1647, she writes to Salvius: "I foresee there will be plenty for me to attend to here, so I pray for a peace." And it was especially on this account she distrusted the Chancellor, who was said to be so much in favour of the Republican form of government that he spoke of it and praised it openly. Chanut says of him that though he blamed the barbarity of the execution of Charles I., yet he admired and praised the designs and tendency of the Parliament. "I tell you", said Christina to Whitelocke in 1653, speaking of Oliver Cromwell, "under secrecy, that my Chancellor would formerly have been so in Sweden when I was young, but could not attain unto it; but if he was my enemy, yet I should say that he is a wise and gallant man."

In Sweden the nobility had always been strong. It was their temporary depression by the tyranny of Christian II. and his "blood bath of Stockholm" that enabled Gustavus Vasa to unite with the people and establish himself. Charles IX. made it his especial aim to destroy their power, but Gustavus Adolphus, partly through his desire of conciliating them as a basis for his own power, partly by the combined influence of his continued absence in war, and the aristocratic tendency of his new system of nobility of office, greatly increased their preponderance. Under him and the Regency the nobles added to their enormous social influence that of political power; by the form of government, as already shown, the whole administration of the State was placed in their hands. Socially they were omnipotent. They could only be judged by their peers; their property could not pass, by sale or otherwise, into the hands of the Crown; they were untaxed; no taxes could even be imposed on the peasants in their domains without their consent; they had their own courts of justice; they might trade with their own wares free of toll. They stood shoulder to shoulder for their own interests against King and Commons, equally jealous of "new men" and the citizen class; by a marriage with a woman of this class[,] a noble lost his rights. They alone benefited by the war, not only because its burdens did not fall on them, nor again because they acquired glory and huge sums in its conduct, but because they took advantage of the necessities of the State to purchase, often for merely nominal values, those Crown lands which the King had to sell to get money; for only the nobility might purchase these lands, and thus, having no competitors, they bought them frequently for next to nothing at all. All this power they abused and increased enormously by reckless neglect or open defiance of the law, and grinding of the peasants.

Upon this unfortunate class fell the whole weight of the war. Taxes, conscriptions, exactions of all kinds were not the worst; the impossibility of redress and the savage opposition of the nobles laid upon them the last straw. Things grew so bad that numbers left their homes; whole districts were evacuated, and the land lay untilled; agriculture was fast being ruined. Beyond all, they resented the alienation of the Crown lands; they complained that by the change of masters the free yeoman became a slave; for the nobles used their power to annihilate every vestige of personal right in their tenant. Instead of holding direct of the Crown, he now depended on the arbitrary will of the noble to whom he fell; even in cases where legally certain rights remained to him, his master used every means of persuasion or intimidation by force or fraud to reduce him to complete dependence. The nobles even made a boast of this altered relation. "We are all subjects of the Crown", said the High Steward Count Brahé, in the Diet of 1650, "we immediately, the peasants mediately." Not only the Crown lands, but the Crown rents of the tax-paying peasants were alienated; and "as there were not wanting persons to maintain that all liability to land tax had its origin in the Crown's primary right of property in the soil, wherefore the transfer of the rents must bring with it a silent transfer of the soil itself", the one way was as good as the other. The soil was rapidly becoming vested in the nobility; the old complaint of Pliny, Latifundia perdidere Italiam, was becoming applicable also to Sweden. In 1624, the peasants even threatened in certain districts to murder the nobles, and drive away the King.

The alienation of Crown lands arose out of the financial difficulties. Gustavus Adolphus, always pressed for money, could find none; the lower orders were completely exhausted; no further imposts could be laid upon them without danger of a revolt: the occupation of certain monopolies, such as salt, by the Crown, was insufficient and temporary; no resource remained but the Crown lands: these were mortgaged, sold, and given away with reckless extravagance. Under the Regency the practice was continued and greatly increased. The ownership of large estates had indeed something to be said on its side: a greater capital could be employed upon the land; yet the entire want of consideration on the part of the nobles rendered this advantage trifling in comparison with the counterbalancing evils. There can be no doubt that they aimed at doing what had already taken place in Denmark, and gaining a complete preponderance in the State: they proved this well by their subsequent action during the minority of Charles IX. We cannot acquit Oxenstiern of the blame, that he made no thoroughgoing attempt to set himself against the evil; but he seems to have been of that school of statesmen who devote their genius wholly to the welfare of the State as a whole, in its foreign relations, rather than in its domestic condition: and yet this was certainly not for want of insight.

Against the lack of income was to be set the enormous expenditure of the State. The necessary outlay for the war was greatly increased by the superfluous number of officers and the enormous pay of the State officials. It is worth while to particularise here. The five Regents had each 18,000 thalers a year; the Admiral in addition, as he had to keep open table, 500 th. a week; every senator 6,000 th. a year, with 500 th. a month for table expenses. Further, most of them had some governorship, which brought him in a large sum; any who had not, received instead 600 th. a year. And this only for the Senate! It was the same with ambassadors. John Oxenstiern received at the Congress 50 th. a day while alone, and 100 th. when the three plenipotentiaries were together. "What wonder", says Grauert, "that at Christina's accession the State chest was so empty that the ordinary necessaries could no longer be paid for, and credit was gone!"

This, however, was not all. The higher officers in the army always received disproportionately huge sums; further, there was endless mismanagement and peculation among the officials. A certain councillor of the Exchequer, for instance, one Hanson, who had amassed great wealth, and was ennobled in 1641, was condemned to death in 1642 for great malversations, his patent of nobility being torn up. How powerful his accomplices were, and, let us add, how prevalent the crime, appears from this: that they induced the young Queen to beg for his life; but the case was too glaring.

It must always be remembered in Christina's favour that she found the financial condition desperate and did not make it so. Her thoughtless profusion certainly added to the difficulties, but was infinitely far from creating them. That the catastrophe occurred in 1650, during her reign, proves this absolutely; it was the discharge of the accumulated evils of fifty years. Hence the extreme necessity for peace, which yet, when it came, for the moment added to the distress. And she endeavoured to ameliorate the condition of the down-trodden peasants in various ways, before the outbreak in 1650. She provided by law that they should be paid for the lodging and horses which they had previously been obliged to supply to the nobles gratis, when they were travelling through the country. She endeavoured to promote emigration to America in her newly-established colony, by granting privileges to settlers. And she caused a committee to examine the laws and rectify as far as possible existing anomalies and abuses in accordance with the principles of equity. One of the complaints of the oppressed Fourth Estate referred specially to the abuse of justice, the private prisons and tortures, used against them by the nobility. The torture in trials, hitherto resorted to, was abolished by her.

In 1650, the wretched state of things described was enhanced by bad harvests and famine. The loud clamours of the peasantry against the nobles, and their angry demand that the Crown estates should be reclaimed, were accompanied by another complication which gave them a powerful support. Certain privileges of the nobles had given special offence to the clergy; in particular, the tithes, from which in respect of their manors the nobility was exempted, and the right of patronage in parishes; the nobles in a pastoral district could elect the minister, and, in spite of certain limiting conditions, "no priest could be forced upon a noble against his will:" the nobles had their own chapels, and their own chaplain, and "would not go to church." This caused the ecclesiastical order to unite with the people, by whom they were much esteemed, and over whom they had great influence. But within this order there was no cohesion; the bishops, whose position in relation to the inferior clergy was analogous to that of the old nobility towards the "new men", were seen to abandon their class, and side with the aristocratic party.

Already, in 1649, there had been presages of that which was to come. While the peasants renewed their murmuring against the nobles, the clergy raised their complaints as to the abuse of patronage and the non-payment of tithes. The nobility treated these claims with insolent arrogance. They "demanded the maintenance of their right of patronage unimpaired." The Queen replied that the nobility were bound, unless furnished with a legal excuse, to attend the churches; otherwise, from the number of chaplains, the land would be overstocked with clergy who were not wanted, so that they would be eventually compelled, to the dishonour of the realm and degradation of the order, to settle in farms and become peasants, and be employed by the nobility like others of their slaves. In opposition to the prospect of the civil service appointments being open to the sons of priests, if capable, the nobles petitioned that persons of their own order might be employed in her Majesty's Chancery. "They regarded the first offices in the State as their patrimony." The Queen sharply answered, "Offices were no hereditary estates." Things began to look very black: seditious pamphlets and satirical pasquinades were circulated. "I see", wrote the Chancellor, "that Europe and the whole world is disturbed; there seems to be at hand a great controversio rerum."

The fulness of time and the stir caused by her coronation brought things to a crisis in 1650. On October 3rd the three lower orders presented to her their "Protestation as to the restitution of Crown Estates." In this, after enumerating the grounds of their discontent, they demand that all Crown lands shall be resumed and that it shall be declared illegal to sell such lands for the future.

The nobles endeavoured to excite the hostility of the Queen against the Orders, by pleading that this petition was an attack on the royal prerogative. But although Christina was firmly determined not to resume any lands, either bought with money or given away by herself, and regarded such an act as mere confiscation, her sympathies were entirely for the petitioners. "She approved greatly of the protest of the Orders, as being a salutary measure, recommending them most earnestly to be constant in their purpose, and repeatedly ejaculating, 'Now or never'", says Terserus, the energetic and resolute spokesman of the lower clergy, deserted by their bishops. It was entirely owing to her tact and sympathetic mediation that some great social convulsion was prevented, for "there was every prospect of civil war, to which not only the country people, but the burghers were much inclined; some of the most wealthy nobles thought of flight." There was fighting in the streets of Stockholm; Oxenstiern is said to have sat in his room, expecting every time the door opened that some one would come in to assassinate him.

How difficult a position Christina was in will be realised if we recollect that at this moment her Coronation was placing her in intimate personal connection with those very men whom, as nobles, she was politically opposed to; and this made it almost impossible entirely to break with them. Still, it is to be remembered that, throughout the danger, she was never unpopular with the people; it was not her, but the nobles, they hated. One of the seditious pamphlets, entitled 'Spectacles for Princes', exemplifies their attitude; in it she is warned to open her eyes to the designs of the aristocracy, who are aiming at ruining her and enslaving the people. No intimidation on their part could induce her, however, to consent to resume the Crown lands; but she did what she could in their behalf. She promised both the clergy and the peasants her protection, and issued decrees confirming the privileges of the former, and directing that the nobles should abstain from oppressing their peasants. She found a certain support against the old aristocracy in those "new" men whom she raised in large numbers to the nobility during her reign, but she could not do much against them; they were too strong. The burgher class were appeased in some degree by a reduction of the salt tax; and the dexterous conciliation of the clergy by the Queen at length after a split of six weeks reunited them to their bishops. When the Estates had remained assembled for the unprecedented time of four months, they separated, their animosities allayed, not satisfied; and the temporary pacification was only effected by the clergy signing the protest, the nobles refusing to make the slightest concessions. How little they cared for expostulations is seen in their demand of the Queen that an example should be made of the boldest among their denunciators in the Diet; when this was refused, they next asked her to address a sharp reprimand to the orders that had ventured to oppose them. No aristocracy has ever shown so sublime an unconsciousness that power has its duties, as the Swedish; they continued in their blind infatuation till retribution came under Charles XI. Christina scouted their request; she went further, and publicly declared, with regard to the contemptuous epithet "ill-born" they applied to the lower Orders, that no others should be understood by the word than those who had degenerated from their birth by the neglect of virtue, and stained their descent by sloth and baseness; and that all who were of legitimate birth and respectable ancestry, whether nobles or clergy, burghers or peasants, should neither be called "ill-born", nor excluded from any station of honour in their native country.

And here appears the only insoluble problem in Christina's career. How was it that, while she had the genius to appreciate the evil state of the people and the courage to take their part against the nobles, while in all other ways she laboured unwearyingly for the good of the State and neglected her own health in its service, she could yet indulge in such reckless extravagance, in the matter of Crown lands, as threw all her predecessors into the shade. For such is the fact. The budget of the Treasury in 1645 shows a deficit of nearly a million; that of 1654, one of nearly four millions: for, while the debts increased a million and a half, the Crown claims decreased by more than a million. The proportion between the alienation of Crown lands by Gustavus Adolphus, the Regents, and Christina is as 1, 2, and 4: "the registers of her reign are filled with deeds of sale, infeudations, letters of nobility, tokens of grace, and gifts of every sort. She had brilliant merits to reward, sometimes ancient wrongs to redress, and the care which she devoted to old or wounded soldiers deserves all praise." We shall presently see the lavish generosity with which she rewarded men of learning; and not only these; her donations to Magnus de la Gardie reach the incredible: he is said to have obtained from her landed estates alone to the value of 80,000 rix dollars per annum. We may, if we like, partly explain the deficit stated above by referring to the Coronation expenses; we may consider that the bulk of her gifts were to newly-created nobles, in order to support herself against the old aristocracy. But it remains after all not to be palliated. The fact remains that, though frugal herself to an extraordinary degree, she was possessed by a mania for squandering which is a great blot on her administration. It was the sole point in which she resembled her mother. She seems to have considered it only natural to give without stint to anybody at any moment; nay, more: she remained throughout her life completely unconscious that there was any reason why she should not: it never occurred to her that money came to an end. Even to Count Magnus, the gulf into which she threw so much, she complained, with obvious surprise, that she had not money enough to keep up her Court. She exactly illustrates the remark of the Roman satirist, that women never calculate accounts. But, on the other hand, the cause of the wretched condition of the country during her reign is by no means to be found in her lavishness, which was, after all, temporary; the evil lay deeper: in the misery produced by the war, and the oppression of the nobles. The popular instinct was truer. When Christina returned to Sweden in after years, it was not in the people, but in the governing classes, nobles and clergy, who feared for themselves and their religion, that she found her bitter enemies.

Thus then for the present the storm blew over. Christina now turned herself to the carrying out of her plan. In spite of all obstacles, she had continually increased her own power, and made two steps towards her design of substituting Charles upon the throne. She now prepared to advance still further.

The apparent calm of the Queen, and her continued expenditure, induced observers to suppose that she had some extraordinary means at her command of solving the difficulties: it was conjectured that she was nourishing the design of abdicating in favour of the Prince: it was noticed that she began to show more favour to the Chancellor and his party than heretofore, which augured a desire to stand well with everybody on quitting the helm of State: this suspicion was strengthened by her announced intention of making a voyage to the islands of Gothland and Oeland, places suited, it was thought, for her residence after her abdication. In the meantime Charles was in an ambiguous position. If he manifested any desire to take part in the government, it might easily be misinterpreted; at the same time, what must have been his secret emotions at the thought of waiting so long for his accession as Christina's youth might give him to infer! But, on the other hand, the state of the kingdom and her extravagant procedure must have dulled his desire to take charge of the State at such a moment, and given him fears for the future. Yet his present dexterity, when contrasted with the real ambition of his character as it was afterwards displayed, proved him to have at least one of the qualities of greatness: the power of biding his time. He lived retired on the island of Oeland, spending his time in building, hunting, and kindred pursuits; paying at the same time court to everybody; occasionally writing to remind the Queen of his marriage proposals, though he began to see his hopes were herein not destined to be realised.

The Queen's design was penetrated first by Chanut, who hastened to try and dissuade her from it. The Court of France was by no means anxious to see her replaced on the Swedish throne by the warlike Charles, whom it distrusted. In spite of his representations, however, Christina remained inflexible, showing to Chanut good reasons why to retreat now was impossible. She next communicated it to the Prince, who feared she might be testing him, and thought it best to endeavour to dissuade her from her intention. Christina finally (in October) disclosed it to the Grand Marshal and the Chancellor, telling them to bid the Prince come and make his preparations for assuming the government. In reply, he bade them do all they could to turn her from her purpose, and continue a reign so beneficial to the country; he never wished for himself to be anything but her dutiful subject. In spite of all remonstrances, however, the Queen, on October 26, 1651, declared in full Senate her determination to resign the Crown in favour of the Prince, and retire into private life. She told them that[,] after mature reflection on a point of such importance[,] she could find no better means than this of providing for the safety of the State and the repose of the people, who wished to see the succession secured by the birth of heirs to the throne; as she was firmly resolved never to marry, the Prince being once declared king would be obliged to take a wife, and the children born to him would deliver the nation from the fear it had of the evils usually accompanying the elections of kings. The Senators vainly endeavoured to bend her will by representing to her that God had given them a queen, and that as long as God preserved her life[,] they would acknowledge no one else; they laid stress, not unreasonably, on the exhausted state of the finances, and the additional cost of another coronation and the marriage of the Prince. Finding her inflexible, however, it was determined to postpone further consideration to the approaching Diet in February next.

In November, notwithstanding, the Senators and the delegates of the Estates made a final effort to overcome her resistance. They went in a body to her, Oxenstiern himself acting as spokesman. His eloquent appeal, directed to touching her heart rather than changing her mind, had a great effect upon her; she agreed to revoke her determination, upon the condition that nothing more was said to her on the subject of marriage. This was accepted; all, including Prince Charles, testifying their satisfaction at the change. Her birthday, on which she gave a feast, with games, tournaments, balls, and amusements, afforded an opportunity of giving vent to the general rejoicing (which was by no means feigned, for the nobles feared Charles becoming king); nevertheless she told Chanut, that, though she had not been able to refuse this satisfaction to her subjects, she had not so firmly renounced her plan as to leave it impossible that she should one day return to it.

Above: Kristina.

Above: Axel Oxenstierna.

Above: Karl Gustav.

Francis William Bain on Kristina's suitors, Karl Gustav's ultimately vain hopes of marrying her, Kristina's reluctance and refusal to marry him or anyone at all, the possible personal and religious reasons for her aversion to marriage, and her fight to make Karl Gustav her successor

Source:

Christina, Queen of Sweden, pages 97 to 117, by Francis William Bain, 1890; original at the University of Connecticut Library

https://archive.org/details/christinaqueenof00bain/page/96/mode/2up

Kristina's letter of January 5/15 (Old Style), 1644 to Karl Gustav is here:

https://kingkristina.blogspot.com/2019/07/kristinas-letter-to-karl-gustav-year.html

The account:

The fame that Christina acquired by her personal qualities, her generous and universal patronage of learning and the learned, and her commanding position as head of the leading Protestant power, brought numerous suitors into the field for her hand. This had long been the subject of anxious consideration. Of these aspirants, the two sons of Christian IV. of Denmark are first to be noticed, Prince Ulric and Prince Frederick. Their alliance was supposed to have been favoured by the Queen-mother; we have already seen her close connection with Denmark. But however eagerly their suit might have been pressed, there was never the slightest probability that it should succeed: the relations between the two countries put such a match out of the question — Oxenstiern himself assured the Senate that any attempt to press this matter might lead to civil war, and endanger the life and crown of the young Queen, who never showed, moreover, the slightest inclination for it.

More important were the proposals of the Elector of Brandenburgh. This had been a project dear to the heart of Gustavus Adolphus. In a letter of the Chancellor's to the Senate, dated Berlin, February 4, 1633, he writes: "His Majesty of Christian memory, when he was a year ago at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, himself proposed to the commissioners of the Elector of Brandenburgh a match between his daughter and the young Elector, and commanded me to communicate further regarding it with the envoys, as I have also done several times. .... The principal reason was that His Majesty would not cede Pomerania, and yet found that it could not be kept without notable detriment and great umbrage to the Elector of Brandenburgh; next[,] that the King also perceived that if Sweden and Brandenburgh with their dependencies could be conjoined, hardly such a state could be found in Europe, and they might offer the headship to whom they would." This fine scheme was viewed with great jealousy and disapproval by all the Powers except England and Holland: but the soldiers in the Swedish army were already drinking healths to the young couple when Gustavus died, and the project died with him.

Under the pretext of settling the difficulties connected with the Queen-mother's escape to Denmark, the Elector sent an embassy to Sweden in 1641 to make final proposals. The Regents, however, who had no longer any intention of pursuing the design, fearing the foreign influence of German Princes, put him off with fine words; and although from time to time he made various attempts to reopen the subject, at length, in 1646, he recognised his suit was hopeless, and married a Princess of Orange. It was hinted by the Chancellor's enemies that he had expressly prevented this marriage in order to make the way clear for his son Eric; we have already seen that, whatever truth there might have been in these malicious insinuations, the only effect of them was to sow dissension between Christina and the Oxenstierns, and that the Chancellor had to write to his son, recommending him to marry in order to give the lie to scandal.

Besides these, there were at different times proposals, more or less serious, set on foot in favour of Philip IV. of Spain, King John of Portugal, the three sons of Sigismund, King of Poland, the King of Hungary, Don John of Austria, and others, all of which were, for obvious political or religious reasons, palpably absurd, and came to nothing. But of all the suitors of Christina, the one who seemed to be most in favour, both with herself and the Swedes, was Charles Gustavus, the Prince Palatine, her cousin. Brought up[,] as she was[,] by his mother, the Princess Catharine, for whom she always had a great affection, Christina had from her youth up been accustomed to consider Charles as her future husband; in their children's play, they would call themselves husband and wife; Christina promised in this way to marry him when they were grown up. Yet such a plan would no doubt be considered and approved by the Princess Catharine and her husband: to this doubtless refers the dangerous question which he put to the Regents, when he applied them to direct him how his children should be educated; they answered that it was his own affair and not that of the State. Charles Gustavus, after travelling abroad for two years, returned to Sweden in 1640, and was viewed by the Regents, who were doubtless aware of his schemes, with great disfavour: it was apparent to Christina that he must go away again for a time. She wrote to his father that everybody was surprised "at the tracasseries which had been shown to his son, and that whatever may be his father's reasons for not wishing him to come to him, she, at least, perceives that he cannot remain at Stockholm consistently with his good fame, for fear lest they may push things to a rude conclusion with him": and again, "Providence, which knows better than ourselves what is good for us, will be able to set bounds to this iniquitous affair, and turn it to our advantage." Accordingly[,] Charles Gustavus went to Germany, and distinguished himself greatly in the war, especially at Jankowitz, where he was almost killed, being shot through the hair, hat, and clothes.

That Christina had at this time a great affection for him is proved by the following letter, dated January 5th, 1644: —

"BELOVED KINSMAN, — I see by your letters that you do not dare to commit your thoughts to the pen. Yet we can write to one another with all freedom, if you will send me the key to a cipher, and compose your letters according to it, and put the initials C. R. on the address as well as inside, sealing it at the same time with a different seal expressly devised for that purpose, as I do with mine. The letters can then be sent to your sister, the Princess Maria. We must observe every possible precaution, for people have never been so much against us as now. But they shall effect nothing, if only you will remain as firm as I hope. People talk a great deal about the Elector, but neither he nor anyone else in the world, rich as he may be, shall ever turn me from you. My love is so strong that it can only be overcome by death; and if, which God forbid, you should die before me, my heart shall be dead for every other, but its memory and affection shall follow you to eternity, and there abide with you. It may be that some one will advise you to demand my hand now and openly, but I implore you by all that is sacred to have patience for yet a year, till you have won more experience in war, and I myself have got the crown on my head. I beg you not to let yourself think the time too long, but to remember the old saying, 'He waits not too long who waits for something good.' I hope, with God's help, that it may be a good we both wait for."

These tender feelings, however, were destined not to last: from this time a great change came over Christina's mind. Her letters gradually became colder, she assures the prince of her continued affection provided he keeps within bounds. In proportion as she seemed inclined to draw back, Charles grew even more eager. On his return to Sweden he pressed her eagerly to declare herself. It was the common opinion that she would marry him; it was[,] moreover[,] becoming a point of importance with the Estates in order to ensure the succession, now that Christina was of ripe age. In 1647 the clergy and the two lower Orders presented a petition recommending her to marry; the nobles, who were by no means so anxious, stipulating that no special person should be named: they would have been very well pleased to see things continue as they were, and were particularly unwilling to further the claims of Charles. The Queen, though she received the petition generously, said that at the moment she had no inclination to marry, yet inquired whether, should she make choice of the Prince, he would be acceptable to the Estates. They answered, Yes, and the matter remained there.

In the meantime, Charles felt himself in a very ambigious position. The more he pressed her, the more she recoiled. In 1647, she signified to him her intention of appointing him Generalissimo of the Armies in Germany. But the Prince was determined not to go without gaining a definite declaration from her on the subject next to his heart. This Christina would not give; when he thereupon informed her that in that case the earlier he left for the war the better, she replied that he must then remain satisfied with his ordinary rank. Nevertheless, she applied herself to his appointment with interest, and succeeded in carrying it against the opposition of the Chancellor and High Marshal. Charles Gustavus endeavoured to shake her resolution in a remarkable conversation which he had with her in the presence of Matthiæ and the Count Magnus de la Gardie. The Queen informed him that she could give him no promise to marry him; she would[,] however[,] promise not to marry any one else; and further, that if she finally determined never to marry, she would cause him to be appointed her successor to the throne; more she could not do. The Prince declared emphatically that if he did not marry her[,] all was indifferent to him; he would never return to Sweden. The Queen angrily retorted, that all this was mere romance; he must recollect he was born for higher things than idling about on his paternal estate, and prepare to apply himself to his duty. When he referred to her childish promises, she told him that she did not consider herself bound by promises made at a time when she was incapable of recognising the seriousness of the position; he must be content with what she had said, and consider it an honour, should he die before gaining his hopes, that he had ever been considered worthy of such a fortune. Charles ungenerously taunted her with the reports that had been spread of her marriage with Eric Oxenstiern, and said it did not apparently need much honour to aspire to her hand. This irritated the Queen, who declared he was unworthy of what she had done for him. The further expostulations of the Prince could not succeed in drawing from her anything more definite than what she had already told him; to his demand that he might be allowed to write to her, she replied that he had her permission to correspond with his father and Matthiæ. They parted on these terms; yet when the Prince embarked for his post, she followed him with her eyes as far as possible from the terrace of her castle.

What now were the reasons which determined Christina against marriage? They were not merely personal. Charles Gustavus was a man of daring courage and ambition, and, if Christina in jest used to call him "the little Burgomaster", she seems always to have preserved a respect and affection for him. It was said, indeed, with what truth we cannot determine, that she had heard rumours of his liaisons with other women, which were not likely to impress her proud spirit in his favour. Further, Chanut tells us, that Christina, before her resignation in 1654, sent to Charles Gustavus to say that Count Magnus (then in disgrace) was unworthy of his affection or compassion, inasmuch as he had been a false friend to him while in favour. She wished him to know that her not having married him was owing to the Count, who had inspired her with a special aversion to the Prince. This is by no means impossible; although Count Magnus was considered to be a great friend of the Prince; yet the meanness of his character, which will amply appear in the course of this narrative, and the fact that his influence was destined to come to an end should Christina marry Charles, give a colour to the report.

However this may be, it is certain that the determination of the Queen never to marry lay much deeper down. The proud and ineradicable independence of her mind and character recoiled instinctively from the idea of giving herself a master. "I will live and die free", she said to the Jesuit Mannerschied; in later life she had a medal struck with the inscription, libero io nacqui e vissi e morro sciolto [sic]. She told Chanut in 1651, that she would rather choose death than a husband. The idea of belonging to another, of being anyone's chattel, disgusted her; she shrank from classing herself in any respect with a sex she despised. From an anecdote preserved to us, quite in keeping with her character, but which will not bear repeating, it seems that the merely physical aspect of marriage was an insuperable obstacle to her. With all this agrees what Duke Adolphus told Whitelocke, that the Queen's refusal to marry Charles came from her innate abhorrence of the tie.

Yet to this must be added what is, undoubtedly, the strongest motive of all. At this time she was pondering a change of religion. To the statement in a history of that time, assigning as a reason for her abdication in favour of Charles "that she wished to become a Catholic", Christina has added a note: "This is the sole foundation of Charles's fortune; all the rest is false." Even when she was a child, when she heard that among Catholics the highest merit was assigned to the unmarried state: "Ah!" she had exclaimed, "how fine that is; it is of that religion that I will be."

We shall go more fully into the question of her conversion and its motives further on, when it will be seen that she had at this time already determined to become a Catholic; here it will be sufficient to point out how strongly the religious aspect of celibacy influenced her at this crisis. In the very singular fragment entitled her Memoirs, which is addressed to the Deity, there are many passages which throw great light on this point of a single life. "Thou hast been willing to let me know, from the cradle, the advantage of this great independence; which I have been able to maintain and will maintain till death." "I was called to the glory of sacrificing all to Thee, and I had to obey my vocation;" ... "my ardent and impetuous temperament has given me no less inclination for love than for ambition; into what misfortune might not so terrible an inclination have hurled me, had not Thy grace made use even of my defects to correct me of it; my ambition, my pride, incapable of submitting to anyone, my disdain, despising all things, have served me as admirable preservations; and[,] by Thy grace[,] Thou hast added thereto so fine a delicacy, that Thou hast saved me from an inclination so perilous for Thy glory and my happiness; however near the precipice I have been, Thy powerful hand has drawn me back. ... I should without doubt have married, had I not been conscious of the strength Thou hast given me to go without the pleasures of love. I knew the world too well to be ignorant that a girl who wishes to enjoy her life needs must have a husband: above all, a girl of my rank, who marries only to gain a subject, rather, a slave to her will and caprice. I was born to such a condition and walk in life that I might have chosen among all men him who took my fancy, for there was not one in the world who would not have deemed himself lucky if I had been willing to give him my hand, I knew my advantages too well not to have the mind to make use of them. Had I been conscious of any weakness, I should have known how, like so many others, to marry for pleasure's sake, and enjoy my good fortune; and I should not have had that insensible [sic] aversion for marriage, of which I have given so many striking marks, had it been necessary to me. But Thou hast given me a heart meet to be taken up with Thee alone; Thou hast formed it of so admirable and vast a capacity that nothing could fill it but Thyself."

To these extraordinary passages may be added the numerous places in her sentences and maxims which touch scornfully on marriage; and as a proof that this is not mere bravado, her conduct in later years, when, after the abdication of John Casimir, she endeavoured to gain the throne of Poland; at which time she would not yield to the condition necessary, and declared that for the empire of the whole world she would not marry, much less for the crown of Poland.

The motives which led Christina to remain unmarried, to resign the crown, and to go over to Rome, are so inextricably blended together that it is only after considering all three points that a complete judgment can be formed on any one of them. Enough has been said for the moment to throw a light on her love of celibacy, and let us partially understand her conduct to Charles Gustavus. Starting from the intention to become a Catholic, and, in close connection with this, to remain single, she found herself in a difficulty as regards the throne. The constitution of Sweden, and the national antipathy to Rome, would not allow her to retain the crown: this explains her exclamation to the Jesuit: "There is no help for it, I must resign." There were, indeed, further motives to assist her in her resignation, to which we shall return. This point gained, it was necessary for her to prepare the succession to the throne, and she now set herself to make smooth the way for Charles Gustavus. To do this was a task of no ordinary difficulty, but she showed in this as elsewhere her diplomatic skill and masterful strength of character.

Although all Christina's subjects were not equally desirous to see her married, a maiden queen and a disputed succession being thoroughly to the taste of the noble oligarchy, yet by the other Orders, and especially the clergy, to whom the celibate state was a stone of offence, representations and petitions continued to be addressed to her, recommending her to choose a consort. No suspicion of the actual state of her mind was at this time entertained, till in February 1649 the Queen herself opened the subject. She informed the Senate that for some years she had been continually solicited to marry; she could not disapprove of the foresight of those who loved their country and desired to prevent the evils that might arise, if God withdrew her from the world without leaving a fixed succession. ... She could not, however, get over her repugnance to marriage; and accordingly, out of her anxiety and love for her country, she had determined to consult the safety of the State by a course which might finally be detrimental to herself, viz., to propose to the Estates a successor to the throne, whose nomination would deliver them from the fear of her death: for which office none were more suited than her cousin, Prince Charles Gustavus, upon whose qualities she proceeded to expatiate. She then laid before them for their consideration two questions: — 1. Whether the marriage of the Queen was the only method of providing a successor to the throne. 2. Whether the good of the State would not better be consulted by naming Prince Charles heir to the throne in case of her own death. If the Senate would give its decision, she would propose it to the Committee of the Estates, and then bring it before the assembled Diet for confirmation.

After recovering themselves from their astonishment, they all spoke at once to try and dissuade her from the scheme, and assured her they would oppose it to the death. "I know well", said Christina, "that some of you are minded to establish an elective monarchy after my death; to these I must say that none of them are to be compared to Prince Charles; others wish for an aristocratic government, wherein they follow their own interests; such a constitution is by no means suitable for Sweden, otherwise I would myself at this moment try to establish it: everyone knows what the Chancellor and the High Steward are aiming at." Field-marshal Torstenson replied that except out of consideration for her Majesty, no one would ever have thought of Prince Charles; they must think twice before making themselves slaves; as to a Republican Government, no one had ever thought of it. ... Finally, however, each senator severally answered for it that if the Queen died childless[,] they would give their votes for Prince Charles. Christina answered that she could not trust to mere words, but must have this reduced to writing in due form. They endeavoured to point out the inconvenience arising from an heir-presumptive, especially for herself: they cited the evils caused by princes of the blood, and feared lest she might even after this marry some one else, the consequences leading possibly to civil war. Christina replied, she would answer for a good understanding between the Prince and herself; she solemnly engaged herself to marry none but Prince Charles; in any case[,] this remote possibility was not to be compared to the danger of her dying without heirs: and if there was to be a civil war, it would be no worse that it should arise out of the conflict between heirs of the Prince and her own, than that of the Houses of Oxenstiern and Brahé for the elective monarchy. When one of the House of Oxenstiern begged her not to cite his house in this invidious way, she said that she had named it as she might have named any other. The Senate still continued obstinate not to entrust their promises to writing. "If", said the Queen, "I marry Prince Charles, you will doubtless recognise his children; but if I die without heirs, I will bet my two ears he will never sit upon the throne." "Prince Charles", said Torstenson, "will never marry, if not your Majesty." "O, but he will", exclaimed the Queen; "love burns not for one alone; the crown is a pretty girl."

On resuming the discussion a few days later, seeing them resolving to put the matter off to the ensuing Diet, the Queen said that she saw no reason for postponing the settlement, the matter being one on which she had reflected daily for three years. Should she determine to marry, she could not give her hand to a mere Palsgrave; he must first be nominated successor to the throne. It was accordingly arranged that next day the Committee of the Estates should be summoned to the Senate. After much discussion the Queen declared that they should get nothing out of her on the subject of marriage; it was, further, impossible for her to marry before she was crowned. Thereupon Matthiæ pointed out that her Majesty was bound by the laws of the realm to marry in order to ensure succession. Christina answered, no one could compel her to it; what more, besides, could they desire that the succession should be secured? Till the Prince was declared successor[,] she could give no promise to marry; but at all events nothing should compel her thereto. Matthiæ assured her that it was noised throughout Europe that she was to marry Prince Charles. "When they have chattered enough about it", rejoined the Queen, "they will find something else to talk about." They could get nothing further from her than this: Charles must be declared successor before she could think of marrying him, and upon this she would not declare her mind till she was crowned.

The Committee retired after giving its consent. In the Diet, the three lower Orders agreed to accept Prince Charles; but the nobility still drew back, till the Queen exposed to them the danger they ran of getting a king in spite of themselves; adding, that the three other Orders had given their consent; she well knew that it was only a small part of them that set itself in opposition to her wishes; she could distinguish between them, and mark those who consulted their own interests in preference to those of the State. They accordingly withdrew, amazed, and the bravest among them began to take another tone. The Senate, now left alone, saw itself obliged to give in.

One opponent only remained. "The Chancellor", says Christina in her Memoirs, "was one of the greatest obstacles I had to overcome in order to carry out my design of sacrificing all to Thee." He had been absent from the Senate through illness; Mr. Nicolas Tungel, Secretary to the Court, was despatched by Christina to take him the Act of Succession to sign, on March 11, 1650. Tungel drew up a report of the conversation. Oxenstiern answered, with a sinister air, that he had but little knowledge of the matter, and would not therefore have it said that he had ever a hand in it; had they taken his opinion on it, he might have given better counsel on so important a matter, which had been too much hurried on. "I assure you", he added, "that if at this moment I saw my grave open before me, and I had to choose either to get in or sign this act, devil fly off with me, if I would not rather lie down in it than sign this instrument, not that it is not well drawn up, but that the future will show when it is too late that the consequences will be quite other than many persons suppose, and bring repentance with them; my consolation lies chiefly in my old age, which will prevent me from seeing that time. If I am mistaken, I will allow that all my principles are false, and have deceived me; and others may say that I am an old fool, understanding nothing in these affairs." The Secretary saying that the rest of the Senators and the Estates had consented; were their hearts all tablets, said the Chancellor, and her Majesty able to read them, she would see written thereon quite other things: how few were those who were sincere in the matter. As for himself, he would stand out no longer, now that things had gone so far, but go over to the majority; but he wished to stand excused before God and posterity, convinced as he was that the affair would end badly for the weal of the State. Never since the House of Vasa sat on the throne had there come up for decision anything so important.

Well might the old Chancellor feel disturbed. He had seen three monarchs of his beloved house, Charles IX., Gustavus Adolphus, and Christina, and his long life had been devoted to their service; now[,] at the close of his career[,] came an act, which seemed to herald the ruin of all his labours and strivings, and hand over the national throne of the Vasas to a hated stranger.

Christina alluded to his opposition in the Senate, blaming him, yet without bitterness, for his antagonism to her wishes. She had gained her point, the first step and the most difficult, to the full accomplishment of her design. That she could so completely overcome all opposition, and successfully carry through so delicate a business, gives us a great idea of her power and influence in the government. Charles Gustavus had in truth great reason to be thankful to her; yet she did not content herself with this. In the following year, on his return, she caused him and his descendants to be declared heirs to the throne, in the event of her dying without issue. He was entitled "Prince of Sweden", and "Royal Highness", with a yearly pension of 50,000 thalers. Yet she would not permit him to hold any office, nor take any part in the government, nor would she endow him with any principality, calling this an arcanum imperii. The Prince on his side took an oath to recognise the Queen as his legitimate sovereign, and obey her, himself and his heirs; to do nothing of importance without her advice and that of the Senate; and to observe in every particular the constitutional rights and duties, should he ever come to the throne.

Above: Kristina.

Above: Karl Gustav.

Note: Jankowitz is the German name for the village of Jankov in the Benešov District in the Central Bohemian Region of what is now the Czech Republic.

Henry Woodhead on Kristina coming of age to rule and being declared king of Sweden; her grant of indemnity to the nobles; and the encroachment of the nobles

Source:

Memoirs of Christina, Queen of Sweden, volume 1, pages 153 to 158, by Henry Woodhead, 1863; original at the University of Michigan

https://books.google.com/books?id=XI02AAAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=maria+euphrosyne&source=gbs_navlinks_s

The account:

THE States assembled at Stockholm, in December, 1644, and preparations were made to hand over the authority to Christina on the 8th of that month, which was her birthday. She then appeared for the first time in royal splendour, accompanied by the Senators and great Officers of State. She was seated on a silver throne, the gift of Magnus de la Gardie, from whence she addressed the assembly with much dignity, and received their oath of allegiance. After the various dignitaries had done homage to her she promised, on her part, to show due consideration for the Council, not to govern without consulting them, nor to resent any advice they might give. In deference to her own prejudices, as well as those of her people, she was proclaimed King of Sweden.

Christina entered upon her duties with a profound feeling of the great responsibility she incurred. She states in her memoirs that constant labour and watchfulness were required to render her worthy of her post, and confesses the fearful reckoning she should owe to God for the right performance of her duties.

One of her first measures was to grant an indemnity to the Regents for their past acts. It would have been most difficult and ungracious to have withheld this indemnity; but it is certain that Christina, in granting it, gave great offence to all the States except the nobles. The other orders had viewed with great dissatisfaction the alienation of the Crown domains.

Portions of these domains had been sold at various times during the war to defray the most urgent expenses, and as the Regents had declared that none but nobles could purchase the Crown lands, their alienation strengthened the aristocracy in the same degree that it weakened the Sovereign. The temporary assistance to the finances bore no proportion to the sacrifices which were made, for[,] as there was no competition to purchase the Crown lands, they were sold very far below their value. The price paid was according to a uniform scheme, and professed to be at the rate of one hundred rix-dollars for a property which gave a revenue of three rix-dollars, but as a very low valuation of the Crown lands was made, few of the purchases in reality got less than ten or twelve per cent. for their money. It was against the constitution to alienate these domains during the minority of a Sovereign, but the demand for money was urgent, and the Regents asserted that no other means of supplying it could be devised.

If the Crown alone had suffered from the encroachments of the nobility, the other States might have viewed the subject with philosophic indifference, but they perceived that the scheme of the nobles was to enrich themselves at the expense of all the other orders. Sweden was in that state when land constitutes the only wealth, and the whole of the land threatened to become the property of the aristocracy.

The peasants and farmers were greatly discontented. When they were the tenants of the Crown, they were indulgently treated: sons succeeded their fathers in the land they cultivated, by a tacit understanding which was practically as advantageous to them as an absolute right of inheritance.

All this was now changed, and the tenant was turned out at the pleasure of a new landlord. Sometimes a nobleman did not acquire the positive ownership of an estate, but only purchased certain charges upon it. In these cases he often obliged the occupant, by a series of persecutions, to relinquish the entire property; and if an obstinate plebeian would not submit, the lot fell on him to serve as a soldier.

The tyranny of the nobles was already loudly complained of, but its sphere was widely extended by the sale of the Crown lands. It had been provided that whenever the Queen attained her majority, she should be at liberty to annul the act of the Regents, and to resume her domains. The change of tenure was considered the greatest of all grievances by the people, and they urged the Queen vehemently to resume her lands, and the public opinion was so strong on the subject as to threaten a revolution in Sweden.

Christina could not avoid doing some wrong to one party or the other. If she had pursued the old policy of the Swedish kings, and had allied herself to the people, she might have increased her own power, and relieved herself from the pecuniary embarrassments by which her whole reign was oppressed.

It could, however, hardly be expected that a young Queen should, by her first act, cause a revolution by which her oldest friends would be the sufferers. She soon had cause to complain of the nobles, but even when most irritated against them, she would not adopt a course which she thought was dishonourable. A price had been paid for the lands, and although it was much less than they were worth, she shrank from the injustice of an act of confiscation. In answer to all solicitations, she replied that she would never resume anything she had once granted. It is difficult to see how she could have acted otherwise, but it is evident that this first step gave a fatal blow to the royal authority, and paved the way for future encroachments of the nobles.

The States, however, were obstinate in their demand, and a revolution would hardly have been averted, if the news of victories in Germany had not diverted the public mind.

Above: Kristina.

Note: The silver throne was a gift to Kristina from Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie, but it was not made until 1650, and it was made specially for her coronation ceremony that same year.